KPA Right Out Of The Box Experiences, Tell Me The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

It's equal to the recordings. Nothing more, nothing less. If you expect more then it may disappoint, if you expect less then you'll be ecstatic. Nothing else gives you exactly what's on the can quite like the Kemper.

Personally I was somewhat let down at first, but after comparing it with my old modelers and up against the real amp being recorded, and finding a few choice profiles it grew on me and I now love it. It could be better still especially when it comes to fidelity during attack of notes, and it's never been able to totally nail the immediate urgency or feel of my amp for me (although it's got the sound pretty much spot on), but these are smaller nuances rather than sales stoppers, and I'm confident that Christoph can finesse this stuff, fingers crossed that he will.

Quote from Per

It could be better still especially when it comes to fidelity during attack of notes, and it's never been able to totally nail the immediate urgency or feel of my amp for me (although it's got the sound pretty much spot on), but these are smaller nuances rather than sales stoppers, and I'm confident that Christoph can finesse this stuff, fingers crossed that he will.

Per,
we have no evidence yet that note attacks sound different from the original.
Nobody has send an A/B audio file yet.
I usually read this comment from people, that do not create their own profiles but compare the sound to other modeling amps.
I have concluded that some users are not familiar with real tube amp sounds any more.
We have discussed this with Hadley recently.

Can you send me an A/B audio file?

The KPA is in my opinion as close to a real amp as you can get.
A/B testing profiles against the actual amps is very revealing, and is usually a jaw dropping moment. The Kemper is the only unit I have ever seen where the designer dared to do such a thing.
Many other modellers give an idealised version of the amps they model and are often very flattering to a guitarists technique. I can always remember a mate of mine plugging into a Marshall and commenting on how it was hard to play compared to his setup. He had used modellers for years and couldnt understand just how unforgiving a real valve amp can be.
In direct reply to the OP I find the KPA every bit as good if not better than any of the recordings Ive heard of it.

The KPA is a marvel. How else can you acquire the "soul" of so many fine amps? People can nitpick anything to death. The reality is that every amp I've ever owned has been limited in some fashion or another. Some were great when used clean and jazzy; others were great when overdriven; still others were nice when crunchy. I get all of that and more with the KPA, and the available selection of rigs just keeps growing. I never thought the time would come when I had ZERO interest in buy another guitar amplifier, but that's where I'm at right now. As for FRFR type amps/monitors, etc., well that's another thing

Search for "wiki" here in the forum, the user viabcroce has created a file with all those things. He's actually in holiday, not sure whether he would answer immediately....

Quote from resonator48

My original question is more for people who first experience the KPA right out of the box for the first time. I'm talking connecting, making sure the settings are correct for what your going through, using the proper outs for what you're going through, just tweaking everything the first time out.

Most of that is common sense if you've ever used a guitar amplifier. It's pretty simple to operate. Download the manual and read the wiki, then determine what specific questions you have remaining.

Quote from resonator48

There's no doubt in my mind that the KPA sounds as close to the real thing as you can get without actually being the real thing. My original question is more for people who first experience the KPA right out of the box for the first time. I'm talking connecting, making sure the settings are correct for what your going through, using the proper outs for what you're going through, just tweaking everything the first time out. And finally, for those who were using actual amps previously and not using modelers, then went with the KPA through Studio Monitors, were you happy, disappointed or somewhere in between?

In reading different reviews/post/questions on the forums, some have had trouble getting the KPA to sound like the recordings they've heard. Seems I've read about making sure they had the proper settings. The Noise Gate is one setting that's been mentioned a few times. Also which EQ section to adjust. Things like this. If people tell what they did wrong right out of the box, and what they did to correct it, this would be helpful to other new KPA owners. By the way, is there a FAQ section anywhere that covers some of this stuff? If so I missed it.

A 10 year old can connect the KPA to Studio Monitors and make the connections to his PC/Recording setup.
You don't need a FAQ, just ask us, we'll tell you...you'll work it out on your own because it's that easy.

I'm pretty sure everyone who's got a KPA previously used/played real tube amps, that's the most impressive part of the KPA, through Studio Monitors it sounds, feels, and re acts like the tube amps we previously used or played.

You can't expect to sound exactly like a recording if you're using a different guitar, different pickups, different player.
It's actually very easy to sound a lot better than most recordings I've heard of the KPA.

You've just reminded me about the noise gate, I forgot the KPA has one...sometimes I use a touch of NG...most times I don't even check if it's active.