Posts by JedMckenna

I think the bag has perfect size and shape so thumbs up for that at least, however I do agree the quality is a bit questionable. I realize it is designed as a casual travel bag rather than something to take on the road. The tiny strip of velcro holding the side pockets is a joke, 1.5 months in and it won't stay closed. I've had my tailor fit metal clips to hold them down; will probably change the strap and fit it with those mountain climbers' hooks soon as well before something bad happens... no biggie but you know, it's just more things to care about and just adds up to all the other increasingly cheaply made products I have to spend time and energy tweaking in order to make somewhat functional.

Astounding how stuff like this goes through the whole design chain and still gets the green light and how supposedly "high-end" gear is getting more and more flimsy. Either you position yourself in that "high quality" market bracket and make it actually high quality, or do everyone a favor and leave that bracket before you start cutting corners.

Despite what has been said in this thread, for me there are definitely better commercial profiles and it's not just "a matter of taste". Some profilers have a better conception than others as to what constitute useable tones for guitars and while I tried to have an open mind in the beginning, with some hindsight I find easy to distinguish those who know what they are doing from those who don't in the profiling business. Some stuff being sold out there is objectively bad straight out of the box; like you'd be using it on a session and the producer would tell you straight away to cut that nasty reverb or be using it with a band and see right away that this eq-ing is terrible in a mix. Some others have years of experience in how a guitar is supposed to sound and cut the BS to give the working musician exactly what they need professionally, like you could load up their stuff at last minute and play a stadium or record a track with no tweak.

I carry a cheap overdrive pedal in my Kemper bag. If something happens with the KPA on a gig, I'll use the venue's amp (usually some Marshall) plus that pedal for solo boost to get through the night. Should get a better backup but the KPA has been 100% reliable so far.

Welcome,

Like with a real amp, modulation effects behave differently if you place them pre- or post-stack (X and MOD). They will be more "in your face" when used post-stack (like if you'd use them in an amp's effect loop). I know what you mean, some modulation sound weak in certain circumstances when placed pre-stack, hence the placement of the "MOD" button.

To save your tweaks, just save your new rig using "store", you can either rename (it creates another) or replace it, then if you are hooked up to rig manager, you can save your new tweaked rig from the profiler to your local library.

To use the same effects with a different amp, just go in the stack section and browse a new rig. You can also "LOCK" your effect/stomp section and change rig. Also, you can "COPY" one or more, or your entire stomp or effect section and then "PASTE" it on another rig. When you are done, you can save the new rig.

As far as I know, there is no other way of doing this (must scroll all the way), that's why some folks have been asking for an editor for a while. However, like I said above, you can easily copy/paste individual effects or stomp (or entire sections) if you have a similar configuration from one rig to another.

Monitor out is not balanced. I mostly use the powered output of the powerhead to go to a cab and I never had noise issues from running a long cable and if there ever is, it won't be going to FOH anyway.

For live, Britt's profiles are a lot more "ballsy", that was super obvious when I made the switch. Still use only Britt with very little tweaks for live. They both have sample packs now so you can try for yourself. However, since Britt always has the same cab and the profiles are sometimes dark at low volume (but not all), I had better results using something else for recording.

Also, while it's cool in theory to have "all the packs" from one profiler, sometimes it's a bit redundant and feels like just more of the same, at least make sure it's the sound you're looking for before you spend a lot on stuff you might not even end up using. These days, I limit my options on purpose; stick to a few great rigs every couple of months so I can focus on the music instead. Typical KPA rookie mistake is to get lost in profile search: it doesn't make good impression to spend half an hour finding the right profile and keep switching rigs back and forth at a studio session. Also, I find that the rule "you get what you pay for" doesn't quite apply to profiles; it's easy to get caught by the marketing buzzwords, the nice website designs/videos and while commercial profilers may sometimes give you more consistency (in volume level, effects placement etc), sometimes stuff of superior quality is available for free either on the ever-growing RE and factory content.

Over time, your AC-30 will hold its value more than digital gear and this amp model in particular is a staple. However if you are over it already because of the weight or other issues, maybe consider trading it for something you'll be able to use. One amp I still have and use profusely is my Blues Junior (can carry it the subway/taxi, can even mic it if the venue is bigger). As awesome as the KPA is, there are still many situations for me where bringing the amp is just more appropriate.

Hello, this is a feature request for the KPA Powerhead. I am using the KPA in a lot of situations these days and have a couple of different output presets saved: one for live, one for rehearsal, one for real studio and one for home for example all with their specific boxes checked/unchecked. When I make and save an output preset, it saves every output parameter and every box of that is checked/unchecked in the output section (main link, pure cab etc) except the last option: the poweramp, which stays on (or off) regardless of the output preset. Out of the output presets I have saved, I only use the poweramp for live performance and rehearsals and turn it off for studio/home and think it would be convenient for it to be able to load along with the other output presets.

