Posts by diego

    Hi guys


    I know this in an old threat. Nevertheless, I tried the Boss GT-1000 and I am positively surprise how well it sounds and feels. I can quite easily replicate low, mid and high gain sounds from commercial profiles with this Boss unit. The dynamics are great and when rolling back the volume on the guitar -- even sometimes better than the Kemper. I also had the Helix before and must say that amp wise the Boss is more a bit better to my ears. Probably the Boss unit is a bit underrated may be because its old fashioned interface is not so great looking - but you can use your tablet to control it. In terms of playing dynamics the Kemper can still be a bit better but its marginal.


    So we are lucky to have so many good products on the market to choose from. Also the recent beta-update with new drives for the Kemper is just amazing. I will keep both :)

    Hi all - after I played the last year with a Fractal AX8 I am now back with a Kemper Stage. The simplicity and sound are just unmatched. The Stage as such is great and also the new Reverbs / Delays since I left the Kemper last year are stunning. On top now the „Editor“ makes it very accessible. Love it and rocks like hell.


    The AX8 is also a great unit and has some very unique features but now I play more again than tweaking ...


    Glad to be back


    Cheers Sacapuntas:)

    After 8 years it is time to move on. KPA sold and Fracatal AX8 bought. Could not be happier. The Kemper was great but to dial in my sound the AX8 is better for me. Also I sold a bunch of pedals as the effects in the AX8 incl overdrives are really good. The KPA is of course a really amazing piece of gear and I really appreciated all the updates and improvements. But more my modest needs of just having a great clean tone and sometime a bit more crunch and distortion combined with good few effects the AX8 provides fast and very good results at every volume level.


    Thanks to everybody for the great tips here in the forum. I enjoyed to be part of the group. All the best and hasta luego

    Sacapuntas

    Hi there, just if you are interested in the Hughes&Kettner BlackSpirit 200 ...


    I tested for some days this little beast what is basically a 4 channel analog (transistor) amp running at 2, 20 or 200 Watts. It also has a red box providing 8 different cab types. In a nutshell, very natural sounding in direct to cab mode and also when used as recording amp via red box. I have also some other good amps in the room (Mesa Express 5:50Plus, Fender Deluxe Reverb) and .... I can mimic most of the sounds quite well with the Black Spirit - in terms of feel (very direct / no latency) and also sound quality wise.


    Comparing to some of the M Britt profiles in the KPA: I was able to dial in very close if not identical sounds (sometimes may be even more "open") with the H&K amp. I focussed on clean and crunch and typical Fender clean, Fender on the edge, Marshall type of sound came out with ease and by using a cab you can achieve kind of sick level of power. It is not exactly cheap with around 790 Euro but I would say it provides all what most of the players would need and this at very high quality.


    Has also some basic effects (reverb, delay, modulations) and a nice booster. It can be controlled via an IPad app or midi. Presets can be saved on the Ipad. So in my opinion this is very good a) alternative for a KPA (for gigging and recording if you do not need the effects and more sound / profile variations) and/or b) a light-weight backup for the KPA able to cover a lot of different music styles. I play now for 46 years and would easily say that this little thing is certainly the best transistor based amp as it can beat some of the tube amps in a way as you can enjoy the power amp sagging at much lower volumes. No artificially sounding fizz - just "real" tube sound. Great to have these possibilities nowadays. (PS I have no relationship at all to H&K :-))

    Rock on

    Sacapuntas

    Technology is great, however, at the end the music that comes out of it counts. I would not worry so much about effects and put more emphasis and focus on the music. The KPA as it is just amazing and allows many people to make great music. Let s be more humble and appreciate what we have vs 10 years ago .... Just my "2 cents". Rock on !

    Hi Amaze-B


    thanks for all the details. Would you say that the addition of the HX improves the effect quality vs. Kemper significantly? Or is is more the broader choice? How do the stomp boxes in front of the Kemper behave and and sound vs analog drive / compressor pedals?


    Sorry if I missed anything before in this discussion


    Cheers Sacapuntas

    I have a cab with a Eminence Swamp Thang 12" 150/8 what sounds excellent with almost all profiles (not those for acoustics / bass of course). In addition I have in stereo the EV ZLX 12 active PA system. Even at home I love to run in parallel both the real speaker and the PA e.g. for stereo delay. For me I had never a better sounding system. For looping I run in addition a MEsa Boogie Express ... so it s pretty loud at home :)