the Hyper Chorus is a 6-voice chorus. with the amount parameter you can scale it down to 4 if that's more to your liking
TBH, I really don't dig, like, any of the KPA effects. And the chorus is not even close to what I hear in the ISP demo.
Damn it, I use a Strymon Ola, and even then I am impressed by the Theta Pro chorus.
Agreed, the cleans and bass sounds are good and crisp.
Heavy guitars are not good for me as is so far.
I have mixed feelings. I don't dislike them, but they still feel too overprocessed...and while I could stand them in a mix, when playing by myself I wanna see the raw, visceral dirt of my tone 
Yes, that is my worry too. I have the KPA and a bunch of Strymon effects, I would like to simplify the setup but chances are that the Helix won't compare to the KPA for tones nor to the Strymons for effects...so I wouldn't simplify anything and I would pay 1500 euros for a controller 
Display MoreWell... usually, if something has to create hype before you can actually hear it - that's a sign that it will just be average.
If a product was to convince you by its sound, they would have presented proper amp examples already.
Just my humble opinion of course - but it is basic psychology. (Create hype vs present results)
Anyway - I'm ready and open to be convinced otherwise - but c'mon, it's Line6 - I've been disappointed just too many times by their products.
I am not sure I agree with that reasoning.
True that hype makes you sell, but that doesn't necessarily mean there is no substance behind.
On the other hand, good sounds don't make much hype by themselves. This thing is gonna be out soon:
and - albeit very 80s sounding and not everyone's cup of tea - it crushes anything I've heard so far from the Helix.
This, on the other hand, is on the other hand of the line regarding beauty... (functionality list and usability are not so close either)
Yeah, I heard them. It's these three:
They sound good and all, and yet I can't help thinking there's a catch. I keep hearing this spongy character in the distortions/leads that just doesn't do for me.
Display MoreI don't get the sense of these videos....
Video 1: 6:35 minutes long, 55 seconds of playing and hearing 2 different sounds (clean / distorted), recorded with a cheap cam-mike.
Video 2: 7:56 minutes long, 48 minutes of playing and again just a few different sounds, especially the "Twin" sounds pretty awful, which could be a result of the cheap cam-mike, too.
90% on both videos is talking, promoting the Helix ("it's great, it sounds awesome ect".) and getting a short overview about the interface. For me these videos are totally useless, because the most important thing is HOW IT SOUNDS.... It would be great to have an A-B-test f.e. Helix - KPA, recorded with a proper interface under the same conditions.
Well, here I would have to defend Line 6 as those are not supposed to be demos, but interviews, and all the more made by other people, not Line 6 itself.
However, call me crazy, but I kind of liked the SLO test in video 1. The Twin in video 2 came out awful, no questioning, but the SLO lead channel seems - for what one can tell from a cheap camera recording - seemed quite punchy and roary. I could like it.
I honestly think that purely sound-wise, Native's Guitar Rig can rival almost anything on the market; even the Kemper. It doesn't feel as genuine, which is why my Kemper is still on my desk and why it'll probably stay here for a long time to come, but in a recording and with a skilled hand (which I don't consider to be myself, btw), I don't think Guitar Rig would do worse than an Axe FX or a Kemper.
Well, right, those are (some more, some less) powerful tools but it's really the hand that uses them, that makes the difference. But if we abstract away from that, I think a guy with a minimum of experience in tweaking this things has better chances of getting a better tone from a KPA than from Guitar Rig. I just find that the KPA has wider sweet spots than other digital solutions.
Now on the other hand, I don't feel like purely based on what you hear, you'd believe it's an amplifier. Of course I can't do a blindfold test, because it's already spoiled, but it just sounds digital to me in a way the Kemper (and in a lesser degree the Axe FX) doesn't. I don't think I'd think it was an actual amp in a blindfold test, which is something I look for in a good modeller.
I think you're drawn to say that "that sounds fake" by the amount of polishing in the presets he's showing. Pure 80s style, indeed 
but listen rather to the less polished parts: e.g., rhythm at 2:12, listen to the low end, DAT PUNCH, it is fantastic if you ask me. Or at 5:15, the "jazzy but not too much" cleans, those are warm, thick, and yet super intelligible and not the least bit mushy or dull.
It could be just me, but the sounds in that video don't make me want to have it, really. I think it sounds like a VST plugin and it sounds 80's, but that could be the guy playing. Not my cup of tea at all.
I agree it sounds SO 80s, I am definitely not gonna question that it's not your cup of tea, but saying that it sounds like a VST...well, by all means, shows which VST because I'd get it in a heartbeat.
On the ISP website we can read:
''THETA PRO™ the ultimate DSP processor with the tone and sound quality surpassing any digital guitar processer available.''
