Kemper and NEO CLR...Liking but Struggling to Love

    So, I have a Powered Kemper Head that I use through an active speaker wedge, specifically one Atomic Active NEO Wedge.


    I play both my 63' Strat copy with SHED 62' vintage pickups and my 57' Reissue Les Paul through this rig sitting on my couch in my living room. I usually play with the master and channel volume half way up on the active wedge, and use the kempers master volume knob to control the over all volume levels to my liking. I usually keep the volume low enough to play and listen to the TV. At these low volumes, the kemper sounds pretty good....However, my problem is that every now and again I will turn the master up to a loud level, but I am not as impressed with the tones I am hearing. The tones seems cold, brittle, bright, one dimensional instead of that three dimensional sound from a real amp and cab....this seems to be the case with most profiles...Lately I have been experimenting with Michael Britts JCM800 pack, and I am not completely sold on it. I have a reissue jcm800 that I want to sell, but I am not ready to sell it because i am not completely in love with the tones I am hearing from the kemper and atomic neo wedge. I also have a VOX ac30hw2x, DR Z z28, Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and a Victoria 45410 Bassman that I want to sell, but I can't until I completely fall in love with my kemper rig.


    I have a Mogami XLR speaker cable hooked up from the Main Left of the kemper to the input 1 of the wedge if that matters.


    Its just the more I crank the volume the more sterile or harsh it sound to me....Is it the room I am in, are there some settings either obvious, or hidden, that I should be tweaking, etc...


    I want to love my Kemper (god knows I spent a fortune on this set up), but I am struggling here. Maybe I just need some reassurance. Does anyone else use the Kemper and just one NEO Wedge and feel the way I do right now, or do you feel completely happy with this same exact rig? If you are happy with it, is there anything you do that can help me?


    I feel like I wouldn't have the confidence to bring the kemper and neo wedge to a band practice...I would just bring one of my regular amps... Am I crazy?


    Hello Hendrix.Stratman,


    Are you trying to fall in love with you Kemper Powerhead, or are you trying to fall in love with your Atomic CLR?


    If it is mainly the latter, the obvious question would be if you have tried connecting your powered KPA up to a traditional guitar cab? If you don't have a stand-alone guitar cabinet on hand, how about connecting your KPA's Monitor Output (not Speaker Output) to one of your combo amps' FX Return?


    By doing this, you can better get a handle on if your issue is related to the FRFR monitor, per se.


    Cheers,
    John

    You're overlooking a very key component of getting the best out of your Kemper.


    You need to dial in your tones at gig level. If you're playing at low levels as you mentioned and then turn it way up, the profiles are going to sound VERY different. This is the case with normal amps too, but I think it's even more critical with the Kemper. Fletcher Munson effect is no joke.

    Thanks for the suggestion Tritium, I do have a 2x12 speaker cabinet from Avatar that has a CL80 and V30, is this considered a decent cabinet and speakers to use with the kemper.



    I suppose your also right OhG, I can try tweaking the knobs when I raise the Master Volume levels up. However, I thought that if the Kemper sounded one way with the master down low then it should sound relatively the same with the volume turned up which would be the point of the Master Volume = same tone at various over all volume levels?

    Quote from hendrix.stratman

    Thanks for the suggestion Tritium, I do have a 2x12 speaker cabinet from Avatar that has a CL80 and V30, is this considered a decent cabinet and speakers to use with the kemper.


    Yes, your 2x12 cabinet would work just fine. Just remember to TURN OFF the Cabinet Module when you are connected to a traditional guitar cab. You can either do this on a case by case basis, by hitting the CAB button every time you switch a profile -- or, you can do this globally, by selecting "Monitor Cab Off" in the Output Settings. That will disable the Cabinet profile on the Monitor Output (and Speaker Output), only, while leaving the Main Outputs unaffected.


    The primary motivation of my previous recommendation is so you can determine if you are having difficulty adjusting to the mic'd cabinet sound from your FRFR (KPA connected to your CLR monitor), as compared to the more immediate, "amp-in-the-room" sound (KPA connected to your 2x12).



    Also, @OhG has an excellent point in regards to the necessity of fine-tuning your tone based upon gig volume levels. If you play at low volume levels frequently, you may find it best to save two versions of any given preset/profile, with one having the proper EQ adjustments suitable for low volume playing, and the other for gigs. All you need to do is add a modifier at the end of the Rig name, such as: [rig name] followed by the number "2", or [rig name] followed by the letter "b".


    Cheers,
    John

    With the powered kpa versions, if you're running into a CLR or other powered speaker, you might check the power amp volume setting in the output section. Even if you're just using the monitor out, having the power amp on will change the level and the tone (to a degree) on what you're sending to the CLR. When I'm running into a powered speaker like the CLR or Xitone, I make sure my power amp is turned off, otherwise it can add a bit of high end zing to the tone if turned up, kinda like stacking preamps.


    In addition, at higher volumes, the high end driver (being more efficient) will sort of poke through first so at higher volumes I roll off a little highs and presence on my monitor out eq.

    I normally use the CLR as a wedge and its great, though last week the PA was so small at the venue/shithole that only vocals could go through it. I plonked the CLR on top of a cabinet that was from the previous band and set the EQ on the back to FF.


    It sounded amazing!! Much better than when I had in on a pole in the rehearsal room set to FF...I don't know if it was some extra resonance from the unused cab below...or if it was just a bit lower down than usual or anything...but after the initial panic of realising I would have to use CLR as my only sound source I was dead happy and won't panic as much in future!! I'd deffo try that!


    Definitely tweak your sounds in your rehearsal room at 'gig' volume and low and high cut the profiles - especially removing the top end as the CLR can reproduce higher frequencies than a traditional 4x12 that we are unused to hearing as guitarists. Then have a little EQ sweep around to find any whistling mid frequencies that need a little dip.


    Also, and this isn't to be patronising my friend, remember that often your 'killer' tone when you play by yourself isn't good for sitting in a full band mix, so it can be really good to make additional tweaks when all of your band is there so you don't get lost in the mix. When we soundcheck - people snigger at what our bassist sounds like...and then giggle when I line check...he is muffly wompa flabbaflab and I am a wasp in a jar....then we all start and they presume the engineer has hit the 'make me a star' magic button on the mixer...its all a wonderful jigsaw :D

    PRS Custom 22's - Fender Strats - Diezel VH4 - Carol Ann OD2 - Toneking Imperial MK2 - Colin the Kemper - CLR Neo ii.