Need help

  • I find the profiles fizzy and buzzy. I adjusted the imputs and outputs so they are ok. The clean profiles are fine but when I add gain it doesn't produce a pleasing sound. I turned the cabs off and on to check the sound and they are definately on .Tried different cabs on the unit but they just have a different flavour of fuzziness. Also I don't seem to have the graphic equaliser ,stereo equaliser,the metal eq,the studio eq ,and a few effects listed in the kemper manuals.Should these have come installed in the unit or do they have to be downloaded into it. Help appreciated

    Edited once, last by Kieroc ().

  • It sounds, perhaps, like an input overload. Try checking your "Clean Sense" and your "Distortion Sense" settings.


    Also, I've found that turning up the gain too far, on a given profile, can cause the distorted sounds to become less than awesome. A better way to get more gain, is to add a stomp, or just use another profile of that amp (there are zillions of similar profiles). Turning up the gain too far, on a clean profile, is a proven recipe for more buzz/fizz.

  • Got the kemper a few days ago. I find the profiles fizzy and buzzy. I adjusted the imput and outputs. The clean profiles are fine but when I add gain it doesn't produce a pleasing sound. I turned the cabs off and on to be sure so they are definately on Tried different cabs on the unit but they just have a different flavour of fuzziness. Also I don't seem to have the graphic equaliser ,stereo equaliser,the metal eq,the studio eq ,and a few others listed in the kemper manuals. please help

    I've experienced the same effect back then with a small Fender transistor amp when the speaker was broken... what are you connecting to? Can you make sure that the problem is coming from the KPA?
    Also, please, update to the latest firmware version.

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.

  • don't seem to have the graphic equaliser ,stereo equaliser,the metal eq,the studio eq ,and a few others listed in the kemper manuals


    Use the Type knob to select the stomps (or the Fx) not the Browse one..... :rolleyes: :D

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • Thanks for the replies. I connect up to my stereo system and compare the kemper sounds to say the likes of queen sounds. Brian may has a more rounded heavy rock sound and I find the kemper is more buzzy even through headphones directly into kemper. That sound is good for heavy van halen playing but not for crunch sounds. nothing in the signal chain is being overloaded. Any ideas?

  • Thanks for the replies. I connect up to my stereo system and compare the kemper sounds to say the likes of queen sounds. Brian may has a more rounded heavy rock sound and I find the kemper is more buzzy even through headphones directly into kemper. That sound is good for heavy van halen playing but not for crunch sounds. nothing in the signal chain is being overloaded. Any ideas?

    First of all, you are comparing the Kemper to highly engineered studio recordings, which is not what it sounds like. KPA profiles are raw mic'd amplifier sounds, producing the same result as miking up a tube amp and going into the mixing board.
    That being said, I don't understand how the KPA would be buzzy by itself - which profiles are you trying?
    Also, don't expect great results from connecting to a stereo system, because the Kemper is really tailored for FRFR use, and that's the way it should be used.
    Could it be that you're just simply not used to the way mic'd tube amps sound like? I can get my KPA easily from fizzy (buzzy) to smooth in a second, so maybe tweaking a little around with it would also help.

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.

  • For sure the Profiler is made to play thru a stereo.
    What is the difference between a stereo and FRFR?

    A stereo doesn't produce flat response, does it?
    I'm using mine through a stereo, and I love it, but I can imagine a smaller/different stereo system to sound fizzy simple because of it not being designed to give everything back as it is.

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.

  • I find the profiles fizzy and buzzy. I adjusted the imputs and outputs so they are ok. The clean profiles are fine but when I add gain it doesn't produce a pleasing sound. I turned the cabs off and on to check the sound and they are definately on .Tried different cabs on the unit but they just have a different flavour of fuzziness. Also I don't seem to have the graphic equaliser ,stereo equaliser,the metal eq,the studio eq ,and a few effects listed in the kemper manuals.Should these have come installed in the unit or do they have to be downloaded into it. Help appreciated

    I really think this is the heart of the issue....there is a limit to how much gain can be added to a clean profile before it doesn't sound as good. Backing off the gain on a "crunch" profile - to clean it up - is a better way to go.

    Edited once, last by Dlaut ().

  • yeah but most steroes, the "line in" bypasses the inbuilt EQ, therefore its FRFR (least thats my understanding..)
    Happy to be wrong though.

    Even if the built-in EQ is bypassed, I don't believe it makes the thing itself FRFR, at least as far as I know, it depends a whole lot on the speakers, too, not just the amp itself.

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.

  • A stereo doesn't produce flat response, does it?
    I'm using mine through a stereo, and I love it, but I can imagine a smaller/different stereo system to sound fizzy simple because of it not being designed to give everything back as it is.


    Do FRFR create flatter frequency responces?
    Both stereo and frfr manufacturers promise a flat responce and pleasant sound. Does anybody know the difference?

