I wasn't sure if this was the best location for this, but since it extends the conversation from mere troubleshooting into "tweak your Kemper into pure bliss" I thought I'd chance it.
Here's what's going on:
- My current setup is a Kemper into a GT1000FX (Matrix) into a JBL 2x15 FRFR loudspeaker.
Sound is generally awesome, after I got the hang of finding a good cabinet that plays well with some of the profile's I've found. (Lately it's been the Peavy cabs that have had the best response in the high and low freqs that I want. I'm using a Peavey 6505 cabinet that has no real other info on it.)
I run my rigs at pretty high gain. I've started running my Distortion sense around +2.8 dB.
Now, what I'm finding is that there's a bit too much "pop" to my sound. Like the power amp pushing the speakers is almost a bit too responsive to pick attack. AND the amps are starting to sound a bit too much alike overall.
I tried using a screamer (Kemper's) to push the amps, but I'm not crazy about the honkiness and frequency response. I might dabble with it again, but I've not been able to get the kind of thickness in distortion that I would get running a TS into my real life 5150.
It's hard to describe this "pop" in response, but it's best described as the initial attack of sound before a compressor kicks in. Thing is, all my profile amp settings are pretty much zero, except definition.
So I'm thinking it might be the way I'm mixing and matching amps to the one cabinet I like (the 6505 from some profile I grabbed a while back.)
I was using my BBE MaxCom for a while, but all it's doing by adding the maximizer is highlight this strange quality of the sound.
I'm also trying to reality-check myself that I may have unrealistic expectations of the sound I'm going to be able to achieve.
So, I guess my question is two-fold:
1) Anyone experienced this odd frequency response using FRFR?
2) I realize I'm "inheriting" a lot of the tonal characteristics of the cabinet I've chosen. Anyone had luck with mixing cabinets from other profiles and getting some solid results? Is it really just a bad practice to mix and match the cabs?
I think I may be "homogenizing" my sound by running all my amp profiles through this one cabinet, but it's really got the sound I'm looking for. Many of the others are too boomy (Mesa) or flat (Marshall) for what I want to get.
Any Tips/Tricks around amp/cab mixing, as well as getting authenticity in FRFR, would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks!