Some people just don't want to be happy. I have done plenty of records/recording with the KPA, and have profiled all 12-15 of my tube amps extensively. I have learned that the KPA will get about 90-95% of the sound of my amps. Which is simply close enough for me. How anyone can say that they can't get a KPA to sound good to them seems to imply that, most likely, they prefer the sound of plugins to real amps. Which I completely understand - I sometimes do as well. But other than that, there is simply no good reason for a guitarist to not be able to make the KPA work for them. Worst case scenario, make your own profiles of your own amps. At least that's a sound every guitarist will be able to get on with.
Giving it up!!
- markyboy
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Some people just don't want to be happy. I have done plenty of records/recording with the KPA, and have profiled all 12-15 of my tube amps extensively. I have learned that the KPA will get about 90-95% of the sound of my amps. Which is simply close enough for me. How anyone can say that they can't get a KPA to sound good to them seems to imply that, most likely, they prefer the sound of plugins to real amps. Which I completely understand - I sometimes do as well. But other than that, there is simply no good reason for a guitarist to not be able to make the KPA work for them. Worst case scenario, make your own profiles of your own amps. At least that's a sound every guitarist will be able to get on with.
KPA has the most bitchin Marshall sounds so it's a clear winner for me over anything else really. I think some of it has to do with what you are monitoring with; when I use a pair of Grados (SR60e, which sound great for music) it sounds like icepicks directly to the brain or a distortion pedal directly into my DI, but when I use my monitors or Astro A40 headphones it sounds so awesome.
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One band I play in is an ABB trib band (Idlewild West, shameless plug) and I do the Duane stuff and keep trying different profiles trying to hit the At Fillmore East tones (as I recall, Duane used a '69 or '70 Super Bass with, I think, JBL- loaded cabs, not exactly standard Marshall cabs), I've gone through through a bunch of profiles, Marshall Plexis, Super Leads (though I have yet to try r-u-serious' profiles, I will audition them tonight), also the PRS DA, but turns out the closest I found was the freebie Marshall DSL40, which I also just happen to own and was using just prior to buying my Powerhead. Maybe I'm biased, but with some tweaks it gets pretty danged close.
Another little factoid I thought I might mention, to add to the discussion: my "Dickey" partner in the ABB trib band uses a meticulously-tweaked Digitech RP-1000 into the clean channel of usually either an Egnater Tweaker 40 or a Mesa Nomad 45 and he gets great tones (sounds like crap when he goes direct from the Digitech, however). He really likes the Kemper, but he is happy with the Digitech/amp combo and doesn't want to shell out the bucks. Just goes to show more than one way to skin a cat.
FWIW, back when I was still struggling with Line 6 gear and Marshall tones, I also had a Logidy EPSi impulse response unit. It had in it a IR for a 4X12 Marshall cab with JBL's. For grins I took the Line 6 XT Marshall model, disabled the internal cab, and ran it into the EPSi with the JBL IR, and it got very close indeed to the Fillmore tone. I played it for quite a while and was surprised. The JBL's have a unique treble response that is critical for the ABB tone, the Celestions of that era were too crunchy sounding in some cases.If someone has a good Direct profile of a Marshall Super Bass 50 (for Duane tones) and a Super Lead 100 (for Dickey tones), and pair this with a 4X12/JBL IR, it might start getting close. I haven't had a chance to try this myself but plan to if I ever get the time.
