I have a Taylor 810 and after numerous reviews and reading until my eyes bleed, I have decided on the LR Baggs Anthem as well. Nothing else seems as natural sounding to my ears.
Posts by OneEng1
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Heres a idear :incoporate 2 12ax7 like the digitech 2101 i wish the kemper had a bigger lcd color scrn and master on off for effects.
I had the 2120 (purple version). I loved the idea at the time that it had real tubes, and I even bought NOS JAN Phillips tubes for mine at a pretty penny.
I have to tell you, the KPA puts it to shame. I sold mine within 6 months of getting my KPA .... and I was using it just for efx, since I had a VHT UL setup which had very nice distortion (and the KPA sounds better than the VHT as well).
I am with you on the larger LCD Color screen and master on/off (although you can accomplish this through the FC I believe).
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Great! What is interesting is that this is a generic noise problem so should not be unique to the Kemper.
In other words, the KPA is not particularly susceptible to noise - in fact a couple of times in my band, the other guitarist experience more interference problems with his Helix than I do ( note that is not necessarily because of his helix as he has a different wireless etc.). Did you ever experience this before with any other solution or is the first time you have had a recording set up like this?
I use amplitube plug in at home ( not my KPA), which I also get some noise so I think its frustratingly normal
Really pleased you are making progress..
That's been my experience as well. Other guitar players I play with have much more noise issues than I do with the KPA and my guitars that have been modified to be as immune as possible to outside noise.
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I bought copper foil for lining the pickup cavities in my guitars to help eliminate noise (and tied them to ground in the guitar).
I use a Furman power strip noise/emi conditioner: https://www.sweetwater.com/c96…CKf8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
and as you stated, you really need to stay clear of things like your computer and lights .... especially on dimmer switches which are very very noisy.
Hope this helps.
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Well... I think it kinda goes like this:
- Pandemic forces people to work from home and school from home
- Demand for electronic equipment (computers, TV's, cameras, etc, etc, etc) goes out the roof
- Chip demand (both large processors and popcorn parts alike) goes up beyond factory ability to supply
- New products can't be built to satisfy demand
- Demand for used products increase
- Used product prices increase
I work in electronics and for the last 3 years it has been the new normal that volume part orders have a lead time of >1 year .... and then sometimes you don't even get them when they promised.
New prices are being forced up as well as the demand for chips allowed the chip OEM's to raise their prices so that pretty much everything goes up in price.
Oil prices in the US aren't in a horrible way anymore, but in Europe, the follow-on effects of the war and reliance on Russian oil/gas has had a big effect on everything there since transportation costs are linked to fuel prices which makes everything go up. Note: The shift to EV's SHOULD eventually put strong downward pressure on oil prices. I have heard an argument that it could go the opposite direction though and the oil producing nations will lower production to keep the prices high. My personal thought on this strategy is that it sounds like a great way to have oil demand dry up even faster as EV's become even more economical compared to ICE (internal combustion engines).
I know you fellas over the pond think we in the states are big babies when we cry about gas prices when they are >$4.00/gal. I have done a fair amount of travel in Europe and have been stunned at the prices of fuel there! IIRC it was around double when I figured out the euro/liter to dollar per gallon calculation. In Germany today, Google says gas is ~$7.14 / gal compared to $3.52 in the US. People in the US would flat out revolt at this price!
Strange how you never see an F150 in Europe
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I'm with the crowd on this one.
You need something to hear what you are doing. The drums alone will crush most of the PA signal being reflected back onto the stage. Additionally, there are times when the guitar part is back in the mix. It would be nearly impossible to hear yourself from the FOH even if you were standing in front of the FOH speakers clear from the other on-stage noise sources.
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I also don't have any market data to support the idea that Kemper is used more than others for love rigs.
I do a fair deal of travel to different places in the US, and in big entertainment cities line New Orleans, Nashville, and Austin, if you bar Hop around, you see Kemper quite a bit and like others stated, I generally only see Fractal used as an EFX processor.
In other words, I have only anecdotal evidence.
I also agree with others that tone is not a different today. This my conclusion that Kemper 2 should upgrade look and feel as well as external interfacing.
Add another slot or two for EFX? Maybe add a two channel looper?
