Hello all !
Figured I'd just introduce myself as I get familiar with the forum and my new KPA. As someone who's played guitar for the past 30 years and spent a decade in music retail I can honestly say I've seen, heard and played a ton of gear. I've owned hundreds of guitars, dozens of amps and probably close to a thousand pedals. As the unfortunate soul who is cursed with a love of all rock bands and guitars from Anthrax to ZZ Top and Angus Young to Zakk Wylde I've been on a never ending quest for the holy grails of tone, but my huge library of tasty tones is not proportional to a bank account required to play musical Pokémon and "collect them all".
As a guy who worked in music retail during the birth of digital processing, having seen the first Line 6 AxSys amp and getting out after Amplitube and Guitar Rig hit PC and MAC I watched "modelling" grow from a neat fad into a legitimate tool with great power. Unfortunately every iteration got better than the previous but none truly sounded like good ol' fashioned tube amps. I had heard of the Kemper in various articles and on YouTube, but sadly dismissed it as "just another modeler" and never researched it. A couple of months ago I watched a YT video of @BenEllerGuitars showing the correct way to play Runnin' With the Devil by VH and Ben took a minute to note he was using a Kemper with a profile pack he downloaded from TopJimi. Sadly I watched that video 3 times in a row and couldn't tell you what Ben was teaching because I was mesmerized because of the fact that he had THE tone. He was nailing that all-time great Brown sound and I needed to know how.
After reading reviews, plenty of things here in the forum before I was a member and a 48 hour YouTube binge of Kemper vids as I searched some of the grail tones I was consistently impressed. 2 weekends ago I pulled the trigger and after a 24 hour period where I had to figure out if this thing was as good as people say it is, I can unequivocally and emphatically say YES! Initially I tried the headphone jack, I knew it would be a weak point but thought if that blew me away I'd be thrilled otherwise. As expected, the headphone jack was uninspiring, though a great practice tool. Secondly I tried my reference monitors and was disappointed (low end $100 Mackie CR3 monitors which aren't flat response and have small woofers). My third option was a Mooer Baby Bomb class D power amp into a 1x12" cab which was better than monitors....but still didn't sound like an in-the-room-amplifier. Having further options I tried the KPA (unpowered toaster) into the FX return on my Marshall DSL and well well well....that's much more realistic. My last test was sending the KPA into the FX return on my Boogie Rectifier and WOAH !!! This thing is amazing. I am absolutely taken aback but how much it can sound like the real thing. I can now simply invest a few bucks here and there and have any (and ALL) of the amps and tones I've ever wanted.
In a couple short weeks I've amassed the catalog of sounds I've drooled over for decades thanks to TopJimi , @SuckerFreeGear , @LasseLammert, @Deadlightstudio , @BigHairyProfiles, @FastRedPonyCar, @SilentUndergroundStudio and many of these guys I've followed on YouTube for years. I'm beyond grateful for these profilers I've mentioned and can't express how amazing their work is.
Bottom line is, I kick myself for not getting a Kemper years ago because it would have saved me thousands of dollars. It's an entire studios worth of amps and a music store of famous tones and I find myself renewed, re-energized and refocused on playing now knowing that I can literally cop all of the sounds I have wanted my whole life. As a very incredulous guitar tone hunter I often found myself uninspired to learn songs when I couldn't get the tones right. Too often I'd quit practicing a song and give up because I just didn't have the right gear...I end up spending time and money buying new gear to get a sound only to find the motivation gone weeks later when I could get the sound close. Now? Pfft, 60 seconds and I'm jamming the right tone for the job and absolutely loving it.
Looking forward to interacting with everyone here, learning and growing with the KPA and getting deeper into what it can do. Thanks for letting me share my story but a massive heart-felt thank you to those profilers I've mentioned above, you have absolutely allowed me to realize a lifelong dream of having access to the gear and the sounds I've loved forever.
