Kemper: first day, first impressions

  • Hello and greetings from Brazil, new fellow Kemper user here :)


    Just a little background so you can weight my opinions appropriately: I'm 43, have been playing guitar since I was 11, and my favorite players (and guitar tones) are Eric Johnson and Shawn Lane. My current setup is a Triaxis and a JMP-1 through a custom A/B box and into a G-Major2, plus a custom switcher for auto engaging dirt pedals depending on which patch is currently selected. I also own an Eleven Rack and like it for recording but find it a bit harsh on the top end, which after a while becomes a bit fatiguing to my ears.


    Now on to my impressions on the KPA:



    At first I was kinda worried that I got a bad unit because the monitor out seemed to be dead. Installed latest firmware, still nothing. After a system reset it was miraculously brought to life, amen! :)


    First thing that strikes me is the quality of the factory profiles, I was honestly floored. Playing dynamically on this thing is a lot of fun, kudos to CK for designing the box and also for his profiles which IMHO are among the best I've tried. BTW I've given Amp Factory profiles a go and honestly didn't like them, too much bite and not a lot of harmonic complexity for my tastes.


    I must say the routing flexibility on the outputs is pretty impressive too, that was a very pleasant surprise. Also the lo-fi dirtboxes almost made me drool :p


    Now all I'm missing is a ducking delay and a few pitch effects (pitch detune, pitch shift/whammy, harmonizer) and I'll be set.


    The relatively long boot time got me thinking, what if I connected a backup battery to the KPA for backing it up in case of short power failures (up to a few seconds)? Thought that would be a very good use for that space in the back of the unit ;)

  • Hi Deny and welcome! I always use a UPS to back up the power on my gear, specially if playing open air.

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


  • Wow, thanks for the warm welcome guys :)

    Welcome aboard! :thumbup:


    If you like what you're hearing/feeling on day one, it's only going to get better, a LOT better.


    Have you begun to save cabinets?

    I've done a lot of reading before ordering my Kemper and even more while it was in the mail, but I am of course still a n00b. Would you mind telling me why saving cabs is important?


    Welcome brother!


    If you want, make a some JMP-1 and Triaxis profiles and post them - would love more of those :)


    Enjoy the KPA

    Will do, probably during the weekend, let's see how my first profiling session goes. I must say that as awesome as the profiles I've auditioned sound, none of them have the character of the Lead 2 Green from the Triaxis, IMHO one of the most beautiful sounding channels ever made. It's quite mid-heavy though, which I happen to like (think EJ, Shawn Lane). BTW I didn't find a lot of fusion tones with lots of mids among the profiles I've downloaded so far, seems not a lot of KPA users share my taste for those.


    Hi Deny and welcome! I always use a UPS to back up the power on my gear, specially if playing open air.

    I thought about getting a UPS but since they're a bit heavy I thought it'd defeat a bit from one of the main reasons I got the Kemper in the first place, which is portability. I'm wondering if one or two 2000mAh cellphone batteries would be enough to keep the Kemper running for a few seconds, because if power fails for longer than that it will usually take some time for it to get back and in that case I could afford to wait for the boot time. In any case I wonder if I'm not being a bit paranoid since such power outages have never happened while I was playing. Also I'm considering leaving no more than 300 profiles at any given time in the Kemper, maybe even less than that if I have to take it for a gig.


    Cheers :)
    Deny

  • Deny


    Luckily for guys who are just getting their KPAs now, with recent firmware updates you can audition the cab of any Profile...just press the Cabinet button and scroll through all the Cabs attached to the Profiles.
    If you like a particular Cab and want to rename and save it, press Store and save it.


    However, for guys like Schneidas, Guitarnet70 and myself, we've had our Kempers for about a year, we weren't able to scroll through and audition cabs like you can now....so we had to save and Import our own cabinet files in order to use them with our Kempers..


    Saving your favourite cabs is extremely important, it's 80% of your tone.
    Let me save you a bunch of time, here are Cabinets I've saved over the last 12 months.
    Format a USB stick, create a "Cabinets" folder within the "Shared" folder, then copy the Cabinet files into the "Cabinet" folder, then Import into your Kemper.


    For example.
    Check out the stock Peter Fischer Profiles.
    Try changing the cab on Peter's Soldano SLO100 and Bogner XTC Profiles to a "Tills" cab you'll find in my Cabinets...you'll be amazed.


    Here are the Cabinet files.
    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55111…inets%20August%202012.zip

  • Wow, thanks a million!!! :thumbup:


    Can't wait to get home now, even considering faking sick :P

  • You made a thread on TGP right?


    Welcome to the KPA world....you'll love it.


    I use a UPS battery backup for the reason you state......also if the KPA gets a surge I think it won't stat for 5-10 minutes or something....I wanted to avoid that too so bought a Tripplite.

  • You made a thread on TGP right?


    Welcome to the KPA world....you'll love it.


    I use a UPS battery backup for the reason you state......also if the KPA gets a surge I think it won't stat for 5-10 minutes or something....I wanted to avoid that too so bought a Tripplite.


    Thats a great idea Brian - im going to look into that too.


    to the OP: Welcome :)

  • OH MY GOD. Just profiled my Triaxis using a Beta57 that I'd left there secured by a LP Claw for recording. My Triaxis is loaded with NOS Mullard and GE tubes and has one of the most complex tones I've ever heard. Its sensitivity to playing dynamics is also unparalleled as far as I know. Think getting close to Allan Holdsworth or Eric Johnson, but using ONLY one preamp and nothing else, no external pedals, no gimmicks, no tricks, nada. That's what I get from my precious little preamp, and now... from the Kemper as well. This thing is UNBELIEVABLE, I was floored by the factory profiles but this... this is something else. I didn't even have to touch any of the amp or cab parameters after profiling, it was all there. Played with it over a backing track just to be sure and got goose bumps. Damn. I'm hooked for life :)


    Just wanted (HAD) to share, as I type this I feel like there's a little kid inside of me screaming and jumping around out of happiness, I'll get around uploading the profile soon enough and let you know ;)


    Best xmas gift I've ever given myself :)


    Oh btw yep, that's me over TGP as "Guitar Vilain" - the moniker is just a bit of fun over that stupid "Guitar Hero" game :p


    Cheers!