KPA: Damned With Faint Praise

  • I don't have the problems with my KPA as stated in this review.
    - I never noticed any unacceptable latency.
    - The price of the KPA is absolutely ok.
    - I'm very satisfied with comercial profiles from Soundside (big thanks Armin).
    - At band practice with InEars i have an great sounding Amp at any volume!!!
    - I hope things will be easier for the sound guy during a gig.
    - The only point i agree is the absence of an official PC editor.


    @ ckemper
    It would be great if you would share the Accept profiles on the Rig Exchange.


    edit: badly written first time ;)

  • Often, the isolated guitar track of a recording (a very successful even) sounds "cheap", but that's the power of a sound professional - he knows how to create sounds (record and mix sounds) that go well with the rest of the band. One example that can be heard on youtube is Knopfler's guitar on Sultans of Swing - isolated, this doesn't really sound as if it was the guitar sound many of us would consider as brilliant, I guess.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze_xaASTmdI

  • The KPA requires speakers of some kind. Headphones, Monitors or Cabinet. And the setup to get a good sound out of those require good gear, as good in quality as the KPA, and some knowledge with setting up audio gear.


    I have 5 headphones, and 3 sound awesome with the KPA. I have 2 sets of Monitors, and it's the Subwoofer that makes it, and truly, I like both pairs on at the same time (5" gives a little more high end for the effects to be heard with greater clarity). And I have an Avalon Cabinet 2x12 with a Vintage 30 and G12H I recently setup using an ISP Stealth.


    With Pete's Tone Matched "Paranoid" profile I can rock out to Sabbath on the Monitors. Using Andy's Laney from Pack 6 and tweaking the gain and EQ, I can get the Cabinet "there" too. Both quite authentic. If anyone said it didn't sound real, they'd be flat out lying.


    Part of the problem I think is that people probably play their monitors at much lower levels than they play their amps. Turn up the volume to analog amp decibels and tell me what the KPA sounds like? It sounds exactly like the real thing. And not the 'recorded' real thing. Either get a proper sub, or tweak the low end back in to restore what the Microphone bumped out. What people are NOT used to is also hearing a real amp at lower levels without the tone suck that attenuation steals. So hearing a Kemper profile at low levels is a unique experience we all WISH we could get out of our amps without headphones. But we've never heard it before until now, so it takes getting used to. I like it loud personally.


    If the Reviewer were in the room with any of the guys here, Ingolf, Andy, Don, etc, you just know they'd have an entirely different opinion. I hope he gets the chance one day.



  • There's also the Fletcher-Munson curve to consider. Which is not picked up by the mic.


    Basically, as sounds are increased in volume, our ears scoop out the mids (that's in layman's terms, but I think it gets the gist across).


    So if you listen at lower volumes, you will PERCEIVE less bass and high end. That might be a factor here as well.