How do you use your Kemper at home of high gain?

  • Hi everyone


    I'm interested in how you guys setup your signal chain from guitar to ear. Especially for good sounding high gain rock and metal tone. At home.


    Does make sense to use external pedals infront kemper? If yes, why and which one? Distortion? Compressor? Overdrive? Alle of them? ... If no, why not and what kemper effects do you use for high gain rock / metal?


    Do you guys use another gear for effects after Kemper? Reverb? Delay? Does it make sense for good quality sound? Is that even possible?


    do you use speakers at home? monitors? PA? or Headphones?



    Thanks alot and I'm curious.


    Marc

  • I justified buying a Kemper because I'm a bedroom (metal) player. The simplest setup is guitar > Kemper > headphones.


    I have an audio interface also to record, in that case it goes guitar > Kemper > audio interface > PC with headphones connected to the interface.


    I don't use monitors but would like to. Plenty others here can advise on that but you can connect monitors directly to the Kemper or if recording to the interface.


    As for effects the Kemper is fully stocked with delays, reverbs, distortions/overdrives, wahs and other modulations but it's entirely possible to use external effects if you want to.

  • Typically I just plug straight into the KPA, and from there into a pair of QSC K10s. I used to run a pair of Eventide H9s in the loop, but they have not been necessary since the updates to the delays and reverbs in the KPA itself.

  • I justified buying a Kemper because I'm a bedroom (metal) player. The simplest setup is guitar > Kemper > headphones.

    In my case, my wife works at home so headphones it is. I do have one pedal (Digitech Mosaic 12-string effect) which the Kemper can't recreate, so it is guitar->Mosaic->Kemper->headphones. I did try the Mosaic in the Stomp A loop, but the results were suboptimal.

  • In my home (studio) it's either Guitar -> Kemper -> Apogee Element -> pair of JBL 305 (and use all delays/reverbs/effects from the Kemper) or when I don't need to record for a while and am not doing too aggressive music, I go Guitar -> small pedalboard (or not) -> Fender Blues Junior to switch it up and get re-accustomed to an amp feel. I almost never wear headphones, my neighbors hate me.

  • I don;t play much at home but I use no front end gear. Not enough gain/thump? Use a different profile.


    Many people will disagree with me as they prefer stacked gain but for me nothing better than amp gain and with the KPA you can choose from so many high gain amps...which don;t need to be run at 100W to get a good sound...

  • I either use headphones when connected to usb audio interface, or have the kemper going into the front of a 15w practice amp (with cab-sim on); I'm more concerned with the tone sounding good than being accurate. I bought an Ibanez mini-ts, and it sounds great, but realised quickly that I could get identical (to me) results from the Kemper's approximation.


    I'd say it's down to personal preference, when it comes to having effects before and after the Kemper in the signal chain. External effects involve more complication, and more mess. They do have dedicated controls which can make them more convenient to edit, but you won't be able to switch presets on the external fx when you switch kemper profiles, unless they're midi enabled, and you have a midi controller.

  • Straight to the Kemper isnt enough for me, so I have at least three boost/preamp external options before the KPA, one delay pedal in a loop,

    and sometimes 3 different s IRs blended together with the help of another 'processor' or IR loader.

    1) a clean boost pedal - 2) a preamp pedal as a boost - 3) a Marshall-like tube preamp with low gain settings and a boost option when needed.

    I often chose one of those boost options depending how well they match with certain profiles. Certain profiles dont need a boost, others might sound better with the gain dropped, to let one or the other external boosts options make them sound even more better and precise. That might sound expensive or silly, but it works. I also use a delay pedal in a the loop of the kpa in the effects section so after the 'amp' section these days.


    so that looks like: guitar -> clean boost pedal -> rack tube preamp -> kemper -> power amp -> mesa 2x12 cab (or a 1x12 FRFR cab, or studio monitors).

    Kemper rack unpowered, Art SLA Power Amp, Mesa TC-50, Laney LFR 112, Chapman ML3 Pro Modern, Solar Artist 2.6, Charvel Pro-Mod DK 24, J, PRS Paul Allender.

    Metal radio show host at CFOU 89,1 FM - https://subversion-le-metal-show.captivate.fm

  • Guitar-Kemper-interface(spdif)-monitors. I use headphones too when I don't want to disturbe the family.

    Does make sense to use external pedals infront kemper? Well yes on high gain profiles that don't have any overdrive baked in the profile. And compared with the same kind of profile without any od and using my own od the latter is a winner. It does sound better with a exeternal peld in front the kemper.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

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