Posts by Nordan

    I can also report sound drop outs, but interestingly only on the left channel (while testing the newest OS.)

    Sounds similar to having a bad/broken cable, but it's the kemper.

    It occurs in the main outs, S/PDIF, as well as headphone out, don't know about the monitor out.

    I had it three or four times (2 minutes or even hours inbetween) in browse mode and lasts for a couple of seconds or until I reboot.



    Quite bad, when you trying to sell the unit....

    100% Agree. Same reason you don't track with Reverb or Comp: can't change it back if it doesn't work in the mix and you need to track it again or reamp. Live you need to EQ in order to adjust for the venue, recording yo want to have as much room as possible for mixing and mastering.

    I do understand this view, but
    people like me - that are only sitting at home and do not play live with venue-adjusted global EQ while simultaneously record unaltered S/PDIF -seemed to like it.


    The perfect compromise would be:

    It would be nice to have a choice whether the main EQ is applied to SPDIF or not.

    I already mentioned that....so maybe we just need another 2000 users? ;D

    But I'll stay out of the discussion from now on. Everything is already said.

    I don't get why not being able to eq the SP/DiF would make you need to sell it. Just use the analog outs like thousands of pro users have successfully, You're ears won't be able to tell the difference.

    Because using Kemper completely via S/PDIF and not blocking 2 analog inputs of my interface was one of the main points for keeping it.

    It makes my workflow 10 times easier, my working space cleaner and it just makes way more sense to stay digital.


    My talk with the support in short:

    - Other users didn't like that global EQ is influencing S/PDIF signal

    - I wanted to keep the possibility to use a global EQ on S/PDIF (like we could do all the years)

    - Kemper has no plans for changing it back (or giving at least the possibility to use a global EQ on S/PDIF? Pretty please???)


    Yesterday I was told that I'm the only one who is bothered by this, but I'm glad to see there are more people here that think this change wasn't good.

    (bonus points to the support: I got an older OS version from the support, that means I can keep my workflow until I moved on, thanks!)

    Can you explain, why you need an output eq while using an S/PDIF interface?

    Are you using a DAW? If your receiving device has an sound issue, why can't you solve it there?

    I'm in contact with the Kempersupport and I explained my reasons for my complaining there.

    To cut this short: I'm using S/PDIF for getting the signal out of my Kemper. I use global EQ for sound changing-reasons, the same way you would use it for the Monitor-out or the Main Outs. And I don't understand why this possibility is taken from me after all these years.


    If anybody is more interested in details, I can gladly post everything after a little talk with the support. It feels weird to have this conversation simultaneously here in english and via Email in german =D

    Here is the recent Changelog regarding SPDIF:


    Code
    changed: S/PDIF OUTPUT not impacted by Main Output EQ anymore

    Why should this be a good thing? I thought that must be a bug....

    This makes this unit absolut useless for me. Screw all the people that are using a SPDIF interface?


    I returned my quad cortex (because of several reasons) and kept the kemper, now I feel quite dumb and immediately will be setting my kemper for sale....

    a little update from me:


    After another couple of months have passed,

    I had like 100 moments where I thought "something is wrong... no, that can't be it, I must be the problem". I tried and tweaked hundreds of profiles, bought a bunch, tweaked, tried....I'm just loading profile after profile. So you guessed it, I'm still not happy 8)


    Just for the giggles, I bought the Quad Cortex.

    What can I say? The boomy lowend is gone and the high mid clarity is there. hooray!

    It is hard to describe, but I think I know what disturbs me with (my) kemper...the lowend is always a tad too much. Maybe not in terms of absolut volume, but somewhere slightly above the fundamental tone. Like the low end is slightly overbloathed/distorted, which is acompanied by too much low end rumble under 100 hz in whatever profile there is that has enough gain for me. In the past, I tried to hide that with lowering the bass, or setting the high pass to 170 hz or so....and it sounded shit. And after playing a couple of other real amps, trying out some vst plugins....my problem is not me, nor my guitars.

    Whatever you say, at least for ME, it seems that the kemper is not my thing. Maybe I'm oversensitive to woofy low ends which make chugging in a live setting impossible (I even tried a multiband compressor rack unit to tame that. Yes, I really wanted to like and keep the kemper).

    I thank you all for your answers and the help you tried to give to me,

    but this unit is just not my thing.


