Posts by rich2k4

    I'm kind of bummed out because I've been searching for a late night silent apartment solution that would get me satisfying tones. I've had an axe fx that presented similar issues, and now the kemper (again. This is my second go around with it).


    I can only play through headphones with my current situation. I play late at night in an apartment. No exceptions. I've been on a headphone trying spree the last couple of weeks, going through a Beyer DT770, Senhiesser HD280, Audio Technica ATH m50x, and m40x. All of them are the same result. Fizzy distorted tones and lifeless cleans.


    Honestly not much better than just plugging straight into my interface and using Guitar Rig 5.


    I can't hear a difference between any of the more distorted profiles. They all sound the same through headphones. Same with cleans. Everything is very "Hi Fi"


    I'm still within the 45 day return window with guitar center and am thinking about returning the unit. I feel like if this is the best I can do in terms of headphones tone then there is no point in having a $1800 device.


    My needs are simple. I just want to play along to backing tracks late at night, and have some inspiring tone along with it. Doesn't seem all that simple apparently.


    I see people on forums all the time talking about how Kemper or Axe Fx is the ultimate late night practice solution but I now know through personal experience that is BS if you are using headphones.

    As far as an update, I sent my scarlett 6i6 headphone out into the aux in of my roland cube 30x. Played the Top Jimi brown sound video and I can hear the reverbs and effects much better, very similar to the iMac but the iMac still wins. What I can't hear however are the delays toward the end when he plays cathedral. On the cube, I just hear the initial note, not any of the ping pong delay, where as on the iMac I hear it all.



    I think this may just be because I am sending a stereo signal to an amp with only 1 speaker.



    I think maybe what I need is not some type of sterile sounding studio monitors, but something that plays music really well, and just plug my kemper into that....i don't know.



    I wonder how everything would sound if I plugged it into the aux of say a Yamaha THR10 for example, since that is stereo. Unfortunately I don't have a THR10 to try.



    Even something like a Roland Cube Street EX.

    So I want to give a Kemper another shot. I will be purchasing one in a couple of weeks, but figured I should listen to direct un processed recordings of some profiles through various monitoring methods to see what I should expect.


    I actually had this issue the last time I had a Kemper and was never able to properly figure it out.



    When I listen to profile recordings through my iMac built in speakers, I hear all the details such as reverb, "roominess", sounds like a miced up amp.


    As soon as I route the sound to the monitors (JBL 305's), the guitar sounds a lot drier, the effects are harder to pick up. The reverb tails are very faint. Through the iMac speakers, the Top Jimi profiles sound fantastic. I can hear the reverb tails clearly.


    Tried with both a Focusrite 6i6 and NI Komplete Audio 6. Same result with the studio monitors.


    Here is a good example of a recording I am listening to:


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    The plate reverb in this tone is very important to the overall tone. Through the iMac speakers, I hear it all, the reverb, slight delay, sounds like a real amp recorded.


    Switch to the monitors, all the airiness goes away. Reverb practically disappears. Tone sounds A lot drier. On the Unchained riff, through the iMac I hear the flanger very well. Through the monitors it is much less pronounced.


    I then plugged in headphones to the iMac, and got a similar result. Through the headphones the sound is drier, reverb a lot less pronounced, same with the flanger, although better than the studio monitors. However, these are $30-40 Sony headphones I bought at Best Buy to listen to music.


    Even in non guitar stuff, for example this video:


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    In the beginning when he is talking, he has music playing in the background. On the iMac, I actually hear this music. Very clearly actually, slightly less volume than his voice. On the monitors, the background music is much fainter, and it is mostly his voice.


    On headphones, I can hear both the voice and background music clearly.


    Why would things like reverb, and other small details disappear on these monitors? Anything I can do besides looking at other monitoring options?


    What's funny is the iMac built in speakers are not that great, yet I hear way more detail, and the profile recordings through them sound amazing.


    Maybe that's just the way these speakers are? Maybe the iMac speakers have a EQ curve that accentuates these other things. Or maybe the mac automatically adds reverb itself, but I doubt that.


    Just for kicks, I sent the left side into the aux in of my roland cube, and shut off the other monitor. Through the cube I hear the reverbs much more pronounced, basically I hear everything the way I hear it in the iMac, just a little darker and bassier, probably from the 10" speaker.


    Here is another video I was A/Bing:


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    Through the monitors, I can hear the reverb but it's nowhere near as pronounced as through iMac. I even listened to it through another PC laptop and the reverbs are there.


    at 3:48, he does a funk thing where he slaps his hand against the strings. On the monitors, I just hear it as a thunk, with maybe a very very faint reverb. Through the iMac after he hits against the strings the reverb effect after it comes out very clearly.


    I want to have the most enjoyable monitoring experience with the kemper. Maybe something like a Line 6 Power Cab will do better with these types of details?


    Last time I had a Kemper I had the same issue. When I played through studio monitors, I would have to crank reverb mix to like 40-50% to feel like I could properly hear it.


    Perhaps the JBL's are just not good with the details? Maybe Yamaha HS5's would be better? I hear they are less bass and more pronounced mids and highs so maybe they would do better with details like reverb, "airyness"

    I played a powerhead today at guitar center and I plugged in to a 2x12 Orange cab. It sounded fantastic. Honestly I didn't hear much of a difference between cabinet sim on and off. I didn't have enough time to try to just plug the Monitor out into the cab.


    Would that be possible though? Monitor out or Main Out mono into a guitar cab with an unpowered version? If I enjoy the sound of it I figured I could just save money and get an unpowered one because my main use will be recording and playing through studio monitors. I do have a 4x12 can that I may occasionally mess around with, but I don't know if it will b enough to justify the extra $400.

    I bought a Kemper back in August of 2017, had it for about 2 weeks and ended up returning it. At the time I had an Axe FX 2 XL, and felt that the AFX was more versatile because you could create elaborate patches, and dial in amps exactly how you want them.


    I am now realizing that versatility was more of a hindrance. All I ended up doing was noodling, changing presets, noodling some more. I realized that most of the amps sounded similar. At the end of the day Clean tone was a clean tone, gain was gain, etc.


    I sold the AFX 2, and bought a Axe Fx 3 last week. Only spent 2-3 days with it until I came to the same conclusion as above. I ended up returning it (and losing money on shipping in the process but whatever). And overall to be honest I was never happy with the tones of the AFX 2 or 3. I remember Kemper sounding a bit more realistic.


    I'm thinking of giving a Kemper another shot. However I have some concerns:


    1. I will get caught up in profile changing hell. I'm a very simple guitar player and just want to plug n play. Last time I had a Kemper I found myself doing the same thing as the AFX, changing profiles, noodling for a bit, changing again, etc. I pretty much just need a good clean, good crunch, good high gain.


    2. The age of the unit is getting up there and I feel for some reason that a new hardware revision is coming within the next year. The last thing I want to do is spend a crap ton of money only for a new unit to come out, and me having to sell at a loss to pickup the new unit (I always like having the latest and greatest, and if I know a newer unit exists, it bothers me). I would love to get a used unit to help offset money lost, but with me being burned both times by the AFX 2 and 3 because I had to buy before I tried, I don't want to make this same mistake again. Selling anything is a huge hassle if I don't like it. This means I will have to buy full price from Guitar Center since they have a 45 day return policy. This further concerns me when you take into account the age of the kemper, new devices being released by competitors, etc. It just seems like a KPA 2 is within 1-2 years away.


    3. Not sure whether to get a powered or non-powered unit. The main use case would be quiet apartment practice, and occasional recording. I do own a marshall 4x12 and like the idea of having the flexibility of plugging the kemper into it, but wondering if I realistically will ever do it, and if it even sounds good. The main draw of the Kemper is the complete profiled tones and that includes the profiled cabs which I'd be missing out on plugging into a real cab.


    4. I had issues with volume levels in my apartment. You can read my last thread back in 2017 where I talked about this. Rereading that thread, it seemed like I couldn't get the unit past 0.2-0.3 on the master volume which seems wrong. I remember on such low levels, the gain/distortion profiles were extremely loud. I have JBL 305's that I have the volume full up on. This time around however I would be plugging the Kemper into a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 via SPDIF, and then direct monitoring from the 6i6 into the monitors. The 6i6 has the Monitor knob on the front that I could probably use to tame the volume but i don't know.


    5. Is it overall even worth it? My goal is just to get inspiring tones at home. Im a bedroom player, I don't have a band and have no interest in that. All I do is noodle at home and play with backing tracks. Occasionally record and create "beats" using guitar as the main instrument, using guitar rig 5. I'm wondering if I should just get a Yamaha THR10 and call it a day? I have enough to either buy just a powered kemper, or get an unpowered kemper AND the THR10. Or like I said, just get a THR10 and call it a day?


    Any insight and advice would be appreciated.

    I've been trying some headphones with the space setting on 6 and it sounds decent. This might be somewhat of a solution. These headphones are regular Sony $30 at best buy, so I'm assuming getting a $120 pair like the ATX-50, or HD280's might sound even better.

    Maybe the monitor volumes are too loud? I heard for studio monitors like the 305's it's best to keep them at max volume, which is what I do.


    I literally can't play any gain profiles at a level higher than 0.2. There has to be something wrong. That is barely even on. The studio monitors are set at +4Dbu or whatever it is.

    Got my Kemper this past weekend and have been playing around with it every day. The problem is, and I've run into this issue with the Axe Fx that I also own, is that for my environment, an apartment, it just doesn't seem to work. For a lot of these profiles, they need a good bit of volume before they start sounding good. I play through JBL 305's. I usually practice/play when I get home from work at night, and I can't really push the Kemper's master volume past 0.3 on the gainer profiles. If it's a clean profile, I can get to about 1.5 on the master, but that's pushing it. Gain profiles I can only do 0.2-0.3, that is extremely low. Because of this, the profiles don't sound that great, but I do know when I crank them for a split second it sounds a lot better.



    Unfortunately, I can't do this without complaints. I hate the way the unit sounds with headphones, and I personally don't like to use headphones when practicing anyways.


    It's the same with the Axe Fx. I can't go past a small hair on the output knob, without it starting to get too loud for the space.


    I feel like I can't use these units to their full potential. This is the crap that goes along with being an apartment dweller. Not very good for a guitarist.


    At this point I feel like I may have to just return the unit and buy it again in a few years when I am able to purchase a home. Perhaps by then there will be even greater advancements and I can add large PA speakers to the setup.


    Kind of bummed to be honest :(

    AFAIK There's nothing captured within a profile that contains room information.


    Even a profiled signal chain with some very distant microphone would have all the room information eliminated.

    So it is likely they add the reverb post? Even though they say no effects or EQ was applied?


    This clip for example, there is some sort of reverb/room vibe in there, even though they state no effects or EQ was applied.


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    On the TAF and Top Jimi sound clips, it seems like it has some of the room reverb in there, as if the mic is slightly farther away from the cab. Is this something they add to these clips post recording, or is the kemper able to capture some of that.


    The more clips I listen to of the Kemper, the more I am blown away at how it actually sounds like a miced amp, and has that "organic" sound instead of sounding "direct".


    By the way, I placed an order for a kemper yesterday. I am excited to audition against my axe fx, as I haven't been happy with the tones from the axe.

    Top Jimi sound recordings seem to have some kind of reverb that I hear. It actually sounds like some extra 'room' elements were captured in the profile. Is this added afterwards, or is the kemper actually capable of capturing some of that?

    Are you using some kind of listening space preset with your computer speakers?


    Speaker placement has a great influence on the sound. Are your JBLs next to the computer speakers, or somewhere else in the room? Are you using any EQ switches on the back of your JBLs?

    No, just default iMac settings. Only thing I can think of is the iMac is directly facing me, where the JBL's are off to the sides.


    On the Top Jimi brown sound recordings for example, when the Unchained Riff is played, through the iMac, I can hear the flanger effect clearly, when I run it through the monitors, that flanger effect is a lot less pronounced, and difficult to detect.


    Maybe I just don't like the JBL's for guitar practice.


    Maybe for my application (Strictly home playing/practice), I should get speakers for regular music listening?


    EDIT: I listened to everything through headphones. Regular $30 Sony's from best buy, nothing special. They sounded like the JBL's sound. Don't know what to think anymore haha. Maybe I've just gotten so used to listening to all my music, etc through the iMac over years that everything else sounds wrong.


    Still though, the speakers in the iMac make the Kemper sound so good, maybe because you can actually hear some more details. I figured listening to the recordings on the JBL's would give me a better opinion of how everything would sound when actually playing through them.

    Not sure what it is, but through the imac speakers, when I listen to recordings of the Kemper, it sounds better. Sounds more like a miced amp. I can actually hear the reverb and "roominess" in the recordings, etc. As soon as I switch over to my PC with a Kontrol Audio 6 and JBL LSR 305's, it lacks brightness, and the reverb is no longer as present. Sounds more sterile for whatever reason. I'm wondering if this is the culprit in my previous thread about not being happy with the sound of my axe fx.


    Anyone have similar issues with the JBL LSR 305's? Even when I play the clips on another windows laptop, it sounds better than the JBL's. "roominess" and reverb comes through, etc. On the JBL's it that all goes away and it sounds drier, and more sterile.


    Is that how it's supposed to be?


    Here is one of the recordings I'm listening to.


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    That is hopefully my theory. Axe Fx being a computer simulation of what someone thinks the amps should sound like, where as the Kemper just grabs the tone of the actual amp, which is why it sounds more authentic.