No headroom for boost/od pedals on clean(ish) profile

    Hi, gigged the Kemper for the first time last night, replacing my (real) ac30 + various drive pedals combo. Got some good comments, enjoyed it. The only 'issue' I encountered was regarding headroom when using boost/od pedals...


    For now, I simply had the amp set to a standard clean mbritt Vox ac30 (brilliant) profile for the whole night and ran a couple of OD/boost/distortion pedals in front (similar to my old setup, I'd hoped).


    Time generally fine, problem is, with the clean boosts I wasn't really getting much volume boost at all. Rather, it just seemed to compress more and more. It's like there was a ceiling on how loud I could go, and could not go louder (least via pedals). This was the case in my in-ears, and also out FOH apparently


    The master volume and all other volumes and gains were all way below 1/2 way. The distortion pedals were a similar story - I like to normally set them with a little boost in volume to ensure ALL frequencies are louder than the clean sound (so there is no 'where did my mids go' vibe) - but again, it seemed I wasn't getting much louder than what I considered to be 'unity gain' (volume) with the clean sound.


    How can I resolve this?


    Extra info - fender strat, single coils, clean sens on 0.0.
    I didn't really notice this at home using headphones (glorious), only really on gig, and also the sound guy later said he had 'a little compression' on my channel at the desk - I would be surprised if it was causing such a difference.


    With my real ac30, I've got it set so that its clean, with a tiny little grind if you dig in, but defo still allowing for possible volume boosts. The Kemper (or at least this profile) seems to go from clean to totally compressed (I would even call it 'saturated') in the space of hardly any decibels...

    This is something I have played with a lot the last year, trying to use my boost pedals with the Kemper. The only way you will get a boost level is if you use the pedals in the Kemper loop in slot X or Mod. Like you have noticed the Kemper keeps inputs at a set level, you will just distort the input before getting any volume difference from the front input. Even the sound you get is not what the pedal should be.


    Personally I have given up on using my boost pedals with the Kemper unless it's with an amp during a profiling session. You will find that using either "pure boost" or "green scream" in slot A-D along with some EQ will get you much better results and you can get close to some of the pedals you want. You can also double up on the boosts (for example pure boost in C and pure boost in D) to give you that extra gear you might be looking for. Use "pure boost" or EQ in X slot for a volume boost.


    I too was disappointed that I can not use my favorite boost pedals with the Kemper but I have worked hard at getting close to what they sound like with steps above. I get really great results when profiling an amp and using my boosts though. I guess one bonus is I don't need to haul them to gigs/rehearsal.


    Cheers!

    Welcome OP :)


    If your boost is in front of the amp you won't get a pure boost but an increase in the amp's gain\compression\distortion instead. The same is true if it's in front of an OD\distortion pedal, specially if the latter feeds the Amp section.


    If you place it after the amp you'll get a pure volume increment instead. If this doesn't happen, either

    • you're clipping the Profiler's output (check the related LED)
    • you're close to the power amp's headroom limit
    • you're close to the (real) cabs' headroom limit.


    HTH

    The thing with the Kemper that can be a little confusing, is that levels for clean and distorted can be set separately. If you feel that going from clean into distortion doesn't give you enough of a volume boost, you should lower Clean Sense.


    On the other hand...the FOH engineer compressed the signal at the desk? If your distorted sounds went into compression at the desk that'll certainly make a big difference <X

    Cheers everyone, great input. Wasn't looking for a massive clean boost, was just used to those same pedals with my amp where I could get a little clean boost (for clean lead lines) and also maybe a small bump in volume when going to drive pedals (infront of amp) only to ensure it doesn't sound smaller/thinner than when it was off! General consensus is that that is quite difficult to achieve unless I put a boost after the amp section....


    still find this surprising as at the end of the day, I'm used to going into a box ac30 and its fine, but just not fine an an ac30 Kemper :)

    Quote from Trazan

    Quote from teamjim: “still find this surprising as at the end of the day, I'm used to going into a box ac30 and its fine, but just not fine an an ac30 Kemper”


    You just need to set Clean Sense so that going into overdrive gives you the boost you want <img src="https://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/wcf/images/smilies/cool.png" alt="8)" />


    i understand how this works for if you were switching to a higher gain profile, but doesn't seem to have much affect when using actual real overdrive pedals in front

    Quote from teamjim


    i understand how this works for if you were switching to a higher gain profile, but doesn't seem to have much affect when using actual real overdrive pedals in front


    You should be able to set it to act the same way. The profile gain doesn't matter.


    You're not overloading the input (or output) on the Kemper?
    Is the compressor parameter in the amplifier turned up?


    It could also possibly be that the particular profile you're using compresses more than you're used to from an AC30?

    I use an ep booster out front and it definitely boosts the signal. Its prob the profile you are using or compression. Currently though Im using the ep for the tone shaping and not the boost but I have played around with it and it boosts the signal just like it did on my tube amps

    Trazan and Spaz, what version are you running on the Kemper? With 3.3 my pedals out front seemed to work, now on 4.06 something has changed and I can't get the same results. I.e the sound of my pedals just are not the same anymore. Just can't put my finger on what happened that changed, but the pedals do not seem to push as they did previously.

    Quote from spazmatron

    I use an ep booster out front and it definitely boosts the signal. Its prob the profile you are using or compression. Currently though Im using the ep for the tone shaping and not the boost but I have played around with it and it boosts the signal just like it did on my tube amps


    Same with me (though even with the boost rolled right back, the ep still provides a noticeable increase in volume)