Kemper Stage - Too Much Reverb/Echo for Live Performance?

  • I got my Kemper Stage in Feb. With lots of help from this forum, I managed to dial in about 20 profiles - mostly M. Britt and Tone Junkie - with varying degrees of gain/distortion, etc. I didn't modify the profiles other than to adjust the rig volumes, and I dialed back some of the echo on the request of my bandmates. They sound really great through my Head Rush speaker.


    Yesterday I played my first gig with the Kemper, and using the Head Rush as my own personal guitar monitor. The sound guy (who we've worked with several times and is very good) said I had way too much reverb/echo, and as a result my guitar kept getting lost in the mix. Any thoughts on this?


    I also noticed that when I plugged the Head Rush into the Monitor Out on the Kemper, the signal was completely dry - none of the reverb or echo I hear when I plug the Head Rush into the Main Out. Is this by design, or is there a setting on the Kemper that will change this? Thanks.

  • Hi, Brenkj,


    Check out the Kemper Profiler Manual Main 7.5.

    Search for OUTPUT SOURCES.


    It sounds like you are different output sources for Monitor Out and Main Out.

    Do you have the Monitor Out source set to Mod Mono? See below.



    And I have found some of the TJ profiles to be too wet for my taste for FOH. Just dial back the time-based effects.

  • Thanks, ST. Unfortunately, for a techno-newbie like me, that only makes a little bit of sense. I think, ideally, I'd like to get all my effects to come through in my Head Rush, so that I can hear the super-cool tones onstage, but not in the signal going to the PA system, so that the sound guy can adjust them as he sees fit. I guess one option is just to have the sound guy connect to the Monitor Out on the Kemper (which is currently set up to remove all delay and reverb), and connect my Head Rush to the Main Outs, which currently includes delay and reverb. Is there a better way to achieve the same end result? Thanks.

  • The first thing I do with all profiles is turn down delay and reverb. With Tone Junkie I usually have to reduce it by more the half as they are so washed out they can't cut through a paper bag let alone a full band mix. I know this is the P&W sound but it is pretty much unusable for anything else. Fortunately, the profiles themselves typically sound great so turning down (or off) the wet FX is all that is needed to get a killer tone.


    As for your output choices I would simply set Main Outs to Mod Stereo and Monitor out to Master Mono.

  • If you're not already using the Direct Output, you could set it up as follows:


    Main Output: choose DLY/REV wet. Sends only the stereo reverb and delay to FOH.

    Monitor Output: choose Master mono. Sends a mono mix with reverb and delay to your monitor.

    Direct Output: choose Stack. Sends a dry signal to FOH - basically, all the stomps, amp, and cab, but none of the post-cab effects.


    Using the Direct and Main outputs, your engineer could dial in the amount of time-based effects (reverb and delay) appropriate for the room, and you could still have the settings you prefer in your monitor. Of course, you have to trust your engineer, which it sounds like you do. A disadvantage would be that if you use anything in the "X" or "Mod" effects slots, those would NOT be sent to FOH. Correct me if I'm wrong, someone!

  • Not sure if related but I find that you need totally differente mix levels depending on whether you feed a mono cab or a stereo FRFR system (or FOH for that matter).


    I'm thinking maybe something related to a pan law or similar. But I don't know.

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