    To sum it up:

    Bought my kemper, had doubts... -no, it must be me-

    Exchanged 3 sets of pickups, had doubts... -no, it must be me-

    Bought (awesome and expensive) headphones, had doubts...-no, it must be me-

    Bought an 500 € interface for SPDIf and quality headphone amps, had doubts...-no, it must be me-

    Bought the Quad Cortex...and turned on the kemper only once to compare it again after 2 weeks adjusting to the QC, turned it off again and switched on the QC 8)

    I played/practiced more those two weeks than the last 2 years...


    But what speaks for the kemper (and thus, against the QC):

    1. the editor. It sucks major monkey balls to NOT have one ;(

    2.loading presets/captures ( "profiles"). login into smartphone app, choosing one WITHOUT knowing how it sounds, loading it inside the quad cortex, realizing it sucks, delete it.

    3. the effects. The ones in the QC are far inferior. In terms of sound quality and tweakability.

    4.the updates. Neural DSP seems to be either not really interested or ...overstrained ? If you look into the communication since the release, it's just promises.

    Fishman Active may give you a real instant EQ assessment as they are such great examples of clean slate - almost beautifully sterile


    Whereas my passives like yours are just so much FUN...and take you right there to those moments in music..


    I reckon you will smash it with those

    Quite funny,

    I put Fishmans KSE Signature pickups into the 1570 about 3 months ago 8)




    And meanwhile I tend to just use a high cut at 5-8 khz and a low cut at 150-170, mostly when using high gain profiles.

    This gets me rid of the fizz and additional low frequencies that were driving me insane.

    and also quite important: Leaving the pure cab activated, but on zero is helping me alot... before it was just turned off.



    Stuff like Tonejunkie/Mbritt can be used without these cuts.

    I'm in the lucky position to say that I imported EVERY regular TJ rig (excluding the Stu G Stuff) and all their impulse responses. Everything works properly!


    And I only had troubles for a specific set of IRs: I tried to change the name of the folder while(?) I was copying IRs into, which kind of disturbed the process and rig manager told me "one or more item(s) is damaged beyond repair and could not be imported".

    Tried it twice - not working

    Tried to import another IR format (TJ has different IR types/qualities/optimized for differend devices) - not working

    Unzipped the IRs again - not working.

    Redownloaded them - not working.

    Creating a new folder in rig manager - bingo!


    So the problem was something inside this specific subfolder I created.

    (Or I was the problem, because I fiddled around while rig manager was working, who knows =D )

    Hi,


    hast du dein Pedal aus versehen als VolumePedal vorgeschaltet? Das würde zumindest eine verzerrung erklären, da du ja das Input Signal in seiner Lautstärke variierst und so den Amp mehr oder weniger antreibst.

    Sorry for the delay, I was quite busy this week.


    First of all, I compared my kemper to another one (both global init resetted for comparison)

    and indeed: My kemper is fine, you were right. All of you, BayouTexan , ckemper, and others...



    But I was still hearing the same thing that drove me nuts, but interestingly, not as drastic as before. In the shop, I was using a random Ibanez-guitar with stock pickups. My conclusion was that my guitar pickpus may be a little "hot" and drive the kemper to hard (?).

    I'm now quite sure, that my distortion sense was set too high. Right now it is about -10 and everything sounds way better. The low end is more defined and the profiles are more distinguishable, and the high frequencies are not as piercing anymore. It sounds more...realistic? natural?

    So I'm a big part of the problem. After letting another guy play the guitar, the boomyness was gone completely when he palm muted and everything sounded chunky, but also quite articulated. I think my palm mutes are just too close to the bridge and are way too hard; This leads to too much bass and combined with too much gain, my sound is going downhill. And my real amps do not suffer from my technique, because -especially the Blackstar ht5- is neither a bass, nor a gain-monster.



    Earlier, the palm mutes had to be compressed about 10-12 db to kind of sit in the mix. Now, I'm more in the 6 db range that ckemper is talking about and the fundamental tone is not wobbling around somewhere beneath the guitar, but quite where it should be. Supporting, not fighting the rest of the tone.



    Here is the Sl100 profile again, with lowered distortion sense and adjusted palm muting-position for the "chug chug" stuff:


    a) guitar only, (+ drums), b) especially for BayouTexan, with a more low end/punch bass drum 8)

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    here again, for easier comparisation, the earlier version without changes (the first couple of seconds).

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    I would say the difference is quite drastic. One could speculate to even add some bass.




    In summary:
    too much gain, bad technique and weird equalizing for compensation may have droven me insane.

    And I'm thinking about printing out these quotes to read them from time to time. They are not bad at all.

    I don't think you are crazy. I think you need to train your ears.

    I honestly think you are suffering from over analysis/ paranoia.

    The kemper gives you a realistic tone of a miced guitar amp.


    Getting it to work on a track and sound fantastic is another job.


    Thanks to you all for your replies.

    @ all


    I got not much free time today, so sorry for this short reply, I will write a longer one to all of your answers,

    thanks a lot to you all for your replies!



    Maybe I'm indeed crazy: Today it occured to me, that my problem may be indeed this:

    The tone itself is not too bass heavy, which is quite good to hear when I play open chords, so my theory of overamplified bass frequencies is obsolete.

    But when I do some palm mutes, frequencies between 80-160-200 hz get exagerated and this is the point that makes my puke, because the balance between lows and highs( or the volume between pm and open notes) goes all over the place.

    Maybe the kemper is doing this in another way then I'm used to it (, my other amps have spoiled me up until now?).

    If we combine these things with a bad PM technique, you all coud -to my shame- indeed be right.



    I talked with my local gear-dealer and I will perform a side by side test with another unit tomorrow.

    To get that little evil whispering voice out of my head that says something is wrong with my kemper 8)

    Thanks for your replies!

    I know it sucks to deal with whiney people, but I just want to have fun playing guitar :/



    DonPetersen

    Sadly, my problem has nothing to do with my monitor situation,

    because my problem occurs on every listening device, including several headphones, my monitors, car, HiFi, ect.

    And normal music or other guitar devices do not have this problem. It only occurs when the Kemper is involved.


    BayouTexan

    I know my stuff sounds like shit, because I'm trying to somehow balance the frequencies so that they make..(how do I say it?)..sonically sense?

    This is why I push high mids/highs to balance the boomy bass which results in, well, a crappy sound.

    If we ignore the overwhelming resonance in the first sample, then I agree with you and your wife.


    I tried something this morning:
    I recorded a quick rif and put Superior Drummer above to simulate a mix.

    I fiddeld around with the low resonance part in the cab module, which helped a lot. Here, I realized I can reduce my problem in two ways: either shift the boomy resonance way down into bass area ( low shift = -4.0 or something crazy), or use some positive values like 0.5-1.0.


    I uset the LL- TH Mars SL 100 I profile and leveld everything quite good.


    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    a)Low Shift 0.0

    b)Low Shift 0.5

    c)Low Shift 1.0

    d)Low Shift -0.5


    In my opinion

    a) is too boomy and clashes with the rest of the sound,

    b) sounds way more round and the lows are pushing the guitars

    c) is maybe too few low end, but could work

    d) is exactly overexaggerating what my problem is



    Please tell me: am I just crazy or does it sound better?

    Hey everybody,


    I had a long break from my Kemper and played mostly with my two Amps and real guitar loudspeakers. Or alternatively with the headphone out on my little blackstar HT5 amp. And everything was fine: Guitar playing was fun again and not just endless fiddeling around with EQ-knobs on the kemper. This frustrated my really a lot and I was sick of playing guitar. I haven't played a song or practiced in about two years, because I'm just endlessly trying rigs and fiddle with knobs.

    Now I rearranged my room,got a new position for my monitor loudspeakers and one of my amps has a defect (can't change channel anymore, but thank god it is stuck in crunch mode, not the clean channel...)

    So I thought why not give the kemper a chance again, because this thing is an expensive device, right?


    My dissappointment came back immediately.

    Guys and girls, please, for the love of god, help me or I'm throwing this thing out of the window!

    This is my last attempt to get rid of my problems. I'm just sick of this device.



    This is the Lars Luettge Th- Mars Silver Jubi A5 Profile, one of the stock profiles.

    Please tell me, that this doesn't sound as boomy in the low end and scooped, when you use it. Especially the woof at about 170 Hz is killing me.

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.



    Now, If I deactivate the amp section and use the fx send of my little Blackstar Amp into the Kemper, I get a much more balanced low end.

    Note: this sound is done with all EQ on 12 o clock on the Blackstar, that's why it doesn't sound perfect and is a little mid heavy.

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.



    My "solution" is drastic equalization. In this case, I used

    Global EQ: -5 Bass ,-1.3 Middle, -2 High and +0.3 Presence

    Amp EQ: -2.5 Bass

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    It is not perfect, but at least the absurd amount of bass is gone and this tone is more likey I think it should be.



    So my question is: why do I need these drastic equalization?

    DI through the kemper sounds fine.

    And the loudspeaker simulation sounds fine.

    Kemper by itself sounds as shown above.

    Kemper Monitor out into Fx loop of Blacktar: Boomy+ scooped, as shown in the first sample above.



    My theory is that something is wrong in my amp section....Is this even possible?


    Thanks=)

    Hey,


    I am also one of the unlucky guys that has to deal with an awful lot of low end and nasty high frequenzy.

    Everything sounds cheap, boomy and not like a good guitar sound. Pretty similar to yours.

    I also tried weird stuff like adding two or 3 studio eqs and filter all the frequencies out. Or reduce the High shift in every Cab, but to be honest: that sucked.



    My solution was global EQ adjustmend. I tend to always do this (+-0.3 depends strongly on the guitar)

    Bass -4

    mids +1 to 1.2

    highs -2

    Pres +2

    High/low pass: 50-100 hz / 10k-12k


    I know it sounds weird to boost presence while dealing with nasty high end frequenzy, but the highs and presence do kind of influence each other in these nasty sizzling high frequenzies.So substracting more on the "high" side and adding some shine sizzle back on the "presence" side was pretty nice for me.

    Most of mine can definitely clip at 0.0. I actually often wonder if it is possible that the calibration of KPA input varies from unit to unit. As CK is adamant that my settings would only be necessary with super hot pickups but most of mine are very much average.

    I always wondered how other people can leave these Input Settings at 0.0
    I have to lower all humbucker guitars to about -5.0 to prevent clipping. My dist sense is often even lower, somewhere between -5 and -10 db.

    Weird.

    You could check out the frequency curve of your headphones.

    i.e. on this (german) page :

    https://www.kopfhoerer.de/test…770-pro-250-ohm-softskin/


    From a first glance, I would say yours have a reduced 4-5 khz area and a slight boost at 10 khz.

    The cut at 4-5 khz could make these headphones nice for overdriven tones, because a lot of nasty stuff is going on there.

    The boost in the 6.5 khz and 10 hz area gives some air to the sound, but this could just be a little bit too much and pierces your ear?


    Throw the studio eq into the signal chain, and try something like -5 decibel, Q=4-5 and check out if the nasty frequencies sit at ~6.5 or 10 khz.

    Hey,


    I tried some stuff this weekend: I already described, that adjusting the global output EQ to -4 db on bass was making a huge difference to the sound. It was much more comparable to Bayou's reamping.

    Additionaly, I analyzed the frequency curves of both signals and indeed saw a difference in the bass/low low mid area of about -4/-4.5 db.

    and some missing ~2 db somewhere across 1 hz-5hz, which I already interpreted as "my sound is not quite 'there'.

    I can match the frequencies somehow, but of course not perfect (different interfaces with spdif vs analog input/preamp + cables are playing a role here.).


    But now ALL of the profiles are sounding pretty cool. I can chug my metal stuff without producing a boomy mess or muddy sound.

    If I compare my sounds to that from youtube videos or profilers I can really see similarities. Earlier I always thought that these videos are heavily modified. I can't say how many hours I played this weekend through my countless profiles....and nearly all of them are usable now! Some are meh, some are incredible! God dammit, I can even use stuff like green scream and other distortion pedals and they are altering the sound to something good. Until this weekend they just produced more rumble and a oversaturated signal.
    I always had problems with fitting bass and my guitars into a mix: Now everything needs more or less minor corrections.

    I can't believe that I didn't realize for nearly 3 years (!) what was wrong with my sound. I always thought that I am the problem. I changed pickups on three guitars, bought another bass guitar, bought a new interface....

    Often, I was quite frustrated and thought I just don't know how to get a good sound.
    But after adjusting the EQ everything is much better: I never had so much fun with my kemper like last weekend =)

    The only bad thing right now is that all of my favourite profiles are now crap. Because I choosed them based on my old non-adjusted EQ ;D


    Thanks again to you all for your answers and contributions.



    I wrote to the support. Maybe they do know what could be wrong with my unit. Perhaps it just needs a little slap or some kind of reset. I'm slightly afraid that there are some additional problems that I'm not aware of....

    We will see.