This can't be... what am I doing wrong?

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Dude, are you reading my posts at all?
    It's probably redundant now, but I heard no feedback from you on my forced-OS-update suggestion either.

    I am, and appreciate the input. However, the default advice of many (and support in companies) is to go down the path of resets. That's a guaranteed way to potentially NOT learn about what the cause of the problem was. Doing resets is one of the last things on the list when I troubleshoot, this way I have a much better chance of understanding what the issue(s) may be instead of erasing over them. Using a device to clear the "Check Engine Light" on your car, or installing a new auto FW that resets it, does not necessarily fix the underlying problem, which can potentially surface later and put you in an even worse position.


    We can have different opinions on this, but as I said already, I will not be brow beaten into contacting support or doing major resets until the situation has been properly reserached & tested in my mind. Having said that, I suspect by the end of the day today I'll have finished enough testing to contact support tomorrow.


    Again, a big thanks to everybody for all the helpful insight.

    Firstly, thank you for responding, Sonic; you could have told me this earlier when I kept suggesting the forced-OS installation.


    I totally get where you're coming from, however, if an OS installation fixed the issue, it would've indicated that the resident copy had become corrupted; it wouldn't have cheated you out of rooting out the culprit - quite the contrary. Moreover, it would've saved you from crawling down rabbit holes that in fact didn't exist anywhere other than in the corrupted world of the resident OS.

    Quote from Luckbad

    @SonicExporer


    A lot of profiles are less bright and sexy to listen to on their own, but that's because they were made to be part of a mix, not for noodling alone in a room. M. Britt profiles are gorgeous if you play along to music with them and a bit dark if you just play them alone.

    This is exactly what I have begun to suspect but didn't want to say it because some people would probably jump on me for taking it as criticizing some "great" producers who have put together profiles. If you've been around some of the "greats", and in and out o the studio as long as I have, then you know the vast majority of things are done out of habit or came about from experimentation. The fact is often times those are NOT the best or technically proper way to do things. Just because somebody ended up with a hit record and rode that reputation to an expensive studio with fancy gear doesn't mean that person's technique is optimal (sometimes it is far from optimal). They have their own gear, habits and pre-mix recording preferences. At the end of the day I know what my ears are hearing out of the KPA and many of the pre-JVM Marshall profiles are in fact dull. Which is real shame because you can hear major awesome potential in the profiles. But instead, they can take on a bit of a modeler vibe than would have otherwise been the case. I prefer to capture a full range, but with a good tight low end rather than roll off tops and/or bottoms. And then adjust in the mixes later. Rather than having things pre-carved. There IS something to be said for capturing a carved mix sound on tape up front, less morphing of the tone later. But in the case of public profiles, that really shouldn't be the approach IMO due to the very nature of the fact a profile is going to be a shared entity, not isolated to one particular producer/studio preference.


    Many (in fact almost all) very experienced engineer/producers will not set a rig up the way that is technically optimal because it ends up sounding bad in the room. The guitarists don't like it either or are stubborn in wanting to capture "their sound" the way it normally sounds in the room. They don't want anybody touching their rig/sound. This is not the optimal way to go about getting a great sound on tape. Anyway, lots of factors as to why things have been done the way they have for years..

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Firstly, thank you for responding, Sonic; you could have told me this earlier when I kept suggesting the forced-OS installation.


    I totally get where you're coming from, however, if an OS installation fixed the issue, it would've indicated that the resident copy had become corrupted; it wouldn't have cheated you out of rooting out the culprit - quite the contrary. Moreover, it would've saved you from crawling down rabbit holes that in fact didn't exist anywhere other than in the corrupted world of the resident OS.

    IMHO the 1st thing support would suggest is to install a fresh copy of the latest OS. Avoiding this never ending yet entertaining post.

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Moreover, it would've saved you from crawling down rabbit holes that in fact didn't exist anywhere other than in the corrupted world of the resident OS.

    I agree. Being that installing the FW could have immediately solved the issue and even if it didn't, @SonicExporer would have been in the exact same place to troubleshoot, avoiding this entirely makes you scratch your head. He obviously has his own way of troubleshooting but it feels like making a mountain out of a mole hill.


    Maybe it's just me, but I'd sooner try the one-step solution that could immediately solve my issue before turning to a million tiny little changes. Or maybe that's just because I have little patience for stuff like this.


    Then again, he adamantly refuses to contact support from the people who made the device, refuses to do factory reset, refuses a FW update/reinstall, refuses to give serial number to support, and after reading the previously linked thread where he wanted people to send pictures of their original box to see the staples of all things, I'm beginning to think this will never end.

    I don't think so. I think his worry stems from thinking that registering the serial might prevent him from returning it. But also considering the people he got it from spooked him so much that he wanted to check the staples on his box vs the staples on everyone else's, it's just all around weird. I don't know. I'm checking out of this one.

    I admire you guys.This thread shows how great this forum is indeed.Some guys here have the endless patience of angels..


    Sad enough I dont belong to this fine part of the human species..I actually must be the (by far) worst diplomat on earth.


    OP should have done from the beginning "serious testing" with "serious tube amps" and speakers and not asking the people in this blog to do this for him only to be already in the "I am ready to get over this alleged magic box"-stance he has shown from the beginning.


    Anyway..there is still a slight chance this OP started this thread in honesty and not for resons of product bashing.I am out of this thread because there I feel that 12 pages for this issue is much to much for me.

