New Life

    Over a year ago I first posted on these forums about how amazed I was with the sound of the KPA.
    It sounded awesome.


    So I thought. Don`t get me wrong, it sounded pretty damn good but there was always something just not right.


    I have always been a metal head from back in the 80s. Don`t care too much where it has gone in recent years though.
    So a bit over a year ago I decided to dive back in to playing so I get a KPA and a couple guitars. I bought a music man Steve Morse because they said it would be versatile.
    I wanted to move a bit more to classic rock so I thought this may help. Nice guitar but it didn't work for me.


    So I get a Schecter Diamond series thru neck. Just stick with my same ole same ole 80s metal I always played. That is what a Schecter is for.....metal, maybe some hard rock.
    Within a week or two, I buy a second Schecter diamond series, different color and with a Sustainiac PU.


    I sell my Music Man. I buy a Takamine acoustic and a Takamine 12 string. Both Japanese versions. Play the six string all the time along with a seagull I bought too.
    12 string sits. Its up for sale now.


    I am really diving in now. I have been playing and learning more than I have in my entire life since I got the KPA. I am now 47.
    I have learned more classic rock which was my goal. I still like my 80s metal but I always wanted to learn more. Expand. Metal was always the easiest for me.
    Just crank up the distortion and go at it ! :thumbup:


    Well, theres a bit more to it but you get my drift.


    So, I have been practicing and learning more this past year. Hard rock, classic rock, more metal and other stuff.
    Sounds ok but truthfully....something is seriously lacking. A lot of it just isn't sounding or feeling just right.
    This Kemper thing is cool. I like it. Very versatile but......


    I am not seeing the entirety of its values that I see everybody speak off.
    Like all of the little nuances of your attack and how well the KPA can make you feel as though you are playing through the amp.
    Along with many other things I read about.
    Like the feel of when you turn the guitar volume down.
    I wasn't getting these things.


    I turned my guitars volume down and they totally went flat.


    Well today.......
    my first Fender American Standard Telecaster comes in today.
    I unbox it, tune it, strap it, and plug it in.


    Figure I will have to find other rigs to use instead of what I have been using with the Schecters.
    I dont look yet. I decide to just noodle around with what I have on the KPA at the moment.


    Holy two cows !
    I love this damn guitar ! I love this KPA Waaaay more now !


    I end up playing for hours non stop. I can not believe what I am hearing ! The difference is that extreme.
    All of the tunes I have been learning now come alive.
    THIS is what they are really supposed to sound like !


    Even the heavy stuff is kickin some ass !


    I can turn the volume down on the guitar and it does what it is supposed to do.
    The attack actually makes a difference now.


    I can not explain how excited I am right now.
    My wife and I are from different generations. She hasn't cared for my heavy stuff. She likes when I play the acoustic guitars.


    But you should have seen the look on my face when she came to my music room door, stood there and listened to all of what I was playing with a smile on her face.


    I was and still am just giddy.


    Dont want to work tomorrow. :wacko:
    Have to though. Don`t want to piss off my customers.


    This thread doesn't necessarily belong in the new gear section because it is a testament to what the KPA can do also.
    After all of this time, I finally truly get it.


    It is not the same with all guitar setups.
    I think them EMGs are just too much. Screw them battery powered PUs.
    They have been draining the life from all of the fantastic tones.


    I hate to say that. I really love the look and feel of the Schecters. Beautiful guitars, but I will never play them again unless I try other pickups or I sell them.
    I believe they will be for sale.
    I FINALLY have my tone !


    I kid you not, I had a tear or two in my eyes. :rolleyes:

    ha!. good story.


    But you do hit on an important note here, and that is the Kemper is only part of the story!.
    Sometimes we all hear things differently & at different times. - and its so easy to blame the profiles/kemper for under performing, when really its the other stuff in the chain.
    I always say. music is what you make it. but to make it you need to first discover the art in creating music!.
    and finding that art can take you in circles. but sure can be fun doing so.


    The right guitar, the right profile on the right day is absolute perfection!.

    Great story, wonderful to feel your passion and happiness! Love it! Love the fact you're so happy with the music! The Kemper just helps facilitate this, the music starts and ends with you!

    I can follow your story - Thanks for sharing.
    Tele (and Strat) from a good manufacture are an own category. (I'm happy to own both now)
    Many like this specific (some time old fashioned) sound and a lot do not like it so much. But seldom people are neutral.
    I would say for heavy metal stuff it's not really the best choice. But even there you can find somebody with awesome Results.
    Nowadays you find a lot of good guitars but getting an image of timelessness needs decades.


    It's not so important what it is - it's important what it is for you.

    Same here ^^


    Ibanez was ok, Strat was bäääääm!
    Now I'm looking for a Tele instead of another Powerstrat. I think though, it's still a matter of taste on the one side and then again a matter of musical socialization on the other. I'm playing way more breakup tones theses days instead of full blown distortion sounds, even for harder stuff. It works.

