My tones are always too ''fuzzy''

  • I am sure some adjustment or advices could help please. I ear great Kemper sounds on you tube , or on demos , I bought many packs from the best on internet (Britt , Tone Junkie name it) but still, my personnal sound got a problem. It's too fuzzy.... I plug everything on a decent soundcard... and I got very good KRK studio speakers.... But is my soundcard the problem? Do you play through soundcards guy? or you got monitors and to record ....you put a good microphone in front of the speaker to capture the rich kemper sound I hear everywhere? I got 2 decent guitars (fender tele and Gibsons les paul ) I know there is a lot of place in our Kemper to ajust tone. But I cannot find the right one. Thanks for your advice. I know the problem is ME !!! Thats for sure coz the sounds I hear from Kemper users everywhere is SUPER and sounds way better than mine in every style I am doing something wrong .... I try very hard to fix it. Thanks

  • To see if it's the profiles or something on our sound card settings, you could try connecting the Kemper directly to your monitors. If it sounds better that way then you have something set wrong for your interface.


    If it sounds about the same directly from the monitors, maybe the level is too high from the Kemper, overdriving the interface? You might need the Main Out -12 db on the Output menu settings.


    Are your Input or Output leds on the Kemper getting into the red? If so. lower the Clean sense for input or maybe Rig Volume for the output.

  • First thing I would check is your guitars. When you play them unplugged, is there any string buzz? String action too low? Buzz from the bridge?


    The Kemper stays very "true to the guitar". I've seen these kind of "issues" more than once. :)


    If the above is checked and fine, then it's time to investigate further ... maybe with some audio clips to demo the issue.


    Cheers

    Martin

  • To see if it's the profiles or something on our sound card settings, you could try connecting the Kemper directly to your monitors. If it sounds better that way then you have something set wrong for your interface.


    If it sounds about the same directly from the monitors, maybe the level is too high from the Kemper, overdriving the interface? You might need the Main Out -12 db on the Output menu settings.


    Are your Input or Output leds on the Kemper getting into the red? If so. lower the Clean sense for input or maybe Rig Volume for the output.

    Good ideas I will try to connect the speakers directly !!! Great experience to do


    Also looking fastly at the OUTPUT I will experiment here too . Now my monitor volume is at 0.00 . But I never played with SWEETENING , IMPRINT SELECT, and DIRECTIVITY (I wonder what is it? directivity) But I will experiment and read my manuel about it. Looks like I dont know my Kemper well ...Thank you so much. We always learn when we discuss with users. Bye for now I will come back with conclusions after I experiment

  • I am sure some adjustment or advices could help please. I ear great Kemper sounds on you tube , or on demos , I bought many packs from the best on internet (Britt , Tone Junkie name it) but still, my personnal sound got a problem. It's too fuzzy.... I plug everything on a decent soundcard... and I got very good KRK studio speakers.... But is my soundcard the problem? Do you play through soundcards guy? or you got monitors and to record ....you put a good microphone in front of the speaker to capture the rich kemper sound I hear everywhere? I got 2 decent guitars (fender tele and Gibsons les paul ) I know there is a lot of place in our Kemper to ajust tone. But I cannot find the right one. Thanks for your advice. I know the problem is ME !!! Thats for sure coz the sounds I hear from Kemper users everywhere is SUPER and sounds way better than mine in every style I am doing something wrong .... I try very hard to fix it. Thanks

    Is the Pure Cabinet setting on?

  • maybe the level is too high from the Kemper, overdriving the interface? You might need the Main Out -12 db on the Output menu settings.

    OK I didnt know the button OUTPUT had so many adjustment Main monitor direct ... monitor outpur eq ...I will experiment over there Will surely make it sounds better a bit if not a lot LOL


    UPDATE YES ! it sounds better I put the main volume at -12 db and I put more bass on the main output EQ and cut a bit of treble and presence (just a bit) and its sounds really better .I think I will continue to adjust all that. My problem is I dont know my Kemper enough... this is the first time I adjust the OUTPUT.... so the trouble is my lack of knowledge I admit it . But I thank you for your help everyboday coz you lead me the right way , where to look . It helps a lot

  • I am sure some adjustment or advices could help please. I ear great Kemper sounds on you tube , or on demos , I bought many packs from the best on internet (Britt , Tone Junkie name it) but still, my personnal sound got a problem. It's too fuzzy.... I plug everything on a decent soundcard... and I got very good KRK studio speakers.... But is my soundcard the problem? Do you play through soundcards guy? or you got monitors and to record ....you put a good microphone in front of the speaker to capture the rich kemper sound I hear everywhere? I got 2 decent guitars (fender tele and Gibsons les paul ) I know there is a lot of place in our Kemper to ajust tone. But I cannot find the right one. Thanks for your advice. I know the problem is ME !!! Thats for sure coz the sounds I hear from Kemper users everywhere is SUPER and sounds way better than mine in every style I am doing something wrong .... I try very hard to fix it. Thanks

    I think youre always gonna struggle with some fizziness or harshness if you're comparing it to a tube amp. I give the Kemper a rating of "OK". I wish I wouldn't have bought it, but now I'm stuck with it, so I gotta make the best of it. I notice, save for a few great profiles, there's either harshness or impedance. I always find myself trying to dig in and not getting enough, or having to change profiles because they're too much. I think it sounds awful through a soundcard. Maybe spdif, which I hope remedies this, or mic your amp. Not sure, but so far I haven't found a solution to the weird gain with the KP + interface. Good luck!

  • One thing you can try to make things feel snappier is to use a different DI. The kemper one is 1MOhm, but I’ve used others at 2.2 or 10MOhm’s that make most pickups sound a bit snappier than using the kemper input.

