Well...Finally got a Kemper after months of research..And...Not so good

  • Personally, I don't think that "right" or "wrong" is nearly as important as the emotional experience of bonding or not bonding with your gear, and sometimes it really is difficult to shake an initial bad feeling, no matter who else is loving the very thing that doesn't work for you.

    Most important thing in the world and in my opinion what it all boils down too. If the sound makes me feel something, makes me want to play and pushes my creativity I don't care if it's a 5 watt Blackstar, a Marshall handwire or NI Guitar Rig it doesn't matter to me, it's about the attachment to the sound.....although let's face it if our favourite artists donated all there gear to us we still would not be happy because we are guitarists, we would want the recording desk and racks the sound was recorded though, we would want the person who mixed it and a time machine to go back to the year the album was recorded because there was less pollution and somehow that helped with the micing technique.


    I love my Kemper and it has served me well in the short time I have had it but I am yet to gig with it hence why I sold everything but my JVM. I have no doubt it will blow me away live and provide me with the feel I need but I remember turning on that JVM and I just couldn't stop playing with zero tweaking but after a while the Kemper had the same effect.


    It's the same as buying profiles. You will waste money finding a Profiler who gives you what you want. I have bought from around 8 different highly rated profilers and find I always return to one particular person. Even the same amp profiled by different people can go from tinny to full sounding just based on the profilers technique......its just pure opinion.


    As a side note the forum over the last month or so has become extremely defensive and posts for help are becoming sidetracked by people's opinions, and frustrations rather than providing help. We are close to Line6 forum replies of "RTFM" "do you know what the search function is for" and "you don't know what you are doing". The attitude of some new members, not referring to this post, and the tone and nature of the responses of older members have made me inhale deeply at times and I have thought "if I need help the forum is not the place to go".


    We are here to share our experiences, help each other achieve the tones we crave and as equally important provide a place where people feel comfortable posting for help knowing they will not be ridiculed or their post ending up 18 pages long with no actual helpful reply to the post.


    This is just my opinion and if I have misinterpreted the replies then my apologies but I'm hoping the OP finds his sound and comes back to contribute to the forum.


    Good luck mate and hope the FRFR gives you what you want. I have never tried the Kemper though a cab as frankly I don't want to like it and have to carry a cab with me lol.


    Mike

  • Jamme61 I have discovered you are right… I hope there is a way to tighten or shape the power amp that I have not discovered yet

    I had the Kemper power head twice - I could not get it to sound good through my guitar cabinets. I now have a boss katana head which sounds fantastic through my guitar cabs. I know no one will believe me but it does. I think it has to be the power amp in the kemper- that's the week link IMHO the kemper power amp is designed to be flat like a hifi amp - the katana power amp is more tube like, it sounds more alive and punchy in your face. The louder I turned up my kemper ( all 600 watts ) the worse it sounded. I want the kemper to be the total deal - I have a tone of tube amps that I love but I would love kemper to take over- I sent kemper an email about the power amp they use - but what do I know- I hope they look into it.

  • After taking a good bit of time and working thru the Kemper, various profiles, Xitone FRFR cab, my 2 x 12 I think "for my" preference that I have a better understanding of the strong points and and weaker points for my use.


    Thru a recording console or FOH the Kemper is an amp/tool that is quite hard to beat. It is as flexible as it gets especially when using IEM from what many have stated. "FOR ME" where it still is just not quite there is thru cabinets. It just does not have the feeling or quite the tone that I am used to or looking for. While tube amps are considered old school these days, there is just something about them that is hard to fully emulate, especially the way they feel to play on.


    I more than likely will head back to the land of dinosaurs (HaHa) and keep using amps for now.


    I appreciate everybody's responses and recommendations on things to try. I really appreciate Squarehead as he took some extra time with many suggestions as we seemed to have similar issues.


    I am not putting the Kemper in any less light than any other piece of gear. For many it is working great and if it makes them play more or be more efficient that is great and I envy it.:)


    I will say the Kemper has a great community on the Forum and while sometimes it gets a little rough and tumble for the most part most are out to help out where they can.


    Appreciate the help!

  • I disagree. In my opinion, there are countless profiles which sound exceptionally good through a guitar cab. I think it's simply that you don't have your Profiler set up correctly.What output settings are you using for Monitor Volume?

    I would go as far as by saying that to me the Kemper really shines live, where in the studio with some profiles (mainly those on the RE) I have real struggles. But the profiles I use (mainly Bert Meulendijks) are perfect for studio AND live work. I run the KPA through a tube power amp, which colors the sound, but in a good way. I go to a 2x12 and it sounds a million bucks. But I also know that the cabinet can make or break the sound. Maybe the tube power amp makes my live sound the best I've ever had, where as the powered amp in the KPA is a different beast, I think.

  • I would go as far as by saying that to me the Kemper really shines live, where in the studio with some profiles (mainly those on the RE) I have real struggles. But the profiles I use (mainly Bert Meulendijks) are perfect for studio AND live work. I run the KPA through a tube power amp, which colors the sound, but in a good way. I go to a 2x12 and it sounds a million bucks. But I also know that the cabinet can make or break the sound. Maybe the tube power amp makes my live sound the best I've ever had, where as the powered amp in the KPA is a different beast, I think.

