Posts by Alfi27

I totally understand your concerns, I did have them myself some time back. A few months ago I moved away for music school, bringing with me a shitload of gear including a Marshall stack and the Kemper Powerhead.

I have played a lot of guitar since then; live gigs, but mostly in a steamy and sweaty practice room with two or three other equally sweaty guys. Long story short: after fighting it way too long all the tube amps have to go, because the Kemper is simply the superior piece of kit in every way!

I mostly use it with custom Zilla cabs strategically ordered to maximise volume and headroom (8 ohm and 100db speakers), and when I try to turn the volume past five I start to get complaints and have to turn down again... Haha! If you get the cab rewired and it still won't play loud enough, you should borrow another cab with max 8 ohm and 100db speakers like V30s or G12H30s. I did actually notice a larger difference between 97/100db speakers than 8/16 ohm.

Just my two cents

Hello! Not sure if this has been up before, I would honestly be a little surprised if it didn't. However, it would be great if we could make our own user folders to put our rigs in! I personally have about 6-700 rigs, and it can be quite time consuming to scroll from profile number 621 to number 3... A lot of us also have several profiles of the same amp, and it would be so much easier to just select a folder containing a specific amp and scroll through the 10-30 profiles! As of now I have to use the performance mode as a folder system, which is a decent solution, but a "real" folder system would be much better! Hope I am not the only one wishing for this and that it might be a realistic feature before 2025

Quote from Nightwish2

He said there was no 4 Ohm input at his cab..If everything fails you could rewire the speakers to reach another Ohm-value. Perhaps it'll help

Looks like I missed a few things there, haha! Well, Greenbacks are certainly not scooped speakers, I was referring to the G12-T75 speaker found in modern day's 1960A cabs. Getting the cab rewired to 8 or 4 ohm should do the trick, I've had no issues running my Kemper with a 2x12" Creamback 65M loaded cab in a band setting, even though they are 97db sensitivity speakers as well! One thing to keep in mind though, is that a healthy powered Kemper is fully capable of blowing four Greenbacks at 4 or 8 ohm, dependent on if the speakers are 20 or 25w each. If they are 20w I would advice you to be especially cautious with the master volume

If the monitor volume (which is essentially the power amp volume) in the output menu is not turned up as high as it could, it will compromise the volume. What you can do is to max the master volume, and then go into the output menu and make sure the monitor volume is maxed out as well. If that is not enough, there is a power amp boost that can be increased to 12db from the default setting (6db). That should make a noticeable difference!

That being said, if it is a regular Marshall 1960A there are a few things working against the Kemper: 16 ohm (less power available), and the speakers have a slightly scooped nature and 97db sensitivity. Compared to a V30 for instance, which has really cutting higher mids and 100db sensitivity, there will be a quite big difference.

The first thing I would do is to check everything I mentioned in the first paragraph, and try the 4 ohm input on the cab. I did a band practice with a loud band using my Kemper Powerhead and a 1960A connected to the 4 ohm input, and it totally blew the other guys away with volume at about 6.

Thanks a lot! Glad you like them

Greetings!

Yesterday my buddy and me enjoyed my Kemper for quite some time. We changed between and compared cab vs headphones, and in that occasion we did try some pure studio profiles through the cab (with cab sim off of course). That is something I never would have done in a live, gig or even personal practice environment because I have always been told that a merged or DI profile is required for the best and most accurate sound.

To our big surprise, one of the best high gain tones I've ever heard from that little box came from a studio profile with a "theoretically" separated cab and mic! I was truly mindblown, as was he. I have done some tiny bit of experimenting with it before, comparing merged and studio profiles I have made myself (the studio profiles are a little on the dark side), and they sounded muffled and lifeless.

So, even though the cab-guessing feature in fact is extraordinary, it does seem to be reflected by the micing in some way, so it will never be a 100% true representation, but damn close enough I'd say! Especially if the micing is good, I'd have no issues playing a studio profile through my cab at a gig or practice.

Just though I'd share my experiences, in case some of you Powerhead or Powerrack users are shy of using your beloved studio profiles with your cab, or if you're thinking that you cannot use anything else than DI or merged profiles with your Kemper!

Have a nice day!

Not quite sure what you mean, I haven't gotten around to profile it just yet. Top Jimi's Jubilee profiles sound so great that I have no hurry, although I have found some great sounds on the amp he didn't profile: clean channel with rhythm clip engaged, and gain at 9 o'clock = epic classic rock (AC/DC) tone! Not the biggest fan of the rhythm clip on the lead channel, sounds like a Tubescreamer in front (loss of bottom end) kind of but minimal to zero added gain. The lead channel is so great, it has the classic Marshall bite and crunch but sounds much more full bodied and thick! I could also easily pull off a rock gig with my guitar just plugged into the amp. It has significantly more gain than a JCM800 for instance.

New update: I decided to try the Jubilee yesterday once again. Figured that I have become waaayy too comfortable with the Kemper, and have practically forgotten how to tweak an amp... Backing of the treble and presence quite a bit (treble at 9 o'clock and presence at 12) the amp sounded amazing! Actually, it is maybe one of the best tones I have ever gotten from a valve amp! Quite funny stuff, a few tweaks made the amp go from "not worth profiling" to one of the best tones I've ever heard. So I think that after all I will bring the Jubilee with me to music school/college, to make sure I can master a screaming valve amp before I "retire" with the Kemper

Very cool! I have actually tried a blue Majesty 7, that my cousin owns! I haven't tried it plugged in yet, but it striked me as a great guitar unplugged. Happy NGD!

Thanks a lot! It was actually your picture of the Kemper - Zilla stack that inspired me to order it with the green tolex! I was worried that it might look a little tacky and being a strange mismatch with any standard tolex tube amp, but it simply looks super awesome! Very satisfied, and it competes with any Marshall stack in terms of mojo!

Hola!

Got a set of UK made Vintage 30's of Ebay a month back or so, which were supposed to go in my Silver Jubilee cabinet. The only problem was, that the amp sounded horrible with the speakers... So I put them in my Zilla Modern 2x12" instead, where they sound very good! Brightens it up a little bit, such a massive cab could get a little bit dark with the Creamback 65Ms but I would never have exchanged them if I didn't have some V30s looking for a new home. This did of course lead to another issue, that the Creambacks needed a new home! This was initially a cab I almost randomly ordered hoping that Paul had the time to make it fast, because I didn't have the time to wait because I will be leaving in two weeks. The cab is a Small Vintage with rubber feet on the short side, so it is meant to be vertical. I decided to go with green tolex hoping it would look good with my Kemper on top. The cool thing is that the colours are almost identical, and it kind of looks like a vintage 70's toaster or lunchbox from NASA standing on top of a PA speaker from about the same time.

The other cab I got was a ported Thiele 1x12" cab, which was delayed due to some misunderstandings and I was supposed to get it quite some time back as a portable alternative to the Modern for band practice. The first thing I thought when I got it was "god it's heavy!", and it is not a flyweight at 17.4kg! Still not the heaviest 1x12" made (I believe ENGL makes some that clocks in at more than 20kg), but it is certainly the best sounding 1x12" I have ever heard! Loaded with a Creamback 75H speaker, there is some serious tone coming out of this relatively small cab. Playing palm mutes, it actually shakes the house more than the V30 loaded Modern, which is the biggest and heaviest of them all. I was a little bit disappointed by the weight and size of the cab, which is very big for a 1x12", and it is barely 2kg lighter than the Small Vintage, but according to Paul a smaller size would degrade the tone significantly without taking away that much weight. So after all it is worth it! If you want a kickass 1x12", you don't have to look further!

Even though both cabs sound great, I expected the Ported 1x12" to sound great, and I have had good experiences with ported 1x12"s before. I didn't quite know what to expect with the Small Vintage, and I had the impression that it would be a serious downgrade in tone. To my surprise, it certainly was not! It is quite a bit shallower than the Modern, and the backplate is quite close to the speakers. Still, the bass response is very good and it does not sound even a little bit thin. The Creamback 65Ms are a very good match for this cab I think, bringing some bass to the table that might have been a little lacking with say V30s. That said, I would love to try a Creamback 75H together with a 65M, but the speaker in the Ported cab has a different resistance (ohm).

Zilla have been my go-to cabs ever since I migrated from FRFR, and I have honestly never been so satisfied with my guitar tone as I am now! The Kemper is just such an amazing piece of gear, that I cannot even begin to describe it! It would be one of those 2000 words reviews you never want to read... I have never felt 100% confident about owning a digital preamp as my only amplifier, neither with the Axe FX Standard nor the unpowered Kemper rack, but with the Powerhead I feel confident that I can play both miced and unmiced gigs without any issues! At a miced gig I know that the tone from the PA speakers is just as good as the tone coming from my cab, and at an unmiced gig the poweramp destroys most 100w valve heads!

If you own the Powerhead, Powerrack or the regular Head with an aftermarket poweramp I highly recommend you to check these cabs out! Any other regular "factory" cab just feels vastly inferior to any of the Zilla cab, and I would much rather bring my 1x12" Zilla rather than using the shabby Marshall 1960A at the gig (perhaps unless it was a 1960AV). Both 2x12" destroy any newer Marshall cab though.

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Alright, so I did some experimenting today. I tried with a different profile with slightly more gain and I realised that with the clean sens set to where I usually would have it, there is more than enough boost before the input light starts to flash red! Actually, the boost becomes too much before it starts to flash red. Looks like the problem is solved! I still get astonished by the tone of this «slightly strange looking NASA toaster from the 70's», even after almost one year with it!

I figured out something new with the Kemper today as well. There are actual footswitch-jacks like a real amp! The only issue is that you cannot use a footswitch for switching between rigs in performance mode, and if you have a single footswitch you can just switch up or down, not between rigs. Not quite sure how I would do it, maybe I could get a dual switch and just mark two or three rigs as favorites, and then choose the favorite-list.

Received my new cab today as well, and it is not only the best sounding but certainly one of the most awesome looking stacks I have ever owned! This one give Marshall stacks a run for their money in terms of mojo

Not the best photo, I'll see if I can post a better photo in a new topic!

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It is mostly the Suhr Koko Boost Reloaded that tend to overload the input of the Kemper, but the Shiba Drive Reloaded can do it as well with my favorite setting (gain at 9 o'clock, tone at 3 o'clock and level on full).

I really want to find a solution to this issue, because the Kemper is perfect in every other way and it sounds just perfect with the pedals. After all the great sounds I got from the profiles boosted with my pedals I might have to go back to tube amps for live use, and I sure as h*** don't wanna do that...

The mono and distortion loop do sound the same, so I am pretty sure there is nothing wrong with my unit. The lack of high end and overall downgrade of tone has been reported before with the loop.

Yeah I did try both the mono loop (with the mix at 100%) and the distortion loop. It is just the distortion loop I am certain that is parallel, but the tone is equally downgraded with both loops. Especially (in the rare cases) when I run an overdrive pedal with a clean profile, I don't want half the signal overdriven... I want all of it. And the overdriven signal itself is also not the same as in front of the amp.

I have used some very nice pedals with my Kemper for quite some time now, mainly overdrive and boost pedals. After issues with overdriving the input section with my very powerful boost pedal (up to 26db boost) I put the pedals in the loop and never looked back. However, after I decided to try my overdrive pedal with a clean preset I actually heard that the loop is parallel... There was an entirely clean signal mixed with the overdriven signal. So I decided to try it in front of the Kemper again, and damn! The tone was much better, much less loss of high end, but again: the input section keeps getting overdriven...

I did find a solution sort of; turning the clean sens all the way down. What are the (possible) issues with this? I do not use clean profiles except for recording (where I can adjust the clean sens accordingly), and for live and practice use I just use one overdriven profile using my pedals and volume knobs for cleaner and heavier tones. I did experiment with the clean sens on the overdriven profile, and I could not hear any difference in tone nor dynamics turning down the clean sens all the way without any pedals activated.

How are you guys setting the Kemper up for use with overdrive pedals? It is a bummer that the distortion loop is not identical to running the pedals in front, without the overdriven input-issues... Running it in the regular mono loop was not better at all, not sure if it was pure series either but I did not get around to try it with the clean profile.

It just sounds so good with the pedals that I have to find a solution for this. Sold my Remote because of the great sound from the pedals, so that certainly says something!

A little update for fellow 2553 owners: the amp tech decided not to open the amp up, simply because he thought there was absolutely nothing wrong with the amp. Testing the amp on his 4x12" loaded with 40 years old Greenbacks I totally agreed, but coming home to my own cabs the tones were the same as before...

The cleans are good, AC/DC type overdrive is good but turning the gain knob past ten o'clock sounds plain awful imo. It does not help boosting it with a pedal either, sounds just as bad. The amp has to go, and I can say with absolute certainty that this was my last tube amp for a really long time.

I used to own a JVM410H a few years ago, but I had issues with that one also... Some strange noises that resulted in a complete retube and another fix that I cannot quite remember. Costed me about 150€. I really do not need all those bells and whistles of the JVM either, a JCM800 or another single channel Marshall head would be ideal for me. I mostly use Les Pauls with the neck pickup rolled down for clean, bridge at full for crunch and a boost pedal for those screaming leads! That is actually how I use the Kemper as well, I have the Remote but I haven't used it even once with the Powerhead

Yeah you are absolutely right about that one, I tried to record the amp to show the guy I bought it from how it sounded. But it sounded completely different; much, much better...! The DI profile + IR sounded quite a lot better as well, but with the DI-profile through a real cab in the room: awful... But from what you are saying here, there might be nothing wrong with the amp after all! Then I can put it out for sale with good conscience

Unfortunately not an amp for me. I would love a Tim Caswell modded 2204 though! But that would be very expensive and not to mention completely unnecessary when I have quite a few profiles of a Caswell-modded Plexi. Being such a Marshall-fan like me it would be nice to have a (fully working) Marshall stack just for the sake of owning it

Owned the G30 for a while, and sold it for the G10. The G10 is every bit as great as the G30 sound wise, but you do not have to deal with the sloppy battery tray door nor having to plan when to charge the AA batteries. The battery lasts approx. the same as well, and it is a relief to not have to think about any transmitter in the pocket or the strap etc. The only downside is that I cannot use the Kemper USB port to power the receiver, there is some strange hum (probably ground hum). Cannot quite complain about that though