My first couple of weeks with the Kemper - comments and few questions

    I've had my Kemper now for a couple of weeks. This is my second stint with it. I had one back in 2012 too. So far, I'm very impressed:


    What I love

    • Much less tweaking than I did with my AxeFX. I would always have to redo my patches for my guitars after the releases and I'd have to play with the speaker pages constantly to match the speaker settings to best fit the IRs I was using. Maybe I didn't have to, but it was the way to get the right response and I'm probably too anyl. The huge key though is having the right profiles. I bought MBritt profiles and I immediately bonded with them. But my favorite sound is the classic Marshall-based Plexi set up...low on the bass, high on the mids, and ample highs on the treble, adjusted to the guitar and space. Basically, I think he has the same ear for what he wants to hear so I really don't need to do any tweaking at all. They just work.
    • The sounds are great. I don't have any amps right now to compare, but it certainly at the same level of sound and quality as my Axe FX was (I have the AX8 now and had the Axe FX II XL+). I do find the clean and light break up sounds to have more distinction and feel. I think the high gainers that I've tried are good but I might have liked the Axe models better.
    • The Remote is set up nicely for a small footprint controller. Using it as I use it, I'll probably do an amp as a Performance and use the various cuts of the amp rig underneath it...kind of like scenes on the AxeFX. Still trying to decide my approach though...more in my questions...
    • Cosmetically, I'm glad not to have a rack this time. I'm mostly playing direct to a board where we're running our own sound. The stages aren't big. I can set the lunch box in more places than I could my 19" Axe rack in it's Gator case. I think it looks cool, but that's me.

    What I Don't Like

    • The boot times. I fear this on stage if the power flickers and it reboots. It will be a painful wait.
    • Editing in the Performance mode, particularly through Rig Manager. This was a pain in the but to try and load rigs into the slots. I would copy and paste and it would sometimes load rigs into the wrong slots. Plus, you have to save, it seems, after each rig goes into one slot vs. copying and pasting to fill the slots you want and then saving the performance. I ended up going with the Kemper interface and just dialing in the slot names. That worked fine.
    • Lack of a db meter or something to level rigs/patches in the device. The Axe FX had this and it helped with one of my least favorite things ever...patch leveling across guitars and amps.

    Questions

    • Just curious how many of you are using performance to manage your sounds? On the AxeFX, I used to have one patch per guitar and then use 5 scenes to get different sounds. The sounds would be 4 different amps with different cabs. A cleanish Vox amp, and moderate crunch Plexi, a higher gain Plexi (Friedman, CarolAnn, etc.), and a lead amp like a Trainwreck. Each had their typical cabs. I'm changing my thinking here with the Kemper. Given the MBritt profiles give you a span of gain types on one amp, I'm going to line up my performance as an amp with a clean to mean approach and the last one being mean + volume boost for lead. My hope is that I will get a better stage sound as I did find changing the amp model and cab on songs was a constant EQ and volume dance to tweak something that cut the right way. I will miss out on easy way of being able to play a Plexi on one song and a Diezel on another, but I think no one cares anymore and I'd rather come through the same way all night
    • Best practices on patch/volume leveling? Since there's nothing in the box, are you guys just using external sound meters? I have one and used to use it on the AxeFX until they put the db meter in the box.

    I'm now seriously considering returning my AX8. I was thinking of keeping it for amp/cab applications, because I think it shines better there, but I guess there are profiles now that are designed for this application in the Kemper world? Instead, I'd probably pick up an Atomic Amplifire as something to back up the Kemper in a pinch. I'm very surprised on this as I used the AxeFX for so long but was never a schill or fanboy...just a happy and devoted user. I think the Kemper fits my workflow and sound targets a bit better in the sound space that interests me the most. I really need a Kemper live test though and that won't come until a week or so.

    Boot time is a bit on the long side (I can't compare to Axe, never owned one) but honestly in the months I've been using the KPA I have never had it go down mid-show and require a reboot. Besides, if power for the whole venue flickers you won't be the only one waiting. :)


    My workaround on the db meter thing - I run my KPA into a DAW and set up a db meter there. That said, I will tell you perceived volume is more important than what the meter says, so my advice would be to tweak tweak tweak at rehearsal and get it right in a band setting. Anything less and you are gambling. I set my clean and overdriven patches to different settings because perceived volume on clean tones is louder than naturally compressed overdrive tones, but it's still not perfect. So I tweak at rehearsal.


