Thinking about selling the Kemper

Ok. I see your problem .

This problem is not unique to you

Quote from Ale

Hi,

i've bought the KPA 3 years ago and i'm still trying to find my sound. I'm frustrated and tired of buying profiles that never sound like the clips (also because most of the times are double tracked or in a mix..) .....
....... I am a bedroom player and i only play through headphones so this may have some influence;

...............any advice is suggested. Thanks

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My advice: Keep the kemper if you want the most realistic amp tone that is also the best option if you ever decide to record.

The reason I say this is that even your problem of not getting a satisfying sound in headphone is the same problem that many guitar players (not all) will dread including the biggest names in the business. I remember reading how Slash
hated headphones when he was recording on G&R records and he actually said that he couldn't understand how other guitar players dealt or even worked with headphones.

Here's a link to a new article where you can read the extent that Slash went to in order not to use headphones, just got to his answer to this question
What do you like and dislike most about working in the studio, and playing onstage?
https://www.vintageguitar.com/2897/slash/

Whether you like Slash or you don't, his guitar tones are respected worldwide and they were recorded with him dreading the sound coming through the headphones and so do many guitar players including yourself.

Final advice, find a way to raise the volume in your studio monitors by investing money in sound absorption if possible. I've done that in my house and spent less than a few hundred dollars on few things including making my own acoustic panels etc. Now I don't have to wear the dreaded headphones. If that's not possible, and you mus use headphone only and sell the Kemper, my advice would be to buy anything from Zoom such as the G1on for $50 that's good enough for headphone only solution.

Quote from Ale

In the next few day i am going to buy another guitar and i will see if it makes some difference but i don't have high hopes

What guitar did you use until now? What pickups?

"i've bought the KPA 3 years ago and i'm still trying to find my sound. I'm frustrated and tired of buying profiles".

I "had" the same problem until a few days ago for allready 3.5 years.
Further I see the last days many eq related items popup in this forum....

For me the solving was tot flatten my profiles with an graphic eq in before the amp stack.
Graphic EQ: HPF/LPF (100-300Hz, 6-8Khz) and volume > 1.5 db.
Remove all EQ's after the amp stack.

Change cab to an brighter one (I take a few Deadlight Studio's from the free community pack).

To taste change Definition (mostly lowering), clarity (higher) and compressor (higher).

I use Beyer Dynamics too and for monitoring yamaha's dxr.
Now both sound good.

Hang on a second, encase its the beer and me missing some thing (as usual)
We are trying to get a specific SOUND taken from clips that are already double tracked and mixed?
Answer Yes Ash you Stupid bastard.

OK, i really hope its not the beer man, but how can you get a double guitar tracked mixed ready sound from ONE kemper /GUITAR in a bed room on head phones..Answer we don't know Ash you stupid bastard, that why the thread is up.

To be fair on the the kemper, it can still get those sounds you are seeking right? THATS HOW YOU FOUND THEM AND WANTED THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE MADE ON THE KEMPER.

So its not the Kemper TECHNOLOGY its how you can get the kemper to sound like those clips in head phones. (which were made with the god dam kemper) Ow boy , okay, only thing i cant think of, and before you laugh, have you ever heard the sound of TWO kempers playing? NO?

Then please dont laugh at what i am going to say, if you want that BIGGER PHAT MIX READY DOUBLE TRACK sound , you need a second kemper if your doing bed room stuff. But again the headphones screws that up.....I would of recorded a track.. play one track through the DAW and play along to it, what? thats not a fix..? well it could sound FATTER.. To me 2 kempers are the ultimate BUT you can still get good sounds from one if you mix it right and track it right.(duh).

One thing i would do, before you think about an AXE and the other options, i would listen to them with headphones and compare, i would be surprised if we could not find you a sound to compare that is just as good or better, but we would need the idea of what the sounds is and your going for etc.

Every day i read these type of threads the voice in the back of my head (not the crazy one the good one) tells me we need vendors to show the video of what they are doing (double track no post EQ recorded via pick up -etc) AND A DAM THREAD ON TWEAKING PROFILES (clarity ,definition etc)

Ash

Hallo Ash,

For me it cleans up the crunch/hi-gain profiles in combination with some brand PA speakers.
I know the Kemper does what it does and it does a good job.

But in the end the result is through an headphone, studio monitor or PA (FOH/monitor).
For me the result through an PA is mostly not satisfied.

Controlling with HPF/LPF (Fletcher-Munson) "repairs" it all.
And make the sound more like the samples from the profile sellers.

Grz. Peter.

Thank you Peter and Ale, i will try that and experiment OK @Ale, thanks for the answers, i know who will be able to custom nail down a high gain tone (thank goodness it is that as thats he easiest IMO) Its our loved and hated Polish Manic "SinMix..if you send him a DI and mention (headphones as out put) i bet you 10 bucks my brother he will fix it, Dan is talented enough to do the same too. Send Dan and Sin a DI my friend, I PROMISE you they can fix this

Ash

You might want to buy a T.C Electronics Mimiq pedal, to get you that thicker doubled sound. Could get you closer to the sound you want.

