The switches on the KPA Stage are pretty robust. If contact cleaner helped before, then it would suggest that the contacts are getting dirty (I haven't looked to see if Kemper uses optical switches or not. If they do, then they do not rely on contact and putting contact cleaner in them would actually hurt, not help).
You should contact support..... especially if the unit is under warranty.
Are you using the stage?
As flattering as that may be, I truly doubt that as the OP, my thread had any influence. I'm "Mr. Nobody" (Fast & Furious reference).
Also GOT.
Unless something dramatic has changed, it can’t be.
The Profiler code is written specifically for the chip it runs on. Not at all unlike Apple optimizing their code to run on their silicon.
Can’t have one without the other.
Agree; however, there is nothing to prevent them from using the exact same architecture and simply not having very many physical controls on the foot controller. In fact, that is the only way it makes any sense at all. The stage already has a built in WiFi chip for this purpose. Wouldn't take much of a change to eliminate a bunch of physical controls and shrink it down to something a little smaller than the current foot controller (not stage), and put a few more hooks into the common code base for the MINI.
I just had a thought. I have speculated that the design of a Kemper MINI would require most operations to be done through a phone or tablet app (even before they existed). This would let the device work with a minimum of physical controls and thus make it easier to make it smaller and less expensive.
Since this new release includes support for an iPhone app, perhaps this is the prelude to the Kemper MINI announcement :).
I am mainly referring to the ones that never really check out the Kemper FX, and put a bunch of pedals in front that could be replicated with the Kemper FX. I never understood the pedal people, I always went a simple rackmount and controller than 10 noisy pedals going through 40' of cable to get to and from the amp that did the same thing.
In mechanical engineering (and physics) the property of matter that says objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest. Objects on a speicific trajectory tend to stay on it .... is called inertia.
I believe that people have inertia too. People tend to do what they are used to doing and strongly resist change just like objects of matter do in physics :).
Shoot, I never thought I would have an amplifier that didn't have tubes. I had a lifetime of experience that told me all digital amps were crap for live use. They didn't cut, they didn't have touch, etc, etc. It was only a particularly bad spat of pulling my back out that made me decide (or decided for me) that my massive tube amp rig had to go.
I think that people get to liking "their tone" whatever that tone happens to be. Getting them to change (even if their "tone" is "crap") is difficult.
Display MoreLast weekend I had a private gig in a local social club.
Being able to sound just through the PA (we all use IEMs) is just fantastic. The absolute control of volumen and panning takes you to a new level (I think it's not necessary to tell in this forum about the sound quality you get from Kemper).
That and an Evertune equipped guitar and I was in paradise.
I just missed we had, for the first time, and lost, the chance to use one of those transparent drum shields (yes, our drummer is the missing link).
Perhaps start setting the seed for a shiny new set of TD-50's 
He could sell the drum shield and use the money as a down payment ;).
I'm someone who does use several effects because it's the style of music that I play. So in one song, I might go from a clean amp with some comp, a dual delay, and 2 different reverbs, to a dry heavy tone with just a boost, to a lead with a boost, poly octave, delay before the amp, different single delay after the amp, and totally different reverb, then back to the original clean dual delay sound, but with boost engaged. Suffice to say, a few simple improvements would make my life easier, such as the ability to remember the state of morphs and pedals when switching rigs in a performance, per-performance effect slots, set morph to pedals 1-4, or even a Helix-style snapshot option. I don't see how any of those things would take away from the simplicity that others enjoy.
Back to the car analogy, I'm not asking to take a Ferrari offroading, I would just like it more if the Ferrari had a power convertible top.
Those things sound easy enough to implement in the current KPA architecture. Hope you get them!
When people ask for things like double the efx slots, multiple amps, flexible routing like Helix and Axe III Fx, etc, it isn't just a tweak to the existing framework, it is a whole new product. I think your asks are easily within the wheel-house of plausible.
For me the simplicity and limitations of the Kemper are actually great features. Making it significantly more complicated would be a negative step in my mind. On the other hand, I also get that some players need far more complex routing/effects etc which the AXE (or even Helix) totally excels at. The fact that they are different beast is a good thing as long as you choos the right one. I wouldn’t want to take Ferrari Off Roading and wouldn’t stand much chanch with a Land Rover Defender at a track day. Doesn’t make one better than the other. They are both superb at what they do best.
Same here !
I had a Helix before and tried all i could do.
At the end, didn't/don't catch why i should use a complex chain. Even a multi-amp or an amp with many cabs sims is useless FOR ME !
I have to switch quickly between a clean fender tone to a crunchy Marshall but nothing else....
Yep. I am with you guys. That is why I am a Kemper guy ;).
4 in front and 4 in back is more than enough for me and my FX needs. In the front 4, If I use anything, it will be a noise gate and drive (sometimes just pureboost) so I can get 2 exact tones from a single rig.
I do know guys that layer it on thick though. I am just not one of them. I have a good friend with an Axe III Fx. If I am feeling the need to fiddle, I can borrow it for a week or two ;).
Help me understand, because I truly don’t.
Let’s assume EQs end up in the…uhm….EQ button.
What one sound requires 8 effects at once?
While I and many others are not effects heavy players (generally I use only reverb and delay), there are those who work heavily with a sculpted sound and layers in series and parallel of different efx. For them, the simplicity of the Kemper is restrictive. I have frequently thought that these users would be happier with an Axe III Fx which excels at signal chain complexity.
Zombie threads don't bother me as a problem /solution is the same in 2017 or 2022. Somebody might benefit from the answer. What I want to know is who needs 9 pedals in front of the Kemper to play at Church? I like to have a big variety of effects available, and I've never felt there was anything missing from the Kemper's library of them to warrant bringing outboard gear in the mix. Some people just have to have their pedals they paid for it seems.
In fact, one of my big positives moving from my tube amp rig to the KPA was that my setup was vastly simplified. I agree.
I do know people that have specific effects that they have grown close to and love. If the KPA can't duplicate them (Chorus, Flanger, Phaser come to mind) they are not satisfied with the sound. I guess I get it.
For me, setup, tear down, and transport are very important. A pedal would have to seriously have some mojo before I would consider it (I don't even bring my volume pedal to gigs since I have all my rigs balanced for volume with an exact volume boost (pure boost) at the end of the chain for when I am using the same tone, but am louder in the mix (arguably the sound guy should take care of this, but they rarely do)).
I sold all but a couple pedals that I still keep .... and they gather dust (just a couple of eq pedals I believe).
Mostly some tweaks. The tuner can now show sharps or flats, which was a user request. Some other odds and ends. Double Tracker got a tweak.
I’d guess there has been a fair amount of refinement and optimization this time around instead of ‘Big New Thing’.
Which if true, I think is a good thing.
If I had an iPhone, the editor on it would be a neat "wiz-bang" thing, but I think I would always prefer the iPad or PC for editing. Of course, there could be a use case for a quick edit from stage in a performance (which I personally never do, but others might).
The tuner is a good thing, but really just cosmetic. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes to code IMO.
Does anyone know what "Layout C with large Performance Name for Remote and Stage" means exactly? That sounds like something that may well be useful for a gigging musician.
My guess is that this is a token release (likely because of this thread) and that most of the effort in the engineering team is going into something new that hasn't been announced.
Another free update from Kemper. Thank you Kemper team!
I have similar experience with my KPA. I have converted a couple tube amp purists to date :).
I really bought the KPA for the portability. The improvement in FOH tone was actually a surprise. I agree with your assessment that MOST guitarist focus heavily on their monitor tone (since it used to come directly from their tube amp in most cases) and forget that the FOH sound was not as good. In some cases, the FOH sound from a miced guitar cab is just horrible and the audience hears a very unbalanced sound on each side of the stage due to the guitar cab being so directional.
With the KPA you also get consistency from gig to gig (unlike tube amps that tend to have good days and bad days ).
The FOH sound of the KPA is astounding. Love it. Of course, I still keep my MD421 and e609 microphones for guest playing in bands that are used to having a guitar cab on stage for monitoring (my band uses IEM's).
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "it becomes completely unusable"? Does it get slow? Does it not respond? What exactly is it doing?
I don't have much experience with my new Kemper Profiler yet. I have the powered Profiler head. I am running it through an old English made Victory 1x12 Deep cabinet with a Celestion Gold speaker. It sounds amazing. I have never played my Kemper through a FRFR monitor of any kind.
I think there must be something else going on with your rig if you are getting "sterile" sounds. I was shocked at how organic the Kemper Rigs sound. I have heard recordings of FRFR rigs and they sound great to me.
All this coming from a guy who had been a dedicated analog only tube amp fanatic for 2 and 1/2 decades.
Same!
In fact, the reason I purchased the Kemper without ever hearing one myself was that I found that the people who bought them were mostly boutique tube amp guys ...... you know, the kinds of guys that snicker when someone walks in with a Line 6 amplifier?
I have been using IEM's since the mid 90's, so I had been predominantly hearing my tube amps through a microphone and a mixer already. I only occasionally run with just my Kemper and a FRFR speaker (DSR112). Even then, I find that the Kemper more than holds its own with any real tube amp player I play with. In fact, a couple of my die-hard tube amp friends that play in other bands have been converted to Kemper as a result ;).