  • Do FRFR create flatter frequency responces?
    Both stereo and frfr manufacturers promise a flat responce and pleasant sound. Does anybody know the difference?


    Your typical stereo has anything but a flat response. These days they have way too much bottom end and treble and literally no mids at all. It gets marginally better with high-end systems though ;)


    Personally I don't listen to stereos anymore and leave that to my wife. Whenever I want to really enjoy music I play it on my studio monitors. They are inexpensive (at least compared to very good Hifi speakers) and they have a much flatter response allowing me to actually listen to the midrange ;)


    Although I never tried the Kemper with the stereo of my wife I can imagine it wouldn't sound that good when all you have is a farty low end and fizzy treble...

  • Thanks for the replies. I connect up to my stereo system and compare the kemper sounds to say the likes of queen sounds. Brian may has a more rounded heavy rock sound and I find the kemper is more buzzy even through headphones directly into kemper. That sound is good for heavy van halen playing but not for crunch sounds. nothing in the signal chain is being overloaded. Any ideas?


    If you are comparing the Kemper to Brian May, what profiles are you using? With a Rectifier/Diezel/Engl/Bogner and some of Till's cabs you won't sound even remotely similar to Brian May. I'm sure you know that - but have you really gone through all the good AC30 profiles (and those of boutique clones of it)?


    I have a 24-track version of Bohemian Rhapsody that I did import in Cubase a while ago allowing me to solo Brian May's tracks - don't ask me how I got it ;). The soloed guitar tracks of that song sound just like the normal channel of a fairly overdriven AC30. I think Brian uses a Treble Booster and I think I can even hear the use of it on the Bohemian Rhapsody tracks. But even with a treble booster his sound is pretty dark for todays standard. So if you want to copy it, you've got to keep that in mind.


    We do have many AC30 profiles and we also do have various profiles of a Morgan AC20. That should bring you close to the Brian May sound. I was able to get very close to some of the Bohemian tracks down to the point the difference left was the guitar I was using. I'm away from my Kemper at the moment so I can't tell you the name of the profiles that use the normal channel of a AC30, but you should find out while browsing through the Vox-Profiles very easy anyway. And if it doesn't have enough distortion, just put a treble booster in the stomp section. And turn down presence and treble as that's what Brian May does.


    Some Queen parts (the orchestral multivoice parts) were not recorded with a Vox but with a selfmade little solid-state amp. We do have one single profile of a Vox special edition that is supposed to mimic that solid-state amp. But it doesn't cut it for me. I can't give you any help with that sound, sorry.

  • Do FRFR create flatter frequency responces?
    Both stereo and frfr manufacturers promise a flat responce and pleasant sound. Does anybody know the difference?

    I have 2 Sanyo hi-fi speaker cabs from the '80s with ~50 watts Videoton (great old Hungarian) speakers. It connects to a JVC hi-fi PA from the '80s.
    We also have a ~10 years old Aiwa hi-fi system in the house, which claims more output and promises flat response. Yet it's fizzy and a lot treblier, also, in fact, even quieter than my fantastic old stuff.
    But even though I said this, when I plug into some nice FRFR solution (and let's not go any further than a cheaper RCF ART 312A) I immediately feel the differences in terms of being flat and sounding good even comparing to my great '80s hi-fi setup.
    For some reason I think you must be joking, at least I can hardly believe that you really wouldn't hear or be aware of the difference between hi-fis and FRFR.

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.

    Edited once, last by richaxes ().

  • richaxes


    As far as Hifi goes you have a point with the 80s stuff being much more flat response. I remember I've heard some very good speaker with a fairly flat response and a good tansient reproduction back then. The Elac EL 150/160 series come to my mind or the I.Q. Trend (if I remember the names correctly, it's more than 20 years ago). The Hifi dudes had a term for that linear response, they called such a speaker "analytical". The stuff with the pimped bottom- and top-end was called "emotional". Seems the market went in the "emotional" direction from there ;)


    Back then I actually had fun listening to a good stereo. But in the last 15 years I've not come across a stereo (other than absolute high-end-stuff)that reproduces music remotely true to what we hear when we record and mix it.

  • Thanks everybody for the help. I found the graphic eq,took some high end fizzle out and added some pleasing high end back in. Voila. Beautiful( at least to my ears). But thanks once again for all the input.

  • For sure the Profiler is made to play thru a stereo.
    What is the difference between a stereo and FRFR?


    Seriously?? Maybe we have a different understanding of what actually constitutes a home stereo, but I have never heard of anyone claiming them as FRFR. There are so many variables, especially in regard to the speakers that come with typical consumer-level systems. Most hi-fi systems that I've heard seem to emphasize the smiley face eq.



    I think if their truly was no difference, everyone would just run their modelers/profilers through their Sony hi-fi system instead of spending hundreds, even thousands, on true FRFR.