Quote from Ale

Hi,

i've bought the KPA 3 years ago and i'm still trying to find my sound. I'm frustrated and tired of buying profiles that never sound like the clips (also because most of the times are double tracked or in a mix..) and lately i've been thinking about selling and replacing with another solution like a valve preamp or head plus torpedo or helix/fractal. I basically need three sounds and, while on the cleans and crunch/pushed crunch i got acceptable but not unbelievable results, on the high gain i've never been able to find something that i like. I am a bedroom player and i only play through headphones so this may have some influence; also my guitars and pickups may have some influence (i play with an sg and a les paul special with low output pickups so maybe i would need something like a JB for high gain). Said that, i tried everything to make it sound like i want it to, i have messed around with every parameter but with no success. I'm coming to the conclusion that the KPA is fantastic for those who profile their sounds..for the others who don't is really really really difficult to find their sound. In the next few day i am going to buy another guitar and i will see if it makes some difference but i don't have high hopes..What do you suggest me?any advice is suggested. Thanks

another guitar is not going to solve your problem.
what you are missing is the "room" , "air moving" .
after making a profile the KPA removes all the room sound, so it sounds really dry and "unreal" played through headphones.

adding reverb does help a little , but still you are earing the direct sound thirst.

other DI solutions are no better

after recording, you could use a plug-in like this to give some "space":

http://www.tokyodawn.net/proximity/

imho

Quote from Ale

No Ash. I am only trying to achieve good high gain sounds through my headphones. I get good cleans, crunch and pushed crunch with variable results (but mostly good) but i can't get satisfying high gain sounds. When i want to play stuff like Them Bones or Slither from Velvet revolver i can't get the sound i want. So i buy profiles that sound fantastic, in the clips made by the sellers, but when i load them in the KPA i can't get the same sound...it's totally different..sometimes they sound like there's a blanket on the speaker, or too fizzy...etc. Here starts my frustration and the idea of selling the Kemper for something else (like a jcm1 with torpedo for example) since i can not do my own profiles. I think i won't sell it but i want to find a way to make it work for high gain (i would be happy also with one high gain that sounds like i want) because i can live with the cleans and the crunch i get.

Hello Ale,

If your primary concern/complaint/dissatisfaction was getting good high gain tones from your KPA when connected to a FRFR monitor...then I guess I might better understand your issue. Some people never seem to be able to make the mental adjustment and perceptual switch from the so-called "amp-in-the-room" sound (tube amp directly connected to a physical guitar cabinet) to the mic'd/recorded sound of a tube amp, as produced by the Kemper (or Axe-FX) into a FRFR monitor. Of course, this is a stumbling block for a small minority...and, IMHO, becomes a complete non-issue given the fact that one can connect a non-powered KPA (with Cab emulation Off) to a traditional guitar cabinet, via an external power amp. Note: The external power amp is completely eliminated with the powered version of the Kemper. Furthermore, it should be noted that many of the most die-hard "amp-in-the-room" purists have been convinced and converted to FRFR solution, with Kemper's introduction of their "Pure Cabinet" algorithm/feature.

Now, with all that said...here is where my misunderstanding of your problem comes in. Your specific dissatisfaction involves high gain tones from your KPA through headphones. What perplexes me is not so much your "problem", but your perceived solution...which is to sell the KPA, purchase a tube preamp, and then play through headphones using the Two Notes Torpedo CAB simulator. IMHO, this puts you right back in the same situation as your currently are in. In other words, you still remain 2-steps removed from a true "amp-in-the-room" experience. The "first" remove, is the fact that you are not using a traditional guitar cabinet, but rather employing cabinet emulation, which, by definition, brings along the mic'd guitar cabinet/recorded tone experience. The "second" remove, is the fact that you still don't have the immediacy of a "pants flapping - moving air" experience, that is provided by a large, dynamic electroacoustic transducer (aka loudspeaker). In other words, you are still going to be listening through headphones.

Just some things to think about.

Cheers,
John

Isolated guitar sounds like shit via headphones, no matter how "great" headphones are. Some people can get used to this sound, but it doesn't change the fact that it still sounds like shit, especially high gain tones.

I second Positive Grid suggestion. If you can hear your guitar strings ringing while playing, the volume is way too low and virtually nothing will sound good, including clean tones. Nothing to do with KPA.

This problem unfortunately has no solution. Slash built a home studio specially equipped and designed to avoid having to listen through headphone while recording with his band. If there's system that makes tube amps sound good in headphones and still translate well if played through regular speakers, studio engineers and headphones designers would have found it.

Keep in mind It's very easy to make it sound through headphones, put the right amount and type of reverb (Kemper has space parameter also which helps a lot) but don't expect it or don't be surprised if it doesn't sound good at all through regular speakers.

Quote from Dean_R

This problem unfortunately has no solution.

no solution in amp-simulators ?

because a recording of a real amp sounds as good in headphones as in monitors.

Quote from digbob

i had KRK Headphones, sounded fairly good with KPA.
Then by accident i tried AT ATH 50 and was blown away
try these Hearphones, i think they will help you

I have these as well.

I also have Sennheiser HD280's.

The ATH-M50x headphones sound MUCH better ..... they also better approximate what comes out of my PA live.

That was going to be my last suggestion on the head phones, BUT IF YOU PM SINMIX OR DAN FROM REAMP ZONE, i know they will give you a tone that is suitable FIRST then i bet every thing else will pan out, i trust those guys they can make just about any tone shine

Ash