    Gear: Strats & KPA. Plug Ins: Cubase, NI, iZotope, Slate, XLN, Spectrasonics.
    Music: Song from my former band: vimeo.com/10419626[/media][/media][/media] Something new on the way...

    Like 1
    Quote from Fireloogie

    Now I'm looking for a Tele instead of another Powerstrat.


    Just come home with my Tele from my lutier.
    I have now a 4 way Switch and 500 KOhm Poti for the alnico Singlecoils. (from ebay and made in US )
    Powerfull tone with twang if you like and a turbo if you switch to serial position.


    Ähäm please specify " bäääääm!" ;)

    Quote from Sharry

    Just come home with my Tele from my lutier.


    Will we see a pic Harry? :)


    Well Bäääääm means what the OT discribed. The KPA seemed to come to life when I first plugged my Strat in. And the Strat came to life, too. This was an amazing experience, since I hadn't heard my Strat sound that good before.

    Gear: Strats & KPA. Plug Ins: Cubase, NI, iZotope, Slate, XLN, Spectrasonics.
    Music: Song from my former band: vimeo.com/10419626[/media][/media][/media] Something new on the way...

    Like 1

    I almost always use a strat or tele with my kemper, but also use a 71 gibson lespaul occasionally ..have humbuckers in all my guitars, but i really like the teles' with the kemper..still a fanboy. happy to hear the enthusiasm.

    What a great read! :)
    I think that the more character the guitar possesses the more can the Profiler bring it to life.


    Quote from Inthrutheout


    My wife and I are from different generations. She hasn't cared for my heavy stuff. She likes when I play the acoustic guitars.


    Well this, my friend, is not a problem of different generations but different sex. ;)

    You probably are right Ingolf.
    Either way she is more at ease now that she can at least figure out what I am playing. At least as far as the classic rock goes.


    Snuck out of work early today. Told my customer I had to wait for the drywall mud to dry before I could trim everything out. Be back tomorrow. :D Might just put another coat on it for fun tomorrow too for another early day.
    Spring is coming and I don't get much time for myself.


    Either way, I have been playing since I got home. At least after I put my other guitars up for sale.
    Might pick up a new Strat too. Never had one of them either. Probably the most common guitar ever.


    I was a fool all these years not getting a real guitars guitar. I mean, a down to earth rock and roll guitar. Not another screaming banshee. Which is what I always went for.
    Looks and a screamer.


    Well back when I was a bit younger, Teresa across the street didn't have much in the looks department but she was a screamer.
    Maybe should have took that as a life lesson.


    I see these Fenders as a staple if you have any kind of useful collection.


    I am certainly not saying these Fenders are the one and only. Not at all. But they are definitely giving me the sound I want and have wanted for a long time.
    I just thought these guitars were too plain Jane.


    I really would like to keep the Schecters but the only way I would do it is if I would change the pickups. Not sure if I want to do that to them. They are practically new.
    And the red one has a factory installed Sustainiac system. Probably should leave as is, sell them and buy some others.


    Just don't think I am a fan of active pickups so much any more. To me, they are only good running them wide open with thrash or Death Metal. Not my thing.
    Old school Heavy Metal, yes.


    Now back to the Kemper and some rig auditioning because everything sounds different/ better than before.

    vey nice story , it seems you're now a fullygrown guitarist ;)


    I always stayed away from super hot & active pickups, and also from HSS stuff in the 80's because of the lack of feeling and interactions I had with all these hi gain guitars.


    The telecaster is indeed a great instrument , very versatile and so dynamic , a real pleasure to play & record. All you need is a good amp profile. with a few vol or tone pot tweaks you'll be able to play almost every style of music. I tend to go for fender & supros on the tele, but it can also do wonders on classic marshalls.


    you'll love the strat if you can find a good one , such a killer guitar and that unmistakable vibe. I also recommend a good Lespaul like or an hollow like the 335 or ES 125; If I had to keep 4 guitars , that would be my definitive list ( and My KPA of course ;)

    I had a Les Paul or two many years ago. Before I had an amp. Or in between amps.
    I used to play through an old console stereo. You know the big furniture stereos?
    I used to rig up all kinds of crazy things.


    People would throw them out and I would grab them up. They were free gold to me.


    All of my friends thought I was really smart or something. Not really. I just looked for inputs and outputs and wired all kinds of crap together.


    Some of them had big speakers and some had tubes.


    I have had a few SGs. wish I still had them.
    Problem was I never heard a handfull of them on a true amp so I just blew them off and let them go.


    Deep Purple, Sabbath and all them bands sounded pretty cool through those things.
    I believe I wired an input jack to the record player input or found the 8 track inputs.