I know I can leave the poweramp on all the time and it's no big deal but I'd rather turn it off when I don't use it, both for energy consumption and to prevent somebody else from accidentally plugging the wrong thing there.

In my case, Bert Meulendijk takes the cake as far as the BE100 profiles go. He's got it profiled through and through, merged/studio with all the switches and ranges of gain. Killing tone.

Unfortunately, for a lot of engineers/producers unfamiliar with it or seeing it for the first time, often all it takes is one unsuccessful studio session with the Kemper (because the player uses an unsuitable profile/effect) and their mind is made and reject the device as a whole.

I know where you are coming from. I've been in important rehearsals with the KPA where the bandleader asked me on the spot to have longer delay trail or heavy flanger while I was using a patch that didn't contain any. I've been caught offguard the first time only and it took a few minutes, then I made sure every patch I did was sonically versatile enough (with many disabled effects, morphing, etc). Then I made sure I had other banks of useable sounds with different effects. Now, U2 delay, shimmer or messy fuzz, I can probably handle most of what's being thrown at me.

I do think the KPA's effects are awesome but I've also been in situations where a second pedalboard guitar player was juggling with effects in a way that it was impossible to keep up with using a modeller (fortunately I'm not so much into that) so no doubt that a pedalboard is initially more suitable for jamming or experimenting on the spot if that's your thing but as Don Peterson said, these 3 knobs are actually super helpful for general on the spot adjustment of basic effects. For anything more "out there", you'll collect patches of stuff that'll get you in the ballpark and then go home, tweak and integrate in your sonic palette. In the end I realize in my case I don't need a thousand kinds of sound effects and often go back to the same ones within a handful of banks.

I suggest using Rig Manager. When your profile is all tweaked, go to "All performances - my profiler" and copy-paste your rig in the blocks on the right of the screen. Repeat for the other four. There used to have a bit of an unstable behavior when doing this so I suggest if you need to navigate your rigs/performances, do it from the 4 white buttons on the profiler.

Thanks so much, some awesome stuff in there. I liked how you used different mics.

Quote from GeoMax

I like the sound of acoustic guitars through a Avalon Designs VT-737SP Preamp. The Avalon is a beast to lug around. So...I profiled my Avalon and now use it in my Kemper with my acoustic guitars. I did share it a profile of it on the rig exchange a few months back, so you can give it a try if you want.

Thanks for the upload and the suggestion! I tweaked yours a little today to fit in my rig (volume was low) and the tone of this preamp is great, maybe better than my Aura (which I should profile), I'll give it a try next gig.

I had to upgrade from my older Fender strat I left back in my country when I moved and I got one of these Suhr classic. When I tried it at the store the first time, it took about 7 seconds to make up my mind. It's just objectively better in every way than a Fender in the same price range (or probably above, I'll never care enough to know); it's got all the good stuff ("Plek'd" SS frets, satin neck, locking tuners, compound radius, special shielding) without the Fender BS. Sounds killing of course and I find myself digging the bridge HB a lot but it comes SSS too.

I feel a lot of the big guitar makers are coasting on their brand name these days and really have to up their game to compete with some of the other smaller builders. I guess it depends where you are located but brand like G&L, LSL, Folreden, even Warmoth all offer good (IMO often better) alternatives.

Just chiming in as well. I'm a professional session player (mostly live though) but recently have started recording almost exclusively with the KPA in studio because I can get killer tones so much more easily than I ever had otherwise and also because I can actually carry the thing. I am in the beginning of that stage of my career so reading this thread makes me feel a bit insecure about my new favored method since I've been recording for some big pop stars recently and might be inexperienced with those proper old school techniques compared to some of you engineers and gear heads. I follow my own recipe and it's almost too easy now and I feel like cheating. So far, in general, engineers are very happy when they see me come in with the Kemper so I think it has a great rep in the circle.

The point I am trying to make is that in my situation, the tone disparities I could be experiencing versus the real things (if noticeable) are completely irrelevant in comparison to what/how I actually play when the engineer press "record", how prepared, focused and solid I am at the session and just having the "studio attitude" in general. Much more important for my re-employment to spend my days working on my guitar parts and come in and record them smoothly and quickly with a killer tone (to me) than wasting these hours trying to chase the end of the tone rainbow by investing in more redundant pieces of gear or even debating about it. There are so many other things to think about when recording as far as having my shit together that going through old-school methods and variables would probably freak me out enough to affect the session in a bad way. Of course others opinion will differ but from someone who's day-in-day out in the trenches of busy freelance work, the KPA totally changed my life (and saved it a couple of times when I had strange requests of weird effects I could magically summon within minutes.) I still make many tone "mistakes" but it's all due to my judgment and inexperience more than this machine.

