Posts by mightypudge

  • First live gig with the Kemper..

    Quote from Section8

    I tried new settings out at rehearsal last night. I reduced the main output volume to -20db to get to unity level input on the mixing board. I guess this would differ from board to board. We rehearse with headphones, with everything straight into the board and no audible instrumentation, except for drums, course. It was the best mix and sound quality we have ever had! My bandmates and I are blown away by the rich, nuanced guitar tone coming out of the Kemper. It's so much nicer than my Marshall rig, and the speaker cabinets aren't flooding the room with sound that spills into the vocal microphones. I can't wait to try this live!

    I had a similar and yet completely different experience last night at rehearsal. :)


    We rehearse at relatively low volumes but with live amps and real drums - no headphones. Last night was my first actual rehearsal with the KPA and I was not sure what to expect. Earlier in the day I loaded a few of the free Michael Britt profiles into a performance and tweaked to meet my needs, which was mostly just assigning stomps to specific remote buttons.


    I was very pleasantly surprised by how awesome everything sounded. As soon as I hit those first few notes/chords I was stunned by how huge this rig sounds and feels. I set up my Yamaha DXR10 behind me, pointing up to my ears, with the KPA rack mounted and leaning on the monitor. This rig just filled the room with great tone. You could not tell there wasn't a live tube amp in the room. It was funny to turn around and see this tiny rig back there making this huge sound.


    The profiles I used were absolutely perfect. Hats off to Mr. Britt for just nailing these. I used the 3rd Power profiles and was blown away by their versatility and how perfectly they sit in a mix.


    Honestly my favorite part was how realistic the KPA sounds. I did not for one minute miss my AC30.

  • Tipp #3: Avoid digital GAS

    I'll make a deal with you. After I've downloaded all of the profiles by Pete Turley, Michael Britt, and The Amp Factory and organize them into the most killer performance ever collected, then I will stop and play my Kemper. ;)

  • Overdrive boutique pedals

    I would love to see a wider selection of pedals overall. There are some wickedly good overdrives, delays, and modulation effects that I think would do wonders with the spot on amp profiles in the KPA. I don't want to run outboard effects or pedals any more. Put them all in the box! ^^

  • Gun to your head - what's your favourite profile

    I am going to read this entire thread for ideas as I am a new owner.


    That said, I just spent a few minutes with the free 3rd Power profiles from Michael Britt. Holy smokes! I could probably cover an entire night's worth of classic rock and dance music (60's through 90's) with just those few profiles.


    I also LOVE the DJEMASS Mark IIC+ profiles. I am a huge JP fan and he absolutely nailed these tones.


    Sheesh, the KPA is stupid good.

  • First live gig with the Kemper..

    I would have laughed heartily at this post if it weren't so sad and very true. Where are you located?

  • Superb volume control

    Quote from carsnguitars58

    But (to me) it's just so cool being able to drive to those sweet spot tones minus the stadium

    This right here.


    Most gigs I get asked to keep stage volume so low that my tube amp never wakes up. It just feels like crap to play a Vox AC30 that isn't properly pushing the tubes or speakers into submission.


    Thanks to the Kemper, this is no longer a source of stress. (Also, I don't have to bring spare tubes to the gig.)

  • First live gig with the Kemper..

    I only have one 30-minute set under my belt with the KPA so far. So while I'm no expert on the subject, I can share my experience as a cautionary tale.


    There were two sound guys running the board, and both were "one can short of a six-pack" if you catch my drift. When I brought my rig onstage they both cocked their head to the left in confusion. This was a bad sign. I spent about five minutes explaining my rig: "I don't need a microphone, this monitor is for my own personal use only, just take that XLR cable and let me plug it into my direct out please."


    We got no sound check. Another bad sign.


    It's a good thing I brought a monitor, because three notes into the first song I could tell there was a problem. There were no less than seven monitors at the front of the stage, and my guitar wasn't coming out of any of them. Halfway through the song both sound guys came up and removed my vocal mic and placed it in front of the bass cabinet that I was resting my rack upon. Guess what? That didn't work.


    When the first song ended the sound guys came up on stage, pointed at my monitor, and asked, "are you coming out of that?" I said yes, but I am also coming out of the direct out where I plugged that XLR cable you gave me." They both looked at each other, then back to me and said, "we're going to mic this monitor." I said, "why would you need to do that when I am coming out of the direct outputs right into the board?" Puzzled, they went back to the board and discovered they never turned the gain up on my channel.


    Anyway, I am not sure what you'll get from this story except maybe a few laughs. But never again will I perform without a cursory sound check.

  • Hi. My name is Andrew and I am a Kemper-holic

    Hey everyone. Are there any 12-step programs to cure the addiction to great tone? :D


    Here is my Kemper story. Been playing tube amps for over 20 years and I've had some real killers come in and out of the tone shed: '78 Marshall Super Lead, early Mesa Dual Rectifier, Duncan Convertible, Fender Twin, Rivera Rake, and recently a Vox AC30. That is a partial list. I've also owned enough pedals to fill a shipping container.


    For years I have been challenged with the same issues plaguing every bedroom rockstar. How do I get great tones at apartment volumes or direct when recording? How do I get a great sounding live rig that doesn't break my back and will fit into the trunk of my car? How do I build a supremely versatile rig that I can use with any band at any time without using three amps and a thousand pedals? And how do I get all of that out of ONE RIG???


    Obviously, I had to go digital. gasp...shudder...

    Enter the Kemper.


    After researching for about month I decided to go with the Kemper over the competition. Why? Couple of reasons. Word of mouth from some great players I know and trust, both locally and at the professional level. Customer reviews touting the Kemper for it's ease of use. And honestly, the good people here at the Kemper forum. I found this place a couple of weeks ago and after doing some lurking I found a lot of nice, supportive people. I thought this would be a nice community to be a part of.


    Though I am a very new user my experience thus far has been very promising. I have a lot of tweaking and learning ahead of me but I am excited by the prospects of future Kemper goodness. I just listened to the Michael Britt profile samples and I am floored.


    Please be patient with me as I tend to ask a LOT of questions. Yes, I read the manual, thrice. And I will continue to reference it moving forward. But there are just some times where I like to get outside input before going down a path.


    Thanks and looking forward to chatting with you all.

  • Quality of tone - Yamaha DXR10 vs headphones

    OK, just got back from the gig. It was my first go and have mixed impressions so far. But mostly positive.


    On the plus side:

    • Setup was a breeze. Minimal cabling required. Once I get my expression pedal for wah effects and set up my wireless in the rack it'll get even easier.
    • This rig is dead quiet. Period. No noise, no hum, no issues. Spot on.
    • One my lead tones was so damn good I could barely contain myself. I have an extended solo in one song and I could not believe how nice this rig FELT to play.

    Areas of opportunity:

    • Some of my tones which sounded incredible in my headphones earlier to day sounded very nasal thought the DXR. Tried adjusting the monitor settings (DSP) and monitor output EQ (not my rig EQ) to no avail. (We did not get a soundcheck so that didn't help.) I was using one of the Friedman profiles from Pete Thurley which sounded fat as hell in my headphones, so hopefully whatever was coming out of FOH was fine. But I would like to be inspired by what I am hearing, so more work to be done there.
    • I need to work on the noise gate setting. I like to control dynamics with my volume control, not by switching from clean to dirty rigs. The noise gate was cutting off some notes during quiet passages. Should be an easy fix.

    One stupid question...on the KPA rack what are the two delay and two reverb controls at the top right of the unit? Are they like a "master" effects section separate from the delay and reverb settings in the rigs?

  • Quality of tone - Yamaha DXR10 vs headphones

    Quote from Raoul23

    Cranking the DXR will defo make some profiles sound sweeter and profiles do need to be tweaked at gigging volume. When I first got my KPA and DXR it took me a few gigs to become totally happy with my sound as I was tweaking as we played. The DXR's get lots of love here and I'm sure you will love it also :)

    Yeah, I figured that might be the case.


    I am going out on a limb today and taking the KPA rig to its first gig without having an opportunity to tweak at gig or even rehearsal volumes. Probably not the smartest move, but it's an opportunity to hear the KPA in a real world setting and get some initial impressions.

  • Quality of tone - Yamaha DXR10 vs headphones

    Thanks guys, that makes me feel a lot better. I suppose I should have know trying to dial in tones with the monitor practically off would not work. Thankfully these headphones are brilliant. I've got some killer tones dialed in right now and what I'm hearing in the cans is just ridiculously good. :)

  • Quality of tone - Yamaha DXR10 vs headphones

    Hey all. Yesterday my KPA Rack and DXR10 arrived and I am incredibly excited and anxious to start building my rigs and getting this gear gig-ready. I have a gig later today as a matter of fact, so I decided to spend some quality time with the gear this morning.


    So here is a very stupid question. :)


    There is a very noticeable difference between the tone in my headphones (Beyerdynamic DT770's) and the DXR10. The tone in the headphones is rich and full, well balanced, and just really three dimensional. The tone coming out of the monitor however, not so much. It's a little bland and sort of vanilla.


    I should probably mention a few things. I live in an apartment so I have to keep volumes low. The KPA master is at 1.2 and the monitor is at -20, I mean it's practically off. I have PureCab enabled (around 5.2) and Space as well (4.7). I bumped the treble and presence on the KPA monitor EQ to about 1.5 each. I turned off the DXR DSP but I have the HPF on to reduce thump and prevent my neighbors from harassing me.


    My question is, what can I do to ensure the incredible tone I am hearing in the headphones is reproduced through the DXR? Is the issue that I am probably not driving the DXR hard enough, or is that not a factor? Are there any additional steps I can take?