The mic pre-amps always effects sound to some degree. That’s why some interfaces cost so much and have better sound. Even the headphone outs will have and amp, the Kemper does have a good quality headphone output.
As far as the level of the main out, I leave mine at -12db and it works fine. If you input is still too sensitive to the level you might have to go down to -18 or so.
personally I never use S/Pdif but many do.
Hi Kaschko,
Your inputs are either balanced or unbalanced inputs. Balanced are XLR (Mic style) cables and TRS 1/4” that have two black rings on the tip. Unbalanced are TS cables (instrument style) with one black ring on the tip.
You can use the XLR input with your Kemper main out XLR, make sure you shut off phantom power.
You could also use Kemper main out 1/4” into your Focusrite instrument in and choose the instrument switch for TS as the Kemper output is TS.
In the Kemper output section I would recommend you press the button For main output -12 so you don’t give the Focusrite too hot of a signal. Adjust your Focusrite input with the gain knob after you set this. The gain knob should be set so you see green and maybe the occasional yellow but never red.
While you are in the output section of the Kemper I would recommend you unlink the Main output from your monitor and headphones. That way you can turn up your Kemper monitor output or Kemper headphone without increasing the gain at the Main Kemper output, which would change your signal into the Focusrite.
As far as different sound with the two headphones outputs. That can just be the difference between the preamp that each unit uses to drive the headphone are different. Do you use monitors with your Focusrite as well? Or just headphones?
Your Focusrite Solo does not offer S/PDif (digital) input/output, you would need to upgrade your interface to a different model.
Once you put the presets into the Rig Manger preset section. Chose the profile that you want the new drive on (do this in rig manager ) Then go to the presets in rig manager, chose the preset you want and just drag the preset onto the slot Stomps or Effects slots you want to put it , and that’s it. Save the rig on the Kemper and in Rig manager when you want to keep it
I think this is an older hardware issue.
Nope mine is a recent unit
are we ever going to be able to update using rig manager again????? I have already opened a ticket about this previously. Do I need to do it again? *sigh*
I had this same thing three times in a row with Rig Manager and then it finally worked. USB stick seems a lot more consistent.
I wouldn't mind playing this preset
Maybe a good idea for another thread? People can share their settings for pedals they own. Would be nice to know what values the original pedal had as well.
That might be the intention of those members but my perception of what they wrote was that the KD and OCD were disappointing. I respect everyone's right to opinions and expressing them but whether the onus is on the reader to interpret these posts differently or for the posters to write their opinions with greater clarity is another matter of opinion.
I just wished to state clearly that my feelings towards the updates were entirely positive.
I think think the new Kemper drives are awesome! I have also learned more about the Kemper along the way.
So, not disappointed at all and I think it’s fine to ask question and try things. Especially with Beta releases. That’s what it’s about.
When you say "compressed" in this A/B comparison, as well as in yours, that means that the pedal volume does not push the amp the same way.
This is not a difference in sound or quality, but simply a mismatch in pedal volume.
Needs to be adjusted correctly for a valid comparison.
ckemper I played around with the volume on my pedal some more and you were right. I can get the KD to sound indistinguishable from the pedal. I guess I was pushing the input too much to match it, even though it did not sound like it.
I can’t match the sound I can get from pushing the pedal a bit, but I can recreate the pedal at certain volumes. I have new options now. 👍😁
Yes. I agree. Could be my own lack of experience with the pedal or also that it is in front of the amp instead in the loop. Probably even if the Clean Sense was at -12 there still is some volume limit or compression within the signal before the stack that doesn't affect as much when the pedal is at the front imput.
But I think all of them are pretty close.
I also can hear the difference. But I can tell you that playing through my monitors at home the feeling is completely there with all three signal chains. They all sound not only good, but very good. It's my playing what is lacking really.
I agree sound wise they are really close if not almost identical. But there is still that compressed sound difference, the pedal just seems more open?
The KD drives really do sound awesome
When you say "compressed" in this A/B comparison, as well as in yours, that means that the pedal volume does not push the amp the same way.
This is not a difference in sound or quality, but simply a mismatch in pedal volume.
Needs to be adjusted correctly for a valid comparison.
I did set the pedal for unity with the KD. Volume between the two are the same level and I also made sure the gain was as close as I could get. There is still a difference to the notes and the Kemper sounds more compressed or just not as open sounding. It’s not the sound quality as I can get them to sound pretty much identical (except for this one part).
I will continue to play around and see if I can get closer by using your suggestion.
Atlantic, I can hear the difference for sure as the KD and even the MBritt sound more compressed in comparison. Just as I had noticed.
The flavour of the Klon is there but just misses the mark with being overly compressed.
Thanks for the sound bites. 👍
I added some thoughts to my post #893 as I had not added my notes on A/B comparison. So I went back to add them in, since that was the reason for testing. Ha ha
For an A/B comparison I recomment to place the Klon (or Klon clone) on the input of the Profiler.
To get away with the Profilers volume compensation set the Clean Sens to -12 dB temporarily and don't use AMP Gain values below 1.6. Otherwise you might get different output volumes from the amp that will disturb the A/B comparison.
I tested this with my Timmy pedal. It was a real eye opening experiment.
You can really hear how the Kemper clamps down on the input and pedal with clean sense on (at -2 for this experiment) it had a compressed and little bit wooly/blanket sound quality. When I set the Kemper clean sense to -12 the pedal was much clearer and not compressed and sounded as I had hoped it would. I was running my Timmy with gain at zero and volume maxed ( If I ran the kemper clean sense at zero I clip the input).
The Timmy pedal with gain at zero still had more bass to the sound than the kemper with pedal off. Just as you would expect from a Klon Clone style pedal. There was no difference in overall volume though but definitely a sound difference.
