This is something I wasn't able to reference on the forums, I apologize if this has been discussed before.
Although I have been using the KPA for some time, I don't have too much experience profiling. I've tested the water a bit at home, but this was more to get familiar with the process than to actually make some useable patches. I plan on going into a friends studio and profiling a few of my own amps, and just wanted to see if anyone has noticed if the KPA itself tonally colors the signal path significantly.
More specifically... In this instance, I was micing up my Egnater Mod 50 to get some really basic "clean with edge" Americana type tones for a project I was working on. I ran just the SM57 in front of my amp directly into my Fireface UFX interface, and directly into my recording program (Cubase 7.5). After fiddling around a bit, I got a tone I liked and printed it to a wav file for a reference. Since I liked the sound, I naturally wanted to profile it. So, I put the KPA in line, ran it per the instructions in the manual, set levels etc. and went through the profiling process (without altering any EQ settings on amp or adjusting mic placement. I just adjusted the return level in KPA to match a similar profile). When comparing the Profile/Reference in this set up, they sounded acceptably similar. However, when I compared it to the previous mic sans KPA track...A WORLD of difference. The direct mic was clear and present, the tone through the Kemper in line sounded like it was running through a drive through speaker.
I guess most people that profile are running through the Kemper from the get go, and dial in a sound they like perhaps compensating for any tonally anomalies the KPA might add to the equation. That, or very possibly, I'm doing something wrong. I know that everything in a signal path affects tone to a degree, but I thought this was pretty significant, and perhaps warranted a shout out to you profiling gurus that might know more than I. The way I am running it now, there is something seriously altering the tone between my guitar and the amp. Also, just as an aside, I am using all very high end cabling...Vertex, Vovox, so cables should not be an issue.
I am including a very short mp3 so you can hear what I am talking about. The direct miced cabinet is first and the second clip is routed through the KPA.
Thanks in advance for any input!
KPA Color Test
Mark Dannells