Need help; Powerhead sounds awful.

    I've had my Kemper powerhead for about a year now. I've purchased profiles from Tone Junky, Tonecrate, LiveReadySound, and a few others. IRs from Celestion, a bunch of free packs, and the Ownhammer Heavy Hitters V1. Running it through a Headrush FRFR112. 99% is high gain material.


    I feel like I get one of three sounds no matter what I try:


    1. Boxy/honky - like it's coming through a Radio

    2. Ragged - like the IR speakers are being shredded

    3. Fizzy/Sizzle/icepick - hurts the ears.


    I can't just get a nice smooth sound out of this amp - everything sounds brittle, and the profiles sound nothing like the sample videos (I realize there's post processing going on, along with a different guitar, but what I hear on the video and what I hear in person sound nothing alike).


    I've tweaked and tweaked. Even did a factory reset today. I've run it through the 2x12 for my Mesa Roadster, tried headphones, etc. Everything just sounds like it's clipping like crazy. I've tuned the input sensitivity, not using Pure cabinet. Running out of ideas on this.


    I'm reaching out because I don't believe I'm just a super-picky guitarist who wants some kind of Holy Grail. There has to be something I'm missing that's boogering everything up because the sounds I'm getting are truthfully on par with an old Line 6 amp I had.


    Hoping you all can help. thanks.

    Use pure cabinet.

    Lower volumes.

    Use an EQ after the stacksection

    Check the cables

    Turn on cab when using frfr and phones

    Turn off cab when using guitarcab

    Use pure cabinet (works die me)

    Try something else...

    Run that thing through a regular guitar cab. Been running mine through a regular cab for over a year now and wouldn't change a single thing about the way it sounds. Also, try profiling an amp that you already love the sound of.

    Running my non-powered KPA through a Headrush 112, using mostly TJ and MBritt profiles (clean to high gain) + Celestion IR's,

    Sounds great with most profiles. I'll sometimes swap the cab with a Celestion IR or tweak the High and Low shift parameters in the cab section and

    that usually gets me there pretty quickly.


    Question: Why did you get a Headrush if you have a powerhead? As Clselby mentionned, a non-powered FRFR with the KPA amp would work best IMO.

    Edited once, last by Slyman ().

    1. Run the Powerhead through a real cabinet. I use both V30 and G12T75 speakers. Make sure you have Monitor Cab Off. Pure Cabinet doesn't make much of a difference in the setup so forget about that.
    2 . Tweak the AMP EQ first, then if you feel you need more, add an EQ after the AMP. I also play moderate to high gain stuff and the first thing I do is lower the Mids and up the Presents and Treble a bit for more bite. Adding an EQ or Boost before the AMP and upping the Volume control only will add even more bite and saturation. I am usually able to get what I want from the AMP EQ and add the Metal EQ in front for that Volume raise.
    3. Nothing against Britt and ToneJunkie profiles, but they wouldn't be my first choice for higher gain stuff. There are plenty of great free ones in the rig exchange. Orange, Deizel, Pitbull, Ubershall, Engl are the ones to look for. Although there are also some great Marshall profiles out there too.

    4. Have you tried DI Profiles into a real cabinet? You really should. They produce the most realistic amp to cabinet tones in my opinion. No cabinet involved in the making of the profile so your tone offers the true characteristic of the speakers being used. I have made my own DI Profiles but there are also some very good free ones in the exchange.

    5. I have tried the FRFR solution, it will vary by speaker and make. I recently tried a Line6 powercab which sounded awful to me. Its not the best choice if you have a powerhead.

    Start ruling out bits in your chain.


    1) Make sure you are taking the main or monitor out of the KPA NOT the speaker out else you will have an active out going into an active speaker

    2) Listen via headphones. Same issue?

    3) Try a different cab, either a passive FRFR or guitar cab. Personally I do like FRFR but it does sound different and some people like real guitar cabs. Good news is as you have the powerhead you can easily try

    4) Make sure monitor cab is off. FRFR will sound scratchy and horrible if you don't have the cabs active


    If the sound is that bad, the answer is NOT IR's, or better profiles or tweaking, there is likely to be some other issue. You should be able to get good sounds straight off the bat with free profiles, no IR's etc, such as from the Bert M amps bundled int he last release. Hence I suggest strip back to the major components ( Cab, connections, cables, guitar etc.).

    Quote from V8guitar

    3) Try a different cab, either a passive FRFR or guitar cab. Personally I do like FRFR but it does sound different and some people like real guitar cabs.

    I recently purchased a Celestion F12-200X FRFR speaker and I'm using it with my powerhead with CAB on. It does sound different for sure. I cant figure out which one I like better, the FRFR or real guitar cabinet. Both have different characteristics.

    What I didn;t appreciate prior to the KPA is how much colouration a cab adds, and not necessarily in a good way. FRFR can show more of the difference in the amp whereas a cab adds a blanket layer making different amps sound similar.


    For me the Kabinet does a bit of both. Gives you the variation but more of the amp in the room...in other words, has the FRFR agnostic cab feel but adding some amp in the room feel...

    Quote from Clselby

    Give a regular Marshall cab with Gt75's and i'm good. Have been running mine like this for the last year and love it. Sounds how an amp should in a room.

    I think the G12T75 speakers are a great match with the Kemper powerhead. I prefer them over any other real speaker that I have tried.

    Quote from V8guitar

    What I didn;t appreciate prior to the KPA is how much colouration a cab adds, and not necessarily in a good way. FRFR can show more of the difference in the amp whereas a cab adds a blanket layer making different amps sound similar.


    For me the Kabinet does a bit of both. Gives you the variation but more of the amp in the room...in other words, has the FRFR agnostic cab feel but adding some amp in the room feel...

    I agree. The right choice of CAB/IR or Real Cabinet is just as important as the AMP profile itself. I dont have the Kabinet but I do have the Celestion F12-x200 speaker and that too acts and sounds like a amp in the room when the right profile and cab are chosen.