I've yet to to play the Kemper live, but I did run my Kemper through a powered mixer that I have at home. The sounds was just ok.
There will be some gigs where the PA is provided for us, so I am trying to prepare for gigging with pretty much any PA.
Any advice? Is the live setup with an unknown PA going to require a lot of tweaking pre show? Any tips/tricks?
keep in mind that when you gig with a sound man you are in the situation where you provide them with the best sound you can. Once it leaves your end it is up to the sound guy. They need to mix your sound with everything else that they are getting. Be prepared for the realization that what the audience hears may not be what you expect because the sound guy equalized your signal to fit in the mix. I love the sound of a 4 12 cab with plenty of bottom end. But the sound guy may go d that that type of sound conflicts with the bass guitar and therefore he equalized the low end thump out of the guitar signal.
Get the best you can to start with. Send off to the house and then rely on the sound tech. You hired them to make th e band sound good. You are.going to have to trust them.
If time needs to be taken because of a PA’s shortcomings, getting the vocals to sound good is the most important thing.
I don’t recommend adjusting the KPA for Different FOH Systems - the mixing board EQ is there for that. If you use an onstage speaker, adjusting that Output’s EQ may be good plan.
Thanks guys for the help and advice. As long as what I hear inspires me I'll be fine. I just want to get as close to what I hear aimed toward the crowd.
I welcome any other advice on running to FOH!
If you've got a powered Kemper and you're heading into unknown and probably bad PA you might want to bring a guitar cab and leave the PA to the vocals.
Yes, it's powered. I need to buy a guitar cab.
One thing you should definitely do is set the main outputs to -12db in the output section. This will ensure that your signal isn't too hot going into the mixing board.
Also, I'm not a fan of unknown soundmen, so one thing you should definitely do is have a chat with him before the show so you can discuss what's required.
Lastly, if you somehow find during the set that the sound upfront is lacking something, make an extremely minor adjustment in the output EQ section to try and fix the issue. not a huge tweak, just a small boost or cut so that you don't unbalance the mix.
You have to remember that this situation is not unique to Kemper. Whatever you provide to front of house, whether it be a tube amp modeller, or profiler, the soundman and system will have an impact.
If you are on a run of dates with the same engineer, speak to him about what eq he is applying most nights to see if your basic tones are good.
You’ll be fine. I’ve been through some ancient PAs with my unpowered. Still sounded good. Leave the wedge mix flat EQ.
