20 posts
The KPA (kemper) is just about the most unreliable piece of equipment I have ever bought. The firmware is still not solid after all this time and many updates and the damn thing freezes randomly at boot up and as at this time it has frozen during boot up and it will not go any further. I have tried all of the kemper "suggestions" on ways around clearing the system cache at bootup but still no joy.
I'm just waiting for my supplier to reply to me now as I am asking for a full refund and I don't want another one. It's a great concept and sounds great but it's just so unreliable. I can't imagine ever taking the risk of gigging with this.
>:( snake oil
ok, waiting for:
"all the pros like their equipment to be unreliable, everyone knows that - I spoke to the guy who vacuumed the studio after they recorded Dark Side of the Moon just the other day and he said their gear broke down all the time."
ironsheep — Mar 24, 2012ok, waiting for:
"all the pros like their equipment to be unreliable, everyone knows that - I spoke to the guy who vacuumed the studio after they recorded Dark Side of the Moon just the other day and he said their gear broke down all the time."
LOL ;D
It's started already :-)
http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index.php?page=Thread&postID=27533#post27533
I can't stand this "fanboy" mentality. Something either works or it doesn't, simple as that !
I've yet to have one of my tube amps (amps with valves to you UK'ers) freeze up. ;)
(That said, I'm going to be interested in a KPA down the line just for recording though! :D )
Well, I was at a gig the other night where the guitarist dropped his Mesa studio caliber combo--"hard crash"--and then after "boot up" a fuse blew, and he had a "hard freeze"... I went to radio shack and grabbed a 90 cent fuse and now I expect it will be another 15 years before it crashes again...
The kpa freezes every day or so (maybe it's a "feature"), and sometimes more than once a day. I can't imagine trusting it to gig with.
I like the part in the other thread where they tell you not to use other profiles. Umm, I thought that was the point of the amp? Good luck with it. Tube amps are like family, they will always welcome you back.
Jon I hate it for ya. This is THE reason I left that modeling shit behind. I had two Vetta's and both of them did the EXACT thing you are talking about. Would just freeze up. It happened at gigs. Very random stuff like you are having. Absolutley drove me insane.
Went back to the tube and have never been happier.
I'm all for great ideas, but I'm going to have to see some impressive shit to get me to leave the tube now. I'm like you man, I pay that kinda money for a peice of kit that damn thing better work.
Tube amps.....maintenance every few years. Not that expensive. Tubes ever so often. Not that expensive. Blown speaker once in a blue moon. Not that expensive. To me a tube amp CAN be tempermental. BUT if you take the tim to know the amp it will always serve you well.
I always carry extra tubes and extra fuses. I have never had to use them but once in the years that I've gone back to tubes. Had a tube burn up. Took 5 minutes to flip it over, pop it out, put one in, and presto playing again. never had to worry the rest of the night.
Sorry about that, Jon.
Also the first (or original) firmware version is afflicted by this problem ??
Many peoples with the pod hd have rolled back their firmware to the 1.3 (or 1.1 in some cases) because they don't like the sounds and/or the behaviour of the latest release.
Could the first KPA's FW release be less efficient but more stable ?
Marco, the unit actually shipped with a beta version, can you believe that ????
FB, fortunately I still have x2 tube amps. It was never my intention to dump tubes for software, this was more of a punt on the snakeoil sales pitch. I should have known better really as I've been caught like this before.
Lwb — Mar 26, 2012
Many peoples with the pod hd have rolled back their firmware to the 1.3 (or 1.1 in some cases) because they don't like the sounds and/or the behaviour of the latest release.
that right there is why I doubt I'd ever go back to digital "amps".
Jon — Mar 26, 2012Marco, the unit actually shipped with a beta version, can you believe that ????
FB, fortunately I still have x2 tube amps. It was never my intention to dump tubes for software, this was more of a punt on the snakeoil sales pitch. I should have known better really as I've been caught like this before.
Hell I loved the idea of getting all these different sounds in one box. Got rid of pedals and everything. So much less shit to carry to a gig. The idea was too good to be true.
I have my eye on another amp. Waiting a bit to get the money together. If I get the promotion I am wanting....I'm totally going to reward myself with a new amp. But for now.....my one amp gets enough sounds for me and with a couple of pedals I can get about anything I want. I can't complain about that.
I think with the digital shit we get too greedy and we want it all. The one thing that digital is proving to me is that you cannot have it all....unless of course you are fucking rich!
ironsheep — Mar 26, 2012[quote author=Lwb link=1332596920/0#9 date=1332768453]
Many peoples with the pod hd have rolled back their firmware to the 1.3 (or 1.1 in some cases) because they don't like the sounds and/or the behaviour of the latest release.
that right there is why I doubt I'd ever go back to digital "amps".
And I remember spending several hundred dollars to have Mike Soldano mod my '79 JMP... Quite a bit easier when all you need to do is change the firmware version! I think, as with every newer technology, that digital amps/modelers/profilers will eventually catch up and pass analog amps (anyone remember what the first cell phones were like? LOL!). :)
Personally I don't think the tube power section will ever be replaced. There is an ungodly amount of mojo in those things.
"someday, the laser printer will surpass the quill."
"someday, the apple will surpass the orange."
I've got no problem with not using tubes in the front end of an amp... tube preamps are not the be-all-end-all, as evidenced by the fact that there's a massive, thriving pedal industry. But without power tubes on the back end it's a lost cause to me. Maybe they can be modeled but I haven't heard a solid state amp yet that can do it.
I don't like the disruption of tone altering firmware updates, that's all. bug fixes are great - changing the sound, not so much. I like, and still use, the L6 DL/MM/DM - no firmware!
ironsheep — Mar 27, 2012I don't like the disruption of tone altering firmware updates, that's all. bug fixes are great - changing the sound, not so much. I like, and still use, the L6 DL/MM/DM - no firmware!
That's a really good point. Got my tones. New firmware. All tones altered. That's bullshit. Cover band guys have to hate that. You have to get so many sounds for one gig and now they are all fucked up. I've dealt with that before. Fuck firmware
:)
Not a big issue for me. Updating the firmware on the last pod serie (...don't know about the previus versions) is like to change the tubes and/or change the speaker on a real amp...just faster. :)
If I like the changes, I keep them; if I don't like them, all I've to do is to go back to the version I like and my presets are still there.