It’s been a tough ride. My four years with the KPA. A surprisingly winding road down and up again, a rollercoaster ride, sort of. I want to share my story. To whom it may concern ...
I bought my KPA at Thomann’s knowing that – if push comes to shove – i can send it back (as a long year customer without problems) via money back guarantee. It was delivered on 26th of March 2012. So, here is my story.
YEAR 1 March 2012 - March 2013:The first week is great. I do not like many of the profiles, especially some of the praised UB sessions and many others, but no problem. I find enough profiles that suit my style. Then the first problem: The Monitor output to my DAW is dead. I post questions in the forum, awaiting those silly comments i regularly for years now get from the Qbse users in their forum: RTFM or “You should have known this!” (No kiddin’). User @guitarnet70 from Denzlingen and many others try to help. Solved on the same day! :)I begin to profile my Marshall AFD. And post my first Blindfold Test on the forum. Great stuff. My wife plays four waves for me and i have 2 right and two wrong, i took the profile for the real thing. My DAW is making no problems. I am in sonic heaven.When @and44 hits the scene i begin to use only his profiles and a few from fellow colleague of mine @Mats_Nermark from Sweden. All is well in Kemperland when my first year is over.
YEAR 2 March 2013 - March 2014: The second year begins with a highlight of my musical life. I meet @ckemper and his team at the fare in Frankfurt. I meet a lot of nice people, among them @Ingolf and @MarcPepper have a nice talk with CK about football and get some nice tipps and hints. AND find my now favourite guitar in a little box on the fender stand. And all is even better in Kemperland. And then slowly slowly some soberness sets in. I buy profiles from time to time, but something is missing. I start to re-activate my old plexi. Sounds gorgeous clean. I mean super-dooper-terrific and alive. Suits way better in the mix. I re-buy my first pedal. Must be autumn 2013 by now. The Blackstar Dual boost my Les Paul to sonic heaven. Record only with my Plexi by now and use the the KPA only for students and quick idea fetching at the end of my year 2. Hmhh ...
YEAR 3 March 2014 - March 2015: In mid 2015 i have six pedals and effects for my plexi and the thing is so superior to ANY of the available profiles that i begin to ponder a life without the KPA for the first time. The Kemper Forum users are so nice, that i postpone the decision again and again. At the end of October 2014 it is clear: my KPA goes to Ebay! I look in the cellar and find the original package. I make a text for Ebay and save the Ad for later use. I download the one and only rig @lonestargtr is willing to share as a teaser and I am blown away! Buy his first pack. For the next weeks my Plexi and the KPA co-exist peacefully until i have to record a blues for a student of mine. I have 7 minutes. I dial the first profile and press the red button in my Cubase. I export the the file of the blues in Aminor, save it on the student’s USB stick and say good-bye. Next student arrives. Acoustic guitar. Then i have a few minutes and listen to the blues i recorded earlier. And i cannot believe it is me and my guitar’s sound that is coming out of the speakers. Pristine clear, crunchy. Punchy and larger than life. Okay: the Kemper stays!Year 3 ends with a co-existence of my jewel, the Plexi with 2 KT-66s and my Kemper in March 2015. While i love the Kemper for its easy usability and quick access to so many good profiles, sometimes i prefer the sheer power of the real thing. No problems in Kemperland!
YEAR 4 March 2015 - March 2016:I buy the Bogner Burnley pedal. Now this is a monster! I can have all kinds of crunchy sound from my Blackstar pedal and now the best metal tone of my life with the Bogner. And i have a lot of good effects in the loop of my Plexi. Sounds like the real sh...t again!
Then (in May) i take a train the 600 kilometers to an old friend of mine who lives in the near of Hannover. Know my yoga teacher since 1979. A nice and emotional visit. I rent a car and drive to a music shop in Ibbenbüren. They do have the most complex switching system in Europe, maybe in the world. If Joe Bonamassa claims that his system is the most expensive in the world with his 4 tube amps, then what is this? The most expensive switching system in the freaking galaxy?
They do have 45 amps and 25 speakers, ready to be tested in any combination with a double foot switch! That sums up to more than thousand possible combinations. Goodness. Think of overload, you got it. Well, not really. After 45 minutes it became clear that there were only two contenders for my choice: The Bogner Helios 50 Watt or the Friedman Small Box 50 Watt. After another 5 minutes the winner was the Small Box. Okay. But where to get the money. I slept badly this night. Next morning i decided to sell everything. Made a list. Was able to get the 3.000 bucks, if people would pay the usual 60% of the sum for the new thing on Ebay. Makes my heart bleed. Sigh. But the Friedman is the best thing that happened in my musical life. Okay. I make a promise to myself. I am going to rent another car and drive to Musik-Produktiv a second time. If the thing sounds like that again to my fresh ears, i am going to buy it. But the speakers i like so much, the Dirty Shirly 4x12 costs a fortune which makes me ache. I do not have the money!
Okay. Sigh. Let’s wait and see. And tell you what: The Friedman sounds even better to fresh ears. In my humble opinion the best amp that money can buy! Period. I take leave and sleep badly for another 3 nights. It is too much money. After 5 days my decision is clear, but i have to postpone the buying. In October the Kempers make an announcement on Facebook that an internet mag called Bonedo has a test of the Friedman and the UAD plug-in compared to the KPA profile of it. The profile sounds by far the worst of the three. Okay, sell it. Anyway, i write a letter to Thoma Dill, who wrote the article, but do not expect an answer, because – you know – many musicians do not answer. Thomas is very very nice and gives me his profiles of the Friedman to test them. I record the riff of Thomas, reamp the file 5 times with the best of the best rigs and make a blindfold test for my wife. She says what i think, too. The profile of Thomas’ is by far the best i have ever used.
Okay, that was close, that was freaking close. If my money situation and some serious health issues had not been, i would have sold the Kemper and got the Friedman. Now i had the Friedman for free! What a ride! I thank @dill Thomas again and am a happy Kemper user again. Phhhh, and all is good in Kemperland.
To make good things even better, and as the icing on the cake, @Guidorist from Hamburg appears on the scene. His profiles are IMHO among the best of the best. So with his (not expensive) packs and the Friedman profile i have got everything i need. Now i can begin to sell all of my other stuff. Except the Plexi ofcourse, that will stay. And so will the Kemper. Amen!
It is now January 2016 and i decide to celebrate my 4 years with the KPA on my YouTube channel, which i opened at the end of January. I put a lot of time into it and here i am –– a happy Kemper user who is going to meet the CK staff again in Frankfurt in a few days. And all is well in Kemperland. 
It is an honour to know you and also many others here. Thank you for your kind words 
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