I’m not satisfied with my Kemper at all? It makes no sense!

  • Hi guys,


    I’ve had my Kemper for about 2 years but I’m still having trouble finding good tones. Though I didn’t buy anything from other profile makers, I’ve tried nearly all of the stock profiles including those from rig packs, so nearly 1000 profiles.


    It makes no sense, really. Before I bought it I had watched some YouTube videos comparing profiles with real amps, they’re not identical but similar enough for me to bring it home.


    It’s a PowerHead version but I didn’t really use it with a cab. My interface is an RME Babyface Pro, and the monitors I’m using are a pair of Genelec 8050’s. It should work more than fine. But every profile sounds fake, digital to me. Most of the high gain profiles have that “compressed digital nasal sound” especially on G string. IT MAKES NO SENSE. Sure there’re bad profiles that sound fake, but some Kemper vids on YouTube really sound impressive. I was there might be something wrong about the settings in case I chose wrong input or output option so I tried the “Init Globals” which should make most of settings back to factory settings, but it just didn’t work.


    I have guitar recording elective and my teacher used a Blackstar ID amp and a Shure SM57 for demonstration. Oh man it sounded even better than my Kemper. I talked to him today and We’ll use my kemper next time in class. I’m thinking if it’s because I didn’t get the settings properly or something else?

  • Lol it sounds weird to profile a $300 amp but I guess that’s the way.


    I downloaded all the rig picks and tried them. I couldn’t believe it was profiled by professionals, more professional than me at least. I wanted to blame either the rig pack maker or Kemper team for not taking this serious but I think it’s more because of my settings.

  • Could be, Jason, but you won't know for sure 'til you hear the A/B with the amp.


    Hey, a $300-amp Profile is still a Profile. Either the Kemper captures it accurately or it doesn't. If it does, IMHO, that should be a signal to you to either revise your settings M.O. or look beyond the freebies into commercial packs.


    The 3rd-party-Rig-discussion sub-forum (so many hyphens!) would be an ideal place to put forward your preferences and receive recommendations from those who've bought (probably too many!) packs.


    Bear in mind that we ought not to mention specific commercial Profilers here in this thread or it'll be moved, and besides, we're just trying here to establish whether or not your baby is broken in some way or another.

  • Hi Jason, and welcome to the forum. I can assure you that the sounds are there. Have you tried the rmpacheco Morgan AC20 profile? That one is universally admired for a clean to slightly crunchy tone.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • did you tried using your kemper with a pair of good headphones?


    i personally prefer my kemper sounding throught 12 inches speakers or at least 10 inches


    studio monitors usually have smaller speakers and maybe that is why you did not found the tone


    you may like to test then with "monitor cabs on and off"


    i tested all my profiles that i play with using many different settings and found amazing tones...


    hope you will get there too, i would ask you to have paitence and you will dominate your kemper soon but you have it


    since 2 years so maybe contact support and provide some audio samples will help other experienced users to help you better

  • Have you tried another guitar? That nasal sound will happen when you have incorrect truss rod adjustment or the action is super low. Ive also had bridge sag on les pauls cause this especially on the g string. A lot of times you cant hear it through a real amp because its so loud.

  • Pretty sure its how its set up but that doesn't really help...


    Some profiles are duff but there are plenty out there that should be good enough. Suggest you post some sound clips as mentioned above.


    Just out of interest, can you get hold of PA/FRFR passive speaker to at least try the direct sound out the power amp ? That might also give a clue?

  • I don´t know if it has been said here before, but: Don´t forget that your Kemper pictures the sound of a miced amp. And if you are not used to listen an play through miced amp your ears might be confused.
    The gear you are using should definitely work out.
    With your G-string: might be that something is resonating....check it with a different guitar.


    Good Luck!

  • Have you tried turning off or reducing the 'Pure Cab' effect.


    This made a major difference to my tone. For a long time I was like "This does not sound as great as I thought".... then I saw this thread of someone else highlighting the issue, tried it and was like wow!!!


    I think it is on by default.


    This is thread here:


    Dissatisfied with Kemper, fizzy distortion, boring woofy bottom end, no mid punch, lack of detail in sound - FIXED! LOVE MY KEMPER

  • Oh yeah I’ll try to find some highly praised 3rd party profiles, if I still don’t think they’re good, then there’s something wrong either with my Kemper or the settings.

  • Hi Jason, and welcome to the forum. I can assure you that the sounds are there. Have you tried the rmpacheco Morgan AC20 profile? That one is universally admired for a clean to slightly crunchy tone.


    If you’re talking about the profile called More Gain or something like that, that’s a good one compared to others. It doesn’t sound overcompressed. I don’t hear that annoying frequency.



    What kind of tones are you after? Can you name a band or guitarist that you think sounds like it's somewhere in your ballpark?


    I bought it because I thought I could get many useful tones, from clean to high gain. I’m personally enjoy Marshall’s, both vintage like Metropulos and modern like Friedman amps.


    I find that the more gain a profile has, the more I find it fake. But I’ve played my buddy’s EVH it sounded fine, though it’s not my cup of tea, and I have an ENGL Savage, which I pretty enjoy playing it. To me those high gain profiles just don’t sound good at all.

  • If you’re talking about the profile called More Gain or something like that, that’s a good one compared to others. It doesn’t sound overcompressed. I don’t hear that annoying frequency.

    No, that's not the profile I'm referring to. Search for rmpacheco on the Rig Exchange.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer


  • That’s weird because I already registered. Maybe that’s because I changed my email. I’ll check. It now has 5.50 beta, the newest one. And I update it pretty frequently.



    I have the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro but only used it with my Kemper once. Sounded the same. :( Indeed I connected it to my cab and it sounded a little bit better but that’s not the reason why I bought it... :wacko:



    Have you tried another guitar? That nasal sound will happen when you have incorrect truss rod adjustment or the action is super low. Ive also had bridge sag on les pauls cause this especially on the g string. A lot of times you cant hear it through a real amp because its so loud.


    I was thinking it might be because of the pickup. The bridge pickup on one of my guitars is pretty hot, it’s a Suhr SSH+. So I tried to use another one with Suhr SSV, which is vintage level or a tad hotter than vintage. I still heard that frequency, I also tried with my SSS Grosh and the frequency was still there...

  • Pretty sure its how its set up but that doesn't really help...


    Some profiles are duff but there are plenty out there that should be good enough. Suggest you post some sound clips as mentioned above.


    Just out of interest, can you get hold of PA/FRFR passive speaker to at least try the direct sound out the power amp ? That might also give a clue?


    Thanks I’ll give it a try with PA in school.



    I don´t know if it has been said here before, but: Don´t forget that your Kemper pictures the sound of a miced amp. And if you are not used to listen an play through miced amp your ears might be confused.
    The gear you are using should definitely work out.
    With your G-string: might be that something is resonating....check it with a different guitar.


    Good Luck!


    Yes I do listen to the amp to cab sound more. But because of my elective course I’ve been listening to miced amp a lot.


  • Wow that might help! Thanks! I hate reading dictionary-thick manuals. I’ve only read how to use it, but haven’t messed around with the knobs.