goodbye forum

    so, i'm returning the kemper today. it is a killer unit for what it does, but it's simply not for me.


    since i'm a metal player, my main tone is obiously high gain. i made some profiles of my VH4, my SLO100 clone and my bandmates 5150, but none of these captures the feel of the original amp. they sound great, dynamics are also not bad, but the gain structure is very alike on all high gain profiles i've heard on the kemper, i'm afraid. it seems to me like there's an internal distortion algorithm that is matched to the source amp, creating a VERY similar sound to the listener, but the attack and feel on the player's side are still lacking. it's a small difference, but enough to notice it immediately.
    i'm aware that metal and hi-gain guitar players seem to be a minority. so i don't want to judge the kemper alone by one of it's many capabilities. it's a great unit and a very valuable tool for recording studios. i just can't justify spending 1500€ for something that doesn't feel significantly better than my axefx (which i've grown tired off after 3 years) or other hi-gain amp sims. the best results to capture the 'feel' of an actual amp for direct recording is still a tube preamp + impulses in my experience. i really hope the kemper improves gain and distortion profiling in future firmware upgrades. who knows, i may then be back here sooner than i think :)


    btw: clean and crunch sounds were simply amazing. i've never got so good clean tones with so little tweaking (stock presets and Hoss's ones). unfortunately, these are not among my priorities. for what it's worth, i'll be getting a 1x12 isolation cabinet and a pod HD for cleans and silent recording.



    goodbye,
    christian

    Sorry to loose you, Christian. I wish you all the best and success in your tone quest. Keep an eye on what Ola Englund, Fred Brum, Keith Merrow and all the other Heavy guys do, maybe in some time it will fit your bill.


    Have a nice day and a good journey, thanks for being here! :thumbup:

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    Quote from guitarnet70

    Sorry to loose you, Christian. I wish you all the best and success in your tone quest. Keep an eye on what Ola Englund, Fred Brum, Keith Merrow and all the other Heavy guys do, maybe in some time it will fit your bill.


    Have a nice day and a good journey, thanks for being here! :thumbup:


    thanks, man.



    Quote from ajs

    Osama bin Laden was the last guy to return his KPA.


    Just so you know...


    hahaha, wtf!?

    Sorry it didn't work out for you.
    Unfortunately, there is not one piece of gear in the world that works for everybody.


    Anyway, thanks for the profiles you did and maybe you'll be back as the KPA matures.
    Good luck on your tone quest! :)

    Quote from Guitartone

    I hope it stays exactly the same as it is right now in future firmware upgrades.


    Yes, I hope the same - I hated all the AxeFx improvements this much.
    I loved the additional stuff but hated that all my patches did not work anymore.


    As for the KPA tones - I found that I got all great clean, crunch and high gain sounds out of it.
    But profiling is not this easy - it needs EXACTLY the same knowledge as to capture the great tube amp sound and get it recorded.


    Recording a great tube amp by simply placing a SM58 in front of the amp may work in some cases - in most not.


    So I always recommend to try to make a great sounding recording - if the recording sounds great - then use THIS setting as basis for the profiling.


    If the recording sucks - try different microphones, mic placement, preamps ... until you love your recording - than profile again.


    If I liked my setup - then the KPA results were spot on.

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


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de


    I think you are spot on with this. I find that when I profile my amp it "sounds" the same but certainly does not feel the same. My real amp is "lively" and reactive whereas the profiled amp just doesn't have that same feel. I'm also not satisfied with the lack of tone stack either as it makes it very difficult to use someone elses profile as of course they would have set the tone stack on their amp to complement their guitar and their pickups etc.

    Quote from JonG

    [quote='kojak',index.php?page=Thread&postID=22734#post22734]
    ...
    I'm also not satisfied with the lack of tone stack either as it makes it very difficult to use someone elses profile as of course they would have set the tone stack on their amp to complement their guitar and their pickups etc.


    Yes, I found the same - that's why most of my profiles use the tone knobs at 12:00 - if there is e.g. to much bass/mids - then the profile will be of lower level compared to the same profile without increased bass (very unlike a real amp).


    For many amps (tone stack after the distortion tubes) the KPA works ok - I would prefer switchable tone-stacks (like in the AxeFx) as well.
    But very bad is the situation for Fender (and Fender like) amps - where the tone stack is BEFORE the distortion tubes - for them does the KPA tone stack not work at all.

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


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de



    i absolutely agree about the recording part. i don't have neither the tools, nor a place where i could get a great recorded tone myself (assuming i would actually learn how to). therefore i was pretty much limited to other user's profiles OR profiling a preamp + cab sim.


    profiling the preamp of an amp alone was the 'WOW' moment where i could first experience how well the profiling works. the sound is indeed REALLY close, as in all the videos.
    unfortunately, this seems to work increasingly worse when profiling a high gain amp. the sound is still close, but the feeling and response of the amp as when you're actually playing it are noticeable different. after a lot of refining and tweaking i couldn't match my VH4 preamp on ch3, where you can feel the bass 'bloom' in after you hit a note, and palm-muted notes have this very distinct dry but compressed feel.


    since i don't have the option to properly mic a cab to profile a great sounding rig, i was mainly limited to profiling my amp's preamp, my mic'ed rig, and using uploaded profiles. that's when i realized i will not be getting a tone i'm fully happy with this unit.


    i have no doubt about the KPAs capabilities, but it's just not the right tool for me being. i'm not really sold on the idea of spending 1500€ for hoping that an awesome profile (to me, subjectively) will be released. if i could mic amps, i would probably be having a great time with it right now :)

    Edited 6 times, last by kojak ().

    Quote from Psychotron


    Yes, to use an EQ block in the stomp box section can help - but it's very inconvenient.


    First does a tonestack react very different from a normal EQ
    The great bass, mid, treble, presence knobs can not be used to change the EQ block
    Then we can not simply lock the stack and try different amps/amp settings (I profile my amp at a lot of different settings since I found that simply increasing the KPA gain does not work in most cases).
    Yes, we could lock the Stack AND the 'D' stomp (in case the EQ is there) - but in this case we have to place the EQ always there and lose one (of the few) slots.


    IMHO would be the best solution a pre/post option for the stack EQ block - with selectable tone stack models.

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


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

    Quote from guitarnet70

    AFAIK is a work in progress, and if they do it then the pre/post option should not be a problem


    +1 on the pre/post tone stack.
    I'd suggest the option for a deeper profiling. Maybe something which takes a longer time, for example a procedure in which you have several profiling steps like a "gain knob profiling", "bass knob profiling" etc etc.

    Really sorry this doesn't work out the way you wanted. While I understand your feeling, I don't share your opinions about the unit. But that's the beauty with gear! Different strokes for different folks!
    It's not like your returning it to get a Line6 Spider III amp, you're doing it for totally the right reasons.