Another german bastard! - Ideas for your first couple of days with your new KPA

    Hi guys,


    I've been around here a while and have already given some input on certain discussion. But today I have finally officially been kemperized! 8) Feels good!
    I'm a hobby musician from southwest germany, hoping that might change someday (as probably every non-pro musician :) ) I play guitar and bass in two different bands and I'm working on making the Kemper my "one for all" solution.
    My first thought when I plugged in my guitar today and started playing was "sounds ok". And then I thought: "Wait a minute, I've heard clips of this beast, that have blown my head off!" The reason is simple, my poweramp (american audio) and FRFR cabs (musicstore fame) suck. So the next investement will come. Just when I thought this buy would make any further investements obsolete. ;)
    So with a bit tweaking I got happier and happier and I really can't await the first rehearsals with this.


    Before I turned it on, I thought: "Dom, you're gonna take the first rig thats loaded and you're gonna play with nothing else today." It was "Ac normal drive" and I really really really like it. So heres what I'm gonna do and i think that is not a bad idea, if you're new to the Kemper. I already have two usb thumbdrives, one on which I made a backup of the factory presets. And one on which I deleted everything except for "Ac normal drive". I'm now going to dial in my typical 5-10 sounds based on only this rig and see how far I can get. This not only prevents me from getting overwhelmed in the beginning by all these different sounds but helps me to get to know the Kemper better.
    This thumbdrive will only contain sounds I use for rehearsing or live situations. And it will have both bass and guitar sounds.
    On the second one I'm going to store every profile I can get my hands on! :thumbup: This one I will use for browsing and looking for inspiration.
    Maybe I should get a third one to organize my recording sounds.


    I also have two questions to you guys:


    1. Has someone, by any chance, a backup of all the available rigs he would email me, or post somewhere online. I fear downloading 1200 profiles from the rig exchange one by one... :wacko:
    That would be really awesome!
    2. Are there any profiles of bassamps yet? I think i could do some great sounds, by just using the effects and eq without amp and cab but if there are profiles they will probably be really good. :D


    Lastly, I really hope I will be able to do some decent profiles on my own. The only working tube amp I own atm is a Harley Beton G5 (5g?? who cares), which I would not call "great" but with certain pedals it sounds quite ok. Let's find out how it sounds profiled 8)
    I also have a Peavey Classic 50 in my basement. A lovely amp that stopped working two days before a gig, nice... Now with the Kemper, getting my Peavey fixed is definitely on my agenda. Once it is, there will be profiles of it :)


    So yeah, thanks for your time. I'm really glad to be a part in the "kemper mission" (even if a small one). It already is awesome but I think I'm not the only one that has even higher expectations for the future.



    For everyone who didn't want to read this whole sermon here's the short version:


    ROCK'N'ROOOOOLL!!!! HAHAHAHA!! :thumbup:


    (EDIT: Just to avoid any missunderstanding "You damn german bastard!" is what my guitar teacher was always called by his best friend in the usa, a real bromance! :) )

    Edited once, last by Steeldom ().

    So today I did my first profile and I failed hard.
    My plan was to meet the guitarist of our band half an hour before the rehearsal. In the end the whole band was watching while I tried to figure out how everything worked. :S
    He plays an Engl Tubetoner into a George Dennis Mighty Mouse. Its a great combination, sounds killer. The profile did not, it was a whole lot away from what the amp sounded. But I was in a kind of hurry at this point, so I take the blame.


    Then I tried the sounds I created so far through our PA. Horrible. I should have learned this lessen from my other digital devices: NEVER configurate live sounds under your headphones! :cursing:


    So back to step one. :pinch:
    But its ok, if it would be too easy it wouldn't be as much fun 8o

    German Bastard? Don't be so hard on yourself - many are bastards/mongrels nowadays... Hang in there, and you will find what 'floats your particular boat' (sonically) rather soon. Very good things are coming for the KPA - these guys are serious about improving this 'Cosmic Toaster'...

