Anyone Disappointed With Their KPA When It First Arrived, But Then........????

  • tried it and sounded nothing like I had dreamed. it was plugged into the main input of a bass rig using the cab feature. ya it sounded awful... but I just knew there was a potential!
    plugged it in at home and it sounded AMAZING within seconds. got a few amps to sell now :P

  • I did install a Solid State Hard Drive so I did not pickup the sound of the old HD motor... This is not unique to KPA, but it help me to be able to not have to relocate my computer far away from where I played the guitar..

    Aha! I thought it is more the radiation of the transformers in the power supply unit (of my computer)? But, yes, you are right: power supplies sound a bit different. When I put the guitar too close to the computer (the case, not the monitor) there is a nasty hight pitched dentist-like sound. So it is the motor of the harddrive that makes this sound?! Good to know.

    www.audiosemantics.de
    I have been away for quite a while. A few years ago I sold my KPA and since then played my own small tube amp with a Bad Cat Unleash. Now I am back because the DI-profile that I made from my amp sounds very much convincing to me.

  • what did you have to do or change to turn your opinion around?

    Do not make a decision based on a few hours of playing/comparing on day one using a few commercial Profiles. :)


    There are free Profiles that are better than commercial Profiles...it takes a few days to get into the free Profiles.


    Also.
    Play the Kemper for a week without playing the 11R.
    Then go back to the 11R and see what you think.

  • Play the Kemper for a week without playing the 11R.
    Then go back to the 11R and see what you think.

    I remember when I first tried the KPA at guitarnet70's place. Played it there for about an hour and a half. Went back home later that day to my HD500 and thought "WTF happened to my HD500?" (...and sold it 2 days later)

  • Went back home later that day to my HD500 and thought "WTF happened to my HD500?" (...and sold it 2 days later)


    Yep. Within a couple weeks of owning my KPA I decided to unload all my amps. :thumbup:

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • Just got mine last weekend. I bought it without trying it, after listening to every demo and watching every video I could find on the net. 8|


    To me this is a recording tool, so I expected the profiles to sound as miked amps through studio monitors. So far so good, blending easily into songs using stock profiles. The only comparison I have made so far is with software amp sims (commercial and free ones). To me the Kemper sounds way more natural. Loving it now! 8)

  • I recommend that new owners give it some time.




    Yes, it's instant love, I experienced that myself, but as time goes by it gets better and better, you get to really appreciate it more.


    In other words, testing it for a few hours on day one and deciding to
    send it back is bizarre...you shouldn't have ordered it in the first
    place if that was your plan.


    There's no way in the first week you can get to know all the 'stand out'
    Authors of Profiles made in the last 12 months...in fact, unless you
    ask it might take months to find out who makes the coolest Profiles
    & Cabinets.




    And, a Profile with cab sim ON through studio monitors is a recording
    tool to sound like a miked amp, that's until you turn cab OFF and run it
    through a poweramp and guitar cab...that's another honeymoon. :)

  • I bought mine without trying it either. I had heard a lot of the demos on YOutube and on the various forums. I think that I waited a while....we had to up in Canada anyways because they didn't show up until Sept. In a way, we were lucky because we had some of the newer software updates that really did improve the features and function of it.


    Regardless of that...I took it out of the box, uploaded the new patches and amps and took a quick look right away at Fisher Xstacy models. I turned to #6, read the manual a bit more to understand a few things and then turned up the gain and got a woody! :whistling: I've always wanted a Bogner XTC and they did a beautiful model of one as a stock amp! I then downloaded some of Till's great work, Ola's Triple Rec and FastRed's profiles, R.U. and Junaito's Deizel amps which are spot on, btw (I've owned both a Herbert and Einstein) and I also picked up some of Andy's (Amp Factory) profiles.


    Simple love for this beautiful box! :love:


    I ended up trading in my EVH5150 mini and cab, most of the pedals from my board and a guitar that I wasn't using to get it and I haven't looked back since.


    At this point, I'm still deciding on either an FRFR solution or a poweramp/cab solution for it live. To me, the FRFR solution seems to be the right thing to do because for all intensive purposes, this thing is such a great direct and recorded sound that it's probably what I should be doing live as well. It would almost seem a waste to turn the cabs off.


    Decisions....decisions......going to wait a bit longer and see if the Kemper folks have some surprises for us at NAMM. ;)

    Edited once, last by PBGas ().

  • When I first got my KPA, I bought it second hand from a great guy near Guildford.
    Listening to it at his place, I can't say that I was too impressed. (I think he had is guitar tuned to Zbm diminished or P2) NASTY metal tuning!
    After returning home, I reset the unit to factory settings, updated the firmware and held my breath. I had just sold my AXE FX Ultra and 11 Rack for this unit. Will it pay off?


    YES! was the answer. I have owned this unit since August and there if absolutely no looking back.
    After profiling my 6 amps (Mesa MKIV, Budda, JCM 800, Orange Dark Terror, Vox AC30 & Fender Bassman) plus, my mates AXE FX II, I knew that I had one hell off a product.
    I use the KPA in a pro studio, (http://www.redemptionstudios.org.uk) ^^ with clients always commenting on the accuracy of the tones.


    I love it and would never go anywhere else. How far had amp reproduction come on since the Line 6 POD?


    A VERY long way. I realise that you can't really compare the KPA and the POD, but hey. This is where we start, what the future holds is anyones guess. I for one am quite excited to be part of the process.

    Pro Tools 2019, Logic X, Cubasis pro 10.5, Kemper unpowered toaster, Champman ML2, USA/UK Custom Fender Strat. Livewire Studio. :thumbup:


    Check out : http://www.livewirestudio.co.uk

  • "I told you so"


    Refer to this thread...
    http://www.thegearpage.net/boa…read.php?t=1173548&page=4


    :D

  • Do not make a decision based on a few hours of playing/comparing on day one using a few commercial Profiles. :)


    There are free Profiles that are better than commercial Profiles...it takes a few days to get into the free Profiles.


    Also.
    Play the Kemper for a week without playing the 11R.
    Then go back to the 11R and see what you think.

    I can't agree more with this. I tried my Eleven Rack for 1st time in a couple of months and was left very unsatisfied

  • I loved mine from the moment I turned it on, seems I'm in the minority!

    Nope, not at all.....I also loved it right out of the box! Then, as with many others, it became more than love. I think that has to do with using modelers for so many years and constantly being disappointed in the "newest-latest-and-greatest" versions (all Line 6).


    I was really on the fence between the KPA and the Ax II; but I was just tired of having to update every stinking patch every time there was a software update, and didn't want to go down that road again. :rolleyes: