New KPA owner – great Amp, but needs better music store experience

    Hi there,


    I bought a KPA Powerhead last week. And I am more than happy with it! Normally days after a big investment I ask myself: Did I really need to spend that much money for it? Do I really need it?


    But the KPA did surpass all my expectations. I really like the User Interface. But you need some time to find a profile that sounds really good (there are a few and I searched for some hours)


    when I tested the KPA in a music store I was not that kind of impressed because the factory rigs were so enormous that it was hard to find a good sound in the small amount of time. And honestly about half of the factory rigs are mediocre at best (others, on the other hand, really sound great – but it is probably a subjective thing).



    i did not take the KPA with me back then . After watching some YouTube videos I thought: the KPA must be better that what I heard in the music store. So, fortunately, I bought it!


    here's my idea of how to improve the music store experience: create a "demo" presentation mode with just 5 presets (Rivs) that can easily be selected


    it's good to have a lot of options at home, but when you only have 10 minutes to test a new Amp, you need great sound "out of the box"


    i am am thrilled to see what the KPA has to offer in the future. I can't stop playing with it!

    Hi welcome to the gang. I felt the same way when I got my KPA. I was not to impressed with the factory rigs there were one or 2 good ones, but this was over 3 years ago and the factory rigs that come now include packs by TAF, MBritt, Soundside TopJimi which should enhance the factory rigs. That is the Thing with the KPA though you have to stay up all night to go through all the great rigs that our out there ;)


    Anyway enjoy it and let the lack of sleep kick in :)

    When I bought my KPA it was without a proper demo first. As soon as I unboxed it and ran through a few profiles using only my DT770's cans for monitoring, I was blown away. Many of the factory rigs, including the free ones by commercial profilers, became instant favorites.


    That said, it took me a few weeks and several read throughs of the manual to truly unlock the power of my KPA. That was when I finally had the chance to record with it. Only then did I come to fully appreciate it in all its power and glory.

    Husband, Father, Pajama Enthusiast

    @Tilli85 is 100% right.Kemper could do a huge favour to themselves by doing some better factory-profile-"show off"..


    For many,many guitar players modeling is still "devil stuff" and by the first mediocre/bad profile they come across they will say "nah..knew it,it is not the real thing"...which is bad because the KPA has so much music to offer.


    With so many good free profiles now available-specially from the professional profilers like TAF,Topjimi,Mbritt,Sinmix,Guido,Soundside and some other guys Kemper could do a few "factory-packages" for every taste.I would do some top20-packages for lets say "blues/classic rock" or "hardrock/metal" or "fusion/jazz" or FX-ladden "U2/Rush" style profiles.


    Let me do the example for the "Blues/Classic Rock" top20 profiles:



    TAF-MS67Darkmatter
    Topjimi TJ-Mars SLead6
    Topjimi-BBrkr Med-6
    TAF-Manrock800
    TAF JCM-800 BP
    Dottor Mengho Marshall JCM900


    TAF-Big Twin
    Kemper-Blackface Bass Dimed
    Topjimi-Fan BM Cln-3


    TAF-A-Matchless DC-30BP
    TAF-A-VC AC30121/57
    TAF-RR Peavy50 57/121
    Guitari-Vox VTX AC-30TB-


    TAF-Mesa mk2c axis TS
    TAF-HG Mesa TP 409/87


    Fastredponycar-Splawn Nitro
    Krikke-Splawn overdr.1
    MBritt OTS Cln1
    TAF-Carr s6 Brown
    TAF-D13 BrownPig


    These are all excellent profiles for LesPaul/Strat/Tele and all of them are free profiles you can find in the Rig Exchange or on the sites of the professional guys.

    Welcome. The problem is only that one man's poison is another man's medicine.
    That means everybody will pick up different favourites anyway, even more so nowadays with the ongoing diversification of 'Rock Music' that leaves me (and I'm an ecclecticist) speechless and WTF sometimes. ;)
    I agree though that it would be great if Kemper built some genre specific performances (like Country, Funk, Rock, Metal, British Pop) that contain rigs that hold some common sense to them.
    This would certainly enhance the first exposure experience for many users.

    Welcome!! I think you have a good idea for the people running the KPA for a test drive. Several factory shipped performances would be a quick way to get through some good tones in a short amount of time. Many different ways to classify the performances that they would ship but even 5 performances would get you a long way in a demo of the KPA.

    Welcome to the Family. I've been thinking about this and , while performance genre profiles would be great, unless the stores are educated I'm not sure if a player being first exposed to the Kemper , would get past browser mode . Maybe have the first 20-25 slots in Browser could somehow be labeled by Genre.

    Welcome!


    The factory content of the KPA gets better and better - and check out the many free Kemper rig packs (via download from the Kemper site).

    (All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with soundside.de)


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de