KPA or not KPA

Well I'm not qualified to dispute your opinion, I'm just a hobby weekend warrior since well over 30 years. Hope that some of the many recording pros, studio owners and sound engineers here will chime in to openly discuss what you're missing (not clear to me). In the meantime allow me to respectfully disagree

Quote from FaZz

Hello all.
I had the KPA for two weeks at home, and I have literally gone mad, to understand the several issues that had my unit. I lost sleep and work trying to run the KPA as I expected to.
I want to said that I work all my life as a sound engineer, composer and arranger. So if I'm not completely stupid, something I had to learn in all this time...
For most people, like me, the KPA is like a "dream come true", so after having returned to the store my unit, I continued to follow this forum regularly, hoping to see solved all these problems and buy a new KPA that well do his work.
The most important thing for me is obviously the quality of the profile. I have done hundreds of tests, and I was not able to reproduce the real sound of an amp, in all its components. I can also withstand that the profile is not tonally identical to the original sound, but I expect that the profile sounds like a real sound.

First thing I really miss that way is this:
If you listen carefully to a guitar, recorded through an amp with a microphone (any one), feel that every note has its own place in the space. The same sound profiled by the KPA, it loses this dimensionality, everything is concentrated at one point and not in a space. You must think I'm crazy, but in a mix with multiple tracks, the quality loss is substantial if the recordings do not have their own space, even the direct out recordings, live in a own space.
Another thing I miss is the separation between the individual strings. The sound is not in focus as the original.
Also:
-To get a quite similar timbre, must well eq the track.
-The absence of the "bell-like highs" in the clean presets of VOX, Orange, etc. ...such kind of crystal, bright, irreplaceable tone you can hear in hundred of historical tracks...
To my ears all of this it sounds more like a lack of informations on the profiled sound... hope I'm wrong...

Continuing... because I think is just a fixable bug, I'll don't mention:

-a fizz when adding presence or treble on different Clean preset,
- the big Knob sometime don't want jump to the profile mode,
-the "up\down" soft knob, sometime demonstrate their own willingness,
- and other issues well know in this forum,

MAYBE I OWNED A CHINESE CLONE OF KPA?

Do not get me wrong, I do not want teach anything to anyone...the only point is this:
I purchased the KPA because everywhere out there in the web, is said that the KPA exactly reproduces the real sound ...SORRY... IS NOT TRUE!
So I'm still waiting for the dream come true ....there is a hope?

Finally, I wanted to write all this privately to CK, but is not possible...
sorry for my english...

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Please post sound clips of your previous recordings BEFORE you got your KPA.

fazz have you done any profiling yourself yet?you may get the sounds you need that way,when everything is set up for own guitars it could be better.also 2 weeks is not a long time to really learn the kemper.also remember that the most important element of the sound is the cabinet,finding the cabs you like is essential.hope things work out for you.

Quote from FaZz

Finally, I wanted to write all this privately to CK, but is not possible...
.

Sorry, mate, but I have to respectfully disagree too! And I second Guitarnet70's suggestion to upload a couple of samples of your previous projects and possibly your tries with the KPA.

There is a number of pros who record their projects and haven't had this kind of frustration expressed. Also even today I watched a YouTube video with real pro German band performing live. So what' s the issue really? Who wants to be ridiculed and play with something that doesn't work or sound properly?
There are some issues being addressed but not what you describe.

Second, "privately to CK"... What does that mean? Isn't there a support team you should turn first? Have you reported anything to them? Why should CK (who usually browses the topics and steps in when necessary), or any other company owner, start dealing individually with each user? They might get involved when an issue cannot be solved, or is very serious and gets escalated to them.

Have you messed around with the Pick setting? The definition? The Clarity? Your input?

I am just not convinced that you are approaching things correctly, my friend.
Very friendly ,
St.

I don't think the KPA is for everyone,
It's never going to be exactly like a real amp, but it's the closest thing yet. For many of us, including me, it's good enough to replace 90% of the guitar recording that I do.

