Looking to buy a Kemper just a few questions

Welcome Pobinr. I'll take a shot at these, but others will hopefully chime in.

For your first three questions, the answer is that the KPA can very accurately cop the sound of any of those player's amps. However, getting their "tone" involves much more than the amp. Holdsworth and EJ use tons of effects. Beyond that, there is so much of it in their hands that no amp will make you sound like them. My suggestion is to do your own thing. Find your own sound that works for, and pleases you.

As for the last question, you can absolutely create an "amplifier" that is beyond the bounds of what a tube amp is capable of. The KPA has deep tweaking of many parameters that let you personalize the sound completely to your own ear.

For me personally, I love the KPA. I know it's not for everyone, but it's permanently ended amplifier GAS for me.

Edit: I forgot to address the issue of clean tones. Those clean tones are what I love the most in the KPA, and you can tweak them just like any other.

[ EDIT: sorry Zappledan for duplicating some of your answers... we were writing at the same time it seems ]

Hi pobinr, welcome here

the sound of any musician is firstly in their hands. Give Clapton an LP and it will sound like a Strat. so the first element of study should be the way the pronounce the notes, press the strings, vibrate.
Apart from this, often there're fx involved, and a certain sound might have been produced through a more or less complex chain of devices (in post-production as well). Uh, and the PUs may be important as well. Last, often guitars on the records are multi-layered.

The KPA is able to sound exactly like the mic'ed amp you profile, if you know what you're doing. Given the number of profiles already available both for free and for... fee, if the amps\settings you're after are not available they will certainly be! Let's see if others can point out something already available for you.

It's possible to get very unusual sounds from the KPA. I'd advise you to check what David Torn can do with just a KPA. Here's a thread of his on TGP. There you'll fin the link to his SC page.
On the wiKPA you'll also find very unusual profiles (like mellotron, for example) and rigs.

Apart from really creative uses, keep in mind that KPA's controls apply to those profiled amp where they are not present as well. For example you can add 80 dB gain to an amp originally gifted with just MV alone... and you also have presence, sag and other controls (not to mention pre- and post- amp EQ).
Those controls are always available on every profile, and you can freely modify any profile and save it hundreds of times with different names, and with the same name as well!

Enjoy your new machine

Quote from viabcroce

Give Clapton an LP and it will sound like a Strat.

So if you give Clapton a ukulele it will sound like a Strat?

Quote from Pobinr

HI thanks for your replies & welcome
As I understand it, the Kemper samples the sound you make. Not just the amp. Of course it's not going to include delay effects I imagine, but it will include anything that effects the tone such as what guitar and or effects as well as amp of course is what's profiled y/n ?

Yes... More or less. It will actually capture (and reproduce) the rig's transfer function: no modulations, reverbs, time-based fx. But EQ, gain, sag, saturation
The guitar is not involved in the profiling process. So if you change the guitar you play with, the KPA will react exactly like an amp: responding differently.
Download the wiKPA, you won't regret it ;D

Quote from Animus

So if you give Clapton a ukulele it will sound like a Strat?

LOL

Mhhh... more likely, if you give a Strat Eric Clapton, it will sound like a ukulele

[guys, this forum is killing me ]

Quote from viabcroce

LOL

Mhhh... more likely, if you give a Strat Eric Clapton, it will sound like a ukulele

Quote from Pobinr

viabcroce
I don't understand how the Kemper can isolate the amp sound. You'd think it would need to be fed the guitar signal injected to the amp as well as the output of the amp & from the difference then know what the transfer function is.

Since the signal being fed to the amp is generated by the KPA, what you said is indeed what happens.

Quote from schneidas

If you give a mouse a cookie..............he's going to want Clapton and a Strat to go with it!

Quote from Zappledan

Since the signal being fed to the amp is generated by the KPA, what you said is indeed what happens.

What Zappledan wrote!
The KPA generates an array of test signals by which it determines the amp's transfer function. KPA and amp are looped via a microphone and a cable

(... It seems you've not yet read the wiKPA, have you? )

Quote from Pobinr

HI thanks for your replies & welcome
As I understand it, the Kemper samples the sound you make. Not just the amp. Of course it's not going to include delay effects I imagine, but it will include anything that effects the tone such as what guitar and or effects as well as amp of course is what's profiled y/n ?
I am an experimental guitarist endlessly experimenting with improvisation & sound so the Kemper could be a lot of fun for me. I assume superior to the Line 6 I use.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions about the Kemper. There is no "sampling" in the traditional usage of the word as it applies to audio. the profiling process sends a bunch of different signals to an amp and analyzes the results and programs itself to mimic that response. The resultant profile is able to be manipulated to your hearts content just like any other modeling device. You could for example take a Dual rec profile, turn the gain all the way to 0 and alter the cab parameters voicing or even change the cab from the matched profile cabinet to something very different, like a dual 10 inch open back, and have a very different sound. You can additionally control the amp response such as pick attack and sag. Really a very deep device. However, I've found by and large there isn't much need for deep editing with the Kemper as there are so many very good profiles which really only need a slight EQ tweak to sound great.

Quote from viabcroce

What Zappledan wrote!
The KPA generates an array of test signals by which it determines the amp's transfer function. KPA and amp are looped via a microphone and a cable

(... It seems you've not yet read the wiKPA, have you? )

I guarantee if it were a true Wiki, you'd get many more hits...

Quote from Pobinr

But it doesn't know the input signal though does it. You don't feed the raw guitar signal into it in addition to the amp sound. Unless I'm mistaken.

The profiling process involves connecting an output from the KPA to the input of the amp, then mic'ing the amp's output and putting it back into the KPA. The KPA sends a series of sounds to the amp and monitors the results. Since the KPA generates the input, it can compare to the output.

Quote from Pobinr

What happens is actually that you plug the Kemper into the amp input. It then sends test tones into the amp & then it notes what comes out of the amp/speaker system ?
Hence it can then know the transfer function of the amp/speaker system combined. Or of course one can I assume take DI out of the amp to ignore the speaker component of the sound.

Correct. Usually the"combined system" includes the mic tho. And a DI excludes the mic as well.

Quote from Will_Chen

I guarantee if it were a true Wiki, you'd get many more hits...

True. But what are you ready to do in order to make it happen?

I like to think that many KPA users (specially the earlier adopters) might benefit from reading\consulting it. In a sense, they have more to gain from reading it than myself from them doing that - if you know what I mean.
I'm not earning a cent from this work. All can do, is to address users asking questions to what I believe is a good source of information. That's why you find me often naming the wiKPA on these pages. If they do it or not doesn't change my life the least, so to speak. OTOH, I'm of course grateful to all those who felt they'd express their appreciation or gratitude after consulting it

Finally, the wiKPA is frequently updated, iperlinked, interactive... almost like a remote wiki. I believe it is a great value, considering how much it costs users

BTW, for those who have no clue about what a wiKPA is, you can find it here

[WARNING - Subliminal advertising follows]

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Now 'Read the wiKPA' is on my mind...

wow... it worked!

Thanks for your spirit Doc. Appreciate it!