Posts by GuitarGuy83

You are probably better off using your expression pedal and Wah preset (I like CAE MC404 2 preset for Sweet Child o'mine).

Most Wahs like the Crybaby have a buffered input, which means there is some "tone suck" (usually a noticeable loss of top end) even when the pedal is bypassed. Plus they always tend to pick up radio interference which makes the tone inconsistent and less reliable, whereas the Kemper Wahs will always sound the same. Also, you can set the Kemper Wah to stop at bypass, this way you don't even have to worry about properly pressing the button down on the wah during a performance.

I have a VOX 847 moded with true bypass but still use an expression pedal instead with the Kemper.

I use mostly merged, but haven't noticed a significant difference in quality when using Kone imprints on a Studio Profiles.

In my opinion the amount gain, and possibly even the nature of profile itself may be more of a deciding factor of how good it will work with Imprints than Merged vs Studio.

I've found that often (but not always) the higher gain stuff tends to sound better in Full Range mode rather than using an Imprint, which may sound a little boxy for some of those. I think this may have to do more with the size of the cabinet than the Kone and the Imprints themselves (I'm using a 1x12). Imprints are pretty great at sounding like the modeled speakers but they aren't going to make a 1x12 sound like a 4x12.

Is the buzz the same for other profiles also?

Does using a noise gate on the profiles do anything?

I find the easiest way to edit performances (or anything else really on the Kemper) is through the Rig Manager desktop program.

You can easily drag an entire performance up or down on the list to put it in the position that you want or even copy/paste.

Quote from Ingolf

There is no such consensus.

Well maybe consensus wasn't a good word to use as sound is highly subjective so there will never be a true "consensus" on anything... but I've read the entire Kemper Kone/Kab Q&A thread and there are many people in agreement on this. So much so that even ckemper himself commented in the thread recommending FR mode for high gain profiles. So it seems like putting in an option like this would make a lot of sense. Here's some of the quotes from the thread.....

Quote from deadpan

IME the DA profiles don't act as the studio profiles with Kone. For metal I've had better luck with the non Kone sim full range studio option.

Quote from MKB

I've been trying out all combinations of Kone full range and imprints, and there seem to be some profiles that sound better with Kone in full range than with imprints (mostly heavier gain profiles or ones with lots of full range effects), but as the profiles have less overdrive, the imprints start winning out. Fender clean profiles with Kone alnico imprints are a thing of true beauty.

Quote from guitarguy316

I mean it's a little of both. Clean/low gain/even medium gains sounds okay. It's the high gain stuff that doesn't sound good to my ears. Mr. Kemper is right that he said FRFR mode is provbably better for high gain stuff and I would agree, but then you lose the amp in the room idea. Hence, why I'll just stick with buying a regular 2x12 v30 cabinet for playing DI profiles in person and headphone studio profiles at night.

Quote from LoudNFeckless

To be honest, despite being louder (the Orange speakers were 16ohms), if you are a gain player, there are only one or two imprints that sound good in my opinion...and those took some EQ work. Most sound fizzy and thin even with the treble and presence knocked down. The imprints are nice and varied with clean sounds though.

Quote from nightlight

I am seeing a lot of reports that the Kabinet doesn't really work much for high gain.

That is a huge bummer, if it is true. I have seen some videos where they say it's great, but I've seen more reviews that it is not up to the mark.

Perhaps you want to switch the Kabinet to FRFR mode as Mr CK suggested in another post? Could you report back after that please?

Quote from bartlettpsj

Is there any progress from Kemper to improve the sound when using high gain with imprints w/Kone?

We all know that high gain (e.g. ENGL, JCM800 Cranked etc) sounds great in Kone 'FRFR' mode, but with Imprints the sound is usually muffled / blanket over speaker.

Imprints with lower gain is flawless and awesome.

Quote from Wheresthedug

I think this would be a negative move.

Plenty of users are happy with (or prefer) Imprints for higher gain sounds but prefer FRFR for sparkling cleans.

How would you decide where the changeover point in the gain range should be.

There is already a way to achieve this with the rig specific imprint in the Cab section.

In my opinion a better way to achieve these sorts of semi-global changes would be to add a batch edit function to Rg Manager. This would allow users to select all rigs that a change should be applied to and make the change to them all simultaneously.

Display More

It would be an option, so there would be no negative to anyone who doesn't want to use it.

The gain threshold could be defined on the Kemper Kone page of the output section.

I'm aware there is already the functionality to edit the cab section in each profile, but the point would be to save users the trouble and not have to go and do all that. Also it could be switched back on/off just as easily.

As for the Imprint vs FR, Chris Kemper himself touched on why clean/low gain stuff sounds better with Imprint while high gain sounds better with FR here.... but again this would be an option not a requirement

Quote from StefanErtle

If it is gain dependent morphing gain could create a tonal mess. And for sure there could be a time lag during transition from base to morph sound. It also would not take over the decision for each profile to check what cab or imprint fits best. So not sure about it’s benefit over the options already existing. But as long as it does not affect my settings could live with it.

It would have to be a setting defined in the main Kemper Kone page, not morphing.

The Kemper/Kone already has the ability to automatically switch to Full Range mode if you select a profile with a Cabinet section off (like acoustic profiles), so I don't think lag would be an issue.

There seems to be somewhat of a consensus that the Kone's imprints sound great with clean and low gain profiles, but not the best with high gain sounds.. so Full Range mode is preferred for those.

Kone & Kabinet Q&A

So it might make sense to have an option (when using Kone in Imprint mode) to have any profile with a gain level above a certain threshold automatically switch to FR mode when selected.

Then clean profiles or anything below the threshold would use the imprint selected on the rig, and the higher gain ones would use FR... best of both worlds.