Something is just plain wrong with my KPA.

Quote from Kemper Support #1

A DI recording is made by connecting the Direct Output to your interface and using the Git/Analog Output source setting.

Here's the clip.

https://soundcloud.com/don-belanger/di-2

WARNING: I'm not sure if I did this correctly so be careful setting your input levels. Thanks.

So I ordered a new head and it came in today. Also, shipped the defective one back to KP. I can definitively say defective now. The new one sounds glorious just sampling a bunch of the factory presets. I'm still voting for the input circuit. If it was the output then the MP3 I played through a loop should have also sounded weird.

THE GOOD: I'm in Kemper heaven.

THE BAD: I pretty much have to re-evaluate the few hundred profiles I downloaded. I'm not even going to bother loading my last backup of the other unit - better to start with a clean slate.

Pretty amazing though that even with an issue I was still able to coax a lot of killer stuff out of the first one. Kinda highlights how fundamentally solid the tones inside of these things are!