Profile used: S.Mehl 50 Vintage 1, gain at 4.5
This experiment might change the way I use clean sense with certain pedals or all pedals (not that I use them regularly but that could change now, lol).
Edit: I had forgotten to add my thoughts on the A/B comparison between the pedal and KD.
I could the Kemper to sound very close, almost exact in flavour of the sound. But one distinct difference and especially with the clean sense at -12, the pedal has more note definition and note bloom/openness that I could not get in the KD.
To me the Kemper sounds compressed in comparison. I could make the pedal closer in sound to the KD when I have the clean sense at 0. But I still must say the winner is still the pedal.
I must say the Kemper team has done a great job with these and if they could just find a way to get rid of that compressed sound it will be all the way there. As they are, some really great sounds can be made.
For myself, I have found a new life with the Kemper and pedals and was playing early this morning with a huge grin. My overdrive and distortion pedals sound huge now. So it’s a win all around. 😁
It could be your pickup height, if it is too high you will get a warble and/or buzzing sound as it pulls too hard on the string. If other suggestions here do not get rid of it, try lowering your pickup on the high E side and see if that helps.
This may be the case here as i connected boss OS-2 before my KPA and in fact I can drive amp much louder then KD. I've added even two booster modules after KD and still cannot reach the same level of loudness as with external drive without any other FX in the way. Maybe KPA treat my overdrived loud signal as clean and do not conpensate this in any way. Interesting fact is if I enable any kind of FX in slot A-D the level is decereasing.
Yes, I have noticed this before and you can easily drive the input into clipping.
It looks to be by design for obvious reason of not having massive level jumps that the internal effects and amps have a compression/limiter applied so they are closer in levels. The pure boost after amp stack lets you get a bit more level but still not a huge increase like we can with a pedal.
It’s a limitation of the way it’s setup but at the same time, I am sure sound persons around the world are thankful as are many ears and speakers, lol.
We can get the flavours/ colours of the OD pedals and that is the important part. I can always compensate a bit when recording, right in my DAW.
I think for me, what I would have liked to see is compression settings in the KD And Full OC boost along with a “Pure drive” style of volume increase knob. Put it all under the KD and Full OC so we can better tweak to our liking to real world pedal/amp interaction.
The KD volume acts to give the sound of tubes being saturated and you do get a similar sound but not as open sounding because we do not get enough volume increase. I can get much closer when I use the pure boost in slot x, to what I expected with just the KD boost. So I still need to use two slots. Not the end of the world but would be nice if it was all in the KD/ Full OC drives.
Display MoreHi guys.
I just finished the 8.0 beta update
No matter how much I look for in the effect, I can't see Overdrive.
Where can I find the newly added overdrive?
They are in the “Distortions” KD and Full OC. There is also a folder in the beta download, if you download it to your computer and you can drag the samples into rig manager to try. Or just read the update beta manual and they give examples of some settings for various pedals you can make with the KD drive
Not exactly.
You push the virtual tubes the same way as you would with real ones.
Turn up the Volume of your overdrive. That's how it's always done.
ok, so with testing this and adjusting the KD volume all I get is a more saturated and compressed sound. I can recreate this exactly by using a compressor in slot D after the KD stomp C.
So if I turn the KD volume down to zero and then set the compressor volume to the same value, I get exactly the same sound. So is the KD volume a compression? I guess it’s trying to recreate the saturation of the tubes with the volume setting?
I still do not get any volume increase though, just more compression/saturation. I even tried extreme clean sense setting and still nothing
If I place a pure boost in slot x I do get a slight boost
Display MoreI didn't immediately reply to your post because I had to think about what you wrote. Maybe we have different expectations of an overdrive pedal or a different conception of an overdrive pedal's purpose?
If you make sure the overdrive is set to unity gain, then you use it as a tone shaping tool only, without boosting your amp.
And I for one use it as a boost with the option to shape the character of the boost. I don't want or need an overdrive pedal at unity gain. It's supposed to "overdrive" a cleanish amp setting into distortion (with the amount of volume deciding how much I want to push it and the tone controls helping to shape how the boosted amp sounds).
The Colorsound Power Boost for example doesn't try to emphasize the mids like most people expect from a Tubescreamer. It's quite the opposite actually. You can boost Bass and/or Treble with the tone controls, but not the Mids.
I like the amp being kind of "balanced" while it's cleanish ... and once it's driven into overdrive I love it being scooped. That's exactly what I can achieve with an overdrive pedal that has tone controls (as opposed to a clean boost for example).
Most overdrive pedals have a Gain control which allows to add a bit of (mild) distortion to add a specific flavour of harmonic content if desired. But (to me) the key is the Volume (Output) control.
Overdrive:
to overexcite, overmodulate, overamplify, overload something ... to drive something into saturation
Let me try to clarify what I was saying. With external pedals you are boosting the signal into the Kemper , just how you would expect an overdrive to be used on a traditional amp ( though you really can’t push it in the same way anyways because there are no tubes to drive into distortion) So it becomes a boost in volume with what’re gain setting you chose on the pedal, that is not how many people use OD pedals ( I use mine with less gain but set to push the tubes more) . But, with the Kemper the KD boost becomes more set for unity so you don’t get a large jump in sounds as typically you set the clean sense so you don’t have a large jump in volumes between clean and distorted sounds and seems some kind of limiter/compression and that kind of defeats the boost effect as far as how it pushes ( or at least for the effect that is missing in an OD) But... by using the clean sense adjustment you should be able to make the boost more noticeable and react as expected or closer.
This is what I am going to play around with as per CK’s suggestion. Though we do not have tubes to push, so we have to try and simulate the effect and sound differently.
