Posts by DeeBoughton

Quote from norburybrook

I've known about this for some time but kept quiet about it. He called me about 18 months ago as he knew I had a Kemper and asked me about it. I told him it was great but I'd always use a real amp live if I could. About 6 months later, end of last year we were in his British Grove studio working together and he told me he was going to use the Kemper Live. I tried to persuade him not to LOL I said it's your band, you can be as loud as you like , it's only us session musicians that have to keep the levels down for the 'Artist'

I'm not 100% sure what he's using exactly for each song but he has two of my 'Dumble' profiles on there.

M

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I'm glad for this thread for several reasons, not the least of which is I have now visited your website and will be stocking up on your profiles. Also, there just might be a very good reason that Mark Knopfler contacted Mr. Cliffe for advice. Just saying....

Very interesting! Mr. Knopfler, along with Gilmour, is one of my two favorite tone heros. I've been having a difficult time finding, or tweaking, clean profiles that I like and can use, so this gives me some hope. My favorite Knopfler tones are higher gain amp settings with light strings and fingers, so he gets a mostly clean tone but it has a girth that you can't get from a totally clean amp. It will be interesting going forward if we get some idea of the types of profiles/rigs he's using. It will be fun to try to emulate what he does tone wise with the Kemper, though I totally agree, it would not matter what he played, he would still sound phenomenal.

Quote from BB2019

Let's end it brother. ConradK post went south for a moment. I apoligize to you Conrad, I have, it seems a rep it seems. Shouldn't have took the bait.

Once again, congrats on the Kemper love Conrad.

Sincerely, Fanboy. ?

Your're right. Sorry, but that really P!$$ed me off. Conrad, my apologies. I'm with you brother. I've been a tube purist for a long time, still am to large degree, but I'm having a lot of fun with this new Kemper!

Quote from Dimi84

The reason you were called a "fanboy" was you went full on attack mode on another user in quite a disturbing manner. Let's not act as if people went after you just because you like Kemper.

How is this even freakin necessary? Maybe the other guy from the other un named thread could come over here into the welcome area and make an obvious effort of having the last word on everything, just like in the other thread, which will remain un named. This is what I call ridiculous friend.

Just because you don't currently own a Kemper doesn't mean you have to leave. Does it?

Quote from DML

Mesa Thiele + C90 (which is in fact a Classic Lead 80) = NO GO

I thought that the Mesa cab with the C90 sounded OK until I brought my DIY EV TL806 cab loaded with the EVM12L over to a buddies house and we compared the two side by side. The difference was very eye opening. I would not trade the EV for 100 C90's.

ConradK,

I'm new to the Kemper too, and probably have a similar background. I've been playing Electric guitar for a little over 30 years and I have more great tube amps and guitars than I can give sufficient attention to. I bought the Kemper because I play in a situation that is striving to drastically reduce stage volume. We have an off stage amp/cab room and run tube amps to cabs in the amp room, so I can run my amps as loud as I want to run them, but I still have the monitoring issue of monitoring my off stage mic'd cab.

So, I thought why not try a solution like the Kemper. It really is a very useful tool to have in the tool box and it easily does some things that are really difficult to do with a traditional amp. I'm not getting rid of my other amps, but I don't think I'll be getting rid of the Kemper either:) In my short stint with the Kemper my favorite commercial profiles have been MBritt and The Amp Factory. Tone Junkie has some cool stuff too, and you can get a bunch of profiles from them for free, which is a good way to sample their stuff and see what you like. The Amp Factory has a free rig pack in Rig exchange also, give it a try. I have bought all of their Hiwatt profiles, but there are a few free ones in the free rig pack. They sound great for hard rock stuff, and are pretty spot on to my ear compared to Hiwatts I've played in the past. They are a nice addition to the Marshall profiles with the type of sounds you described in your original post.

Quote from Wheresthedug

I’ve never used 412 live as I can’t be bothered carrying them around and I don’t like the beaming of the sound. When I bought my Dual a Rectifier back in ‘95 I opted for a pair of Thiele EVM12L cab instead of the recto 412. Very glad I did. They are awesbeasts and so easy to carry. The new Mesa Thiele cabs come with C90s though so look for a used EV model.

Absolutely! The difference between the EVM12L and and the Celestion C90 is a large one.

There are a bunch of great profiles in the free MBritt rig profiles in the rig exchange. Try out the 79 JMP. I have used that profile to make my favorite rig so far. With the gain rolled down to about 10 or 11 on the dial it does Malcolm Young Rhythm tone to a T with a Filtertron equipped guitar and volume rolled back a bit. I've never been able to achieve his sound very well but with that profile and very little tweaking it is there in spades. It sounds phenomenal and I've been playing it non stop for about a week with a big stupid grin on my face.

Two other stand outs that I've found (at least to my ear) in that free pack are the /13-39 profile and the Little Water 22. They are both just fantastic.

I have a couple of 2x12's and have had a handful over the years. None of them sounds or feels like a 4x12. The closest thing that I've experienced is a 1x12 EV TL806 cab with either an EVM12L or a Fane Studio 12L. The Fane is a relatively unknown speaker and not in production anymore. It is an amazing speaker and the Thiele cab has that 4x12 thump that I've never been able to get out of a 2x12.

Quote from heldal

This is true for your sound in front of the amp on stage or at practise, but beware that you may end up with a very different sound from the main outputs that normally is what you record or send to the audio mixer from a Kemper. Some people put microphones in front of the cab, but that does IMHO defeat the purpose of using a profiler. I have played the KPA through an amp and cab at times, but I personally prefer either to go full FRFR with the Kemper or simply use a traditional amp and pedalboard instead. Note that these are my personal preferences. Others may differ.

I'm new to the Kemper, so I definitely value the experience of others with more experience. I purchased the Kemper to see if it would give me the kind of front of house sound that I want without having my amp back stage or playing into an Iso cab. Stage volume is problematic so I'm trying the Kemper out primarily as a solution to that main issue. Most of the time, I will probably just use IEM's (Eventhough I hate them, the whole band is on IEM's) and not have a cab on the stage, but I still need something for practice and for playing at home. I think I may start with something relatively inexpensive like a Yamaha DXR10 and go from there. I looked up the Blueamps products. They look interesting, but I'm thinking they may be difficult to come by in the US.

Quote from Jeeega

So I tried the FRFR cab a bit (with apartment volumes without the neighbors calling the police), the same volumes I use the traditional guitar cab. The first fault I find in this FRFR is that the sound seems to come from the next room. While disabling any effect such as delay or reverb, this unpleasant feeling remains, confirmed by the fact that as soon as the traditional case is reconnected (2x12 Vox open back loaded with Black Shadow and Vox by Wharfedale) the sound is there, precisely, it comes out of the speakers and it is precisely where it should be. This issue of the point of emission displaces me a little. Secondly but not least the sounds: by using the cabinet section correctly you get more marked differences between one amplifier and another compared to using it with the traditional case but unfortunately the sounds are very aseptic, with a surgical precision that is not suitable for everyone those vintage-style sounds while they probably go better with modern-style sounds. They also lack something I could define as "life". With the traditional case the crunch sounds for example react at the level of dynamics exactly as a true tube amp would do, which I own and can connect at any time to verify. They don't make your heart beat, they don't convey emotions, they don't push you to linger on a sound for half an hour just to try to listen to all the nuances because they are missing ... they are rather flat and precise, they look much more like a bad amp transistor than a tube. They sound a bit fake and plastic. Reserve the right to make a new session of similar listening, after which I will transport the whole system to the rehearsal room where I will do the same tests at a bit higher volumes. It will take three or four days but it will be done and I will update you on the results. I could write to Celestion to see if I did something wrong in the project for example. Post Scriptum: I can't wait to compare my system with the J&F Paradigma. Ciao!

