Posts by mybyte

That's quite a bummer, because I only got the Kemper for live usage in the first place. For rehearsals, I have an array of tube amps that sound great. For recording purposes, I think we're at a point where there are 10$ plug-ins from audio-assault and such that sounds absolutely amazing. The Kemper would've been an amazing tool live, combining the best sounds you can get at almost no weight. If I have to carry around a 10-15 Kg power amp with me to make it sound bearable on stage, it kind of defeats the purpose

So I've spent a couple of hours with my Powerrack, messing around with different tones. Mainly high gain metal stuff. Tried a whole bunch of profiles including Sinmix, Reampzone, Choptones, ended up settling merged profiles from the STL Tones Lasse pack. The full profiles by themselves sound amazing - 10/10.

My main problem is making them sound good through a cab. I've tried running my Kemper into my Engl Pro (V30, 8 Ohms) and my Marshall 1960 Lead (G12T-75, 16 Ohms) cabs but had no luck getting a decent sound of out it. Every single profile sounded flat and lifeless. Hard to describe, but let me put it this way: no matter what amount of low end and how much of midrange I dial in, the punch is kind of missing. Never sounded "in your face" like the real amps. I gave up and tried running the monitor out (cab sim off obviously) into my Engl 930/60 tube power amp. And voila - instant eargasm with every single profile I tried.

Lots of people seem to be pretty satisfied with how the class D amp in the powered Kempers sound, so I guess I must be doing something wrong. Anything I should be aware off when running the Kemper into cabs?

That's you main beef? Personally, I'm much more frustrated with how you have to press the button on the Remote and head simultaneously to assign toggles for effects. Couldn't care less about rig manager. It's just an easy way to copy and back-up profiles without having to go through the dumb process with USB sticks.

My Engl Invader has a recording out that supposedly includes the coloring of the power amp (presence settings and all). It runs at line level. I used to reamp with it and run it through IRs and got a decent sound.

So that one would be similar to using a DI box between amp /cab, right?

I figure you would do this to capture the full amp sound, in case you wanted to try different IRs or run your Kemper through a linear power amp and retain the power amp characteristics, right?

A preamp profile might be useful when IRs include the power amp coloring. I make my IRs mostly though an Engl 930/60 with the presence cranked way up. So I imagine full profiles might sound weird. Same thing if I run my Kemper through a tube power amp. Would make more sense to have profiles of the power amp section only, wouldn't it? There would be two power amps in the (one profiled, one real) in the signal chain...

I noticed that for all merged profiles I tried, I have to turn the presence waaay down on the power amp. Maybe that's the reason.

Quote from V8guitar

Same one as I've used for 4 years with a power conditioner ( power rack) no issues.

Yep. Exactly my set-up. Gator 4U-S, Furman, Powerrack.

For future reference. Easily fits into the Gator cases. Feet don't even touch the bottom...

The powered one has an extra speaker output (upper right corner). It can be deactivated to save power.

From what I understand, there are two ways for creating a profile that I can use live with my cabinets:

a) Use a DI box to capture the loaded poweramp output.

b) Use the fx send (or other direct outs an amp might offer)

What's the intended use for each? With a powered Kemper, should I rather make direct profiles (including the tone stack of the power amp) to have a decent sound when running my Kemper into a cabinet? If I run my Kemper into a tube power amp (cause two 16 ohm cabinets and stuff), should I rather try and make pure preamp profiles? A bit confused in regard to the sound differences between.

Cheers,

Michael

Yeah... as I said - as a live rig, especially when you go full DI, you probably can't do any better. A lot of people tried to adress the whole miking-up-the-cab thing by using a torpedo. It's quite a popular set-up for people playing "real" amps these days. I'm seeing a lot of rigs with a torpedo live for FOH and IEM...

Well. I've ordered a 4U Gator case, it seemed to have at least some amount of space between the mounting and bottom of the case, allowing for some minimal air flow:

(picture of the 2U, there were no inside pictures of the 4U)

I'll keep you updated on how it fits in there.

Does is fit with the rubberfeet in a normal 3U rack though?

I'd argue that in many cases, going direct to FOH has benefits over a miked up cab on stage. Especially on smaller stages - no bleed, no bumping into mics, possibly better sound than whatever bumped up SM57 the engineer has lying around, no mic stands that people could stumble over. I used to to bring my own 906 to shows, just to make sure there's none of this crap going on:

Especially on smaller stages or crappy ones that shake a lot... Ever had one of those gigs where the mic starts dead center on-axis and slowly wanders outwards to the point where it's off axis and not even pointing to the cone any more?

Well, none of that crap with the Kemper (or Helix, Axe-FX etc. for that matter). It's a tremendous improvement in terms of live sound and convenience.

As far as personal sound-seeking is concerned: I don't think it's supposed to replace all the tube amps you own. It's meant to capture a specific sound for studio purposes or live usage, but you'll still have to use real amps tweaked to a specific chain (including boosts, guitars/pick-ups, cabinets, microphone blends) to capture the desired sounds. The Kemper allows for some tweaking, but the gain and EQ knobs don't replicate the original amp.

Quote from hjscheffler

the ventilation slots on the bottom are there for a reason. Blocking them is not recommended to prevent any issues due to overheating. Make sure that there is always sufficient space underneath the unit to provide enough airflow.

So what's the recommendation when using it in a rack. Leave a single empty slot underneath for ventilation, maybe use it for an I/O panel?

Since you have tube amps that you seem to like - why not profile those with the same exact settings you'd normally use and see what happens? The problem with Kemper is that you can't really tweak profiles to your liking. Messing around with EQ and Gain seems to degrade the quality of the profile real fast. If you have amps that you like, profile them with the set-up you'd normally run into the PA (settings, cabinet, mike). I bet you won't notice a difference between that and a Kemper straight to PA except for the feel in the room. It wouldn't be fair to compare PA + amp in the room to PA only. It'll never feel like the amount of air that a guitar amplifier moves through a real cab.

I can tell you though that in a studio setting, it sounds absolutely identical to the miked up cab. Lots of studio owners capture profiles of their rigs when recording bands so they can go back and re-record stuff later on. Works like a charm.

In a live setting, running a Kemper through the power amp of an amplifier sounds identical to the amplifier itself. So the difference comes mostly from the power amp. Surprise! A class D power amp doesn't sound like 100 Watts of tubes... But even then, with some minor tweaks you can get a Kemper to sound reaaaaly close.

Hi guys,

I was wondering if it's safe to have my power rack in a 3U rack or at the bottom of a larger one. It literally says on the product page in the Thomann shop:

Quote

"as the rubber feet should not be removed for ventilation reasons, a min. 4 U rack is required"

On the other hand - I see loads of people having their units in 3U racks or at the bottom of a 4-6U rack. No ventilation issues?

Cheers,

Michael