Aside from these incremental types of changes (and adding a MINY form factor), I believe all they need is a fresh and moreodern look using newer chips.
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After messing around with the fm9 for quite a few weeks, now, I would (repeatedly, I know) say: a Kemper 2 should be like the fm9 (or better Helix) but with simply the Kemper Amp Sounds. Fractal's parallel high quality fx were an eye opener. I've put many heavy fx in the fm9 after the stack in parallel (at least 4) and, yes this is it, for me. Another improvement should be all in one profiles of amps. This means profiles that can blend any driven amp state in only one Amp profile instead of having to mess with many profiles for one and the same amp. If a "Profile Pack" would consist of only one mere profile (the according "amp"), that would be another real next level in ease of use, for me.
I think (my opinion) that Helix and Fractal have taken a very different approach to guitar sound. I don't just mean modeling vs profiling, I mean in they work-flow and target market.
Kemper has a very digital product that is appealing to tube amp purists. It feels like a tube amp and sounds like a tube amp. One could argue that the efx engine is just the icing while the amp tone is the cake.
Both Helix and Fractal have approached the problem very differently. If one were to re-imagine how a guitar amp setup works and utilize all the capabilities of modern PC's and the infinite screen resources that platform provides, how would you make that amp?
I am with you on the assertion that Kemper's competitors have nailed tone and efx routing. Also that it does feel like the AxeFX III (which I have actually spent time with as opposed to the FM9 mentioned) does have nicer sounding efx than Kemper.
I am just not sure that this is where Kemper's audience is (in general).
Now, to be clear, I approach this from a live performance standpoint .... and I rarely use more than compression, reverb, and delay (all in fairly light amounts). Having a complex routing system is so far down on my "needs" that it likely lands somewhere south of nicer feeling buttons on the Kemper ;).
There are certainly plenty of customers for the Helix and Axe products, but I see lots more Kempers being used by touring musicians than anything else (other than tube amps).
It seems like a mistake in product direction to make Kemper into Axe IMO.
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What about my arguments don’t you understand? I don’t care about the value of my Kemper. I’ve never stated that. I only focus on the best product possible with the most useful solutions. I realize that value will drop as soon as a successor is revealed. I’m not born yesterday 🙂 If revealed of course. My Kemper has lasted 10 years or so. It has already exceeded all expectations. I don’t understand what you don’t understand. But I agree that he has launched a pretty well thought out device.
And I don’t really think that you should question the business strategy of Line 6. I’m pretty sure that they are doing quite well 😉 Their products last pretty long and for a fraction of the price of the Kemper and others and the new Helix sounds quite good.
Regarding needs. It’s a difficult road to travel. They’ve launched their products. But do they meet everyone’s needs? I would think that people that own their products somehow feel, that their needs a close to being met. But there are still stuff, one could dream of. A USB connection to carry sound first of all. Furthermore they are “falling behind” their competitors regarding possibilities. The sound is only ONE perspective to consider and it still sounds killer, but possibilities, connections etc are other perspectives to consider, when the competitors devices sounds killer as well. Connections and possibilities the Kemper will never be able to in its format, as it is now. I only think that it’s too bad, because it’s a great company and I cannot imagine ANYONE ever considering to complain if they present a MKII after a product, that has lasted this long. That would be very weird. I could see a lot of stuff, where they could offer new and great possibilities. Perhaps not a MKII. But rather just an upgraded version of the first one, but with the same profiling tech as a base. It might not get better. But possibilities and connections definitely could.
I can easily see Kemper releasing an upgraded version of the current architecture with little to no sonic improvements (which it arguably doesn't need). As you point out, connectivity, look-and-feel, and ascetic improvements alone would justify the change. Additionally, the new unit could upgrade the aging chips to something that could last another 10 years.
I am one of those lucky individuals that got my Kemper pretty early (2013) and have enjoyed a long and useful life with it. It doesn't really matter to me that a new version would lower the resale price of my existing unit since I really have no intention of selling it
If anything, I intend to purchase a Kone in the future to jam with friends with (I normally go straight into the PA). -
I think that's partially the point. Some people want it because they need to feel they are up to date, nothing to do with sound quality.
