First gig with Kemper! Woah!

  • I've started playing bigger venues this year and finally got a Kemper after a few big gigs, including a stadium, with less than adequate sound with my pretty small pedalboard and questionable backline. I had been waiting since March to use it live, a little bit afraid of running into problems with tone and volume balance. I am new to digital and I feel it reacts in a way I'm not used to.


    Had an outdoor event this weekend and thought it was time. Almost no time to soundcheck, plugged in the 4x12 cab on stage, told the confused sound guy to forget about his microphones and just give me an XLR to run to front of house, disabled master volume link and monitor cab. Boom, I was set up in 3 minutes!


    Can't comment on how it sounded out there yet (although I had compliments) but I never had a better stage sound on a big venue. I used 2 rigs, Top Jimi's JTM45 and '74 Superlead and a clean Fender from Rig Exchange. Still need to make some tweaks for next time but now I pretty much feel like life has just changed.

  • "Woah" was pretty much my reaction at my second gig as well. My first gig was ruined by...


    Almost no time to soundcheck, plugged in the 4x12 cab on stage, told the confused sound guy to forget about his microphones and just give me an XLR to run to front of house, disabled master volume link and monitor cab. Boom, I was set up in 3 minutes!


    A "confused sound guy" which is a redundant term around here.


    No joke, at my first gig the sound guy took one look at the Kemper rack and stared at the front panel for like three minutes. He could not figure out where to put the microphone. This was after I showed him the direct outs on the back and told him what they were for. Halfway into the first song he suddenly realizes there is no guitar coming out of FOH, so he runs up on stage and puts a microphone in front of the bass cabinet sitting next to my rack. Of course this has no effect. It took the guy three songs to realize he had the channel muted at the board.

    Husband, Father, Pajama Enthusiast

  • Did you use merged profiles or the studio profiles with cabsim off?
    Greetings
    Andy


    I used standard profiles with cab sim off. Still need to experiment more with merged/direct profiles and get a grip on how to fix in the mix better but everything I need is there, just a matter of tweaking. I realize the guitar cab approach is very forgiving whereas I have to be careful when running through the PA, maybe cutting some highs or lowering the definition (some commercial profiler more than others).


    Quote

    No joke, at my first gig the sound guy took one look at the Kemper rack and stared at the front panel for like three minutes. He could not figure out where to put the microphone. This was after I showed him the direct outs on the back and told him what they were for. Halfway into the first song he suddenly realizes there is no guitar coming out of FOH, so he runs up on stage and puts a microphone in front of the bass cabinet sitting next to my rack. Of course this has no effect. It took the guy three songs to realize he had the channel muted at the board.


    Ha! Well, I'm not going to poke fun at confused soundmen especially in the part of the world where I am but am sure in a few years they'll be like "oh I remember when I first saw one of these!" In my case the younger stage tech who seemed to know what was going on however looked pretty excited to come across one.