What don't you like about your KPA?

  • - Lack of input gain knob makes for some difficulty changing guitars.

    Have you watched the Kemper tutorial on YouTube about how to set up Clean and Distortion senses? Set them for one guitar then save the Input section as a preset. Then repeat for your other guitars. Then you can recall presets by dialling the Browse knob with the Input section in focus as you switch guitars.


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  • I did not go through the 8 pages so maybe it has been already said but
    [*]looper does not offer quantitization / tap tempo. that's like designing a rocket and having no fuel to thrust it i.e. useless. such a pity
    [*]preset management. enought said about it
    [/list]
    IMHO the sounds need no argue, imagination is the limit

  • With the newest firmware there's no need to waste a slot for the transpose stomp. You can now find it in the Rig menu. Besides that I have the same impression like you regarding latency even at moderate settings like +/-1 halftone. Sometimes it's a matter of not monitoring loud enough which leads to hearing the strings in their original tuning at the same time you're hearing the transposed signal. This can maybe create the impression of latency as well. But in my case I think I'm monitoring loud enough for not hearing the strings in their original tuning and still I have the impression of a certain latency.

    I am not sure I have the latest firmware (I will check). What do you mean its in the rig menu?

  • I am not sure I have the latest firmware (I will check). What do you mean its in the rig menu?

    On the Kemper there is a button named "Rig". The transpose feature is now implemented in there, so no need to waste a slot pre stack (A-D).

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

  • For me :


    - indeed scrolling through FX
    - a clear overview of what's inside the kemper regarding saved slots/FX slots/stomp slots from fooling around in the past
    - I would love to see when I activate wah (bypass at stop) , it's always activated but not doing it's job unless I rock the cradle
    - last but not least it cured my GAS , no need to look further if you already own the top of the bill


    Raf

    Kemper stage with 2 mission pedals (in a Thon line 6 FBV case) and a Zilla 212 (K-100/V30) , SD powerstage 700 poweramp

  • Nearly everything is a love with me. I continue to be over the moon with the sound quality I get with good profiles that are to my taste.


    My frustrations are that the management of FX / FX chains feels very 1980s. I would prefer to do this using an editor / a more advanced version of rig Manager. I am one of the many who has requested an editor but it is not because I wish to tweek for my entire life - it is simply that a computer is, for me, an easier way to manage the vast array of awesome things that are buried in this box and I know 100% that despite 5 years of ownership I am only using a tiny percentage of what this box will do because I’m too lazy to turn that wheel forever. The best thing for me would be a VST, but NOT as a pirate-ready sound plugin. Simply a controller for the Kemper so, on a DAW Chanel you can save the settings you used and also make automation changes within the Kemper from your DAW. That would be killer and entirely pointless to steal so it would become an even more wonderful studio tool without fear of pirates.


    I also think that some of the effects could do with a rework. The new delays are great so, if they can make a similar improvement to the reverbs / trem etc that would be brilliant.

  • If we are looking for negatives, it is only the size when carrying on a flight. For what is actually in my rack it could easily fit into a 2U and the toaster isn't a lot smaller.


    I guess this is to do with the layout on the front panel and making editing easier though.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • Fitting it into 2U would be way better.


    I'd take a hit on front end usability if that was compensated by an editor. I usually set it up and forget.


    I rarely make many changes on the fly so less buttons would not be an issue for me but it is a trade off..

  • What it does , Give you great " produced " sounds usable right out of the box, and what no others do , offer you the ability to profile your own setups
    Is the selling point that drives all the other short comings, I think allot of the features , functions are ... basically there so I think everything could get improved
    I don't use mine loud or live, but I find a " sameness " albeit a good sameness to the profiles,
    Having lived with it for a while [ and noting kemper's lack of response to issues & questions ] I'm looking forward to trying the Helix

  • Adding another aspect to my previous - will also add as a feature request:


    If I incorporate a saved preset (i.e. Stomp, Effect) into a Rig, when reviewing the Rig, I would like to be able to see the name of the preset, not just the generic type of effect.


    For example, if I have three different Green Screams, GS1, GS2, GS3, I would like to be able to easily see which one is in a rig.

  • I haven’t spent enough time with mine yet to fall out of love with anything about the KPA itself - other than the scrolling wheel of death for finding effects/presets as others have already mentioned.


    I don’t need a computer based editor but I respect others’ request for own (as long as it doesn’t reduce the functionality from the front of the KPA itself. The “on the fly” amp like tweaking nature of the KPA is one of the things that attracts me to it.