The KPA isn.t perfect but its the law of dimishing returns, its already very high quality and any changes become less groundbreaking to to the point of " are they worth the money".
My fear is that CK has done as much as he can and will move onto something not guitar related....but I hope he doesn't.
I have been approaching this question with the same POV as you in the past; however, RosboneMako has a point.
When consumers select a product in pro audio / musical equipment, they have multiple motivations:
- Is it the best sounding product?
- Is it a good value?
- Will it continue to work?
- Will it continue to be supported?
- Does it work in my work flow?
- Do I feel good using it?
While I agree that sounding great is a top priority, and that the current KPA does this in spades, one could argue that this has become standard equipment for higher end guitar processors (like power windows for cars).
Some of the other items, people may be having second guesses with.
long term support (LTS) is something all developers look for in hardware parts and software libraries/OS versions, etc. Consumers do to .... but almost no companies will let you know how much longer until they will no longer support a product. This isn't done until pretty late in the cycle. I believe a new release KPA2 would eliminate this fear for the foreseeable future and likely is a needed change.
"Do I feel good using it"? is also a valid motivator. The super cool GUI on all the other guitar processors in this class are a disadvantage for Kemper. There are no 2 ways about it. A KPA2 with a cool color touch screen and some new modern looking buttons and knobs would go a long way to people thinking their KPA was "as cool or more than my buddies __________".
Personally, I think @CK should leave the base architecture alone so he can continue to support the entire product line with a single release. This would prohibit some of the requests here, but most of them would still be possible. Maybe not n amps, but 2? Add 1 - 2 efx slots pre and post? That kind of thing.
I personally wouldn't want KPA2 to try to be AxeFX 4, but a more modern look with a few feature upgrades could go a very long way IMO.
What if a new KPA 2 was introduced
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I've tried PRS in stores and I agree their SE guitars are of high quality. If I had to compare I would say they're like ESPs LTD Deluxe series in quality.
I haven't played one, but they look like they have some good components in them for ~ 1K.
It's great to see OEM's making quality up and down the line.
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I wouldn't be surprised if kemper 2 will be out 2023-24.
I am betting that a Kemper Mini will be released in 2023 and that the KPA2 will not be released until 24.
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I'm definitely starting to think that my real need is just to be able to bounce back and forth from a simple one amp one cab sound to multiple amps and cabs sound. Which isn't really a need it's a want that I feel I need to have sometimes.
After exploring two and three sounds blended together I get tired of build such presets and go back to my one amp and cab sound for preset building simplicity until I get the urge to go back to more complex builds. This usually happens whenever me and my friends talk about tones or I hear a band and find they used multiple amps and cabs for 1 tone each. When i hear Gojira I say to myself all I need is one amp and one cab and then I listen to Periphery and or something like that and then I start wondering how many sounds I can get at once. I do understand that lots of sounds are double or quad tracked and there's usually more than one guitar player. So I wouldn't be surprised if Kemper continued with the simplicity route. Stacking lots of distortion tones is a long process that sometimes leads people to go back to keeping it simple. The axe fx is a great example for this. By the time I spend hours getting one tone and liking it when I go to build another preset I sometimes will just skip the rabbit hole that is 2 or three drives, 2 amps, 4 cabs and all the deep parameters that comes with them. Simplicity is pretty golden but complexity can be really fun sometimes and it's own reward. For many, playing is the fun part so whatever will get you playing faster and tweaking less is better. For some of us, the fun is tweaking and tweaking and tweaking to see what's out there, what kinds of new sounds are capable, even if all that is to show for it is a complex and subtle nuance that is only for us. The mileage that's varied is the Journey lol
All fair points.
I have a set of single coil strats, and a PRS with humbuckers. It's funny how I get to feeling like I love one more than the other..... then after some time, I pick up the other and suddenly feel it sounds better!
My ears do tend toward more simple tones with not much more than a touch of delay (if any) and a touch of reverb. In a live mix, these seem to just work better with an entire band playing.
Still, it is undeniable how rich and beautiful the right combination of compression, modulation, delay and verb can sound with a good clean guitar.
I can only hope that CK keeps these great sounds coming in the KPA2. I personally am a big fan of the easy work flow, but I can easily see how others might delight in the journey to great tone just as much of others of us just enjoy the end result night after night ;).
