staring a new rig from scratch: possible?

    Hi all,


    i got my hands on a KPA again today and i liked it a lot. I was close to buying this thing as a central question came up (which unfortunately did not get answered by the salesguy).


    I sure understand the the basic idea behind the KPA is to clone a existing amp tone, and the factory defaults come along with a bunch of amps / cabs / mic etc.


    Am i right that creating a empty rig isn't possible in a way to start by choosing a stomp box, then amp A, cab B, and Mic C and so on? (like you would do it in AXE FX, Line 6 etc. in a way of building a rig by choosing amp clones like Engl, Marshall, Mesa...) So you have to always start from a existing rig and then modify that one?


    And, i wonder if a particular amp tone got cloned and the kemper reproduced it 99%, how will mid, bass, treble etc. behave? I assume the kemper can not reproduce the EQ from a e.g. Rectifier, since the changed values of the EQ did not get processed, only the EQ settings at the time of cloning. So is it black magic, when u tweak a cloned amp tone using the Kemper knobs?


    thanks!


    Hi JudgeShred,


    In reply to your question about building a Rig from scratch (i.e., a complete blank slate)...


    The answer is both yes and no. The KPA employs a radically different method of duplicating the characteristics of an amp, as compared to existing digital modelers, such as the Axe-FX II. The Axe-FX uses a mathematical model to simulate the values of components of an amp circuit, and the interactions between them, as well as the power section and output transformer. Once this model is developed, the software engineer(s) tweak various paramaters of this function, in order to simulate and closely match the tone and dynamics of a representative amp. So, in amp model in a digital modeler, such as the Axe-FX, represents a general example of a particular amp manufacturer's model. For example -- a Marshall model 1959 Super Lead.


    By way of contrast, the KPA's revolutionary profiling process will exactly clone the specific amp that was used to make the profile, capturing all of the amp's unique personality, individual character and fingerprint, as well as it's quirks. For example -- Joe Bob's Marshall model 1959 Super Lead, Serial Number XXXXX, built originally in 1972, owned by various people, recently acquired by Joe Bob, and who has had it retrofitted with David Bray's Plexi Mod/Re-work II modification. 8)


    So, a specific amp Profile is where you have to start, with the KPA. However, that is not to say you can not "build" your own Rig. The best way to do this on the KPA, is to find a profile that is of an amp you want to use as the basis of your tone. When you pull up the profile, turn off any stompbox effects and post effects that may be enabled, as part of the author's rig. Then, go into the Stack section, and set everything to neutral / default, including any amp parameters that are specific to the author's rig.


    From there, you start building up your very own, personalized rig, by adjusting the Amp, EQ, and Cabinet settings to your liking, then add any desired Stompbox effects, as well as post-FX (e.g., Delays, Reverbs, etc.).

    Edited 3 times, last by Tritium ().

    While scrolling through amps, you can also switch all stomps and post effects off and loco this setting. By doing this, you hear just the amp on every profile, as the effect blocks are switched off.
    You can lock every stomp, effect, amp or cab. For example it is possible to lock the cab and try the sound with other amps or cabs.


    The lock feature is quite useful while building rigs.

    You can build any rig you want, even starting from an existing rig: there's no need to start from an empty canvas, so to speak :) the needed time will be the same
    You're limited to assembling the elements you can control from the UI tho: stomps, fx, amp, cab. You can also put the tonestack before or after the amp section.
    Just select an item (amp, cab, stomp...) by long-pressing the relative button until it blinks. Then you can browse through your presets or through the installed rigs and choose the specific element (say amp) from whatever rig you've installed.
    It doesn't matter whether you start from an existing rig, if you change each single component you'll end up with a band new rig :)
    Remember you can save every and each component you come across or even a combination of components (pressing for example Stack instead of Cab) as a preset, and reuse it to assemble your new rigs.


    HTH :)