KPA vs Pod

    This is not supposed to show which one is better, because you can't really compare those units and you could always profile the Pod with the Kemper. It is just a small test for myself to see which sound I like more.




    I recorded this song with my Pod HD 500 some time ago (with a profile I tweaked for some time) and decided to rerecord it now with the kemper using a profile from the rig exchange.



    Which one do you like better? :)
    https://soundcloud.com/ach-eron/kemper-vs-pod-hd-500-test

    Sorry, I probably misunderstand the idea of your comparison. Still, it inspires me.


    The idea that "one sound is better than another" really doesn't do anything for me. Most of the times, a "good" sound seems to be merely closer to what the heros of a certain genre use as their sounds. The closer you get to one of the heros, the "better" it is. You can easily verify this when you check out new gear that comes with presets - all the heros are in the boxes in order to convince the clients to put out some money. When you buy that stuff (as I did in the past), you are likely to end up at home feeling that you now have the sound - but not the fingers, the feeling, the inspiration, creativity. Remember Edwyn Collins - Never known a girl ... ? The guitar sound was close to what I got when I bought my first cheap Arion distortion pedal and plugged it directly into my hifi equipment at home or into a mixing desk. It was bad bad - a no go. And suddenly, it turned the song into a hit. Who would have thought?
    The question of what a good sound is, cannot be answered, because it's a question of taste - personal taste and the taste of a majority / minority. And this is why I like the KPA so much because it doesn't come with the promise to replicate the favourite heavy sounds of this and that guitar god. It "just" offers you a tool and a promise: Whatever the micropohone in front of your box "hears" will be what ends up in your profiler. This is why I am convinced that the KPA is a very creative tool and that it will have a longer life than many of the modellers I have seen on the market over the years.
    Back to your comparison: I could say which of the two sounds I like better - although I must admit that I don't like both of them, because it's not my taste in music. But I am sure that you both could be the Kemper - depending on the source of the profile.
    As far as sounds are concerned, I believe that there aren't that many choices of amps and their characters when you try to simplify things a little. Certain variations in clean, crunch and high gain sounds. More or less dynamic. Different voicings. The rest is a question of feeling / composition / arrangement.

    Ya know ... a comparison like this is pretty much meaningless especially with high gain sounds, room ambience, the amount of push, grind, etc. As far as i can tell, this test really comes down to the listener's opinion as to how much they like one sound over the other AND whether one sounds better in the track. My opinion is guitar 1 is more predominant but guitar 2 might sit better as a backing track. Depends on what its purpose is.

    high gain-sounds with dropped down tuning, hard to tell... I prefer No2, sounds more like a "real" amp, but I have one suggestion: take away about 90% of the gain and record another two tracks. ;)

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    first name: Guenter / family name: Haas / www.guenterhaas.de

    okay - i have done my share of blindfoldtests for the community, so for the fun of it, here we go.


    • i like the second sound better
    • i am almost sure it is the KPA
    • i had the HD500 once for 3 weeks and pondered about buying it a year prior to the KPA
    • i returned it to the shop, because after all the tweaking i could not get a natural "feel" out of this thing
    • the contrary with the KPA, one profile and the volume knob = 3 sounds, you cant do this with the zoom
    • btw: with this kind of high-gain music, you can use almost anything, it minimalizes the differences extremely
    • it would be funny if i am wrong with my guess, i hope the OP acker will post it someday


    cheers

    My occupation: showing teenagers the many hidden secrets of the A-minor chord on the guitar.

    My guess is: First is Guitar Rig second is Amplitube. Really, I can't tell. (Still own a Pod 500 HD, now the footcontroller for my Kemper. My favourite modeller till the KPA came into my life.)

    Hi!



    Thanks a lot for all your feedback. Yes the second one is the kemper. And to be honest, I listened today to it and I also prefer the 2nd one much more.
    Of course you may get very close with some eq and other settings, but the Kemper has this special bite, which makes a big difference.

    Interesting I listened again on my studio KRK speakers instead of my laptop. On my laptop number 1 sounded better, but through my studio speakers 2 sounded good. I used to be in love with my vetta untill I got a KPA. Were the same amps models/profiles used for both sounds, as IMO they both sound totally different. Great test though.


    Like so many people have said in these forums tone is in the eye of the beholder :) one persons favourite tone might not be that of another persons, that's why there are lots of different profiles of the same amp out there and they all sound different. :)