Help with kemper stage and external pre/power amps

    So my home studio runs my kemper and axefx into a bae1073 into my interface. I love the way it sounds. I’m going to be using my kemper stage live soon and I want to take that same sound on the road. I’ve also had multiple front of house engineers tell me that the kemper and fractal just don’t cut through the same.

    Some people have recommended using either the Jhs colour box, or using either a tube pre or power amp instead of going direct into the board. Does anyone have any experience with this? Or is this not going to make a noticeable difference. Thanks for any and all input or experiences.

    Quote from bedonk831

    I’m going to be using my kemper stage live soon and I want to take that same sound on the road. I’ve also had multiple front of house engineers tell me that the kemper and fractal just don’t cut through the same.

    A statement like this proves that these engineers don’t know anything about the Profiler.

    There’s is absolutely nothing "tube" like necessary to make it "cut" better through a mix. Just feed a line signal via the XLR outs to FOH and that’s about it.

    What’s important is how you want to monitor yourself.

    I prefer guitar cabs and most often use the Kemper Kabinet.

    No need for any Pre- or Power amp (BTW: the channel strip of the Mixer is already a preamp). In my experience the sound engineer just take your signal, pan it the way he wants and eventually add a bit of reverb (remember to switch off and lock the one on the Kemper). That's it. Normaly they are happy not having to mike a cab onstage.

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

    Like 1

    Having used mine exclusively live for coming up to 8 years, I can tell you that sound engineer views have changed drastically.


    Almost without exception, every engineer I meet goes " oh great, a Kemper".


    Also agree you do not need a pre amp and only need a power amp if you want to run your own monitor on Stage. My last festival, I suggested using a cab but the engineer preferred using their monitoring...

    Quote from V8guitar

    Almost without exception, every engineer I meet goes " oh great, a Kemper".

    That's my experiance too! And to repeat the others: just find your way for your monitoring on stage! I tried successfully the following ways:


    Option 1: an exclusive FR floor monitor for KPA only, works fine. You can adjust your level any time.

    Option 2: just the FR floor monitor with everything else on it, works fine if the sound man is reacting and dailing in as needed.

    Option 3: active kone, works fine. You can adjust your level any time.


    I prefer Option 2, cause it works, and there is another item you do not have to deal with!