Hmmmm.

I was hoping the review would be positive. I was seriously looking at this speaker for a DIY FRFR powered cab with the Dayton Bi-amped plate amplifier that Xitone is using in the MBritt cabinet. I apologize if this is covered in earlier posts, but Jeeega, did you build the cab for this speaker? If you did, can you post pics or links to the plans you used? I'm curious to see what kind of cab you have the speaker in, and what you powered it with. Also, do you think that the speaker could benefit from disabling the high pass filter and using an active programmable crossover such as offered with the above mentioned Dayton plate amp?

Quote from heldal

In my experience whether a traditional cab or FRFR is best depend on your style of music. With a trad cab all sounds played through it will be somewhat affected by the cabs characteristics. I'm OK with a poweramp and a cab in a setting where I exclusively play electric guitar within one style of music. FRFR is OTOH the only decent solution in other settings where I need to vary a lot and even throw in acoustic instruments such as guitar, bass, mandolin etc.

These days I play almost exclusively through a Blueamps Spark, a 2x10 stereo FR-cabinet. This works well for anything I play, except that I add the sub-unit for the spark for more bottom end with baritone or bass. A Mission Gemini II would do the same job. These are not cheap though.

Thanks for the input Heldal! I would be using the KPA mostly for electric guitar. I don't need to cover a lot of different genres and the majority of profiles I would use are mostly are cleanish to cranked Fender Tweeds, cleanish to cranked Vox style amps, and cleanish to cranked Hiwatt and JMP/JCM styles. I won't likely ever use the KPA for anything higher gain than a 70's JMP. I've got all the speakers and cabs that make those original amps shine, so I was just thinking wouldn't it make sense to run the KPA through the speakers that made the original amps famous?

I can see myself using the kemper for acoustic guitar and mandolin at times too though, so an FRFR may still make sense.

So, I picked up a KPA about a month ago. I've never owned anything remotely like it. I've got a bunch of old school analog gear with tubes and antiquated components like that. I've played the KPA a lot over the past month primarily through IEM's. I've also borrowed powered speakers from friends for a day here and a day there, i.e. a newer EV 12 and a QSC K12.2. The KPA sounded pretty good through those speakers but not great, at least to my ears. The EV sounded OK but somehow felt "fake". I really wanted it to be stellar because it is like $399 brand new. The QSC was better but felt really "hifi" which is still strange to me.

I have the non powered rack and I've held off buying a powered speaker or a FRFR type powered cab until I was sure that I was going to keep the KPA. I'm at that place now, and am really struggling with whether I should pick up something like the Matrix GT1000FX and run the KPA into one of the many nice guitar cabs I already own. I could also pick up or build a passive FRFR cab with a coaxial driver and make use of the amp to drive either a guitar cab or an FRFR cab. On the other hand it would be a lot cheaper, and easier, to pick up a relatively flat response powered speaker like a DXR10, or a pair for stereo. I'd love to have both options, but this whole experiment is starting to get pretty expensive. I have searched and read a bunch of threads on the Yamaha DXR10, but I haven't read too many threads that really discuss the advantages of running the Kemper into a 4x12 1960B with Greenbacks or into a 2x12 with alnico Blues as examples. I have a bunch of cabs with options running the gamut from vintage Jensen to EV, JBL, vintage Fane, and vintage Celestions. With lots of speaker options would it make sense to have a power amp to be able to power guitar cabs?

Anyone out there run the KPA primarily into guitar cabs? If you do, I'm curious as to why and what the perceived benefits are. Also, I'm curious how you primarily use the KPA, i.e. for recording, home playing, live performance. If I continue to own and use mine it will be primarily for practice in the band room, alone and with other musicians, and for live performance. I have not performed live with it yet, but I am assuming I will run it direct to FOH and will either use IEM's or whatever cab I end up with to monitor on stage. Any help with thoughts and ideas would be awesome. I can also see how it would be really useful to have an FRFR option to be able tweak profiles for the PA, so I have analysis paralysis at the moment and need someone to help me out.

Quote from Antipodes

There's a pretty useful vid from Pete Thorn where he demonstrates using an Echoplex style pedal before an amp and he shows how this is very much part van halen's early sound (Echoplex and mod pedals before his dimed plexi head ). He demonstrates the setup for the tone of Ain't Talkin bout Love using the pedal and the KPA about 5 mins in or so. Enjoy.

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Thanks for that! I love Pete Thorn videos. Even though he was selling the MXR pedal the info. he shares is great. It's also really cool to see how the KPA reacts to the changes in guitar volume and how that changes the dynamics of the delay. I'm going to play around with my analog and digital delays in front of the KPA. This video really gives me some ideas. Thanks again!

Quote from DonPetersen

DeeBoughton

I suspect that Direct Amp Profiles from your amps over the speakers of your amps will behave exactly as you are used to.

A Profile run over monitors includes by nature the sound one or more mics 'see' by being very close to the speaker.

Having a guitar cabinet or combo on the other hand will give you a more de-focussed sound, where the room plays it's part and usually we as guitarists don't aim the 'beam', the middle of the speaker directly at our ears.

long story short, there is a difference between the so called 'amp in the room' setup and close mic'ed sounds.

close mic'ed is everything you hear live as part of the audience and on recordings.

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Thanks Don! I've heard HW from ToneJunkie talk about the idea of "no one, or not many people, know what Jimi Hendrix' amps actually sounded like. We all just know what his mic'd and recorded amps sound like, and that sound includes a long chain of mics, eq, preamp, etc." I understand what you're talking about, but I haven't run my KPA through a guitar cab (I don't have a suitable amp to do that) to hear the difference. I am amazed at how much tone shaping you can do to any profile at various places in the KPA. I am trying to get a sense for which tweaks are best for getting you in the sweet spot. I definitely use the definition function a lot, and I also use the sag and compression functions in the amp section a lot too.

Quote from Horspip

I suppose the very nature of the Kemper is that it is effectively whatever you want it to be. Inevitably, the price of such versatility is lots of tweaking.

It would be interesting to know whether profiles of your amps would have the same characteristics - that everything you plugged into them sounds great.

Cool history of a cool guitar!

There is no doubt that the Kemper is versatile. I'm not trying to run it down in any way. I've played non master volume tube amps for over 30 years. I'm used to them, and I understand them. I've built a half dozen of them or so. On the other hand, Kemper and technology like it, is the future. I will absolutely use the Kemper live, a lot going forward. I've just got to really learn how to use it well. When I figure out how to do it, I am going to profile all of my amps, and I'm curious how that will turn out.

I may have to try this. I do have to admit though, that some part of me enjoys playing around with effects that I never use, and also trying out effect settings that are much more extreme than I normally use.

Quote from klipping

Do you place the KPA delay in the same position as the Timeline (before or after the amp)? That can change the dynamics of the delay a lot. As mentioned, Grid has a similar effect.

I really like the KPA delays. They sound great. At home I can easily dial in the sound I’m looking for. But I end up using my El Capistan instead when I play live.

I tend to adjust settings while I play live to match the room, my mood or the song.

I normally only adjust Time, feedback and mix. Even though those parameters are directly accessible on the KPA I can’t manage to adjust the sound as quick as I can with the El Capistan. I suspect this is because of the range/speed and feel of the encoders and the lack of a clear reference.

Good point. None of my amps have effects loops, so delay (and everything else) goes in the front of the amp. So far, I have used delay after the amp in the Kemper. I will try delay before the amp in the KPA and see how that sounds and feels. Thanks!

Quote from DamianGreda

There is no way to delete effects types. They are hardcoded. You can delete presets but this will not remove these effects from Rig's.

Back to school for me, I guess.