    However, Rig Manager is a potentially wonderful piece of kit that just doesn’t really work as it stands. So the kain thing I would ask for os a complete over haul of Rig Manager to properly ange performances, effects, cabinets etc. Also the ability to copy multiple fields at the same time. When I make new profiles I often find that the wrong information has been populated from the reference rig ( probably user error) and it is a PITA having to manually update the feilds or copy them one at a time from an existing rig.

  • I haven’t spent enough time with mine yet to fall out of love with anything about the KPA itself - other than the scrolling wheel of death for finding effects/presets as others have already mentioned.


    I don’t need a computer based editor but I respect others’ request for own (as long as it doesn’t reduce the functionality from the front of the KPA itself. The “on the fly” amp like tweaking nature of the KPA is one of the things that attracts me to it.


    However, Rig Manager is a potentially wonderful piece of kit that just doesn’t really work as it stands. So the kain thing I would ask for os a complete over haul of Rig Manager to properly ange performances, effects, cabinets etc. Also the ability to copy multiple fields at the same time. When I make new profiles I often find that the wrong information has been populated from the reference rig ( probably user error) and it is a PITA having to manually update the feilds or copy them one at a time from an existing rig.

    Other than the sound, the “on the fly” amp like tweaking is probably my favorite feature. Coming from an HD500, I definitely appreciate the ease of tweaking.

  • Lately I've been troubled by a couple things which have at least put me back on the fence wrt choosing between the Kemper an a traditional setup.


    • General sluggishness of the user-interface. It happens all the time that I push various buttons multiple times because the unit is so slow to respond. Scrolling through performances is a pain. The front panel almost feels disconnected from the unit when it hasn't been used for some time.
    • Initialisation of the content of a slot is inconsistent as if there was some kind of race-condition in the code. This is by far the worst problem. I simply do not always get the sound I expect when selecting a slot/patch. According to the display and LEDs everything seem ok, but the sound is off. The problem seem to be in the amp-section. This is most evident when i switch to an acoustic instrument played through patches with no amp/cab, with only EQ from that section. In this case there is sometimes heavy distortion after selecting that slot/patch. This happens when switching to this particular slot from one in a different performance. Switching to the neighbour slot in the same performance and back fixes the issue. A backup followed by reset and restore doesn't change anything. Switching off the amp-stack completely which in this case only takes away the EQ also removes the distortion,

    Other concerns are:

    • No balanced connections for monitors
    • Flimsy RJ45-socket for the remote should be replaced with EtherCon

    Sound-wise the unit serves me well, except possibly that I'm missing some of the most common reverb-types for guitar. Firmware is 5.4.1 13212

  • I get the feeling that the latency is less with smooth chords deactivated on the transpose feature. Is that what others hear?

    Unfortunately "smooth chords" is only available within the stomp box. Can't find it in the rig menu... :(

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

  • Initialisation of the content of a slot is inconsistent as if there was some kind of race-condition in the code. This is by far the worst problem. I simply do not always get the sound I expect when selecting a slot/patch. According to the display and LEDs everything seem ok, but the sound is off. The problem seem to be in the amp-section. This is most evident when i switch to an acoustic instrument played through patches with no amp/cab, with only EQ from that section. In this case there is sometimes heavy distortion after selecting that slot/patch. This happens when switching to this particular slot from one in a different performance. Switching to the neighbour slot in the same performance and back fixes the issue. A backup followed by reset and restore doesn't change anything. Switching off the amp-stack completely which in this case only takes away the EQ also removes the distortion,

    To sort of piggy-back on what you're talking about here, I have had issues creating performances wherein I'll load a profile (using the Rig Manager) into one of the slots within a performance, then move the whole newly-edited performance from my local library to my KPA, only to find that the cabinet is turned off. This is highly frustrating when I'm trying to build setlists, as it's prohibitively cumbersome to try to build performances from scratch within the Kemper UI itself. Even when I am just making changes from the Kemper itself without Rig Manager, I find the cabinet portion of the stack occasionally likes to disengage willy nilly when I'm doing a lot of switching between performances and between profiles within them.

    Brand new to Kemper. Amp history: Behringer V-Tone 15 > Peavey ValveKing 50 > Fender Hot Rod Deville > Avid Eleven Rack > Fender Bassbreaker 15 > Kemper Rack