Kones - 6 months later trip report

  • I think this comes down to control vs taking learning from others.


    I would definitely want to disable it BUT I'm also useless at setting things up so I'd like to also be able to benefit from others "best practice" applied automatically.


    The only caveat I'd add is, how many times has someone said try this profile with these settings, its amazing, only to find to your ears it sounds awful :)

  • I found the addition of Kones to add a layer of configurability where the amount of options overwhelmed the ability to easily get good tone. That’s where all this came from.


    But full stop, as much as I love Kemper, and I absolutely do, their interfaces are not good. Not the profiler or the rig manager.

  • I found the addition of Kones to add a layer of configurability where the amount of options overwhelmed the ability to easily get good tone. That’s where all this came from.


    But full stop, as much as I love Kemper, and I absolutely do, their interfaces are not good. Not the profiler or the rig manager.

    To put the Kone into the mode that you need, is about as complicated as setting up an alarm clock on an iPhone.


    On the Kone page activate "Kemper Kone".

    Also set "MonitorCabOff", as you would do with a real guitar speaker.

    Select an Imprint to your liking (Vintage 30) is predialed or default.


    The only two sound option for this workflow is the "Directivity" control that controls the high frequency aspect of the Imprints, and the Bass Boost to adapt to the way you use the Kone. We could have skipped this option for sure.


    There is no other options needed to control the sound of the Kone. They are all on one display site. How could the interface be improved for this purpose?

    How would a different interface on the Profiler or Rig Manager improve the setup for the Kone?

  • To put the Kone into the mode that you need, is about as complicated as setting up an alarm clock on an iPhone.

    I found the addition of Kones to add a layer of configurability where the amount of options overwhelmed the ability to easily get good tone.

    I'm pretty sure he meant the Kones in addition with all the previous settings overwhelmed him. Not the Kones alone.

    Thousands of profiles + hundreds of different EQ settings + 19 speaker imprints "the ability to easily get good tone"


    A real amp with a single speaker is, of course, a simpler design lacking these options. Some find that helpful, some find it limiting. Some find art comes from limitation, others need every color the palette has to offer. Some say potato...

  • How could the interface be improved for this purpose?

    As mentioned, I think this refers to the fact that the KPA has many parameters and these are additional.


    You are damned if you do and damned if you don;t, you can never please evryone :) Reduce the options and people will say its not flexible enough. Increased options and people say its too complex.


    I truly believe the KPA attracts 2 types of users...those who love to deep dive into setting to find the utopian sound and those who want instant gratification but are perhaps slightly less "picky"...


    I suspect you are already very aware of this ( auto refine debate, presets etc.) and I think the KPA strikes a great balance.


    There are perhaps some minor improvements e.g. being able to put in what you want to do in a wizard/workflow type approach ( this would be an option not the only way) as opposed to really understanding what each setting does e.g. set up my KPA for SPIDF recording ( set outputs, mono or stereo, typical signal strength etc, or live setting using kabinet and FOH ( output -12db on, imprints on, unlink relevent volumes etc. Is it weorth the development for what are often one time setups? Not fully convinced myself but the forum has quite a few " can;t understand how to set this up"....


    Just a thought :)

  • I suspect you are already very aware of this ( auto refine debate, presets etc.) and I think the KPA strikes a great balance.


    There are perhaps some minor improvements e.g. being able to put in what you want to do in a wizard/workflow type approach ( this would be an option not the only way) as opposed to really understanding what each setting does e.g. set up my KPA for SPIDF recording ( set outputs, mono or stereo, typical signal strength etc, or live setting using kabinet and FOH ( output -12db on, imprints on, unlink relevent volumes etc. Is it weorth the development for what are often one time setups? Not fully convinced myself but the forum has quite a few " can;t understand how to set this up"....


    Just a thought :)


    Sure we are aware of that.

    You can take a very complex digital foto camera and just click and make wonderfull pictures. No need to dig through all the myriads of options a professional camera provides. But you can if you want. But you need some skills.


    Same with the Profiler.

    Unbox it ( you can simulate it by "Init Globals").

    Plug in your guitar and play. Chose rigs to your liking. About all factory rigs are hand-selected rigs from professional makers like Michal Britt, TAF etc.

    Set Master Volume for the appropriate loudness.

    Make recordings and reampings easily through the analog IOs.


    Connect your guitar speaker to the power amp output. It will work right away, for every Rig.

    No high-level digital guitar amp allows this.


    For connecting a Kone/Kabinet however, you have to engage Kemper Kone mode. This simple workflow is printed on a single flyer that comes with the Kone/Kabinet.


    No more options are needed to make good music and to connect to speakers or FOH. Everything is set up for instant use.

    Can you point out options that are crucial, but hard to understand?

  • I have no issue with the Kemper interface. It’s easy to use and most of the deeper menu settings are set and forget. I think people maybe want fancy colorful cartoony looking touchscreens. That’s cool too I guess but for me the UI is fine and I set it and forget it and get down to playing. Once I’ve got my main rig settings down I’m usually just tweaking the amp itself or various fx parameters and it’s easy to do as it is.

  • No more options are needed to make good music and to connect to speakers or FOH. Everything is set up for instant use.

    Can you point out options that are crucial, but hard to understand?

    I need to further qualify what I said...these are very minor suggestions and only a reflection of what I struggled with from the start...less so now because I know the unit. Very little is hard ( although I still struggle a bit with Kone logic set up but I've done it now), its potentially more the combination of controls that might be useful and for first time set up.


    To add most guitarist come from a very simple world of plug in guitar, turn up volume and play - I also know you know your demographic, just flagging that I fall directly into this category.


    I'm an IT guy but when it comes to guitar amps, I really want plug and play. And to support your comments, it already is about 90% plug and play already, if not greater.


    A perfect UI design would eliminate the need of an instruction manual - you can never be perfect but that would be my approach. What can be made so simple that I'd never need to reference the manual. Of course this isn't totally practical as you need explain the purpose of parameters e,g, "pure cab does this to the sound" but a set up wizard would say "based upon yours answers ( to the pre determined questions) we suggest setting pure cab to this BUT if you want to change it, its located here"....type thingy.... As you will have seen, so many posts where the answer is "read the manual"...the reality is many people hate reading manuals and its a turn off for simple settings.


    The areas of confusion for me when I started were:

    Differences between mains and monitor outputs

    Setting up stereo vs mono

    Kone set up/FRFR

    Linked volumes

    Locking sections when building performances/best ways to build performances


    As you know these very well it will look very basic but when you first start its not always obvious.


    I stress again, limited value here and once done I never change so more of a set up wizzard for beginners than us experienced users, so only raised in case of interest...

  • Yeah I'll give another simple example. There shouldn't be an option to turn cab sim off if you are playing through an FRFR speaker. The result is shitty and fizzy and if someone does it by accident it's confusing and frustrating and disappointing. If the Kemper or Rig manager just asked on set up - is the speaker out hooked up to a guitar cabinet or FRFR. If guitar cabinet, turn off cab sims and bury that option in settings somewhere, and default cab sim on for PA outs L/R outs. If they say FRFR, bury the cabinet off switch deep in settings.


    This is the point about refining the UI. There are options available that will make the Kemper sound horrible, and they are easy to confuse or turn on by accident.


    It's doubly frustrating because when properly set up the Kemper is an incredible piece of gear.