    Yes, For live use, with in ear monitors, the kemper is as good or better than anything I have ever used including real amplifiers, cabinets and microphones…
    I agree with you, A real tube power amp brings out the best when running through a speaker cabinet, That glorious, fast, immediate, smooth, balanced attack of a real amplifier tone

  • Creating your own merged profiles of an amp that you love at settings that please you with the guitars that you own into the exact speaker cab that you plan to keep and use with those profiles is the only way to achieve (arguably) indistinguishable results to the original tube head through that exact cabinet.


    Until you've attempted that, there's an argument that you are compromising the potential for the very use you are prioritizing, and without following the only sanctioned steps for getting the results you're after.

    This. You need to get some good Merged or direct profiles to get the same feels with a cab. I personally still enjoy using a Cab live and before and started to make my own profiles with direct option, I felt something was missing. There are tons of videos of people not being able to differentiate the Kemper from the real amp while playing through both. If you only get 80 % there I would say there is a problem with your unite, the way you are creating your profiles or your monitoring system. Hope this helps.

  • This. You need to get some good Merged or direct profiles to get the same feels with a cab. I personally still enjoy using a Cab live and before and started to make my own profiles with direct option, I felt something was missing. There are tons of videos of people not being able to differentiate the Kemper from the real amp while playing through both. If you only get 80 % there I would say there is a problem with your unite, the way you are creating your profiles or your monitoring system. Hope this helps.

    Appreciate your input, I won’t get into it here but there are a ton of well-known artists who do not use the power section of their KPA when they play live through their monitor cabinets…
    Look up some YouTube videos of well-known Kemper users… see what they use live… Separate power amplifiers.
    Why is that?
    Also, I must ask, is there a way to screw up a direct profile? ( seems pretty straightforward) BUT Maybe I am seriously messing up something… ?(

  • Appreciate your input, I won’t get into it here but there are a ton of well-known artists who do not use the power section of their KPA when they play live through their monitor cabinets…
    Look up some YouTube videos of well-known Kemper users… see what they use live… Separate power amplifiers.
    Why is that?
    Also, I must ask, is there a way to screw up a direct profile? ( seems pretty straightforward) BUT Maybe I am seriously messing up something… ?(

    I've had the same luck with the Direct Profiles. Im using the line out from my fryette power station v2 while having the cab connected and my profiles seem to have a weird gargle sound to them if that makes sense. Sounds pretty good when I play back the DI through the cab but when I merge the profile is when I notice the difference. I've even tried using the line out from by BE100 and have not had good results.

  • Hey Stevo, I’m going to get one of those fryette power stations to use with Kemper at home with my cabinets...
    Then I don’t have to keep plugging KPA into one of my amplifiers, burning out preamp tubes for no reason, LOL
    I’ve heard nothing but good things about that Power station machine, you really like it?
    Anything you don’t like about it, Steve?

  • Hey Stevo, I’m going to get one of those fryette power stations to use with Kemper at home with my cabinets...
    Then I don’t have to keep plugging KPA into one of my amplifiers, burning out preamp tubes for no reason, LOL
    I’ve heard nothing but good things about that Power station machine, you really like it?
    Anything you don’t like about it, Steve?

    It's actually one of the best pieces of gear that I have picked up in a long time. It's useful in so many applications. Can't recommend it enough!

  • Been lurking on the forum for a while. Kemper owner for a few years now and I'm blown away by the amount of people that have less than stellar results or problems recording with it. Seriously, I feel bad for you guys because I've seen nothing but the contrary. I know it doesnt help but its literally the easiest thing in the world to get good recorded tones with the kemper! These tones are far superior to raw captured guitar and bass tracks.
    The guys that say that POD's sound better, something is wrong. Those things are very 1 dimensional tonewise. The cabinet are static sounding. Not what a cab sounds like in a real room. Dead give away to me..nevermind the fake slicey digital high-end.
    Bottom line is, if you get better results with a POD than a Kemper than it probably hints towards the real problem which is that a lot of guys don't know what good tones are to begin with! Its a fore-gone conclusion that they can't get the Kemper to sound right because theyre used to a fake digital sound as the basis of their sound. I know that sounds harsh but its then only reasonable explanation.. No professional or semi professional has a problem getting killer tones from the Kemper because its real amps, not a simulation. Its literally unheard of to not get pro sounds with decent profiles. You've been listening to albums with Kemper on them for years now and didn't even now it because its distinguishable from the real thing. Think about it...
    Honestly tones are better than the real thing in most situations. I don't do a lot of post processing in my DAW since I got a Kemper. Fully realized guitar tones. Compared it with a Two Notes Torpedo with real amps hooked up and it couldn't compete either if you wanted the best tones from the source. Two Notes was good but completely raw sounding when compared to the Kemper.

    I'm happy to give some advice if needed because it shouldn't be hard. Make sure you've got decent profiles a d you're done. Hit me up!