Kemper KPA Terms

The Kemper Profiling Amp offers a technology that is unlikely any other on the market. While it functions similar to a digital modeler and multi-fx unit, it has a number of unique features with their own terminology, that can be very confusing for a novice. This page breaks down the unique terms used to make discussing the product more clear.

Contents

Profiles

The big word is "profile", which is loosely defined as a digital snapshot of an amp/cab/mic that the Kemper uses to reproduce their sound.

• Studio
• Merged
• Direct Output
• Direct Amp
• Cab

Rig

A Rig is essentially the same thing as a "patch" on other digital modelers or multi-fx units. It contains profile data, as well as all the effects types and settings that were dialed in on the virtual signal chain. Even input settings can be saved per rig, if not globally locked. Rigs can be saved and loaded inside the KPA's internal storage, backed up to USB, and exported/imported as .kipr files through the Rig Manager software. It contains amp/cab profiles, although these rarely may not contain any real data and/or be disabled. For example, after creating a Direct Amp profile, the cab block in the resulting rig has no data - you have to copy/paste a cab from another rig for the block to actually do anything.

OS

Kemper officially uses the term "OS" (Operating System) for its firmware (FW) updates. The file used to update the KPA internal software is called kaos.bin (Kemper Amplifier Operating System). This makes sense from a technical point of view, but it is unconventional when referring to devices that are not computers or smart phones. This can be particularly confusing when discussing Rig Manager, which bridges a traditional Mac or Windows computer to the KPA; as Rig Manager versions are dependent on both the OS version of the computer and OS version of the KPA.