Well, considering the existence of the Kemper and the Axe FX, the less we can say is that they are very confident in their product!
Bold statements indeed, and also not very substantiated with arguments, but I give him that the direct sound is impressive. I never got something like that from my Kemper, which I love through real cabinet, but just does not do for me direct. It might be just the cab emulation then, but still I think it slays.
I've known the owner of ISP for 30+ yrs. He told me about this new processor about 2 months ago. I'm hoping to stop by his offices and give this a try on my next day off. I'll report my feelings on it compared to KPA as soon as I can.
Please do let us know! There is some "physical" quality to this clip with respect to most clips I hear, that just makes me feel like I have the freaking cab next to me
I don't know.
Honestly, I see people complain that it won't load IRs...who cares, if it sounds like this direct I wouldn't feel the need for IRs. Rather, it looks like the routing is fixed, and in general the interface is like 30 years old. I was eyeing an Helix as a complementary controller/multieffect for the KPA for the exact reason, that is, the amazing interface...now I don't know. What we heard so far about the Helix doesn't sound even close, if you ask me.
It is indeed very pricey, probably too much. On the other hand DAT CHORUS
When I saw this over at TGP I was like "what is this shit?"
Then I heard it.
Have a listen while I pick up my jaw from the floor.
I am not sure I solved the issue entirely, but I seem to have found the main culprit of what I perceived as a missing part of the body: sub-lows. I don't know exactly what frequency range is the "Low" knob on the tone stack supposed to work on, all I know is that cranking that up things get easily get muddy. I did instead place a parametric eq right after the amp, and cranked up a few dbs the area around 60 dB. That seems to bring back the punch in rhythms and give more mass to the leads. I love my KPA 
They are different, of course. The eq response of the tube power amp should be captured in the profile so you are doubling this effect. I generally find that if I do this that the guitar gets lost in a band mix as the mids are too scooped. I generally go -2 on bass which tightens things up and maybe a small boost on treble and presence but usually flat. Sounds killer.
Yes, I agree that in a band or mix context you'd want to cut the lows and strategically boost the mids to cut through, but here I am really just trying to see how close to the real tube poweramp sound and feel I can get
Yes, I did connect the cab as well, as recommended in the manual
[quote='XpennoKPA','http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index.php/Thread/22856-Recreate-tube-amp-with-powered-KPA/?postID=236536#post236536']Try tweaking the monitor out eq, -2 mids and +1 to +2 on presence. Bear in mind that you are effectively emulating the tube section twice though.
I did indeed sth similar, but on the amp's tonestack, rather than on the monitor out eq. Do you think they behave differently?
What mic was used in the process of getting that Engl Ironball tone you loved so much? I'm guessing none. Are you comparing the sound of a straight guitar cab to one that is mic'd? Two completely different animals if so. Mic's do their own thing to guitar tones.
I am not sure I get your remark.
I use to run
guitar -> Kemper (cabs off, EVH 5150 III profile, poweramp off) -> Engl Ironball poweramp -> cabinet
and now I am trying to go
guitar -> Kemper (cabs off, EVH 5150 III profile, poweramp on) -> cabinet
in such a way that the new tone is as close as possible to the old one. This of course mean modifying the profile to better incorporate the sonic signature of the Ironball's poweramp.
But since the cab section is off, I don't see where the mics should play a role 
Some people do, and that's totally fine
I might be one of them I just spent a few hours profiling my Engl, and as close as it got - and it pretty darn close, jesus! - it always feels like some of the body and roundness of the tube poweramp is not there yet. Argh
EDIT: of course I can't exclude the "missing sth" isn't the DI box's fault...
Uhm, what I have been doing was running the profile with cab sims off into the tube amp and there to the cabinet.
So yeah, what you say is correct, it's been as if there were two power amps there. However, I am not sure I don't just like that more
Hey guys, I don't know if anyone here has ever done this.
I used to own a non-powered KPA, which I used through the tube poweramp of my Engl Ironball (20W, EL84). I loved it so much, that I decided to take the plunge and get the powered version. As it got here, instadisappointment: while preamp profiling was impeccable, I found the KPA's poweramp to be cold and sterile. I tried tweaking for a good while, to no real improvement. After a while, I kind of gave up and went on on using it with the tube pa.
Today I tried again, and spent a good 2 hours trying to modify a copy of my fave preset (EVH 5150 III by Stymphalian) so that through the KPA's own poweramp would sound as close as possible to the original through the tube pa. I got it definitely close, but I still don't think I nailed it completely.
So my question would be: did you ever try to "clone" the signature sound of a particular tube amp? What process did you follow?
You won the lottery? As I figure of speech?
Because you want it, and you know it.
