After two weeks with my Kemper Profiling Amp, these are my observations:

  • After two weeks with my Kemper Profiling Amp, these are my observations:


    * Excellent Potential in this new way of achieving guitar sounds!


    * KPA profiling isn’t perfect, but very close - don't stop now CK!


    * Something is missing in the extended low end when profiling.


    * KPA profiled distortion never sounds as smooth or analog as the original amp’s.


    * Stomp drive effects and boosters need improvement in noise levels and digital aliasing (gainy overdrives).


    * I have been somewhat disappointed with the factory profiles, but maybe that’s why we should do our own? :o)


    * The Strength of the Kemper Amp distortion is the high end punch & clarity - the Weakness would have to be the lousy feel on the strings when you are playing smooth, sensitive, connected lines (not much warmth or ‘give’). I also miss a full, complete low end response.


    * The stomp EQs are very effective and reasonably quiet.


    * The overall KPA playing feel is a bit stiff, but the sounds can be very realistic (rather like the POD HD-500).


    * Many of the profiles posted are unusable to my ears.


    * Most of the effects could benefit from more parameter control, as well as EQ.


    The future would seem to be very bright for the KPA *IF* Kemper dedicates adequate resources to this unique product - It seems like they may need more programmers to speed up the OS development so all ‘advertised’ features are finally functional, and to take the product to the next level to stay ahead of the inevitable competition.

    All modelers known to man 8o

  • After two weeks? It took me month to get out satisfying sound out of the other thing not to be named and I guess you haven't been faster, have you? So give it the same months to find 'your' sounds. Less controls doesn't mean that there are less tricks to get a certain sound. The number of profiles that can be taken or imported is high! As said in the other forum: It's in there, you just got to tweak more to find a way for your needs!

  • I guess exspectations and claims may vary and some need a top notch quality, they have been through many good sounds and achieved best results with conventional gear. Why step back then? I guess Radley had good sounds with other gear, so he comes with high exspectations and if so he'd need some more time and some more new tricks to get these results.

  • I disagree with Froschn. If the KPA didn't work tonewise without minor tweaking for you then it isn't the right tool for you. Everything else is denial of reality. ;)

    I'm a bit confused by the double negation...What do you mean? It must work as is without tweaking?....that's what happen when you learn a language without taking any lessons.... :(

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • Tricks? Hm...Are there some pickups, pots, cables, wireless, boosters and so on, that lead to a more realistic feel? What happens when you profile with a wrong setting with purpose to get different results when you compensate it with the internal controls, like saying you profile with too much gain and bass, to get it right, when you reduce gain afterwards with the kpa's gainknob? Can you lower gain and increase sensitivity or is it better the other way round? How do a compressor and the special controls of the ampblock interact? And so on....You don't need an AFX to have questions that you can not answer at once and it'll take some time to try everything.

  • What I like to express: If you need more than one hour to find your tone with the KPA, you won't find it in one year. There are not so many parameters.



    No offense.

    From my POV that is definitely not true, if you only need one hours, congrats!
    I needed months to find the best settings on one of my favorite tube amps the Valvetech Vac25. Especially to find good smooth overdrive tones needs time and e.g. the right pedals. The KPA has hundreds of amps, mostly require some finetune in settings, EQ & cab depending on guitar and speaker used.

  • What I like to express: If you need more than one hour to find your tone with the KPA, you won't find it in one year. There are not so many parameters.


    No offense.

    I disagree with that, firstly it all depend what you're looking for and from what sort of profile you're starting. The amp and cab parameters (and cab choice) are essential and it takes a bit more than 1 hour to understand exactly how they interact. I use digital guitar gear since the very first products from Line6 (rack systems before that) and it has taken to me 2 months to get exactly where I wanted to be...and I was lucky that some other user posted profiles that where near enough to what I had in my head to be able to tweak them spot on.
    In 1 hour you can find a set of pleasant, usable tones, this yes, but not "your" tone. IMHO

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • Yes, pleasant and usuable tones within an hour that's true! Found a lot and that was a hundret times faster than with the AFX. But to get out the last 10 percent that's always a long way, even with conventional amps you got to try different guitars, cabs, boosters and all the surrounding gear. Sometimes you get new ideas after weeks or months, that's the way with real amps, how could it be better with artifical amps?

  • Sorry guys, I apologize. We are living in different worlds. I am not a tweaker, I am mainly guitarist. I will hold back my comments from now on. :S

    No need to apologize, Joachim, everybody has the right to his opinion even when they differ. Let's put it in this way: if you would be put in a big warehouse with all the amps, cabs and fx that are in the kemper, a couple of boxes full of different tubes and a soldering iron to modify them as you can with the parameters in the KPA, It would take you more then an hour just to start figuring out what you have at your disposal...
    No bad feelings, your contribution is always much appreciated. ;)

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • :whistling:

  • The professional guitarists and studios I deal with who have KPAs were recording within an hour of getting their units, and reporting incredible/unbelievable recorded tones.


    Not one complaint or negative comment received regarding the tones.

  • Hope we can avoid not running into a worthless warthread. Saw reallly bad threads at TGP and pray we don't ever get such here. Please!

    +1...... ;( ....even if...cough!...HD500...cough! :wacko:

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • The professional guitarists and studios I deal with who have KPAs were recording within an hour of getting their units, and reporting incredible/unbelievable recorded tones.


    Not one complaint or negative comment received regarding the tones.


    my experience exactly.


    it's too bad that many pros by definition don't have the time to post in forums.

  • After two weeks? It took me month to get out satisfying sound out of the other thing not to be named and I guess you haven't been faster, have you? So give it the same months to find 'your' sounds. Less controls doesn't mean that there are less tricks to get a certain sound. The number of profiles that can be taken or imported is high! As said in the other forum: It's in there, you just got to tweak more to find a way for your needs!


    Point well taken. I *AM* still finding tricks to get the sound I like and certainly don't claim to have mastered the unit in these 2 weeks (and it's been the same for most of my modelers). My post only represents my own perceptions to date, and it is a learning process, not because there are infinite parameters, but because many of the parameters seem to have an effect on others in the Stack section. I have a particular fondness for the middle/bridge strat sound through the KPA 8) - it's the soft bluesy sounds with a velvet touch that seem evasive to me....perhaps I need to experiment with the negative pick parameter. Does anyone use this type of setting? Regarding the Kemper's low-end depth, I would think that would be an easy fix (I'm not talking about the level of bass, but the depth of response), if Kemper was inclined... My reference to the HD500 was only to say that it's a similar situation (somewhat stiff feel while still sounding good), not that the units sound alike because they don't imho.


    As I said, I'm still learning so any helpful suggestions are always welcome. 8o

    All modelers known to man 8o

  • I need to experiment with the negative pick parameter


    Me! Pick between 9 and 10 'o clock, Sag and Compression at 9 'o clock. Leave the gain a bit higher than usual and increase the bias a little bit (it reduce gain), Adjust Definition to compensate for the reduced pick sensitivity. Just a starting point, for me it works.

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff