Posts by Niall182

Hi, whilst this wont sort your current issue out don't give up on solid state!

I'm using a Palmer Macht 402 solid state power amp live..going from main kemper output L & R into Palmer L & R and into a stereo 2x12 cab (cab sim off)...its VERY VERY loud and doesn't clip, 200watt per side or 400watt bridged. I used to play EVH 5150iii 50watt as a valve head its very loud but the Palmer is EXCELLENT and only 1u.

Not expensive either £245.00...worth looking into, but hope you get to the bottom of the Nuke problem.

Hi All,

As always on this forum, great advice. Thanks to all for your help on this matter.

Thanks
Niall

Hi All,

Everyone seems to use Mission pedals and why not I'm sure they're fantastic but a bit pricey. I want two pedals one to control volume, the other wah...thats it..running off 'pedal 5 & 6' on the remote.

Will any pedal surfice?? Electro Harmonix make a passive Expression pedal for £46.00!!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ele…fecea9:g:oxkAAOSwYZ9ZpYhS

Will this do the trick...it does trs/trs

Thanks

Looked on the website, said 14 working days for delivery. I ordered mine yesterday and got notification that its now being shipped! I guess they put that time scale down to give themselves some 'working space', if desperate to know you could always give them a call, they're very helpful.

Looks great, very sleek....but.... and here i start getting all the hate!...they are all starting to look the same??!! This unit will no doubt be £2000 plus, probably 2.5k... looks like a helix and I'm sure that headrush are working on a rack version...probably boss will too...

All this does is make the Kemper look better value for money and more individual...I've had an AXE FXii + fantastic unit...but again like Nemo13 wouldn't fit into a shallow rack easily and quite frankly in the value for money stakes the Kemper beats it hands down.

Just my opinion!!! Which ain't worth a thing in reality....go Kemper thats what I say... (they're probably working on a gloss black, led touch screen version as I speak....Doh!) ha ha!

Yes agree with all the above: First thing DONT GET FRUSTRATES/DISSAPOINTED....go to Rig Exchange (download & install rig manager first)..and start to try some. Don't spend ages trying to 'polish' something that isn't quite right for you...load them in try them give them 20 seconds, play some power chords, delete it straight away if you don't like it....BUT JUST KEEP GOING.

Don't spend hours at a time doing it...your ears will give up...just do a bunch at a time then take a rest. Rig Exchange has some really good FREE ones but you have to find them...just find one that sounds pretty good from the get go and tweak to personal taste from there.

Yes as above, tweak at gig volume, don't set patches up at low volume and then crank it at a gig...it will sound terrible. Kemper tones can be frustrating, many sound muddy and not great especially many of the 'high gain' ones but they are out there. If you buy professional profiles, well some of them can be a bit disappointing too...so try a few of their free ones see what they are like generally..remember most of them are done in top end studios with the best gear and I have no doubt they sound fantastic in their mixing room...sometimes that doesn't translate into our world!!

Don't give up, many do...I did, I was one of those!!...went back in the box, got it back out 6 months later and now I love it. It helped that I found a great profile for 'Rock/Metal'...well for me and my ears/gear anyway....what is it...not telling...its a secret... sorry.

Nah...not really I used a free profile on Rig Exchange, its a EVH 5150iii profile by a guy called Brendan...just search under his name, he's only done two which is a shame I thought they were/are great....again I tweaked to my taste, played with amp settings, presence, clarity, delay etc all that fun stuff...but it is my go to rock/metal profile...perhaps try that one?? Again it may not work for you.

Ive plugged this patch into the return of my valve amp and into my 2x12 cab...even kept the cab emulation ON...just adjusted presence and it sounds massive...really. Remember there is no right or wrong way...just let your ears tell you everything you need to know...if it sounds bad..it is...delete it & try another! Also everyones gear is different, different monitors, different amps, different cabs etc...that's why some profiles work and some don't.

Everyone has different ears...they're are no 'BAD' profiles on Rig Exchange (they are free lets not forget and I personally thank everyone who has taken the time to upload them for the likes of us to try) just ones that arnt for you...just keep loading, auditioning until you find the one for you and rock out fella!

You will get there.

@MOCMunkeh...top tip, like the way you rigged that...never would have though of that!! Will give that some serious pondering. Cheers fella!

Yeah thats a fair point...though i've got 'beginner' next to my name I've had a Kemper for over 2 years, used to have powered rack now gone for un powered rack (so I can choose what power amp to use)...If Kemper are looking for a new product line...why not solve this issue for us and make the right cab for us poor old...old school guys who want a 4x12 behind us pushing air.

Despite all this happy I have to say with what I have..Kemper, Palmer Macht 402 power amp into Genz Benz GFlex 2x12...pretty good...but there is always something perhaps better round the corner....arrrrrgh!! :)...usually there isn't!!

Interesting thoughts all...hadn't thought of using the Line 6 firehawk like that...they come up quite often on ebay...worth a look for sure...how you hooking up??...straight into return input??

Cheers all for input so far.

We had an Alto TS PA current model, not very good but ok for the price point. May take a look at the EV option. We have a Yamaha DXR PA with the 12 tops so may borrow one of those to try out.

But thanks for the ideas so far, have been using my std 2x12cab which has been pretty good, just wondered if there is a better approach?

Cheers guys/gals.

Hi all,

Asked I'm sure a thousand times but its now 2018!!

Please your opinions on the best options for 'back line' FRFR cabs active or passive: ie Friedman ASM12 or Atomic CLR (both active I know)...or something else??.. I'm a traditional guitarist and want something behind me pushing air when playing in pubs/clubs - we do rock covers etc..

Any thoughts, what have you all been using??...Thanks

Hi folks, well after selling my powered rack last year (sorry went back to my trusty EVH5150iii which I still have)... I couldn't quite get rid of the itch!!! So have just bought a non powered rack...why, well just wanted to try a different set up with a separate power amp bit more of a simpler approach??

What do you guys recommend? Valves... (Mesa 20/20) or solid state (Palmer Macht 402 or Rocktron Velocity 300) Be interested on any thoughts/impressions you may have or what you non powered folks have used/are using.

Also would you come straight out of the left/right main outputs or take a feed from the monitor output into the power amp?

Thanks all....good to be back, hopefully for a little longer this time as I'll be keeping this to tweak and play with...the EVH very simple, but good!

Cheers

Hi,
I use my power rack through a stock Marshall 4x12, so similar set up to you. The Kemper has many different volume placements within it so you have to take some time getting them all leveled at the right point for you and do it at gig volume...especially as there are two of you playing guitar in a band...Raoul is right, it is about projection and the difference in sound from standing right in front of the cab to standing ten feet away is significant.

These power kempers are loud enough to compete/blow away most 'loud as hell' guitarists if you want it to...mine is unbelievably loud, I'm playing into a 16ohm cab (so effectively 1/2 power 300watts not full power 600watts into 8ohm)

If you havent already, try this... you have 3 main volumes..power amp boost in Output Menu...mines on 10/11...Master volume on front panel, mines on 8 and rig volume (below master) I actually have mine dialed back at -7 or so but obviously you can have this at +10 if you want...you can also increase volume or decrease with the master section out also in Output Menu (page 1 i think??)...so lots of areas within the Kemper to play with volume.

Ultimately its about finding a profile that can stand out against your other guitarist and his sound...if you are both in the same tonal range then it will always be a struggle to separate yourself...the best thing to do...fire the other guitarist! Simple.

Stick with it, it took me a while to dial mine in, I'm still getting there with it but you will get there...dont give up thats the main thing.

Hi Paul,
Yes Rollercoaster indeed...I didnt intend to take it last night, but decided last minute to take it and just get it to the same volume I normally play at, bring it home and tweak...actually I have to say that my lot were super encouraging about it...even liked how it looked!!...so I just decided to play one song with it, swap over to the EVH play one song, swap back play another song...I did this tweaked the profile some more...played another song and everyone just said...stick with that, so I used it for the rest of the evening...sounded great!

Yes I did suffer a little from squeel during play, but gain on the profile was dialed at 10 and I was standing 2ft away from it at serious volume..I moved to the side and it went...so perhaps less gain is the order of the day...it still needs work...I dont suppose I have it set up 'properly' but what does that actually mean anyway its all subjective, I dont suppose i should have the power amp boost at max 12, or master volume at 11 and the rig vol at -8 or so...but it did seem to work...on that profile anyway...also, for me...monitor cab out EQ section in the Output button makes a big difference, really does change the cab sound..so I tweaked that to taste...wether I'm supposed to or not, I dont know but it did help shape the sound to my liking.

Cheers guys, as it happened (Araman) I was using a profile from the Rig Exchange, it was a Splawn QuickRod Gear3 profile...dont know if it was a merged one, but pretty sure it wasn't. Yes cab sim was off, cant remember who did it, but its top of the list if you search for Splawn.

Powerhead straight into Marshall JCM900 4x12 stock speakers...from memory, last night I had power boost amp flat out at 12, Master Volume pretty much flat out at 10.6 but the rig volume way down at about -8...I also tweaked monitor cab out in Output section boosted, Bass, cut Mid and boosted Pressence a little...this altered the sound of the cab speakers and really made a difference, well to me anyway...I did all of this at GIG volume, I play in a slightly louder than average rock band so bear this in mind...I also tweaked the profile a little to taste ie: gain, bass, mid, treb, pres...nothing more than I would do with a normal amp.

This is by no means perfect as yet, literally 10mins tweaking last night in between songs/during songs..I will post the settings I used when I've finished set up etc for others in my position who might be interested...I did suffer a little from 'feedback squeel' despite a fully engaged noise gate...but I was loud, I was standing 2 ft in front of it and I hadn't really had the time to set it up properly...once I'd moved off to the side a little it went away no problem, so its just a proximity thing in relation to the amount of gain I like to use...which is a lot!.

Well after a very up and down few weeks with the Kemper Power Rack (even to the point of considering selling it)..I decided BRAVELY to take it to band practice last night and do a 'live' A/B test with my current live rig, EVH 50watt & 4x12, L6 500xHD & 4 cable method on the left... and the Kemper Powerhead & 4x12 cab on the right.

Main exercise was just to set up the Kemper volume wise to the same level to where I normally play with the EVH...and then come back and tweak some patches for later use...I was fully expecting all my band to tell me to 'put that back in the car'....but no!..
I decided to crank it, did a few small tweaks to a rig and...wow, results were impressive, to the point that the rest of the band all said that it sounded much better than the EVH (which cheered me up and broke my heart at the same time!)...I only meant to play it for 10-15 minutes with the band just to get levels etc but ended up playing it all night 2+ hours...and even switched off the EVH!!..Everyone said that the tone was much clearer, much more articulate...'you could hear stuff' and whilst it still had all the bottom end and tight chug chug...just sounded smoother...endorsement indeed from my lot, they dont take prisoners!!

So I'm back on board with the Kemper...I made some fairly drastic tweaks to the output section & power amp boost and also rig volume, ones which I think would be considered 'out of the norm'...but hey, it seemed to do the trick as far as using a PowerHead straight into a 4x12 cab...there is no right or wrong, just what sounds good and I have to say...it sounded good!

The rest of the band ended up being the judges on the night, i didn't intend it to be a Kemper demo night, but the patch sounded great, a few tweaks and it sounded even better..now I know its in there I'll dial in a proper sound...get the delays right etc..

For what its worth I will post up my settings for those who might want to use the kemepr in the same way as I..ie: just straight into a 4x12 cab...it might work for you, it might not...for all those struggling like me...stick with it, its worth it in the end!..Obviously each set up is different, all cabs sound different...but it is possible to get a fantastic 'rock' tone at live band volume..just Kemper and a 4x12..stick with it guys.

This is a great forum, and thanks to everyone on it for their input...it is a journey...for all us newbies just stay with it, keep your amp whilst you play with this, just as a fall back, but you will soon find the right patch and that is partly the trick...find the right patch! You wont go back.

Niall

Cheers Raoul...yes indeed you most certainly did!! Wise words indeed!! I'm still a long way down the road for sure but at last I seem to have found a profile for me...it might not be every ones cup of tea??...but thats what makes music such a joy...its horses for courses!!

I'll work on this profile for a while as a base point, i'm using a TAF profile for my crunch which is top draw...but all this stuff is pretty fluid at the moment but I have come away this afternoon with a big smile on my face...which bearing in mind my face is a serious improvement!!

Cheers dude, be in touch.

BREAKTHROUGH AFTERNOON!!!....thank you everyone, all of you who have helped via this forum (and those of you who have helped me in person for no other reason than you could..you know who you are)...all appreciated.

The key...well for me, some words of wisdom! By luck (or at least knowing what i wanted) finding the right profile...actually from Rig Exchange...and most of all perseverance.

For us newbies...keep the faith (no I'm not a Bon Jovi fan), keep going, don't give up. When your fed up...switch off and come back to it the next day with fresh ears...but keep going, keep trying different profiles, dismiss instantly ones that are not right for you (they are not bad..just not right for your ear...and those who do go to the time and trouble of uploading should be commended for their efforts, Randy Rock...thank you for the Splawn Profile!! also FastRedPonyCar...free profiles.

I'm still at the first step...but this thing is now starting to improve and sound huge plugged into my new 2x12...which reminds me I need to pay someone for that!!

Thanks guys...
Niall

Hi Guys,
Well its a cheap desk, cheap pa, Alto active tops (so not great) this is a rehearsal room after all so stuff gets trashed! and is fairly bottom end stuff.
I might have been overloading the PA but I tried not to, was aware of that but the sound was so bad...so tinny and thin...terrible, I had to un plug quickly otherwise the good work i did in getting my cab to sound pretty good would have been un done...and I left last night feeling very pleased.

Raoul, you might be onto something...i'll check the output.

Its something I'm doing wrong, I'm sure...so its just another door to open (bit like Attic Attack from the 80's which no one remembers I'm sure...you needed a Sinclair Spectrum computer...which is about my level at the moment!)

At least at the moment I'm pleased with the sound I got, I'll purchase a few more pro rigs, who make the best profiles TAF are very excellent...anyone else?

Cheers
Niall

Hi guys,
Well back from session at rehearsal studio, just me...the kemper and a 4x12 cab...ah as one door opens so another stays very much shut!
First the door that opened. Played and tweaked (just a little) with rig volume & master volume...oh and power amp volume, loaded a pro purchased profile...and within a couple of minutes...boom the thing came alive!!..The bottom end on this EVH profile equals my real EVH sound if not betters it. I found that it was worth a/b/c'ing, a studio profile, then a direct profile then a merged profile...I think that the merged profile (with cab sim off) sounded great...you do have to adjust to taste, so I tweaked the amp settings including clarity and sag etc along with bass/mid/treb/pres I also found.....and this is strange that when I engaged the cab sim and tweaked its volume, which improved the sound, when I turned the cab sim off...the volume stayed put??..ummm oh well it improved the sound for me!
Also worth mentioning for those of us playing the powered version through a normal cab...go into output settings, find monitor cab and tweak bass/mid/treb/pres on that...it really improved the sound of my 4x12 cab
So all in all a very encouraging session with the 4x12...I will do a proper a/b with my cab and amp again just so I know but I came away much happier.
Have to say this thing is seriously loud, Rig vol on 0(middle) Master Vol on 5 and Power Amp Boost on 7...this amp and its profiles comes ALIVE at volume...obvious really as 4x12 need to be driven.

Now the door that stayed firmly shut! Whilst playing I thought i'd plug it into the PA....OH DEAR....normal mic lead out the left main output into desk, everything on the desk wound back, gain at 10 o'clock, bas/mid treb etc at 12 o'clock...Christ, what a horrible tinny distorted, unlistenable sound, KPA was set to mono master? at -14db so don't know what on earth is happening there..any thought on why the sound going to the pa is so bad?? I thought what came out of the 'main output' to the PA was supposed to be the profile and cab in all its glory?? It certainly wasn't very glorious that's for sure....I un plugged it very quickly.

So to sum up, I'm getting the Kemper close to how my EVH sounds and that's the Kemper through my 4x12cab...as for getting it to sound great through the PA at the same time...I still have a long way to go.

Cheers Niall