I feel the same way about not hearing any profiles that have that "chime" like you hear in ac30s etc, but I think there are a lot of profiles that have great note separation in the profiles.
also - in regards to the chime aspect - I feel like we hear "chime" more when we are in the room with the amp, or playing a real amp. The KPA is not a real amp. it's not supposed to sound like an amp. It's supposed to sound like an amp through a microphone. I think even when you record a chimey amp for real, some of the chime gets lost.

There is a horrible fizz on the second clip. Is this your KPA profile? Is the first clip the recording of your amp? I haven't had that fizz on my KPA so maybe it's a hardware problem.

Quote from FaZz

First one it's a my l profile of a AC30 through an U87. the second is K profile.

Both clips sound broken to me. Like a broken speaker or something like that.

Quote from mDan

Both clips sound broken to me. Like a broken speaker or something like that.

+1. The second one seems to be more prominent, but there's something going wrong in both tracks.
Have you checked levels and cables?

Sounds to me like your clipping the output quite hard.

Are you uing the "volume" knob? that needs to be at 0DB. - use the master volume only.

Are the input/ouput LEDS green or red when playing/profiling.

Press and Hold the Input button and reduce the clean sensi/distortion sensi to a lower volume.

What FW version are you running, and sounds like you need to reset the device.
Hold down system button while booting.

Failing that its a H/W failure I'd assume, as no KPA ive heard sounds like that normally.

Be well.
A

nm

Quote from FaZz

Thanks for all your responses, I realized that you are all satisfied by your KPA. and this gives me hope that my KPA had some fault.
You can believe me! I spent more than eight hours for two weeks (my wife remembers it veeeery well ... ) trying to hear what I had hoped.
Again, I did all kinds of tests several times. and certainly consider that what you hear in a room is different from what is recorded.
With regard to what is called "Bell-like" or "Chime-like" sound, is something which is really difficult to give up ... also because you can not only consider it a peculiarity but a real piece of history.
I have exchanged several emails with support, but have not received answers I needed, so I thought to write directly to CK, before writing to the forum. however, here I add the link of two of the samples that I sent to support. First one it's a my l profile of a AC30 through an U87. the second is K profile.

http://soundcloud.com/fazzer-1

and this was my last e-mail:

"...Tomorrow I must be communicated to ..... , if I'll buy this KPA unit or not.
So please let me know if it's a software or hardware problem.
In the first case I'll buy the unit I tested, in the second case I'll order a new one.

and this is the response I got from them:

"... Discussed this again and we tested multiple times. To be honest we are running out of ideas, why you have that 'fizz' ..."

after which... the vacuum

Although this is not the point, I understand that you want to know if I'm just a chatterbox , and as soon as I can I'll upload some of my clips.

I would love to get some other opinions from you, with all the details you like to add. for example, what can you tell me about profiles of clean sounds "british like"? Can you give me some link where I can listen to them?

Thank you all again

Fabio

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There is absolutely something wrong with both those clips. Excuse the pun, but it seems to me like you're clipping some stage... to me it sounds like you're clipping the input maybe? Did you properly set up the clean and distortion sensitivity? My EMGs are very hot and needed to be brought down quite a bit to not clip the input. Hard to tell. Maybe it was done in the profiling process? Again, hard to tell and I'll be honest, I've not used the unit to make a profile and I probably never will. I don't even own a real amp at this point of my life and I like it that way.

Anyway, it's been a long time since I did audio engineering professionally, but I consider myself pretty savvy and I've been playing around with guitar amps and gear since the 70s. I'm very amp modeler friendly and I've used "alternate" types of gear to get the tones I like for a long, long time. It's not always "like an amp." While I appreciate that sound, there are many types of sounds to be had. However, if there's a word I can use to describe the sound I get from my KPA it's "like a real amp." When I got my ART SGX2000, I thought, "not like an amp, but there are cool tones here." When I upgraded to a Digitech 2120, I thought, "not like an amp, but cool tones are here." Anyway, I thought the same thing about a number of other solutions including a Vox Tonelab SE and Amplitube to name some of my "rigs."