When I use only acoustic on a gig, I use a Fishman Spectrum Aura. Instead of "modelling", it uses "profiles" of real guitars models that you blend with your piezo sound, it's on another level than the zoom, boss, etc. However when I have gig with both electric and acoustic, I use the KPA for convenience. The profiles that seems to work best for me so far are the factory stock profile "Acoustic B" and the "Rivera Sedona" by Dean on the Rig Exchange iirc. The Aura is a bit more authentic sounding (probably because I haven't found the definitive profile) but the KPA is easier to deal with by letting me add reverb/EQ/compression easily. Another advice learned the hard way is to be careful with the volume balance if you switch between acoustic and electric on a gig; the acoustic profiles are a lot quieter than the electric ones so might need to boost Db several notches on the acoustic.

Quote from SonicExporer

A bean POD 2.0 is in fact superior tone-wise than the KPA when it comes to solo notes on Marshall style gain profiles in my experience Especially when goosed in the front a bit with a quality OD pedal. The KPA sounds thin in comparison. The KPA also could not profile said POD without the typical congestion and rasp discussed & demonstrated in this thread. Very similar result to what Dimi posted in the recent video.

Whether or not any user chooses to keep their KPA or not, or whether or not they decide to voice their tone concerns based on their experience is also their choice.

On the other hand, some fanboys regularly harassing, bullying and making accusations about people who's comments they don;'t like is pathetic, childish and should not be tolerated on reputable forums. If the moderators are doing their job objectively.

Sonic

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If the goal is to get a good pre-packaged solo tone, plenty of devices will get you there, probably even faster. The KPA's concept is to reproduce the sound of an amp, not to make something sound bigger, fuller or better.

Usually on smaller gigs/festivals, there's either a 4x12" Marshall/Orange or a Fender Twin on the backline and I typically just plug in the cab portion of either one for my monitoring on stage. I've learned to trust that what's going to FOH is very different from what I hear and if it's accommodating for everyone else, I don't mind compromising my own stage monitoring to a certain degree as long as it sounds good out there and what's coming from my bandmates' monitor is my unaltered KPA's signal which by now I know is decent.

Bands typically follow one another during soundcheck and we are all rushed on and off stage. When I'm on, I usually just unplug the XLR from the microphone the sound crew had set up on the cabinet and plug it in one of the mains of the KPA (going mono), then have to explain to a sound guy I'm sending a direct signal (but sometimes there are language barrier/communication issues when playing in different countries). Today they had set up 2 mics on the cab (one on each speaker probably trying to go stereo?)... I did my usual routine of unplugging one and connecting the XLR to the back of the Kemper, however I found out they took the signal from the other mic (miking the twin) and not the one I was sending direct from the KPA (or mixed the 2 maybe, creating weird phase/EQ issues, god knows). I realized too late into the show what was happening and based on some people's feedback, or course it sounded a bit weird.

So today I learned my lesson; for those who are in similar situations (venue with questionable soundmen/unfamiliar with KPA) with a similar routine of sending your direct signal to FOH + cab for stage only for monitoring: make sure no sound from the cab's mic(s) can possibly reach FOH either by disconnecting any mic from the cab so they won't be tempted or make the mistake of taking the signal from the cab (unless that's what you're going for).

Quote from Indianageo

So now I've got this opportunity, having met a really good female singer recently, to play small gigs and part of this set up will be the Kemper unit because of its portability.

Any thoughts? What type of simple set up will accomplish what I'm seeking to do here?

Depends how "small" but the situation you describe is one of these where I think a small combo amp might just work better. Of course it'd be possible to use a Kemper but there is more variables to deal with in order to achieve a good sound fast both on stage and in the room (especially if you haven't played amplified in a while as you say). As far as portability goes, I'd still rather bring a Blues Junior/Deluxe and a few stompboxes (and mic them if need be) for small bar gigs so I don't have to deal with the inconsistencies of the venues.

I have about 40 profiles inside but use maybe just half (including 2 or 3 acoustics), the rest are from older obsolete performances that I sometimes go back to for reference.

I try push myself to make one new performance a month from scratch by choosing in my pool of commercial profiles without looking at the name. That introduces new profiles in my pool, purge those that get replaced and refines my selection over time. It's a great way to see which profiles are keepers and see if I can get away with certain profiles I wouldn't normally use. When I look back at the performances from a year ago, I can see it's much stronger now.