Reached a wall with my Kemper.

It might be something with the whole dynamic , dist vs clean sense, pure cab ...

but remember heavy drive or dist will squash your signal to a very compressed signal, killing lots of dynamics in the process.

I would lower the gain and concentrate on your dynamics vs compression until you're satisfied. But yes you'll escape from the metal world to lower gain music, and you're sure getting some maturity, that's the price.

That's why I love older marshall for gainy tones ( plexis & JCM 800) , with proper natural double tracking you can't miss a killer tone on a great Lester & a KPA.

The funny thing is I have always felt modellers and VSTs handled really distorted tones way better than clean and slightly driven tones.

For me modern metal tones (especially) are pretty un-tube like as they are so heavily processed. VSTs do that at least as well as a high gain tube amp. However, capturing the bloom and harmonic comlpexity of an AC30 or Bassman etc being pushed is something that VSTs and modellers always seemed to struggle with.

My experience of the the KPA so far has been that it pretty much nails any sound I need.

My preference is still to start with one of my own Mesas and and SM57 and just capture the tone I know I want. When I then A/B the finished article it is usually almost impossible to tell which is which. When I can tall a difference I often find it is the profile that I prefer.

Quote from Wheresthedug

The funny thing is I have always felt modellers and VSTs handled really distorted tones way better than clean and slightly driven tones.

me too.
Clean sounds that aren’t thin are the hardest thing to “model”.
None of the modelers comes close enough.

But a well made Kemper profile does.

Just a shot in the dark here:

If it's mojo you're missing, lower Definition to taste and add a little sag and amp compression (not a stomp - the one in the amp menu).

Post an example. Perhaps use a stock profile and include the DI track and we can compare to see if there is a problem with your unit. But, to be honest, if you've been having these issues for 10 years, there's probably something wrong with your technique, ears or expectations.

If you are a life-long guitarist, chances are you're trying to capture that impossible "cranked amp the the room" tone that players spend hours trying to get and driving studio engineers crazy. We all can fall into that trap, my perfect guitar tone is tons of distortion, scooped EQ, and lots of delay and reverb to hide my crappy playing. But, when you mix that ideal guitar tone that into a song, it sounds like garbage.

Try this, don't mess with the profiles you've purchased. Use them exactly as you bought them and reamp them one by one and see what you get. When you find the profile that comes closest to want you want, THEN start shaping it to your liking

Quote from Monkey_Man

Just a shot in the dark here:

If it's mojo you're missing, lower Definition to taste and add a little sag and amp compression (not a stomp - the one in the amp menu).

Not a shot Nicky, that‘s what I do with most of the clean rigs to add butter

Not very helpful but I have no issues getting some incredible tones with my Les Paul.

I play primarily high gain stuff but dabble with some lower gain drive with the Choptones and TopJimi profiles. They sound fantastic. In Rig Manager order the profiles by gain and select the gain level you want then experiment with a few at that gain range. You may need to spend money on profiles and experiment.

What monitors do you use?

I personally don't get on with MBritt profiles but appreciate I'm in the minority with that.

i think it's much more basic question we need to ask you, have you tried different monitors/speakers?

When i first got my Kemper I discovered that I had my pickups too low on one of my guitars and it was confusing the clean and distorted sense of the Kemper. Also I ran the Kemper through the FX return of my favorite Marshall stack and BAM! every profile sounded fat and thick. Hell I even like Mesa and Fender profiles through that Jubilee power section and cab.

I am kinda like the original poster, but my gripe is not limited to one guitar. I am very frustrated with my Kemper, but I don't necessarily think its the Kemper. I bought a Kemper because I didn't want to buy 30 amps. I originally bought an unpowered lunch box, but then added a Camplifier 360 running into XiTone passive wedges. I did my homework on these purchases, but I am still not very happy.

To clarify, I do not need or want to sound like a recorded amp. I am not trying to nail a recorded artist sound. Rather, I want the setup to sound and FEEL like the amp too. Some of the available profiles are more dynamic than others, but a tube amp responds in such a way that very subtle finger dynamics on the guitar can be felt and heard. I cannot get the "chunk" that I am used to with a tube amp. I think there is something related to the cab response (on the profile). The best way to describe it is "blap blap blap" like the decay is way too short. The chunk I feel from an amp seems like the tone holds longer, so that repeated chords just sound right.

This forum is very helpful, but most of the answers are "have you gone in and changed the umpteen parameters" that will fix it. I want a lot of amps, but I want to spend time playing, not jacking with every parameter just to get it to sound like something with only four knobs. This was my primary reason to stay away from Axe FX units.

Sorry for the negative tone. I welcome all responses. I really want to like and keep my Kemper, but I'm really close to buying a tube amp again.

If people are seeking "amp feel", they're seeking wrong. Unless you plug your KPA to a Cab.

A recorded guitar sounds NOTHING like an amp in the room...because they're different things. A modeler or ampsims will never sound like playing with an amp.
Simply because what you hear in recording, is the sound of a mic capturing an amp. Nothing to relate to our ears, with an amp, in a room. It's simply impossible to replicate that.

I'm happy with my KPA, even if i feel there's is a lot of room to improving my tone.
Carrying a 2 bags (one for KPA rack, one for remote and exp) and my guitar to playing live, is AMAZING.

Happy to help!

The best help can be given if you post some audio clips.

If palm mutes and picking are a mess, than probably you are using too much gain/distortion.

One message to everyone: The parameter Clean Sens does not anything good or bad to the tone, it does not influence any dynamics!
Same with Distorted Sens, it should not be touched at all, unless you want to compensate the gain for a hot or weak guitar.

You've probably already tried this, but if the decay is too short, check the noise gate stomp and the noise gate knob.

We need clips!
Your problems cannot be solved without it.

Better still what about a profile we could try?

Quote from Terence T

I use the M. Briit Mars J800 1 5 2 profile a fair bit, part of the free M Britt pack. Nice results with my strats, sounds like mush with my Les Paul. (Recorded)
I'll post a sample when I get the chance...

Admittedly i have so many profiles (paid and free) that i often go through my profiles and make no changes, just keep trying until i get close and even then am often lazy (or stubborn) and play them as is. Since M Britt plays with a Tele, they probably need to be adjusted a bit to sound good with your les paul. Have you watched any of these types of tip videos?