KPA appreciation thread

    Hi guys!


    Being a KPA owner for a few months now, I can honestly say that this was my best gear purchase EVER.
    I used to own quite a few tube amps, ranging from standard Marshalls like the JVM410H or the 6100LM, an EVH 5150 III, a Peavey JSX, and even high end amps like the Diezel VH4. I owned different cabs, like an older English Marshall 1960AC Greenback cab, a handmade Hayden 4*12 with V30 speakers or a Hiwatt Custom 4*12 with Fane speakers. I pretty much tried everything that a "mortal" can try, all this in a very fair time period of ~ 7 years.
    I was never ever really happy with my tone. For some reason, with every combination I felt like something was missing. I guess I've always wanted something that could really do anything and everything I wanted.
    I'm interested in and play in lots of styles of music, ranging from country to power metal. My biggest concern since I've started playing was the desire to play every style with an authentic tone. Make my Pink Floyd sound like it does on the record, make my Sonata Arctica sound like it does on the record, make my Brad Paisley sound like he does on the record, and my biggest quest, make my Joe Satriani sound like he does on his records. Of course, my playing is definitely the weakest point in this, but I can play these things fair enough to hear if the tone from the equipment is there or not.
    As I already mentioned, I'm a "mortal" in the sense of guitar equipment - I was never able to afford too much high end equipment at the same time. This always brought me to facing hard decisions about selling and buying, and I sold and bought quite some things that I regretted later.
    I was about to go for a Mesa Road King II head, hoping for it's amazing versatility, when I first accidentally bumped into the KPA and the first videos of it. I needed some time to realize that what the KPA was about, and I needed even more time torn between the Mesa and the KPA to make a decision. Money was not an issue this time, so I could have just gone for the Mesa if I wanted to.
    My "home studio" is very humble, consisting of only a pair of old Sanyo hi-fi speakers powered by an old JVC hi-fi poweramp, and a Line6 Pod X3 Live as an audio interface. I've grown fond of the tone I'm getting from these speaker cabs but then I had an amazing Peavey JSX head and Triple XXX cab what I would replace with the Mesa.
    I don't know why, or how, I think it was over one night that my mind has changed, and I really thought about the fact that the KPA is half of the price of the RKII, and while I wasn't totally convinced, I just decided to take the blind shot and pull the trigger on the Kemper.
    The day it arrived, and I set it up for the first time, my quest was over.
    The KPA is The Game Changer of guitar playing. Anyone who fails to see this is absolutely blind.
    I've never been happier with my tones. I can go in literally two seconds from Brad Paisley to Steve Vai, with all the needed effects thanks to the amazing built-in ones. I 99% authenticly recreated the original Run Like Hell tone by David Gilmour with one of the amazing Hiwatt profiles in the Rig Exchange... this was one of the moments I was always waiting for since I've been playing. Currently I have no idea how many profiles I have, but all of them are keepers. I could never delete a profile, if it sounds bad at first, I just tweak it for a few seconds and it's usable.
    And I didn't even mention the fact that with the KPA, you're also getting the tool for profiling... I mean, how cool is that? It's mind blowing.
    Anyways... I think I've said more than enough, and this post is getting too long.
    I'd like to thank Christoph Kemper and the KPA team for making this amazing product available. It has really changed the way I think about guitar playing... I'm playing more than I'm tweaking, and this is just plain amazing.
    Please guys, share your own stories / opinions here about the Kemper, and show your appreciation.
    Kind regards,
    Richard

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.

    I agree 100%.


    The KPA isnt 'good', it's phenomenal!


    Right now I'm digging my 1400 rigs method, no need to save my top 50 for easier access.
    With the 1400 rigs method no matter where I turn the browse knob I land up on a killer tone.
    Sometimes I don't even bother checking what amp the rig is, who cares, it sounds amazing and I can spend the day on the one rig.
    For me tweaking might be changing the cab which takes maybe a few seconds and possibly a quick twist of tone and gain knobs, it's ridiculously easy.


    The re-action I get from other guitarists/music stores/studios who have bought the KPA is like nothing I've ever seen before.
    Mega music stores filled with every piece of gear money can buy, and the KPA has guitarists scratching their heads in amazement trying to figure out what they can sell to raise money to buy the KPA...and when they buy it they pretty much say (without exception) it's possibly the best piece of gear they've ever bought.


    CK created the Coca-Cola of guitar tone. :D

    Quote from stockbauer

    i´ve sold 70 effect/pedals. now i´m selling 15 amps and a couple of cabinets. i own 2 kpa´s (black and white)- that´s all i need. last week i was in a bigger musicstore with a friend, who also owns a kpa and it was a new experience for us: there was nothing that we need !!!!


    When you buy a KPA, it's like Instant Rehab for G.A.S (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). :thumbup:

    Quote from Zappledan

    Agreed, but just for amplifiers ... 8o

    Not completely...IMHO. The huge tweaking range makes it possible to achieve a lot more sounds without changing guitar....obviously not considering the fetish side of every guitarist... 8o :P :D

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


    Quote from Zappledan

    Agreed, but just for amplifiers ... 8o

    Heh, it's always something, isn't it. :)


    But the array of amp sounds available, coupled with the quality and tweakability of each one has put me in a state of remission from G.A.S. at the very least. :thumbup:


    Honestly, I've been on the hunt for a satisfactory substitute for a real "tube" sound now for a very long time. Software was creeping along, slowly but surely, but there is a certain something, and I'm not talking "feel" that plain and simply isn't to be found there (yet) and trust me I've looked. Not even in hardware amp modelers costing up to $2500. I heard the thing I'm talking about in the first demo I heard of the KPA... I think from Sweetwater Sound's website. I had a hard time thinking it was real. I obsessed about that thread that pointed out the KPA aliasing. Somehow I haven't been able to reproduce that at all, but I was able to get that sound I was searching for. Every time I leave my studio now I think, "God I love that box."

    Due to work, I only used to play weekends for a few hours.


    Since I got the KPA, I NEED to play every night even if it's for at least half an hour! Now I'm definitely a KPA JUNKIE :thumbup:


    I even bought a Telecaster, for God's sake....:wacko:

    Quote from stockbauer

    i agree.
    i´ve sold 70 effect/pedals. now i´m selling 15 amps and a couple of cabinets. i own 2 kpa´s (black and white)- that´s all i need.
    last week i was in a bigger musicstore with a friend, who also owns a kpa and it was a new experience for us: there was nothing that we need !!!!

    I know man, this is a little strange... looking at all the nice amps...and knowing you don't need to get another one... it almost feels bad or wrong in a way :)

    Leg em down and yackem smackem

    Well put Richaxes! My experiences exactly. My guitar skills are not pro-level but I can jam out some Metallica, Pantera etc... and I know good tone when I hear it! Before I'd put down my guitar in disgust or fatigue with something missing. NOW! if I don't play its out of contentment knowing I have good tone whenever I want. I'm not hectic anymore wondering what it could be that's wrong. The "mystery" has been solved whether or not its my speakers, strings, guitar, missing ground rod, tweaking ability, pickups or me etc... etc.... I like how the KPA has deduced the explanations of bad tone to one cause... my guitarmanship. Or do I?? ;(


    LOL CH

    Quote from Stevoe

    I know man, this is a little strange... looking at all the nice amps...and knowing you don't need to get another one... it almost feels bad or wrong in a way :)

    :| Reading this post, my girlfriend has stated I should buy at least 15 amps and 70 stomps before trying and buy the KPA :rolleyes:


    :D