Powered kpa and 4x12, help!

  • It seems like every once in a while I get these really amazing tones in my headphones, really sculpted and super inspiring, but I have a hard time transferring that same awesome sound to my 4x12 when it's cranked up.


    Any helpful tips or little tricks will be much appreciated! :rolleyes:

  • So this is just a regular guitar cab how have you got it connected to the kemper?


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • First is to use direct profiles with your 4x12. Than the output monitor eq is your friend. You never get the same tone out of your cab like a profile with cab on played to your headphone. This depents on the characteristic of a 2x12 real cab. I recomment to use direct profiles, tweaked at a loud level at rehearshal. I'll be shure you get good and powerful results.

  • Also, make sure to turn the "cabinet" off while playing through the guitar cab. I only play through a guitar cab, so I turn the cabinet off then press "Lock" which will disable the cabinet for all profiles..

  • So this is just a regular guitar cab how have you got it connected to the kemper?


    Ash

    Kpa powered monitor out to cab, monitor cab checked off. I use a LOT of character in the cab section so I sometimes have to dial it back or turn pure cab on which is pretty much the same thing but slightly different.

  • First is to use direct profiles with your 4x12. Than the output monitor eq is your friend. You never get the same tone out of your cab like a profile with cab on played to your headphone. This depents on the characteristic of a 2x12 real cab. I recomment to use direct profiles, tweaked at a loud level at rehearshal. I'll be shure you get good and powerful results.

    I've messed around with dramatic settings on the output monitor eq before and got some good results but I'm unsure if it's good as a Global setting for all profiles? What steps do you take when dialing in this eq? Do you tweak it after you dial a profile OR try to use the output eq first to get a base line tone?

  • I don't think there's an easy trick - I think you just need to try out profiles/dial them in using your cab rather than your headphones.

    this is probably true. Its hard for me to do that for some reason. I tweak stuff loudly through the cab and I think it sounds good and then one day I'll be jamming with some people and I'll just hate my tone. Often I try to tweak on the spot in that moment but overdue do it and end up getting "tone vertigo" if that makes sense.


    On the other hand, I can tweak a profile from scratch in the headphones and come up with a phenomenal tone that I'll use as a regular snapshot for a lengthy period of time and won't make any adjustments.

  • I had a really hard time with this when I bought my Kemper and paired it with my guitar cab. I found that the best way to deal with it was to lock the cabinet to one that sounded as close to my real cab as possible. Yes, you'll miss out on all the wonderfulness of playing with full profiles but that's the downside to using a proper cab.

  • I had a really hard time with this when I bought my Kemper and paired it with my guitar cab. I found that the best way to deal with it was to lock the cabinet to one that sounded as close to my real cab as possible. Yes, you'll miss out on all the wonderfulness of playing with full profiles but that's the downside to using a proper cab.

    This sounds like it could work, I would've never thought of it. And funny thing is, I have a profile of my cab LOL
    Thanks!

  • I've messed around with dramatic settings on the output monitor eq before and got some good results but I'm unsure if it's good as a Global setting for all profiles? What steps do you take when dialing in this eq? Do you tweak it after you dial a profile OR try to use the output eq first to get a base line tone?

    Hi, i didnt play my mesa boogie 2x12 anymore because of the described difference between studio rigs tweaked with my monitors and rigs for the real cab. I sold the real cab. At this time i play live only with my frfr, cab sim on and main outs to foh when necessary. I never loved the tone of a kpa combined with a real cab, but at the time i played the real cab i lived in both worlds. I tweaked rigs ( di) only for playing with the real cab and i setted the output eq global for playing over monitor out. For playing at home i tweaked separate rigs with cab sim on, main outs connected to my rookit monitors, because at bedroom level tweaked rigs sound very different and you cant use them for live playing because for bedroom level you put to much bass and treble on it, if you play these rigs loud it didnt work.


    So finally i wont say that the kpa didnt good with a real 4x12, these are only my 2 cents. I changed to frfr and i am more than happy with the results. But i can tell you, with the right di profiles ( f.e. sin mix di pack) you get really nice and punchy results. Before you buy a pack, please have a look at rm. There are many di gems.


    Cheers
    Frank

  • Can you elaborate on this? I don't think I quite understand this part.
    Sorry,
    Thanks!

    hm, not so easy for a non native speaker but i try.
    I have choosen different direct profiles and tweaked them at home at a very loud level. Cab sim off and koa connected to my power amp and the mesa real cab. I tweaked the fx like delay, chorus and so on to my likes and i setted the sounds of theses profiles to the needed output levels for rythm and lead. After that i went to rehearshal room and played the rigs with the band. You will see that there is a difference between playing and tweaking alone and hearing the rigs later with the complete band.


    At rehearshal room i setted the global output monitor eq. Maybe you have to add some mids or lower presence and so on. After that i have done some fine tuning in the rigs. Sometimes with the main eq of a rig or i setted an eq in slot x to correct some frequencies. Thats all. When i reached cool sounds it was easy to tweak more rigs at home, also at bedroom level, because you can compare them directly to the rigs which you use with the band.


    The rest is easy. If you change the venue and your rigs didnt sound like in your rehearshal room, just go to the global monitor out eq and adjust it to the room your playing in. Name and store the output eq settings from your rehearshal room, so you can easy switch back to this settings when you are back in your rehearshal room.