fingerstyle jazz chord solo guitar player wondering if I should get a KPA?

Not an issue. Just get the right fender deluxe profile and plug in your L-5.

If that is all what you play and you don't need a range of different tones...I would just get a real Deluxe, honestly. If you're going to use all the rest and just wondering whether you can also have that kind of tone the answer is yes. There are several other amp profiles for Jazz as well: Vibroverb, Champ, JC120, Twin....

Where are you based, Rick?

Edit: if you have the chance to try a Kemper I can send you some Jazz profiles

Hi Rick, and Welcome!

I do not play jazz (actually, I must confess 1)I'm a terrible guitarist 2)I'm not modest), but I do enjoy clean sounds, and jazz clean sounds.
I have, or have had, a few nice Fender, Musicman, Vox amplifiers, some jazz guitars, and I find that the sounds I get with some profiles
on the KPA and a pair of Truth B2031A are much better that I used to get with my amplifiers. Specifically, one thing that I appreciate more and more
every day is the total absence of noise, hum, with clean profiles and the excellent noise gate.
The other thing is that, unless you are really looking for "THE" specific sound of some specific amplifier, you can tweak a little some parameters
of a profile you like, add a small touch of reverb, and get some terrific clean sounds that are really faithful to your guitar (electric) sound.
I have rediscovered many of my guitars (must have about 40 and just enjoy playing them...

Of course, I'm not a pro musician, and this is just my 2ç. But you certainely must try the KPA with your own guitar and a good FRFR amplifier.

Regards.

Jean-Jacques.

Quote from rickbarda

i'm in manhattan beach, ca ... if I had access, I'd take you up on your much appreciated offer ... thx ... are you quite happy with the sound that you're getting out of it? ...

Never been happier with any other gear, It sounds and beheave like an amp (actually better, no joke) and the collection of available profiles does include whatever you can dream about.

Best purchase made, ever.

I play some jazz, more the comtemporary fusiony kinda stuff, but I love me some uber-clean guitar tones. I'm actually a fan of solid state amps for jazz cleans and my favs to date have been a Henriksen profile on the exchange and the JC-120 from The Amp Factory. There's no shortage of very good Fender clean profiles out there as well...the price thing considering your looking for a single amp is somewhat steep. I love my Kemper, but Jim Soloway's clips with the HD500 might persuade you to try out that unit before popping for the Kemper. He recorded his last album of solo chordal jazz stuff with the HD500. http://jimsoloway.bandcamp.com/

Rick:
I'm a jazz player. I posted a nice jazz tone using one of the purchased profiles of a jazz modded Deluxe, and it sounds good for jazz as do many of the cleans with various cabinets: http://soundcloud.com/dking_jazz/4-deluxe-clean-djazz There is some good advice here, if you just need one sound, an amp may be fine for local jazz gigs. I like the KPA because of effects as well, I often use delay and reverb with my tone trying to get a sound like Metheny or Abercrombie or Adam Rogers etc. I'm more of a modern jazz player so I like the variety and I do use some drive for the Scofield or McLaughlin sound. With the KPA, I feel it's all I'll ever need, especially as they add things like a looper etc.. I think McLaughlin uses an Apple laptop, and he was using a ZenDrive and some tube pedal as a preamp, but I would think we'll see him using this someday. I'm surprised he's not already. The portability and recording aspects are awesome. Of course, you'll need a PA. I use Bose L1 system with a B2 bass module and it sounds awesome but I still keep a Blues Junior and even a Nifty Fifty for simple gigs where I won't carry all the Bose stuff. With the Bose, I can mic the bass player and some of the drums and we get a great mix for a small jazz group. Lately my bass player doesn't even bring an amp, he plugs into the Bose. So, it all depends on your objectives.

Dave

Rick, I also play jazz chord melody as well as other styles and I found the Kemper very satisfying. That being said, if all I wanted was a warm clean sound I would probably stick with my SF Pro Reverb or my Genz Benz Acoustic amp but I wanted something that could run the gamut from clean to crunchy and the Kemper has scratched that itch.

I dont really play Jazz but my brother does who has a KPA as well....they are possibly the best amp/sound you will have for years ....you can bring all your amps with you and I would have to say that they are SO transparent ion terms of the guitar you put into them!

I would never go back to anything else ( I have about 10 amps ( new , vintage etc... ) )