For me, the KPA was always first and foremost about the live sound setup. My back reached the age that it was no longer as tolerant as my heart and soul were about lugging big cabs and amps ;). The mess of pedals and cables was another point of contention for my live setup.
KPA Rack with the FC made such a life changing work-flow for me. It is crazy how fast and efficiently I setup now compared to my old amps, pedal board and mics.
While I hope that tweakers like Awsome_Elvis get more of what they want in the next KPA, I am still hoping that it sticks to its roots in basic architecture for those live gig guys
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i’ve got a collection of about 20 various Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Epi phone, Gretchen etc. i really wasn’t looking for any new guitars but I walked into a guitar center and saw a used Zach Myers PRSSE and picked it up just for giggles and really enjoyed playing it so had to get it. It’s my first PRS and I’m quite surprised how good the quality of the SE models are. Beautiful flame maple blue top as well as matching headstock flame. It seem to have some of the niceties of the US versions. Watched a video about it from Phil McKnight and he did a deep dive and said the pick ups were already wired to be coil split so I think I will drop in a push pull pot to split pick ups and maybe put a treble bleed on it and I think this will be one useful axe.
My SE Custom 22 came stock with a push pull, but I find I don't use it that much (it works nice for an acoustic sim I use though). Depending on the pickups, a treble bleed might be useful. The original SE PUPs I had were a bit fizzy on top and a little brittle. The Bare Knuckels fixed that and improved the harmonic content .... albeit for quite a bit more money than a treble blead!
Glad to hear others that have found even the PRS SE line to be a very quality level of axe!
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Stupid question..
What other upgrades are desperately needed? we have seen upgrades for everything except modulation.
The KPA as it is is "almost perfect" and I guess the next step will be a new product. But there is absolutely no reason to hurry with this new product,the kpa and the stage are still selling like crazy. Reliable and workable like never before.
So ..most likely except a few upgrades (like a modulation upg) we will see absolutely nothing until they will be ready to present a working,reliable new product like a kpa2. Maybe 2024. If sales numbers of the kpa/stage don't drop significantly maybe later.
I agree. I think modulation effects upgrade was discussed by CK at one point so it isn't a stretch to think that will happen..... I am just not sure when
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I missed this ;). Merry Christmas Don!
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Back to the OP point: no Xmas goodies?
@CK, No goodies this year for all the good boys and girls using the KPA?
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After playing my quad cortex mostly for months and occasionally my fm9, I decided to play my Stage after watching one of the newest jhs videos. And now that I've revisited playing around with different tones and trying extreme settings with various dist stomps and unorthodox effects chains I've come to the conclusion that all I would really want from a Kemper 2 at the very least is more effects really.
I like stacking dist stomps and eq. And I like using the exclusive or unusual effects along side my usual effects chains and I just can't do that unless I run 2 kempers together which would be defeating the purpose of just having the one thing you take to the gig or session that has all things I want.
Sure I could take any 1 of the digital devices I have or, build a pedal board or use a modeler and a Kemper. But I really just wanna take my stereo modded toaster and some kabinets with the remote or my stage, the kabinets and my carvin mach 100.
In addition I would also want 2 cabs and 2 imprints because I like blended sounds together to create 1 tone. Since the cab is really big part of the tone, I would choose that over 2 amps but I wouldn't mind having that as well too. Cheerio
... and I think that those things would be reasonable for a KPA2. Not as sure about the 2 cabs and 2 imprints though. Starts to get away from the KPA philosophy of simplicity I think. YMMV.
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I actually find lighter guitars to sustain better in my experience.
No way! That is very interesting information. I guess I always assumed the reason my Les Paul sustained so well was that it was heavy and fixed bridge. Maybe there is more to it than I thought!
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+1 On the Bare Knuckle Rebel Yells. Have them in my 2000 Singlecut. Freakin' deadly. Love them.
Good to know my ears aren't alone ;).
How does the fixed bridge on your single cut do in sustain compared to a Les Paul? I know it isn't fair to compare the sustain of a guitar with a floating bridge (basically strings hanging on a bunch of springs) to a fixed bridge.
