Using kemper AND tube amp live

    Hello all! Recent Kemper convert chiming in for the first time here!


    I am wanting to run my Kemper WITH my Marsall JCM800 live for some of the large scale shows my band is doing. Anyone have experience doing this?


    I'm thinking I'd run the kemper on my clean channel (clean used loosely here) and keep my marshall gunned up for the heavy stuff, but keep it on a volume pedal to swell in.


    Thoughts?


    Cheers!
    Malcom Owen-Flood

    If I get your idea correctly, it sounds cool in theory, probably not so cool in practice. I feel in most musical situation, distortion is either there or not rather than "swelled in" (and the volume knob is smoother for that.) If the idea is that you really like your JCM800, you can profile it and use morphing with an expression pedal to go from very clean to dirty within the same profile. If the intend is achieving more definition in your dirty sound, there are two parameters (definition, clarity) you can play with in the KPA.


    Your idea could be a cool thing to experiment with in rehearsal to see if it works but my guess is that it complicate things a lot for little in return (inconsistent monitoring, volume balance between one amp being miked and one not, having to be surgically precise the volume pedal) and doesn't really use the Kemper to it's potential either.

    Good points on all the negatives! It would be a prett crazy amount of work.... but the strong advantage of running the JCM would be that I could run stereo to cover the Left and Right of the mix when my vocalist isn't playing guitar for a song. The kempers only weakness, that I've found so far, is the ability to run separate stereo rigs.


    So for example bringing in my JCM for the big heavy hitting chorus of a song on the left while the verse has only been on the right (with the kemper) could be a pretty huge sonic impact. The volume pedal could be replaced by an aby switch too.


    Obviously this would only be for gigs with the size to actually have a discernible stereo field in the mix.


    I'm sort of stealing this idea from an Ian Thornley rig he used with Big Wreck - but he was using two tube heads rather than a kemper and tube amp. Ideally I'd just run two kempers I think!

    Gosh, is it really worth that?


    There were a number of conversations on Stereo. Personally I think you'll get so many issues managing the balance between sounds. Sound engineers will hate you :)


    Is it stereo on stage or Stereo out front you want?


    To be honest I'm a bit confused on your signal chain..running both will of course not be stereo, so you'd be stereo when running the JCM but mono with the Kemper? Sounds like sometimes you'll be just left mix and sometimes both ?


    Am I missing something?

    Just to add, many large profile guitarists will use 2 amps, mainly to switch between a clean sound ( say a fender twin) and heavy ( say a Dual rectifier)..


    But the Kemper does this so still at a loss really with why go to that amount of hassle - not clear if it stereo you really want ( which you need from stereo effects e.g. delays) or 2 different sounds or mixing clean and overdrive sound??

    Yes, don't get me wrong - totally aware that it's a ridiculous set up that's both very gluttonous and a waste of time and resources.


    The desired effect IS stereo to the front of house mix but only when the 2nd amp is brought in. A fairly common comparison situation is in two guitarist bands where the vocalist/guitarist just jumps in the play on the chorus of the song - if I was mixed to the left of the mix and he comes in mixed to the right its quite a big contribution to the mix.


    I'm wanting to accomplish that effect without the 2nd guitarist. So for examples sake: amp 1 (mixed left) plays the verse and I add in amp 2 (mixed right) for the chorus - I'd probably have to delay the signal to the second amp to get the effect of it not just being mono but I think the result could get close to the "two guitarist" sound.


    • Again this is mostly just an in theory and fantasy rig situation.

    I get what you're trying to do...


    If you give it a go, then you'll know if it works or not - it doesn't cost anything since you have the gear. Just time.


    Sometimes just trying something puts me on the path to another idea, and on the way to something that does work.

    Fair enough, just sounds like it will need to be trial and error..the only concern I have is the stereo part because it will be unbalanced that's all. When you have the singer picking up a guitar, both guitars are usually centre panned. It also won't be true stereo as such, just 2 mono feeds panned left and right.


    Let us know ow you get on.


    Or just get your singer to play guitar...having said that, seeing one of my old singers play, avoid :)

    IMHO, having the FOH in stereo is an absolute mistake. About half the audience will miss about half of the mix, or at least some instruments! It's as simple as that... Who would want half the audience to miss one of the guitars and the other half miss the other one, for example??


    I never understand when musicians (and even worst: sound engineers) come with this ideas...

    Yes I totally agree, sercho beat me to it!


    >"Obviously this would only be for gigs with the size to actually have a discernible stereo field in the mix."


    IMO it's the smaller gigs that have a discernable stereo field, because the room is smaller, and therefore the audience can hear the sound bouncing around the room as well as directly from both L and R speakers.
    At the bigger gigs, they often don't even run stereo, because the crowd only really hears the speakers they are closest to.