New From Wymondham - Kemper At Band Practice - Powerhead into 4x12 Cab

  • Well after a very up and down few weeks with the Kemper Power Rack (even to the point of considering selling it)..I decided BRAVELY to take it to band practice last night and do a 'live' A/B test with my current live rig, EVH 50watt & 4x12, L6 500xHD & 4 cable method on the left... and the Kemper Powerhead & 4x12 cab on the right.


    Main exercise was just to set up the Kemper volume wise to the same level to where I normally play with the EVH...and then come back and tweak some patches for later use...I was fully expecting all my band to tell me to 'put that back in the car'....but no!..
    I decided to crank it, did a few small tweaks to a rig and...wow, results were impressive, to the point that the rest of the band all said that it sounded much better than the EVH (which cheered me up and broke my heart at the same time!)...I only meant to play it for 10-15 minutes with the band just to get levels etc but ended up playing it all night 2+ hours...and even switched off the EVH!!..Everyone said that the tone was much clearer, much more articulate...'you could hear stuff' and whilst it still had all the bottom end and tight chug chug...just sounded smoother...endorsement indeed from my lot, they dont take prisoners!!


    So I'm back on board with the Kemper...I made some fairly drastic tweaks to the output section & power amp boost and also rig volume, ones which I think would be considered 'out of the norm'...but hey, it seemed to do the trick as far as using a PowerHead straight into a 4x12 cab...there is no right or wrong, just what sounds good and I have to say...it sounded good!


    The rest of the band ended up being the judges on the night, i didn't intend it to be a Kemper demo night, but the patch sounded great, a few tweaks and it sounded even better..now I know its in there I'll dial in a proper sound...get the delays right etc..


    For what its worth I will post up my settings for those who might want to use the kemepr in the same way as I..ie: just straight into a 4x12 cab...it might work for you, it might not...for all those struggling like me...stick with it, its worth it in the end!..Obviously each set up is different, all cabs sound different...but it is possible to get a fantastic 'rock' tone at live band volume..just Kemper and a 4x12..stick with it guys.


    This is a great forum, and thanks to everyone on it for their input...it is a journey...for all us newbies just stay with it, keep your amp whilst you play with this, just as a fall back, but you will soon find the right patch and that is partly the trick...find the right patch! You wont go back.


    Niall

  • Up and Down indeed Niall! Did you manage to get the feedback under control?


    I'm on the opposite end of the rollercoaster at the moment, after a few weeks using the KPA at rehearsals I used my Roadster last night and the improvement in overall sound and feel for me playing was impossible to ignore. I'd love to get the KPA working like the amp, just not there yet!

  • Cheers guys, as it happened (Araman) I was using a profile from the Rig Exchange, it was a Splawn QuickRod Gear3 profile...dont know if it was a merged one, but pretty sure it wasn't. Yes cab sim was off, cant remember who did it, but its top of the list if you search for Splawn.


    Powerhead straight into Marshall JCM900 4x12 stock speakers...from memory, last night I had power boost amp flat out at 12, Master Volume pretty much flat out at 10.6 but the rig volume way down at about -8...I also tweaked monitor cab out in Output section boosted, Bass, cut Mid and boosted Pressence a little...this altered the sound of the cab speakers and really made a difference, well to me anyway...I did all of this at GIG volume, I play in a slightly louder than average rock band so bear this in mind...I also tweaked the profile a little to taste ie: gain, bass, mid, treb, pres...nothing more than I would do with a normal amp.


    This is by no means perfect as yet, literally 10mins tweaking last night in between songs/during songs..I will post the settings I used when I've finished set up etc for others in my position who might be interested...I did suffer a little from 'feedback squeel' despite a fully engaged noise gate...but I was loud, I was standing 2 ft in front of it and I hadn't really had the time to set it up properly...once I'd moved off to the side a little it went away no problem, so its just a proximity thing in relation to the amount of gain I like to use...which is a lot!.

  • Hey Niall
    If you have a suitable DI box, you can very easily make direct profiles of your EVH and then A/B test them with the real thing.
    The results are often stunning!

  • Hi Paul,
    Yes Rollercoaster indeed...I didnt intend to take it last night, but decided last minute to take it and just get it to the same volume I normally play at, bring it home and tweak...actually I have to say that my lot were super encouraging about it...even liked how it looked!!...so I just decided to play one song with it, swap over to the EVH play one song, swap back play another song...I did this tweaked the profile some more...played another song and everyone just said...stick with that, so I used it for the rest of the evening...sounded great!


    Yes I did suffer a little from squeel during play, but gain on the profile was dialed at 10 and I was standing 2ft away from it at serious volume..I moved to the side and it went...so perhaps less gain is the order of the day...it still needs work...I dont suppose I have it set up 'properly' but what does that actually mean anyway its all subjective, I dont suppose i should have the power amp boost at max 12, or master volume at 11 and the rig vol at -8 or so...but it did seem to work...on that profile anyway...also, for me...monitor cab out EQ section in the Output button makes a big difference, really does change the cab sound..so I tweaked that to taste...wether I'm supposed to or not, I dont know but it did help shape the sound to my liking.