Beginner’s questions/KPA as DI/Fx loop stereo/etc..

    Hi guys! I am currently saving up the money for a KPA (just one more third to go, yay!) and try to educate myself what this great device can do (and which of my pedals I could sell in the meantime ;-). One thing to know is that I’m a recording guitarist first and foremost, so none of my questions concern playing live. Oh, and of course I apologize in advance if some of my questions seem stupid, again, total newbie here!



    1.) DI: I used to record guitars by using a Palmer passive DI that let me split the signal (with a small loss of high end), so I could have a clean DI signal in my DAW right there with the miked amp, just in case if 2 weeks later I thought I could have used another pedal or amp sound. Reamping was easy that way (again, with a Palmer Daccappo). Does the Kemper have a feature to split the signal, so I can use the Main XLR outs to capture the profiled amp and another out to have a clean, unprocessed signal?




    2.) Is that DI signal really unprocessed? I’d love it to be true bypassed, but does it at least avoid being AD-DA-d? Do we even know? Anyone experienced any loss of sound on his DI tracks (even a slight loss of clarity and high end as on my passive analoge DI)?




    3.) Do you guys reckon I could just use my old method of reamping? Routing the signal from my sound card to the Palmer Daccappo straight in the guitar input of the Kemper?




    4.) Which Outs are you using for recording? XLR or Line Outs (SPDIF is not an option for me because I record in 48.000hz which the Kemper doesn’t support)




    5.) Browsing rigs, sounds: I have to admit I am quite intimidated by the thought of having a gazillion of sounds and amps on my KPA (10 or 20 will do), is there a way of deleting rigs/sounds/patches that I absolutely don’t like? Or is there a way to save patches I like in a favorites folder, and can I tell the KPA to just show me my favorites?




    6.) I just love some of the demos on soundside.de (all those clean Fenders, yummy!). If I buy some sound packs, is it really as simple as moving them onto an USB stick and copying them on the Kemper? Or does the USB stick always have to be connected?




    7.) Has the KPA an option to put it back to factory settings (with rigs/sounds complete)?




    8.) I have 2 Strymon pedals that are stereo. Is the FX loop of the Kemper stereo or mono (would be a missed chance if it was mono only imho)




    9.)Would you experienced users say that there is a basic sound, or coloring to the Kemper? I mean if I record all the guitar tracks of a song with it, and the bass, would there be some coloring from the Kemper devise itself? (the early Pods had a frequency spike that multiplied when you had many tracks in a song, or imagine if I recorded all guitars and bass in a song with a cranked UA 610 preamp, definitely some coloring there)




    10.) I have some cool drive pedals that I’d love to keep. Does the Kemper work good with drive Pedals, or even Boosters (like the Xotic EP Booster)?




    11.) Does a cranked booster pedal mess with the “Sens”-option too much?




    12.) I saw this wonderbox even had a looper in it. I don’t play live so I don’t want to pay for the Kemper footswitch or some sophisticated midi footswitch. Can I use a single on/off Footswitch (like a channel selector switch from an amp), or a single button MIDI footswitch, just for the looping function (would be cool the play around with that)?




    That’s it for now. Any help is HIGHLY appreciated! Thanks!


    Michael

    Welcome!



    Some of your questions answered:




    1.) DI: I used to record guitars by using a Palmer passive DI that let me split the signal (with a small loss of high end), so I could have a clean DI signal in my DAW right there with the miked amp, just in case if 2 weeks later I thought I could have used another pedal or amp sound. Reamping was easy that way (again, with a Palmer Daccappo). Does the Kemper have a feature to split the signal, so I can use the Main XLR outs to capture the profiled amp and another out to have a clean, unprocessed signal?


    Yes, you can split the signal.





    2.) Is that DI signal really unprocessed? I’d love it to be true bypassed, but does it at least avoid being AD-DA-d? Do we even know? Anyone experienced any loss of sound on his DI tracks (even a slight loss of clarity and high end as on my passive analoge DI)?


    I believe so, if you setup the output correctly. However, this will be instrument-level, not line-level - I believe. I wouldn't be concerned about the AD/DA conversion though - at all.



    3.) Do you guys reckon I could just use my old method of reamping? Routing the signal from my sound card to the Palmer Daccappo straight in the guitar input of the Kemper?


    Certainly - if you can do it with a real amp you can do it with the kemper. The kemper can also act like a reamp box by itself.




    4.) Which Outs are you using for recording? XLR or Line Outs (SPDIF is not an option for me because I record in 48.000hz which the Kemper doesn’t support)


    XLR. The jack connections are TS, not TRS (so unbalanced)



    5.) Browsing rigs, sounds: I have to admit I am quite intimidated by the thought of having a gazillion of sounds and amps on my KPA (10 or 20 will do), is there a way of deleting rigs/sounds/patches that I absolutely don’t like? Or is there a way to save patches I like in a favorites folder, and can I tell the KPA to just show me my favorites?


    Yes to everything. And you can use Rig Manager to manage your library on your computer.




    6.) I just love some of the demos on soundside.de (all those clean Fenders, yummy!). If I buy some sound packs, is it really as simple as moving them onto an USB stick and copying them on the Kemper? Or does the USB stick always have to be connected?


    Yes, that simple. Or via computer and rig manager. You have to import profiles to use them, they can't be "played" directly from the USB stick. You can preview rigs from the rig manager though, without "permanently" moving them to the kemper.




    7.) Has the KPA an option to put it back to factory settings (with rigs/sounds complete)?


    It can reset all input/output settings to default, keeping rigs intact.




    8.) I have 2 Strymon pedals that are stereo. Is the FX loop of the Kemper stereo or mono (would be a missed chance if it was mono only imho)


    Don't remember. Consult the manual. The built-in effects (esp. delay) are quite extensive, so maybe you won't find a need to keep a strymon delay if you have one.




    9.)Would you experienced users say that there is a basic sound, or coloring to the Kemper? I mean if I record all the guitar tracks of a song with it, and the bass, would there be some coloring from the Kemper devise itself? (the early Pods had a frequency spike that multiplied when you had many tracks in a song, or imagine if I recorded all guitars and bass in a song with a cranked UA 610 preamp, definitely some coloring there)


    No, the colouration comes from the profileS (ie. the original amp+cab+mic+outboard gear), not the kemper.




    10.) I have some cool drive pedals that I’d love to keep. Does the Kemper work good with drive Pedals, or even Boosters (like the Xotic EP Booster)?
    Yup.




    11.) Does a cranked booster pedal mess with the “Sens”-option too much?
    Don't know. My guess is you'd have to adjust this for optimum results, like if you switched to a different guitar. However, I never adjust between my guitars. Admittedly, I haven't used boost pedals with my kemper.




    12.) I saw this wonderbox even had a looper in it. I don’t play live so I don’t want to pay for the Kemper footswitch or some sophisticated midi footswitch. Can I use a single on/off Footswitch (like a channel selector switch from an amp), or a single button MIDI footswitch, just for the looping function (would be cool the play around with that)?
    I don't think this is possible, no.

    Wow, thanks A LOT Michael_dk, no really, thanks a million times!!


    Oh, and the only question you couldn't answer, if the FX loop is stereo, according to sam knaake of youtube, there is a small workaround, so YES, the FX Loop on the KPA is stereo! :):D