New user having a rough go

    Hey all, I just got my Kemper last week and I gotta say, I’m not digging it at the moment. The issues I’m having are with monitoring. I have a bunch of commercial profiles from Michael Britt, tone junkie, and selah sound so I’ve kind of ruled out the issue being the profile.


    Now all that being said I have managed to get some pretty good sounds through the headphone out. Using both Sony studio headphones and shure iem.


    My issue begins when I play through any other source. I’ve tried:


    • Qsc k10
    • Krk Rokit 6 studio monitors
    • Dr z 1x12 (Celestion g12)

    All of them sound honkey, harsh and muddy all at the same time.


    I’ve got cab sim on so that is not the issue. I’m also used to amp sound miced.


    Please help!! What am I missing?


    Thanks!

    Please tell me a few things about your rig...
    Guitar type Single coil Humbuckings?
    What Firmware version?
    Did you buy this new or used?
    After your response I'll shed some wisdom...
    FYI: I have owned my KPA since 2014. Despite the moniker associated ... I am far from a beginner and hope I can be of some assistance.
    I do not work or represent Kemper products.


    Ok I waited for you to chime in again to see if I could help... I assume that you either found a solution or will see this later. In any event I will generalize this response that applies to any of the KPA firmware and general operation.


    FIRST THING FIRST:
    No matter whether your KPA is used , new whatever firmware version it has or whether you have or have not updated the firmware do this now or anytime after you perform an update of the firmware or if one day you boot the KPA and it doesn't quite seem like it did the day before. I don't have the procedure in front of me but search for " GLOBAL INIT " procedure. The only downside is if you will have to reset the output and input parameters you may be using but that is a small inconvenience.


    • Init Globals - resets global system (and output?) settings to their defaults (will not delete/change rigs)

    PRESS the SYSTEM BUTTON then press the second button above the display "Init Globals"


    Did this fix your problem? If not continue to the QUICK FIX.



    THE QUICK FIX:


    What guitar you are using comes in to play here.
    The profiles you have purchased were created and tweaked using the individual profiling persons guitar to attempt a generic happy medium.
    It could be your personal guitar and pickups are different enough to create a mid honk maybe like that of a Duncan JB Model Humbucking !
    Great pickups but has that muddy mid honk....
    So a quick fix for this could be a simple as assigning one of the many Equalizer types to one of the PRE-AMPLIFIER slots !
    Like the first or second you can then scoop the mid range content a little EXAMPLE 450 Hz Q =1.0 -4.0 dBu and give a slight boost around 1.8 Khz Q = 2.0 +3 dBu
    Once you find the magic bullet then you can save your EQ as a preset that can be assigned to every other Rig you use with that guitar.
    Once you are happy with just one of your rigs then applying that Guitar Eq preset to other rigs should yield instant satisfaction !


    If you are not smiling from ear to ear at this point its time to go deeper !



    LETS DIVE INTO THE DEEP STUFF !


    As you may know the KPA has many useful features to sculpt your particular tone you have your standard front panel EQ then you have your AMPLIFIER section parameters that make a big difference in overall voicing's specifically DEFINITION, CLARITY, PICK, TUBE SHAPE , POWER SAG and BIAS these alone can make a big difference.
    From your description I suggest taking a rig that exhibits what you have described and adjust the DEFINITION and CLARITY see what you find .
    From there make sure POWER SAG = 0 as Power sag will essentially compress your transient dynamic range which will limit your attack then rise over time.
    Lowering POWER SAG to 0 will allow maximum peaks of chord chunks and soloing... But if you want the tube bloom affect you'll want to use the Tube Sag especially blues players !
    AMPLIFIER COMPRESSOR:
    The Compressor in the amplifier section is interesting as it will help accentuate your initial attack like a well tweaked tube amp does. The combination of COMPRESSOR, CLARITY , PICK and DEFINITION goes along way....



    If that were not enough you have tone shaping left to play with in the CABINET section


    It allows you to choose different cabinet types and then shape the final response with parameters to shift the CHARACTER LOW and HIGHS response.


    The AMPLIFIER and CABINET editing are very powerful and easy to use Tone shaping tools. You will quickly get familiar with them and how to apply them to get your personal tone footprint.
    .


    I hope this begins to open up the universe of tone capabilities the KPA has in store just for you !


    Best regards

    Of course, thanks for the response! The Kemper I purchased new and has the latest firmware installed. I am using a fender telecaster for the majority and a les Paul for certain flavors.


    I am planning on both studio and live use. For live purposes I will be using in ear monitors so the cab is not so much an issue. My concern is how the sounds are represented in stage wedges and pa to the audience.


    Just so you have an idea, here’s a list of things I’ve tried.


    • Factory reset
    • Pure cab
    • Space
    • Output eqs
    • Studio eqs in x slot for overall shaping
    • Over 400 commercial profiles

    It sounds great through headphones and iems but everywhere else sounds pretty bad including pa speakers and relatively flat studio monitors (relative because of room)


    Hope that’s helpful!


    Thanks again

    A trick that got me (sorry if it has been mentioned) is if your using a CAB make sure the cab sim is turned OFF, if you are using MONITORS, make sure the cab sim is turned ON. I hope this helps.

    The FRFR in stereo is what I hear in a recording situation.
    I like to track in the control room sitting behind the engineer with a stout bit of level.
    That's the sound I want the audience to share.
    When I used to play Large Rigs live that Amp in the Room went away as soon as that mic was placed in front of it.
    Now I get a studio quality sound in almost any venue. :thumbup:

    Thank you all for the responses.


    There are a lot of good things to try here. I will see what I can get out of it later today. Fingers crossed! I’ve been excited about the Kemper for years and would love to get what I know it’s capable of into foh!


    Thanks again

    Ok I think I’ve figured it out! I had to hit the -12 pad on the main outs. I guess it was flipping somehow internally tho the output led was fine.


    Got rid of midrange congestion and harshness


    Thanks everyone for all the help. Hope this helps someone in the future as well.