goodbye forum

    Kojak,


    I remembered when the POD Pro came out; it was the first real change in the Line6 algorithms, which went along with the change in DSP they were using at the time. I got it, and hated it! It just didn't have the same squishy compression for me that made playing so easy. Later on, after having gone through several tube pre's, I came to appreciate the dynamics of my real tube amps a bit more, particularly in terms of getting things to set better in the mix. But, still I have to have a certain response curve to the dynamics, or it feels like the amp is fighting me - and who wants that?


    Much, much experimenting later I got into balancing the feel and tone of my amps through overdrive pedals and stomp EQ's which I'd match to the amp, and between the two I think I got pretty successful at feeling out the interactions between both. What I consider to be the right "feel" is probably about 20-25% from how I have my pedal chain configured and gain-staged. The feel difference between amps don't worry me as much as they used to; as long as the amp gets me mostly there I know I can depend on my stomps to handle the rest.


    My first feelings with the KPA were kinda similar to yours, I think; the sound's there, but the response curve is flatter - not quite as compressive, a little bit of the POD Pro feel sneaking in there. But the fun of the KPA is that you're not stuck with this; between the Distortion Sense, Definition, Power Sagging, Pick and Compressor controls there's a lot of tweakability on tap and I feel myself "settling in" more as my familiarity increases with the KPA. I've also found that as tempting as it is to profile your amp with an overdrive in the chain, more of the 'feel' is preserved if you don't - and I haven't even played around with the stomp section overdrives yet. Anyhow, that's my "new user" impression.


    The "main amp EQ is always post" thing - I can definitely understand that, particularly if all the profiles you're using were created by others as this is one aspect that you can't conveniently re-tweak after the fact. I don't doubt we'll be seeing more in this area, DSP willing because Chris's saturation engine seems almost limitless in this regard.


    Anyway, our favorite amps are like old couches - the new one never feels quite the same, and that's understandable! Making a truly "one size fits all" product is a mighty task, and there's room for only so many knobs. Where's the MarkIV graphic EQ? Dangit!


    -djh