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Can you try to recall about what OS this advice came under? Or at least whether it came before or after September of 2016? This might be a potential issue with my KPA - so I need to learn more about this notion of not needing refining. I will ask support when I contact them but obviously this notion of no longer needing refining concerns me because my profile definitely needed it. The 1st passs was ... blurry is the best way I can describe it. When I refined it everything cleared up. On a scale of 1 to 100, I'd say the 1st pass was maybe 85-90 range. Refining brought it somewhere between 95-99. Can't be more specific as I haven't had a chance to properly review the results yet...


    Refining a profile: If it matters, does tuning make a difference? [SOLVED]


    I had a query about this in a recent thread. I'm not sure which OS this advise came under, but @DonPetersen clarified to me that it didn't matter what kind of pickups or guitar were done during the refining stag, as it does not have a great impact on the profile any longer. I was looking for profiles that were created with a B-tuning in mind and my man @sinmix told me he'd sort me out asap.

    This is what Don wrote in that thread
    "Refining isn't necessary, in most cases the unrefined Profile will be spot on.
    The instrument doesn't matter, so pickups and tuning are also not relevant.
    What is relevant and probably what you are experiencing is that a tone for a guitar tuned a fourth or fifth lower might require a different setting on the amp and mic'ing of the cabinet. Even the cabinet/speakers chosen for standard tuning might not be optimal for lower tunings.
    Tuning down a half or whole step is obviously not an issue, but then the playing style doesn't change when using these 'slight' down-tunings.
    When tuning down to B or A you are approaching the low interval limit and distortion doesn't help exactly
    I'm not surprised that tones take more time when tuning this low - this has always been the case."

    He never said that it is no longer necessary in general but unnecessary in case the Profile is spot on from the getgo.
    The type of instruments used for the refining did not matter since day one.


    Oop, thanks for the clarification, @hjscheffler! I misunderstood what Don said in that post, I assumed he meant that refining was no longer a requirement in the profiling process.

    Out of curiosity, does anybody on the forum recall ever hearing about a user having problems isolated only to tone quality? If a KPA appears functioning correctly in every other sense, then my inclination is the odds of a sound quality issue is somewhere between remote and nil. Seems to me the software and circuitry would more likely either work or be blatantly messed up, Not just sound slightly off. Which is one reason I've been determined to keep working at my Baron amp to get to the bottom of the problem. My inclination now is the KPA is likely fine. Although my apparent need for refinement during profiling of my Splawn is something I'll need to look into further. Again though, that's something I doubt would be a symptom of a malfunction. The profiling logic likely either works or not, no in between. I suspect the need for refinement is in no way an indicator of a potentially malfunctioning KPA. Still, I will query support to get their views when I contact them.


    Off to run final test on the Baron, now heading the other direction by increasing the volume. Back shortly...

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Although my apparent need for refinement during profiling of my Splawn is something I'll need to look into further. Again though, that's something I doubt would be a symptom of a malfunction. The profiling logic likely either works or not, no in between. I suspect the need for refinement is in no way an indicator of a potentially malfunctioning KPA. Still, I will query support to get their views when I contact them.


    Off to run final test on the Baron, now heading the other direction by increasing the volume. Back shortly...

    Refining is a tool in the profiling process.If a profile needs refining it should be refined. The need to refine does not indicate a malfunction.

    @SonicExporer chances are when you contact support Hans would respond. He's the one who is actively responding to you now in this thread.


    How's that for customer service! They came to you even when you're too stubborn to go to them. The Kemper team go above and beyond to make sure their customers are happy!

    Quote from schreckmusic

    @SonicExporer chances are when you contact support Hans would respond. He's the one who is actively responding to you now in this thread.


    How's that for customer service! They came to you even when you're too stubborn to go to them. The Kemper team go above and beyond to make sure their customers are happy!

    Yes, the Kemper people seem really great from both reputation and mere design of this magic box. A product like this generally doesn't surface and survive without a great team of people behind it. I look forward to soon talking with them (Hans or whomever).

    Okay, so the profiling with the Baron amp is officially deemed fooked. At volumes equivalent to the Splawn testing the Baron was just as bad, if not worse than before and the refining process once again might have made it even slightly worse yet. WHY the KPA cannot profile the Baron amp is beyond me. But I'm not going to loose sleep over it. That amp wasn't really what I was planning on using and not why I got the KPA in the first place. It does seem however that I *am* going to have either profile my own amps now or else hope I can find profiles more tuned to my liking. I did notice the new BEeye pack on TJ site seemed to be brighter than many of the other TJ profiles so maybe that's worth a shot.


    Next up is some reference recording with the Splawn to see just how close the KPA really got.


    And then off to contact support....

    Contrary to the suggestion that refining is not necessary I find that with some difficult amps (such as my Mark 5:25) you may need an extended refining time to get things to settle down correctly, but the Kemper does eventually get there. With these amps a short amount of refining as shown in the demo videos is not enough, in fact it can make things seem worse. By extended I mean 5 to 10 minutes of just jamming out on the thing in case you were wondering.


    Personally I feel that the Kemper still has some wiggle room to improve on it's profiling process, it's amazing what it can do right now, but there are still those 5% of amps that can't be profiled. I'd love to see it solve the poweramp problem and inbuilt noise gates and sag/bloom/compression modeling too (which would also be cool because then you could profile classic compressors as well which would be epic).