Tip #9: Play the real thing

    It's great to play a real tube amp from time to tiime - it's like listening to records instead of compressed mp3's - I love booth!


    If you only own modelers or the KPA - you will be shocked if you play a, great, real tube amp, next to you - and loud.


    Will the KPA kill tube amps?
    I don't think so - it's about the same as with the Variax guitar - after owning it - I liked some models so much - that I wanted to own the real thing too.


    Most profiles sound like recorded tube amps - while the real amp pumps so much air.


    Can we come close to the real thing?
    Yes, close - if special profiles are used (created to sound close to the amp in the room vs. miked amp) - and if you use large speakers.


    btw. I have sold a lot of amps - only 7 tube amps are left - no new ones bought since I own the KPA.
    And modelers?
    I have sold all - the KPA is the only digital amp left.

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    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

    My best friend was over today and we were taking turns playing through the KPA. We both agreed that we were hearing sounds superior to any amp either of us had ever owned. I have one more amp left to sell, and it's not even a tube amp (Polytone MiniBrute IV). I'll pick up another RCF ART310A so I can hear the KPA in glorious stereo. I'm one happy Kemper camper and don't see myself ever buying a guitar amp again ...

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

    Quote from Armin

    It's great to play a real tube amp from time to tiime - it's like listening to records instead of compressed mp3's


    not a very good analogy.
    mp3s are a lossy way to compress data. The Profiler does not do this, the profile sounds true to the profiled amp.


    Also, you're mixing up the 'in the room' sound and the studio monitor sound.
    You want to move air with the Profiler? Plug it into the Effects Return of your amp or use a power amp and cab setup.


    Alternatively, set up 'the real thing' in a recording booth and play the guitar from the control room, now compare it to what the Profiler delivers.


    But of course you know all this, right?

    I don't doubt that a real amp can sound better than even an excellent profile/model of same, provided the real amp is a good specimen in good repair, and it can be played at a volume that is appropriate for the amp in an environment that complements that volume.


    But this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the profile/model will always be more adaptable in that it can produce a given timbre at very low amplitudes. On the other hand, hearing certain timbres at "inappropriate" amplitudes can make a modeler seem unconvincing, because we don't feel the air or perceive the power associated with that timbre.


    I guess all I'm saying is that - in addition to playing real amps - you also have to consider playing these profiles in ways that are appropriate to the amps in question, the most important variable being the volume at which you play. It's a great convenience to play a 100W Marshall at bedroom volumes, but there will always be some cognitive dissonance upon hearing and feeling the amp that way, no matter how good the profile is.


    And of course, there are always variables that can make a real amp sound worse than a good profile/model; I think a lot of people tend to forget this.

    Quote from MitchMalloy

    I have no idea how to do that I have looked 3 times no and do not see a setting where I can enable people to message me. ???


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    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer