Kemper KPA vs. Axe-FX II (Yes, another one...please read!)

    Quote from jzucker


    Well, maybe i'm doing something wrong but neither the vintage, hyper or air chorus come anywhere close to a JC120 or the CE-1 pedals and have you ever tried a DLS chorus pedal?
    ...


    I dunno, maybe you're doing something wrong, or maybe we just have to agree to disagree here.
    The chorus of the JC 120 and 160 that I played in the 80's sounded just the same as the air chorus does now.
    I even have applauded CK for having nailed that sound and still stand by it.
    Also the CE-1 sound is there, though I can only reference it with my UAD emulation.

    I have a Keeley modded TS9 and I don't care what any of you say, the Green Screamer on the KPA is legit. The choruses are good and the reverbs are good as well although an authentic sounding spring reverb would be nice.
    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the minute your drummer hits a cymbal, all that nuance is lost. I'm not saying that detail doesn't matter, but there is such a thing as over-obsessing about the minutia.

    Quote from Khaki_Lackey

    I have a Keeley modded TS9 and I don't care what any of you say, the Green Screamer on the KPA is legit. The choruses are good and the reverbs are good as well although an authentic sounding spring reverb would be nice.
    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the minute your drummer hits a cymbal, all that nuance is lost. I'm not saying that detail doesn't matter, but there is such a thing as over-obsessing about the minutia.


    I probably shouldn't speak for Jack, but, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of what he does is solo....i.e., no drummer.

    Quote from meambobbo

    Until kemper updates delay/reverb, you can try out my advanced reverb presets. See the thread in the free profiles sub-forum. Several people have said they have started using them live and are now leaving their strymon reverbs at home, so i must be doing something right. Ideal? No. Good enough for me, yes.


    Is there a way to load just your reverbs in rig manager? I could only load the full rigs there.

    Quote from Khaki_Lackey

    I have a Keeley modded TS9 and I don't care what any of you say, the Green Screamer on the KPA is legit. The choruses are good and the reverbs are good as well although an authentic sounding spring reverb would be nice.
    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the minute your drummer hits a cymbal, all that nuance is lost. I'm not saying that detail doesn't matter, but there is such a thing as over-obsessing about the minutia.


    You can say that all you want but configure your internal ts9 with 0 gain and 0 volume.


    Now configure your real TS9 for 0 gain and noon on the volume. You can't hear the diff? Way more gain on the internal TS9. Yes, you can put a pure gain with negative gain and remove some of the gain but they are DEFINITELY NOT identical.


    Regarding reverb, I could make the same argument that "why use a kemper" since as soon as the drummer hits, you might as well be playing a fender blues junior.

    Quote from jzucker

    You can say that all you want but configure your internal ts9 with 0 gain and 0 volume.


    Now configure your real TS9 for 0 gain and noon on the volume. You can't hear the diff? Way more gain on the internal TS9. Yes, you can put a pure gain with negative gain and remove some of the gain but they are DEFINITELY NOT identical.


    Regarding reverb, I could make the same argument that "why use a kemper" since as soon as the drummer hits, you might as well be playing a fender blues junior.


    Some people keep saying Kemper's green scream sounds different some people keep saying it sounds exactly like the original. Usually in those threads (and we've had many of them) people confuse the different incarnations of real world tube screamers. Usually in those threads people ignore the fact that the controls of Kemper's green screamer act differently than the original (which original?).
    What obviously nobody does while it should be the second thing to do (after reading at least a few of the older threads) is to post a recording.
    Really, I don't have a real world tube screamer and I would love to hear the difference or how identical they sound.

    Quote from jzucker

    the instructions indicated otherwise, i guess it was implied that was just for the rigs then...


    Where did they indicate otherwise? I will edit anything that is confusing.


    If you want to use Rig Manager, what you can do is load the rigs from the Rig Exchange, then lock effects and load the rig you want to play. Or load the rig from the Rig Exchange, hold "Effects" to enter the edit mode for Effects, press Store, and choose to store effects instead of the full rig.


    If you just want to import the Effects presets directly, you need to copy them into the Effects folder on a KPA USB drive, plug that in your profiler and choose to import.


    It is unfortunate that Rig Manager is still a bit "narrow" in focus, and we still have to resort to moving a USB drive back and forth.


    In the general instructions, maybe I misread it but it appeared to be from the context of rig manager. Anyway, looking for a fenderish sounding reverb. Which one of your reverbs comes closest?


    Here's the closest I've come using the hall reverb, unfortunately the mix was too high on this.


    Gibson 175 through the kemper with ampfactory vibrolux reverb


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    Quote from jzucker

    You can say that all you want but configure your internal ts9 with 0 gain and 0 volume.


    Now configure your real TS9 for 0 gain and noon on the volume. You can't hear the diff? Way more gain on the internal TS9. Yes, you can put a pure gain with negative gain and remove some of the gain but they are DEFINITELY NOT identical.


    Regarding reverb, I could make the same argument that "why use a kemper" since as soon as the drummer hits, you might as well be playing a fender blues junior.


    Look up the words "nuance" and "minutia" and see if that applies to the difference between a KPA and a Fender Blues Junior.
    As far as the tube screamer goes, I said it sounds "legit" which means "convincing." (I'm not sure if we're dealing with a language barrier here, if so, I apologize. I'm not trying to be rude) but I didn't mean to imply that it's controls acted EXACTLY like a real TS-9.

    Quote from Khaki_Lackey


    Look up the words "nuance" and "minutia" and see if that applies to the difference between a KPA and a Fender Blues Junior.
    As far as the tube screamer goes, I said it sounds "legit" which means "convincing." (I'm not sure if we're dealing with a language barrier here, if so, I apologize. I'm not trying to be rude) but I didn't mean to imply that it's controls acted EXACTLY like a real TS-9.


    You were implying that being picky about the reverb was silly and I was trying to draw an analogy. In terms of the kemper TS9, I agree it sounds good and it sounds like a tube screamer but if you play Stevie Ray Vaughn stuff you are probably turning the gain all the way off. Both my stock TS9 and my boutique TS9 sound extremely close and both have a very characteristic tone with the gain all the way off. The kemper TS9 with the gain off sounds about like my other 2 screamers with the gain 1/2 way up. If you always have your real TS9 with the gain up higher, you probably don't notice a difference.


    But the problem with various claims about pedals sounding identical to the real thing is that often, people don't bother to actually look at the full range of tones in the pedal. For example, if you're going for medium TS9 gain, I would agree that kemper TS9 is fine. For low gain, you have to prefix the kemper TS9 with a negative gain pure boost. Not intuitive and in need of improvement IMO. This is true of most of the gain pedals that the kemper has.


    Heya


    Ok I had to come in to this and suggest that you have a play with some of the delay types & reverb types.


    Delays, it does have modulation (pretty good one too actually) and you can adjust it with one knob, just use free delay or even tap delay (use the TYPE knob to set the delay variation) you can use the controls to make it VERY vintage analog easy.. and at the same time, very modern and bright (digital)


    The reverb, can be set to detail too, again use the TYPE knob to set for room, ambi, hall etc whatever you wish for. - The reverb is really good it just takes time to dial in your preferd tastes


    My Advice.. try not to replicate whatever else is out there, else you will get disappointed anyway.. Kemper has its own sound with effects so use it like that way of thinking.


    Once you find what you need, you can then lock it and use it on everything (same with delay's) or any effect actually.


    I use the verb a lot & delays they fit the bill for me just fine, and I'd never need anything more. - when recording I always run dry, not because the effects are not up to standard, but simply because I prefer control at mixtime.


    Of course, we want a spring reverb, and Im sure it will come to the kemper soon enough.


    But for now.. remember,, the Kemper is a Guitar tool, its aim is to capture guitar amps in blazing fire accuracy. its not a studio rack emulation of vintage effects... that you will have to source somewhere else.

    @jzucker, lets take this discussion of loading the presets to this thread:


    http://www.kemper-amps.com/for…ed-Reverb-Release-3-Rigs/?


    Once you've got them in your KPA and can play around we can bring the discussion of quality back here. For a Fender sound, I recommend the Spring ones - "MAB N" on the Rig Exchange.