Kemper sounds different on headphones vs. through Apogee Duet (with same headphones)

  • I'm a touring musician and I recently purchased a Kemper- it flat out sounds amazing in my headphones. When I try to send the monitor out to my studio monitors (apogee duet -> ableton) it sounds boxy and less pleasant. I know what you're thinking which is it's just the monitors vs. headphones- but if I use the same headphones through the apogee it has the same quality? What gives? I just want to make sure when I hit the road for tour that my sound is going to err on the side of what I'm hearing directly vs. through my interface, otherwise I may have to reconsider using it as my main rig.

  • The monitor is mono, no?


    Try the main out in stereo. Also check your headphone settings in Kemper (long press output button). You could have added some headphone space there.

    Ne travaillez jamais.

  • Ok that's really helpful. Is there going to be a sonic difference between mono and stereo if my delays mono? Also, I did have some headphone space- if that is responsible for why it sounds so much better is it possible to recreate that for the output?

  • Actually upon further examination, there appears to be a sonic difference between my monitor output and the main output but they're both EQ'ed flat. The main output made everything sound much closer to what I was hearing.. am I crazy?

  • Ok that's really helpful. Is there going to be a sonic difference between mono and stereo if my delays mono? Also, I did have some headphone space- if that is responsible for why it sounds so much better is it possible to recreate that for the output?


    Yes. Its intended to make it feel more "in the room" than "in the head" to prevent ear fatigue.


    Check your monitor output settings. A lot can be configured here to make it differ from main out.

    Ne travaillez jamais.

  • Yes. Its intended to make it feel more "in the room" than "in the head" to prevent ear fatigue.


    Check your monitor output settings. A lot can be configured here to make it differ from main out.


    When I check output settings I'm only seeing an EQ for each individual output- and they're all flat. Is there something else I'm missing?

  • When I check output settings I'm only seeing an EQ for each individual output- and they're all flat. Is there something else I'm missing?


    look at page 1/7 of the OUTPUT menu to check what kind of signal you're sending to the Monitor Output.
    look at page 3/7 of the OUTPUT menu to check if "Monitor Cab Off" is checked.


    the get the Monitor Output to sound as close as possible (mono versus stereo...) to the Main Outputs, the settings should be "Master Mono" and the tick box unchecked.


    Is there a reason you're not using the Main Outputs?


    hth


  • No, no reason, i'm still getting familiar with the unit- I've since switched over to main. I'm taking this thing on a 3 month international tour in a few weeks so I'm just trying to get everything in order as fast as possible.


    Edit: Monitor Cab Off was NOT checked, so I assume that was responsible for the discrepancy. Thanks a lot for the insight!

    Edited once, last by siva115 ().

  • No, no reason, i'm still getting familiar with the unit- I've since switched over to main. I'm taking this thing on a 3 month international tour in a few weeks so I'm just trying to get everything in order as fast as possible.


    Edit: Monitor Cab Off was NOT checked, so I assume that was responsible for the discrepancy. Thanks a lot for the insight!


    Wait: Cab off NOT checked means the cab is is on, which should be perfect to give the same sound on both, monitor and main! You want to switch cab off if you monitor your Kemper through your own guitar box,...

    Ne travaillez jamais.

  • Could possibly have Pure Cab dialed up some or something...

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  • Or maybe siva115's studio monitors will sound boxy whichever output he's using (mains out / monitor out).
    I have a similar setup (Apogee Duet) and I do notice the same boxyness with my Yamaha 5'' studio monitors (HS50m). Very happy when monitoring with the headphones or with my 12'' floor wedge (RCF-12 sma). I think studio monitors need to be bigger than 5'' to get more air pushed.

  • Maybe the OP did notice a difference because he's listening mono signal when using Monitor Out --> Apogee --> Headphones, whereas it's stereo when directly connected to the Kemper headphones input.
    I use Kemper mains out L and R -> Apogee L and Right Inputs -> Heaphones. I don't hear any noticeable difference between this setup and my headphones directed connected to the Kemper.

  • maybe I'm misinterpreting your problem, but here's what I think.
    Why bring the apogee into the equation , if you're not going to use an interface on the road.
    You need to hook your Kemper to exactly which stage monitor you,ll be using and then dial in your sounds.
    ...and If possible, try your Kemper thru a " house system " similar to what will be reinforcing your sound.
    I really doubt any of them will sound like the headphones, at least that's been my experience .

  • Sorry for replying to such an old thread, but I almost sold my Kemper and/or Apogee Duet over the same/similar issue that I just resolved and hopefully I can help out someone else in the future. The Kemper headphone output sounded so much better than the Apogee Duet and I made sure that the Space parameter was turned on for both, all EQ was the same, volume was the same, both were using Stereo, etc.


    I added a heavy ping pong delay effect to test out the theory that I wasn't hearing in stereo out of the Apogee Duet and lo and behold it was mono, while the Kemper headphone out was stereo. So it turned out that even though I was recording into the Duet in stereo, in the Apogee Maestro software, under the Mixer section, there are knobs to control the input channels and by default, both are panned dead center. You have to pan one channel all the way to the left and the other channel all the way to the right to get a stereo sound.


    Sounds obvious looking back, but it's really easy to overlook this setting amongst all the different variables here. Hope that helps anyone else out!

  • I got the same problem. Using my headphons direct to kemper headphone output sounds fantastic, but using the same headphone through my maudio 2x2m sound really "digital" on Mac OS. I tried everything (including space param) but what minimize the problem was configure the sound card in a Windows machine. I think it is some interface MacOS driver issue.