I don't know about ALL guitar cabs, but my VHT 4x12 and VHT 2x12 with custom P90 speakers (and crazy heavy cabinets) doesn't sound good with the Kemper to me. My DSR112 speaker sounds glorious as does the full PA.
Display MoreNo need for you to apologize, its a valid question for us to speculate.
It drifted for a while but it seems everyone has clamed down.
Just because we are happy, doesn't mean we can't be even happier. As I said previously, there is nothing specific I want but I'm still excited because I didn;t think i needed a new monitor solution and then Kemper gave me another reason ( Kabinet) to spend money!
I don't really want a Kemper Mini but I'd probably still buy it
I might buy the MINI and a Kemper Kabinet for "throw-and-go" stuff (like jamming with friends). With my own band I would always use my rack and fc solution, but it would be nice to have a small portable jam and STILL have all my tweaked in tones.
I only HOPE that they are working on a mini :).
As the OP, I never intended this to be a contentious debate. My only reason for raising this is that I am also a "propeller head". You can take the person out of I.T. but it's impossible to take the I.T. out of the person
My toaster has been running terrific for the last nearly 5 yrs since I bought it. I only wish they would add more functionality to the RM software, like TUNER, please?
Peace out everyone and let's always keep the dialogue on the friendly side.
I thought it was a reasonable topic of discussion. Given the past track record of releases for the KPA, we are overdue. It does beg the question .... is there a really big update in our future, or is there a new product launch that all the Kemper engineers have been working on?
I think all the talk of questioning the need for new or improved functions should be given its own thread. Sure, it is an interesting philosophy question, but not as interesting as the "why" we haven't seen a release in the expected/historic cadence.
I suppose that one explanation for why we haven't had any updates is that Kemper feels that the product and its features are already where it needs to be. I suppose that isn't unusual for a 10 year old product. Even that is not the same as arguing that we don't need new features/improvements.
As I have already stated, I believe that the best thing for the Kemper team to be working on would be a Kemper Mini. Not everyone here would agree, but then, everyone here has already decided on a top-of-the-line guitar rig. The Kemper Mini would be something that could fill the Sub 1K crowd (which is much bigger than the 2K+ crowd).
Anyway, I think it is a good discussion.
Good point. I guess that is limited if you use the Unochip ( then you have to remove and replace with the original one). Plus its second hand value is low so for me its not a big con.
Don't get me wrong, I did like the FCB, it is a good option, just for me the remote is better and worth the money.
Yea, I kept the original chip and put it back in for my friend. I think you can sell them used for a bit over $100 if you keep the box (which I always do). There are also several upgrade ROM's that are more flexible and programmable out there for the FCB1010 so it can easily be made into a pretty powerful MIDI controller. It is a pretty nice design (but as you say, for controlling the KPA, the remote is better .... especially for live situations where ease of setup and usability are paramount).
I think I bought it used for around $110 btw. New they run $150. They are considerably less expensive than the KPA remote for those who are broke after paying for the KPA :).
Just a couple of corrections/additions:
- Power source - FCB needs power source, remote is powered via ethernet. This is very useful live so you don;t have to run a power source to front of stage unless you run other pedals
- Cables - FCB needs 2 midi for full functionality. Remote only needs single ethernet cable
- expression pedals - FCB 2 built in but limited to 2 ( I think). Remote has up to 4 available. Plus makes the foot print bigger if you don;t need 2 expression pedals so limits optionality. Given my expression pedals were £30 each, for me its a negative for the FCB to not have the optionality.
- Display - FCB limited to numbers. Tuner especially not clear
- Bugs - No bugs with the remote either. Had mine 7 years and no issues so not sure what is meant by this. In fact as mentioned I changed my FCB mine because its easily confused. Hit 2 buttons by mistake and it hangs. Remote will at least positively select. Had this issue a few times live and very irritating.
Only con for the remote is price.
Yep. The reason I switched and paid 3x the price of an FCB (that I already owned) was the setup and tear down time and the smaller footprint. For me, it was just "nice to have" a readable LCD, looper, graphical tuner, and more flexible control.
There is one other CON for the remote. It can't be used for anything but the KPA. I gifted my FCB to a friend that bought one of the very first produced AxeIII Fx units and it is working great for him still. Couldn't do that with the remote :).
My main guitar has an evertune, so neither striking hard, nor depressing the string a bit too hard in the heat of the moment affects the pitch. Love it for both live and recording.
Some day, someone I know will have one of these that I can compare to my guitars to see if I like what it does to the tone!
