Mono Headphones

  • I would like the ability to set the headphone output to mono. Not that I don't enjoy the spacious stereo sound, but I send a mono signal to the house. Therefore I set the mainout puts to mono (figuring it wouldn't make sense to send the house just the left signal) My Kemper sits in a side room off the stage of my church. I go in there during the week and set my tones for the coming weekend services, using good headphones. When I listen to my sound later in the house system, the basic tone is pretty close to my headphone tone, however, the house mix always lacks enough delay compared to my headphone mix. I presume that much of this is do to the fact that the headphone mix is stereo and the house is not. Something I'm doing wrong? In any case, if this is my issue, it seems that allowing the headphone mix to be set to mono would be quite a simple feature to add.

  • Try to send out the left output of the stereo to the FOH, instead of the mono mix.
    Tis will sound as well (maybe even better) and it will have the exact effect portion of the stereo headphone sound, since no signal is canceled in the mono mix.

  • Sorry, CK, I don't get this. Why should the left output only provide the exact effect portion like the stereo headphone sound with L/R? Can you explain further, please?

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

  • If you talk about reverb or chorus, no stereo portion of the signal - that is the uncorrelated signal - will be canceled out in a mono mixdown.


    Mixing the effect signal to mono will drop it by generally drop it by 3 dB, while the mono portion in the middle will maintain its volume.

  • Hm...this confuses me even more.
    Sending only the left output of a stereo signal to FOH has nothing to do with mono, imho. It's more like sending only half of the signal, so the other half gets lost. And what about delay panned L/R? If we're going FOH like you suggest, one side of the delay will be missing.

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

  • Sending one side has a lot to do with mono.


    But you are right, a stereo delay send by one side is a problem.
    I assume that the OP is aware of this and will chose an appropriate Delay anyway, as he is using a mono signal anyway.


    A stereo chorus on the other hand can sound better if taken from one side, rather than being mixed to mono, which might increase the density.


    This is why we have the options "left" and " mono" in the output sources.
    Check it out!

  • Thanks for responding again, CK. I must read the manuals again and check, if there's something special to the left main out of the KPA. Otherwise I'd say: Grab you interface, connect only one monitor and play an AC/DC song. You'll notice that Angus or Malcolm will be missing. And this has nothing to do with mono. :)

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

  • Thanks CK. I'll try that out soon. I had used my kemper that way when I first got it and didn't notice any issue but had later changed it to mono when I stumbled across the setting, incorrectly assuming that it was the "right" way to set it up.

  • Yes, it depends what the music source is.
    in case of a single instrument and a special situation (like the OP has) a single out can be advantageous to a mono mix.
    The best thing is to try out what sounds better or more appropriate.

  • I put the Kemper back in main out set to stereo and used the left output and it worked well. Though I do have to retweak the delay mix and feedback since my setting were compensating for the loss in mono. The only issue I have is the ability to have multi-tap, which I currently don't use on more than a couple songs, as the delay times are set to left and right, and if I'm only using the left output, the right won't be heard.