    These are just my opinions. They are essentially worthless. :)

    Husband, Father, Pajama Enthusiast

    Like 1
    Quote from mightypudge

    Boot time is a bit on the long side (I can't compare to Axe, never owned one) but honestly in the months I've been using the KPA I have never had it go down mid-show and require a reboot. Besides, if power for the whole venue flickers you won't be the only one waiting. :)


    My workaround on the db meter thing - I run my KPA into a DAW and set up a db meter there. That said, I will tell you perceived volume is more important than what the meter says, so my advice would be to tweak tweak tweak at rehearsal and get it right in a band setting. Anything less and you are gambling. I set my clean and overdriven patches to different settings because perceived volume on clean tones is louder than naturally compressed overdrive tones, but it's still not perfect. So I tweak at rehearsal.


    These are just my opinions. They are essentially worthless. :)


    Thanks...I can do the same thing in terms of getting in the ball park with my DAW too. Actually...to my ears...the MBritt profiles of the same amp/speaker are all close enough. Where this will require some doing is if I decide to mix multiple rigs into one performance bank or if I'm using different rigs with guitars. I don't know...coming back to the Kemper has me simplifying stuff even more and I'm digging that.

    I've been using mine live for 18 months and its never rebooted live. However, if you are worried about it, some people are using small UPS's but I've not bothered.


    I also agree on the db meter thing, I balance my relative volumes with the band as other factors are at play e.g. often clean sound cuts better so needs to be lower volume, or certain patches I have for quieter parts of songs so need to be lower in volume relative to the band. I've even done it live if something isn't quite right ( yeah not ideal but shows its quick and easy).


    I do use a different rig in performances purely based upon the flex you can have in the sounds i.e. I do use an AC 30 for clean, Marshall for crunch, mesa for lead etc. Even if I limited the amp choice, I'd still use performance as its so much easier to organise than browse for live but you can easily do either. I find it especially useful as I am in multiple bands and I have a performance for each band.


    Just my view...:) oh and welcome back...

    Quote from mtmartin71

    Best practices on patch/volume leveling? Since there's nothing in the box, are you guys just using external sound meters?


    I use a phon meter (dBa) in 0.5 m in distance of my studio monitor for first setting at home. I try to reach so approx 77 - 83 dBa (depending if solo or rythm profile and music type I wanna play) and the Rig-Volume at 12 o clock. ( 6 dB mainvolume)
    Final tweaking at rehearsal with GIG loudness. If necessary adjustment after GIG. And still sometime its not correct. :/

    If you haven't been welcomed already, mtmartin71, welcome, mate!


    Yeah, it's all about perceived volume. Onboard metering wouldn't have helped much in this regard.


    The internal headroom in the unit is huge, which is why we're not presented with metering or clipping LEDs at every stage of the signal chain. IMHO, this is a good thing. Saves time and minimises distractions, I reckon.


    EDIT:
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts, mate!

    Thanks guys for the welcome and all the info. I'm just about done with my set up of my performances. Collapsing them down to guitar pickups vs. one/guitar.


    I'll be going live with the new set up this Saturday night. I'm using the MBritt profiles exclusively. Will run a feed to the board and will get back a feed for my monitor. Full FRFR using an Atomic CLR to monitor myself. I'm thinking things should be fine. My only concern might be how to cut (or not) for FOH. We'll be running our own sound. What I had been doing with my AxeFX is using Ownhammer IRs and cutting around 80-100 on the low end and 10K to 15K on the high end. I think our bassist (who runs sound) was slapping an FOH preset on my guitar (we use a PreSonus 16.4.2 board). What I'd like to figure out is to see if we can take the preset off and just cut the low end to tasted. I think the high end on those MBritt profiles is already tailored and I wouldn't want to shave it much more. Would be interested in what you all have done. From the man himself, he mentioned that they may only cut him on the low end.


    Any thing else quirky or Kemper specific I should think about or pretty much the same path as my old Axe FX setup?

    I'm thinking that if you can, have a listen at soundcheck, and cut the lows, starting at 80 or 100Hz and gradually raising the HPF beyond the point where "weight" or tubbiness is lost, 'til you hear an obvious change in the tone (emanating from changes in the low mids most likely), and then backing off just enough to preserve the general tonal character so that it sounds very much like it does without the HPF in place. There should be less "weight" after you've HPF'd, but the tone should sound pretty-much the same.


    I'd leave the high end alone for now too - good call I reckon.


    Obviously I'm suggesting a par-for-the-course insurance policy against contributing to low-mid-to-low-end mush that'll only serve to sabotage the clarity and separation of the various instruments in the band.


    Good luck with the gig, mtmartin71!