Then I heard my first demo of the KPA. As far as I'm concerned it was the first really solid breech of the "sounds like a guitar amp" world. Until it I thought maybe we got 80-90% there... Don't get me wrong, I think some great tones can be had almost no matter what you use. Hell, I never liked the sound of Line6 amps, but I saw Adrian Belew play once with a twin set of Line 6 Vetta II’s and he made them sing. Before that he was using Johnson amps. Both used digital amp modeling, though the Johnson used a tube in the preamp. (basically a Digitech 2120 inside a combo amp) Anyway, few would say he didn't sound great. Anyway, I've always had a similar approach. Whether it be traditional tube amplifier technology or the latest greatest, if I can find a cool use for it, I'm in.

So anyway, in the end I'm super happy to have found the KPA. With it and in conjunction with Line6's POD HD500 (used in a non-traditional way) I have an amazing selection of tones, from traditional to cutting edge. I love it! I don't know what was wrong with your unit... or if it was possibily user error... hell, when I got my Tonelab it happened in conjunction with the batteries in my EMGs going dead. I was getting horrible weird kind of distortion and I thought it was the Vox. It drove me mad for a week, as I didn't hear this issue in the store... luckily I figured it out. I hope you try again and figure it out because I really think this is as good as it gets. Is it perfect? No such thing...

Quote from FaZz

I forgot to mention (sorry for that) I get this "FIZZ" by increasing the treble knob and especially the presence in at 3:00. yes, I tried all possible variations and I reported to the support, all the settings used in the clips:

Preset: "AC Clean - SM57":
-Used guitar: high gain HB bridge position, Gibson LP
-Input Clean Sense: 3.5
-Gain: 0.0
-Bass: 0.0
-Middle: 0.0
-Treble: +5
-Presence: +5
-Volume: 0.0
-Master volume: +5.2
-All Stomps OFF
-All Stack On
-All Effect OFF
-Master-Out Left, direct on DAW.

No clips, no RED Led lighting.

TEST 2:

Preset: "My Profile"
of a VOX AC30 Clean, low level.

-Used guitar: high gain HB bridge position, Gibson LP
-MIC: Neumann U87 (6 cm distance, center, on-axis, low level).
-Input Clean Sense 3.5
-Gain: 0.0
-Bass: 0.0
-Middle: 0.0
-Treble: +1.5
-Presence: +1.8
-Volume: 0.0
-Master volume: +4.8
-All Stomps OFF
-All Stack On
-All Effect OFF
-Master-Out Left, direct on DAW.

No clips, no RED Led lighting..

Anyway I returned the KPA already for quite a while ... Cheers!

I would love to get some other opinions from you, with all the details you like to add. for example, what can you tell me about profiles of clean sounds "british like"? Can you give me some link where I can listen to them?

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Wow, I run my KPA into an Adam A8x and would never have my treble or presence even close to those values. In fact, I roll treble down to about 8 o'clock and presence down to 9 o'clock. Don't be afraid to use more "extreme" settings to get the sound you want. The KPA has a very detailed and sometimes strident high end - especially when playing through FRFR. Personally, I rather have this "too much" high end issue as it allows me to dial out the frequencies I don't like and still have it sound airy/open like a real amp. Many other models sound unrealistaclly muffled and dark because they don't have all this top end information. At your settings, it would sound completely ice-picky and fizzy on my rig.

Again, don't be afraid to move settings way away from the middle. Generally loving my KPA these days. YMMV.

Quote from mikeb

I feel bad for you. I too was about to send my Kemper back but after I performed a FLASH MEMORY FORMAT it works perfectly. You could find instructions in the Problem forum here on how to do it. Needless to say, after I did it, my Kemper had none of the problems you noticed. Before I did this, it was not working correctly as you describe.
I believe the reason for this was corrupted Flash memory.

[edit] listened to your clips, you had the exact same issue that I did

Is there a proove that a flash format solved a similar problem for a second person apart from you?

Quote from FaZz

So!?! why the support, instead of making me mad, have not proposed me to format the flash memory !!!
if I remember correctly, even in the instruction manual does not speak about reset procedure? isn't it?

LOL

Hey Fazz, please activate your PM