  • This could be a number of things. First I would rule out your monitoring, so check via headphones.

    Next check your profiles. Try plenty of them as they can vary wildly.


    Most of this is set up as I've never had this issue and there are too many blind tests showing its very comparable. I try not to eq much as the base sound should be good.


    I believe that if it doesn't sound good, 95% of that will be you....either your set up, expectation ( I found when going back tot he reference amp, it wasn't as amazing as I'd thought), playing or profiles.


    To add: I found the KPa is like any really good amp - its sensitive to variables more so than a cheap amp, hence it will show up deficiencies

  • I think youre always gonna struggle with some fizziness or harshness if you're comparing it to a tube amp. I give the Kemper a rating of "OK". I wish I wouldn't have bought it, but now I'm stuck with it, so I gotta make the best of it. I notice, save for a few great profiles, there's either harshness or impedance. I always find myself trying to dig in and not getting enough, or having to change profiles because they're too much. I think it sounds awful through a soundcard. Maybe spdif, which I hope remedies this, or mic your amp. Not sure, but so far I haven't found a solution to the weird gain with the KP + interface. Good luck!

    SPDIF.... I must admit I never tried to record Spdif but I will Thanks good idea


    But to clarified my problem, I<d like to sound as good as other Kemper users I hear everywhere

  • One thing you can try to make things feel snappier is to use a different DI. The kemper one is 1MOhm, but I’ve used others at 2.2 or 10MOhm’s that make most pickups sound a bit snappier than using the kemper input.

    Great idea . I admit I am not an expert on DI (direct injection right?) so I must plug this in this order: Guitar - to DI to Kemper ??? is that right? Or Guitar to Kemper to DI ? Do you recommend a specific DI box? Thanks (I will also read about Ohm , I dont know NOTHING about it) Thanks

  • Ok I compared the headphone output sound to to the headphone output of my soundcard (with a pair of DT 770 Pro, so decent headphones ) and I think the output of the Kemper sounds a bit better. Not day and night but a bit better overall. So my soundcard doesn't help I continue other test . It,s good to concentrate on the music but now I need to make a stop and concentrate on the technical aspect of all this. ;) It's fun I will learn a lot

  • OK yes the Headphone output on my DT770 Pro headphone sounds better than the overlall ''soundcard sound'' I got . And for some profiles it sounds way better. Now if I want to record THAT sound I hear on my headphones. The solution is to use SPDIF??


    Thanks for your precious help I think if I concentrate on that I will improve my guitar sound a lot

    (There is so much things that can improve (or ruin) our tone.... This is almost like science hihihi)


    PS I might also try to record from the headphone output from the Kemper (just a split cable headphone out to split left and right) why not ? lol It sounds good


    UPDATE: My interface cannot record SPDIF. So maybe my solution is to buy a better interface

  • I got 2 decent guitars (fender tele and Gibsons les paul ) I know there is a lot of place in our Kemper to ajust tone. But I cannot find the right one.

    Another thing to try for what you describe here...


    The Les Paul will likely be much darker sounding than the Tele. Try playing with the Definition setting on the Amplifier settings. Set it higher to brighten the sound or lower to darken it. So for your Les Paul, you might try a higher value. For the Tele you might try lower since it.


    An example might be MBritt profiles. Many of his profiles are built for performance volume and he often uses P90's. I find for my Les Paul that I almost always want to brighten them up with Definition for in the house and JBL monitors.


    To add a bit of touch sensitivity (cleaner on soft picking, more gain on hard picking) try increasing the Power Sagging. I find around 4-5 is pretty noticeable.


    And check out the Rig Exchange. There are a lot to try and probably many you won't like. But there are also a lot that are easily as good, or better than the commercial profiles. Point is, rather than spending a lot of time tweaking, just find something pretty close to what you like.

  • After trying a lot of profiles with low and crunchy tones, I always got the feeling that a compressor on the first slot before the amp makes sounds deeper, fuller. Surely, not if you are using higher gain profiles.

  • Great idea . I admit I am not an expert on DI (direct injection right?) so I must plug this in this order: Guitar - to DI to Kemper ??? is that right? Or Guitar to Kemper to DI ? Do you recommend a specific DI box? Thanks (I will also read about Ohm , I dont know NOTHING about it) Thanks

    it sounds like your issues are elsewhere in all honesty, but I can recommend the Countryman Type 85, Rupert Neve RNDI, Creation Audio Labs MW1 and Avalon U5 as amazing quality workhorse DI's. Several of those are suitable for capturing Direct Amp DI's too.

  • Here is the spec of my audio interface (UR22) I picked the cheapest one of the line up. . (I regret it) Now I am willing to buy any interface (any names Motu Focusrite, M-Audio, Avid or etc etc whatever) I want something that could improve my sound a lot better than the Ur22 Any suggestions ? Thanks

    So are you saying you've now got the sounds you want when you aren't connecting through the Ur22?

  • So are you saying you've now got the sounds you want when you aren't connecting through the Ur22?

    I don't wanna conclude too fast I will make more test. It sounds better on headphone and also directly on the KRKV8 speakers.... That's for sure . Now next phase is how I will record.... If I could record with ...lets say Focusrite in SPDIF ... and then record the same thing with UR2 ... and post the result here and A and B compare , then we could conclude. But now I realise , I need to mork on it a lot, and thanks to you guys, I already sound better after one day, talking to you and trying all your recommendations. So I am very happy to realize that Kemper sound depends on what is all around it . Its a chain in a way and a bad interface can ruin or improve the sound dramatically for instance . My output at -12db plus output eq sounds better even in the Ur22 . I really wanna dig on it I will put a lot of time on it Thanks