Not liking my KPA going direct

  • So I'm LOVING my KPA through power amp / cab. To me it's just as good as any real amp rig I've ever owned (which is like 50). I've been playing through a ton of profiles and have found dozens that I think some amazing.


    However when I go direct into my interface, with the cab sim on, I really dislike the tone. I know it takes some tweaking between the amp/cab setup to direct with cabsim, but I'm just not liking the sound on basically anything I've played. They sound lifeless.


    I also ran the KPA into a Yorkville YX10P monitor for direct and again, I hated it. I used the exact same monitor for my past Atomic and Helix rigs, and had excellent results.


    This has me wondering if I'm doing something wrong....


    I have experience with direct recording, including owning host of VST plugins (Mercuriall, Thermionik) and a bunch of IR's (3 Sigma, Ownhammer).

    I've always had decent to great tones from those, but I haven't tried any of my IR's with the KPA profiles, as I want to get a feel for just the Kemper instead.


    I'm running the KPA Master Output (Right) to my Fosucrite 2i2 via XLR.

    Is this to correct way to record direct?


    Any help greatly appreciated, I'm a little puzzled atm.

    Kemper KPA / Mooer Baby Bomb / Marshall MX212AR

  • Maybe try the monitor out as you're going in mono, Ben.


    Also, before you try your IR library, try locking everything except the Cab module and browsing Rigs (Cabs IOW 'cause of the locking) to see if the Cabs in your existing Profiles tickle your fancy. Ideally you'd start with Merged Profiles and peruse other Merged ones, thereby maximising the accuracy of the Cab components that you'll be loading, but in all honesty the Kemper's ability to calculate the Cab side of Studio Profiles is top-notch and many are more-than-happy to use these "artificially-separated" ones.


    If you're still not-happy, there're always your IR's, which you can convert using Cab Maker™, but I should say that IMHO and many others', the Kemper's Cab captures are more-sophisticated and dynamically-accurate that plain ol' IR's. Some still swear by their trusty IR's, of course, so YMMV.

  • Maybe try the monitor out as you're going in mono, Ben.


    Also, before you try your IR library, try locking everything except the Cab module and browsing Rigs (Cabs IOW 'cause of the locking) to see if the Cabs in your existing Profiles tickle your fancy. Ideally you'd start with Merged Profiles and peruse other Merged ones, thereby maximising the accuracy of the Cab components that you'll be loading, but in all honesty the Kemper's ability to calculate the Cab side of Studio Profiles is top-notch and many are more-than-happy to use these "artificially-separated" ones.


    If you're still not-happy, there're always your IR's, which you can convert using Cab Maker™, but I should say that IMHO and many others', the Kemper's Cab captures are more-sophisticated and dynamically-accurate that plain ol' IR's. Some still swear by their trusty IR's, of course, so YMMV.

    Thank you very much!


    I can honestly say that using my own IR's is an absolute LAST resort for me. I want to use the Kemper to the fullest of its ability.

    I think the issue is me, and my use of the KPA and not the Kemper itself. There are plenty videos with the Kemper being recorded direct and it sounds perfect.


    I'm going to looking into this more tomorrow.

    Kemper KPA / Mooer Baby Bomb / Marshall MX212AR

  • I thought he did 'cause he said he had excellent results with his Atomic and Helix rigs. Not just that he was happy with them, but that they were excellent.


    Of course, your advice is always good too, bud; monitor setup is critical in the long run and for serious applications. I just got the feeling he was scratching his head as to why his basic setup worked so-well with the aforementioned units and not this one, which by rights and in a logical world should sound even-better.

  • Try this:


    Rigmanager Lars Lüttge profile pack from kemper ( free)


    Monitor out mono to your focusrite. Check that inputsense are @ 0 and output is setted correct that nothing is clipping.


    Lars has a 1960AV cab in his rigs. Lock this cab and load your fav profiles to it.


    Better?


    I have tons of cabs but in the end I use prx 5 ones. A 2x12 boogie from sinmix, 2x12 boogie from Lars, two 1960 from Lars, soldano from guido. I use one of these cabs when a profile didn't fit my taste and mostly I get cool results.


    Cheers

    Frank

  • I have a Focusrite 2i4 and had similar issues when I first started using it direct with Kemper. Discovered that if you plug an XLR to the Focusrite, it engages the mic preamps in the Focusrite no matter what. https://support.focusrite.com/…LR-Input-on-my-Interface-


    So, I use a standard unbalanced cable from main out left to focusrite 1/4 input and have better results.


    That won't explain the issues with FRFR monitoring though. IME, here is how I am setup:

    - Main out XLR L&R going to monitors or FRFR. These will include the cabinets as long as I don't disable the cabinet button on front of KPA (which I never do)

    - Main out 1/4in L to Focusrite input. These will include the cabinets as long as I don't disable the cabinet button on front of KPA (which I never do)

    - Monitor out 1/4in to power amp and guitar cabinet, and I have "monitor cab off" set in the KPA output settings on Page 1 of 6.


    You might also want to check that your KPA output settings on page 1 of 6 are defaults from the manual (except maybe the monitor cab off). Changes to those can affect what part of the signal is output on the main and monitor outputs.

  • Exactly what I thought, sercho.


    I figured he must've been taking only one side of a stereo signal and that's why it sounded "thin" / weak, hence my original suggestion that he try the monitor out.


    Ben, if it interests you, maybe try setting the main outs to mono and taking that right-channel feed you used originally to see if it sounds any different. You'll have to crank the KPA outputs or input gain on your interface a few dB 'cause you're only taking "half the power" of the two main outs.


    It could also be that the interface is doing something strange when using the XLR inputs, but I'm not familiar with the Focusrite models' operation...