About to buy a kemper some set up questions after reading manuals & watching videos. Help appreciated!

  • Hi! A little about me. Just a hobbyist metal, high gain, rhythm player. Not recording, just playing! Have 2 Gibson LP's. Have tried a bunch of tube combos & preamps (6505+112, EVH5153, mesa single rectoverb, jvm 205, JMP-1, etc.). Love a lot about all of these but, never had much chance to open them up, play loud & get them to their sweet spot. Also, not interested in changing tubes, biasing, etc. Been eying a Kemper for a long time for lower volume playing without losing the sound quality. Finally got convinced to do it after hearing Josh Middleton's heavy packs and some others.


    I'm going with either an unpowered toaster/remote into 2 headrush 8" frfr speakers or the Stage. I've been reading about some glitches with the Stage so leaning the toaster route. Considering I'm a total newbie with this stuff and won't really know what I'm doing for awhile, I don't want added issues with the device itself on top of the learning curve.


    So, some initial questions I have are about running my 2 powered frfr's in stereo & what outputs to use. From what I've read, the main xlr's are for direct to PA and monitor outs are for floor monitors like mine or a guitar cab. The stage has monitor outs for L & R. The toaster has, if I read correctly, 1 monitor out + you can use Direct Out to use it in stereo.


    I believe it will be easier & prefer to just use the main XLR's rather than Direct out + Monitor Out. Can I use my two FRFR's this way without any compromises to sound or performance?


    Second question is regarding volume control in this kind of set up. Ideally, I'd like to control the volume via the Kemper and not having to adjust the FRFR's all the time depending on whether I can crank it a bit or not. What are the steps to do this? I believe I can do this via master volume but, do any settings in the output need to be tweaked?


    I just want to use my frfr's into the main XLR's, set them at about half power, and control the volume of my profiles or presets with the kemper. I am going to have more questions but, this is a set up one I need to figure out and I don't have the equipment yet to test for myself. Your help is much appreciated!

  • OP, based on what you said in your post it's perfectly acceptable to run the XLR outs to the monitors, they do not have to go to a desk. Don't get caught up in the terminology or what is or isn't supposed be. Run the XLR's directly to your powered monitors, set the volume on the monitors at the highest level you like and control the volume from the Kemper. It's works wonderfully this way.