    All modelers known to man 8o

    Quote from Steeldom

    Engl Tubetoner

    YES very rare all tube pedal thats UBER in use! Probably the best Engl product ever. I did a comparison between the tube toner and a mesa v twin pedal and the Engl was KING! Would love to hear it profiled. I wish I didnt sell it 2 years ago :( One of the most underrated all tube pedals of all time IMO :thumbup:

    Quote from Radley

    German Bastard? Don't be so hard on yourself

    As I said, the term "german bastard" was the way of my guitar teachers american best friend to show his friendship. :D And they really were best friends my teacher even named a son after him. :) Unfortunatelly this guy past away one or two years ago. He was the master builder with G&L guitars "Gene Engelhart". A true legend in terms of guitar building!

    Quote from lucky

    YES very rare all tube pedal thats UBER in use! Probably the best Engl product ever. I did a comparison between the tube toner and a mesa v twin pedal and the Engl was KING! Would love to hear it profiled. I wish I didnt sell it 2 years ago :( One of the most underrated all tube pedals of all time IMO :thumbup:

    Oh yes! I had the chance to shot one on ebay a few years ago and I did, never regreted it. Once I figured out the profiling process there will be different ones of this pedal! :)

    Quote from Steeldom

    Oh yes! I had the chance to shot one on ebay a few years ago and I did, never regreted it. Once I figured out the profiling process there will be different ones of this pedal! :)


    Look forward to it!! Will you be profiling the Tubetoner 'direct' as well as the 'cab simulated' output. I remember the cab sim on this thing was really great! - BUT I would also like to hear the thing direct so we can all put our own cabs to it. I hope you will be doing these soon!!!!!! :thumbup:

    It also has a small poweramp built in, so I could theoretically profile it as a whole "amp".


    I will try some direct profiles but my guess is the best profiles will come from it plugged into a nice clean Marshall.
    The cab sim on it was not my thing to be honest. But if you want I can make a profile of it too. :)

    So, I did several rehearsals with the Kemper and a gig as well. Everything on fw 1.0.6 since that was the way I bought it.
    So far everything went good, sounded great, no issues. As I said, I built my presets only on the "AC Normal Drive" factory preset and I am quite happy.


    Yesterday I then started downloading all the stuff from the rig exchange (one by one... meh) and installed the latest firmware. It is quite a difference in terms of the boottime. I spend this morning thinking I had an issue until I realised I was only impatient. So to everyone new who loads a lot of rigs, just one advice: WAIT! The Kemper will do fine. ;)


    I also started planing my own profiling session. But it's probably gonna take a little time because I'm depending on my friend who actually knows how to mic up amps. :D

    You know there are several "rig packs" on the forum (try the search function)? And secondly, don't forget to update to the latest firmware (you're about 4 versions behind), it fixes many issues + adds new functions (and your boot time will go down).


    Cheers :)

    Welcome aboard the Kemper train. :thumbup: I like your pragmatic take on learning the Kemper, though I don't think that I could be that patient. Over the years I've developed a set of favorite preset types and I usually spend the first few weeks with any new guitar amp simulator trying to get ideal versions of those sounds. Note, these are just my own internal ideas like, "clean big stereo chorus" or "big heavy nu-metal rhythm chunk." From there I'll add effects, or not depending on the need or my mood.


    As for getting good tone at a live gig, I'd suggest going into the house PA if there is one as well as having a good wedge monitor throwing my tone and the rest of the band back at me. For small gigs I think I'd get a small full range powered PA speaker or keyboard amp. I used to have a pair of Peavey KB60s I used for my guitar synth sounds and electronic drums. I started to experiment by taking one of the stereo outputs of my Digitech 2120 and running it into one of the KB60s, the other back into my Ampeg's effect loop. I got a huge sound using this method... and I eventually ditched the amp all together and just relied on the 2120. Not the most "traditional" guitar sound, but I loved it. Later I moved to Mackie SRM350s but I think the KB60s actually sounded better. I think if I were doing this again I'd audition a bunch of different options in both powered PA speakers and keyboard amps.