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


    Manual says the KPA will adjusted for the input signal difference during the profiling process anyway, I think the reason the manual suggests making the adjustments is simply to be able to better A/B between the KPA and the amp during/after the profiling process. As for the gate knob that may have played a factor but isn't the main issue. The congestion and lack of organic clarity/depth is a common theme with what I've heard out of my KPA so far. The clips I provided do a pretty good job explaining the difference, but keep in mind the KPA clip is AFTER I had to tweak some of the clarity & definition settings, etc. The virgin profile was even worse....

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Manual says the KPA will adjusted for the input signal difference during the profiling process anyway, I think the reason the manual suggests making the adjustments is simply to be able to better A/B between the KPA and the amp during/after the profiling process. As for the gate knob that may have played a factor but isn't the main issue. The congestion and lack of organic clarity/depth is a common theme with what I've heard out of my KPA so far. The clips I provided do a pretty good job explaining the difference, but keep in mind the KPA clip is AFTER I had to tweak some of the clarity & definition settings, etc. The virgin profile was even worse....


    No, the fact that there was a noise gate would have messed with the results - no doubt about it, it's not going to sound correct.


    Also, it doesn't seem to be very common that you have to hike the return input to maximum, that suggests that there's not enough output being fed to the Kemper. At the same time, you were mentioning clipping. All of those things are likely to have caused your profiles to sound bad.


    Could you post some clips? It would be interesting to hear the difference between the amp and the profile.


    Also, you still haven't mentioned what amp you are profiling. Some cannot be profiled at all due to the design of the power amp stage.

    Nightight, to clarify again,, the input was clipping (sometimes for split milliseconds) only when I hammered the low E chords. Regular playing wouldn't do it. I was merely noting there was a strong signal coming out the guitar. And there is definitely enough signal coming back from the amp on the KPA return. The manual suggests to try and match the return level mostly for reference purposes. I could try an even louder setting but I seriously doubt that's the core issue. Is there some kind of loud volume requirement? The overall lack of realistic replication is not limited to my profile, rather it is what caused me to venture down this latest path to see if I could at least match up an amp of my own to get a real sounding result.


    Don, IIRC the only thing I changed was clarity and definition, had I not done that it would be an even more exaggerated version of what is already evident on the clps.


    See post #38 for clips.

    Respectfully I'm not planning on doing another re-profile and re-recording, it won't reveal anything additional. Tweaking the def/clarity knobs took some of the grungy/muffled nature out of things, mostly the bottom end - but that was about it, nothing else was touched.


    The clips are more than adequate to get across what is going on....


    Zambesi, yes they are stereo clips, two dry tracks panned.

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Respectfully I'm not planning on doing another re-profile and re-recording, it won't reveal anything additional. Tweaking the def/clarity knobs took the grungy/muffled nature out of things, mostly the bottom end - but that was about it, nothing else was touched.


    The clips are more than adequate to get across what is going on....


    Zambesi, yes they are stereo clips, two dry tracks panned.

    You ask for help yet refuse to trouble shoot? Check your ego for a second and do a A/B "Respectfully"

    Have you guys even listened to the clips?


    Not planning to re-do things, unnecessary time and energy to accomplish nothing additional. You would not hear any relevant difference other than a slightly more exaggerated version of what is already evident in the clips.


    Let's not make this about something irrelevant, the provided clips are more than adequate to get across what is happening. Or rather NOT happening, being the device is not sounding like the tube amps it claims to mimic. The clips I provided clearly demonstrate this.


    Any chance the KPA I have just sounds off, something in the converter cicuits, analog I/O buffering or something else in the hardware? Recent design changes? Component tolerances in the way some tube amps can differ? Anything at all along these lines? ???

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Any chance the KPA I have just sounds bad, something in the converter cicuits, analog I/O buffering or something else in the hardware? Recent design changes? Component tolerances in the way some tube amps can differ? Anything at all along these lines?

    I wouldnt exclude this.


    Given the fact that you claimed none of the readily available profiles did sound good to you its not a pure profiling problem anyway. ;)

    Ne travaillez jamais.

    Quote from SpinnerDeluxe

    I wouldnt exclude this.
    Given the fact that you claimed none of the readily available profiles did sound good to you its not a pure profiling problem anyway. ;)

    I could, very reluctantly, even accept that this is simply as good as the device gets. Because otherwise I'm at a fork in the road not knowing whether to give up or if there is something wrong (be it the KPA itself, a setting, or something else yet to be identified) ?(

    i don't understand why you write and write, takes a lot of time
    instand you should use this time to make the two clips as asked before
    that we all could start to really help you
    now its just assuming which leads to nowhere

    Why are some of you guys seemingly intent on trying to divert things? Have you even listened to the clips?
    If you aren't going to listen and/or have some thoughts as to the problem then please refrain from responding as otherwise it is only derailing the focus.


    Again, EVERYTHING NEEDED TO APPRECIATE THE ISSUE CAN BE HEARD IN THE CLIPS ALREADY POSTED (in post #38)

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Why are some of you guys seemingly intent on trying to divert things? Have you even listened to the clips?

    Something is amiss according to the clips. I'm still inclined to belive that it is a user issue or equipment failure. There's a failure-rate for all kinds of electronic gizmos. No exception for the KPA. We've seen failures, but not many.


    Here are my reasons to doubt your conclusion:

    • There are professional producers across all kinds of genres working with professional musicians who testify that their results with the Kemper is that the profiles they make are very hard to distinguish from the real thing in an A/B test.
    • My experience matches 1.
    • I wouldn't expect anyone to take my word at face value. I'm just a nobody with an opinion until proven otherwise. Who are you?
    • Your reluctance to contribute to the troubleshooting process.

    Edited once, last by heldal ().

    Dean, everything is connected correctly and there is no user error involved outside the KPA. The only potential user error would be a setting inside the device maybe but I can't imagine what. There's just one mic input an I'm using the correct Direct signal out as well. There's nothing to really to get wrong in that sense. The only other cord is the power cord and I'm pretty sure I have that in the right place as well. :P


    Something just occurred to me. Does anybody know if the Definition and Clarity settings default to zero when making a profile? Because if so, then I can just dial those back to zero and the profile will be back to the original untouched setting. I think I recall both being zero to start with - but I'm not certain.

    1) Could you share the profile for testing by the forumgoers?
    2) Ideally you would make a DI recording of your guitar, which could be reamped both on YOUR kemper and on "ours", to see if the results are identical. Even more ideally, use spdif through the kemper to record the guitar DI track if you have that option), and make a note of your "clean sens" setting.
    3) if you have the stuff set up (or are willing to set it up again), try making a profile at half the master volume setting - this might help troubleshooting. This has helped some users in the past.
    4) have you contacted support about this?
    5) have you tried a system reset (can't remember the correct term)? If you do that, make sure to take a backup first (to aid Kemper in ironing out any bugs if there are any)