Kemper Headphone users - tips and settings?

    Apologies if this has been covered, I was unable to check and wanted to post the questions before work, so I might have some tips to try tonight...


    I'm primarily running my Kemper with Audio-Technicia ATHM50's and it sounds great. But, I'm aware of ear fatigue after long sessions yesterday, and can't always use my KRK VXT4's to run the main outputs.


    My ears are ringing this morning from it being a bit too loud - so if you use headphones, how are they set? I had the master vol either on 1-1.3 max.


    I did activate the 'space' parameter - which makes a big difference when playing with cans and no fx. But think I need to set the levels to avoid giving my ears a hard time.


    If anyone has any tips or tricks, that would be great.


    Cheers,


    -Tonerider

    Unless there is a need for closed back cans for tracking ditch them.


    Fatigue is greatly reduced with open back IMHO.

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

    Quote from Tonerider

    My ears are ringing this morning from it being a bit too loud - so if you use headphones, how are they set? I had the master vol either on 1-1.3 max.

    Not sure about exact volume, I don't connect to Kemper directly, but I set volume on the mixer to the level when I can't hear (or very faintly hear) the sound from headphones when I take them off. In general I avoid headphones (they always sound bad to me on top of ear fatigue). Using headphones too loud is a certain way to fuck up your hearing for life, so please be careful.
    If your ears are ringing it's for sure way too loud. What is going to happen is that over time, this ringing will become permanent and you will stop hearing frequencies around this ringing frequency. It's not if but when.

    I do use the Kemper with headphones at home, I use both beyerdynamics DT770 and Shure se425 (live IEM headphones).


    In the beginning I tend to set the volume too loud, and it is easy to do because "everything sounds better loud". I understood that I had to take control of the volume, and now I have set the headphones level to a fixed number that I know is not too loud by experience. This number depends on what earphones I use and I don't exceed that number what so ever. Remember to be aware of the output light as well, the output light should not be solid yellow in my setup. Loudness is a parameter in the guitar sound, so watch the output light...


    So, find a decent fixed headphones level and watch the output light. Don't trust your "feelings" regarding guitar sound and loudness :)

    I use Sony Pro open back headphones and lately have been using my Westone IEM's. I like the isolation I get with IEM's and feel they're a bit more accurate when tracking. I always start at a very low volume and will increase throughout the day but am always aware of volume max. I blew out one of my ears over forty years ago with a VOX Berkley II... I can't say enough about watching your volume. Loud is rocking but ringing ears are a sure sign of too much volume and potential ear damage.

    Gettin' funky up in here..

    Also be careful when playing/recording bass tracks using headphones only. You almost always tend to turn up the volume to much, to make the sound audible. After 10 min. your ears will be ringing and might get damaged.


    Maybe set a reference volume first in using backing track through a mixer and connect kemper and headphone to the mixer as well. That's how I do it. If you have the feeling the backing track needs to be turned up, your guitar volume is too loud.

    Edited once, last by webdiver ().

    Thanks all - I'm certainly going to get the volume as quiet as possible and use a reference track to gauge the levels. Listened to music far too loud when young, and now aim to look after my hearing as much as possible.


    Edit - just checked and adjusted the headphone out vol to -33.5db - know it's quiet as can hear me hitting guitar strings outside the cans!!

    Have the KPA a couple of weeks now and all of a sudden my headphones sounded overdriven on my clean channels. Sounded ok thru my FRFR monitor so I got on the net to find if anybody else was having this issue. Sorry if this has been covered already but all I've seen on the forum is there must be something wrong with your headphones. I got very frustrated because headphones are very important to keep peace on the home front. Gotta keep the wife happy. ;). Anyway thank you wiKPA! I found where one KPA user was having the same issue. I followed the instructions on wiKPA under "emergency" did a flash intialization and not only did it fix the headphone issue but all the rigs sounded so much cleaner and not overly processed. I'm a tweaker by nature and really thought I needed to tweak all the rigs to get them to sound good to my ears. After the flashing a lot of the factory rigs sounded really good with little or no tweaking. I'm a happy Kemper! I think I may have downloaded a rig that may have corrupted something and the flashing is designed to clean it out. Just my 2 cents. Maybe this can help someone. :)