Kemper Amps Forum

Since the SPDIF will give you the closest possible choice to the internal binary data on the KPA i would say it has no sound. Could it just be that the solution you used before (since you are missing something now) just rolled off the high end frequencies a little more? If you get used to that sound it might appear to be a little warmer.

I have to agree with Techn0god - I am running SPDIF into my Apogee Ensemble - and I too feel it sounds mmm. somewhat sterile - so I am going to try an experiment and just come out of main outputs into my Apogee. When I played this in the store the tone was rich and creamy - and just awesome - using the stock patches, when I got home and connected via SPDIF I was un impressed - almiost to the point where I wanted to return it!!!! - can anyone from Kemper tell me if you loose the Cabinet Modeling algorithms when going thru SPDIF? - cause that is what it sounds like.

I didn't like the sound through spdif either so I use the left XLR analog out.

Quoted from "blund69"

I have to agree with Techn0god - I am running SPDIF into my Apogee Ensemble - and I too feel it sounds mmm. somewhat sterile - so I am going to try an experiment and just come out of main outputs into my Apogee. When I played this in the store the tone was rich and creamy - and just awesome - using the stock patches, when I got home and connected via SPDIF I was un impressed - almiost to the point where I wanted to return it!!!! - can anyone from Kemper tell me if you loose the Cabinet Modeling algorithms when going thru SPDIF? - cause that is what it sounds like.

Well, that's how miked tube amps sound thru your monitor speakers.
The audio interface will not colour the sound significantly.
Possibly the speakers in the store had a different flavour, that you liked in a way..
Play the Profiler along your favorite recording thru your monitor speakers. That will give you a different picture.

in all seriousness, i played with the spdif into my EMU 1212M soujnd card for nearly a month.. came to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the Kemper interfaceing with my spdif. i cannot fix the tone..and get clipping too easily at lower volume levels.

i just plugged back into the Kempers XLR outs and now my tone is rich and powerful again using the SAME soundcards TRS inputs. Conclusion for me , SPDIF is not compatible.

I've only ever used mine with the XLR outs. Sounds lovely.
Didn't even consider SPDIF.
Now I want to try it and see if there is any difference..

Quoted from "blund69"

When I played this in the store the tone was rich and creamy - and just awesome - using the stock patches, when I got home and connected via SPDIF I was un impressed - almiost to the point where I wanted to return it!!!!

If that's the case, then the monitors in the store where significantly different/better.
I have a similar effect: I played guitarnet70's rigs at his place and was blown away. So I put those on a USB stick and went home. At my place they sound great, but nowhere nearly do I get the same punch/warmth and realism, that I got at his place.
The only difference in our setup is the quality of our active monitors: I have Alesis at my place, while he's using iKey Audio's (which I now know to be far superior to mine).

Quoted from "blund69"

can anyone from Kemper tell me if you loose the Cabinet Modeling algorithms when going thru SPDIF? - cause that is what it sounds like.

Cabinet modelling does not get disabled when using SP/Dif. In fact, my SPDif signal sounds the same as the XLR outs (if there's any difference, they are negligibile to me - at least, I haven't noticed a difference so far).

SPDIF cables are not to be confused with normal RCA cables. - There is a differnce. although both will work but you wont get a true sound with RCA
I use SPDIF and have the same sound as my main outs.