Amazing tone FOH, but horrific through IEM’s

Quote from SQUAREHEAD

When I unplug my inner ears from the Allen and Heath ME1 and go direct into the front Kemper through earphone jack my tone is amazing… and I have heard FOH, which also is fantastic!

There’s your answer, get rid of the ME-1.

If the FOH sounds good, but not the ME1 Monitor mixes, that suggests the guitar monitor signal sent from the FOH mixer to the ME1 is too hot, causing distortion.

I wonder if the built-in mic on the ME-1 is causing issues?

You aren’t alone. I played a gig last week and had the same problem. My band has our own IEM system. We are using a Crest Audio 18RM monitor mixer and sending individual stereo mixes to Shure psm300 IEM wireless systems. I use Alclair Tour IEM’s. The sound was amazing out of the PA. Everyone said it sounded great. We used no speaker cabs on stage at all. Kemper right to house splitter snake and the split feed went into an input patchbay feeding our Crest monitor mixer. The guitar sound in my IEM’s was crap. Really harsh and trebly and hard to play on. It didn’d Sound that bad at band rehearsals but the IEM’s aren’t turned as loud at rehearsal as they had to be at the gig to overcome the loud PA.

I resorted to using a graphic eq to take the harshness out of the guitar in ears. Again, it sounds great foh, but brash and unusable in ears.

It is not just the Kemper. Previously I had a Rocktron Prophesy with an IR player and got the same issue.

Quote from SQUAREHEAD

Hey DML... I would like to but unfortunately it’s the only way I can hear the other band Instruments and singers … Is the ME1 notorious for problems like this? I have no idea as this in ear monitor thing is still relatively new to me ...
I will check to make sure the signal they are sending back to me is not too hot, but I don’t think it is because I have to turn up my (mon box) volume about halfway to hear my guitar at the level I need… Which would seem that it’s just about right…
Is there a way of plugging an output of the kemper straight into the ME1 and through to my ears mixed with everything else in the band?
I just want to get something close to the tone I get from the earphone jack… Right now it’s a whole world away from that ... It’s almost unplayable, extremely unenjoyable

Looks like the whole signal chain from Kemper to ME-1 is degrading.
The ME-1 has a stereo AUX input, you can try this input. I guess you are using the XLR output for FOH. Get a Y-cable, from 2x mono 1/4 inch jack to stereo 1/8 inch jack. The 1/4 jacks go to the Kemper outputs, the 1/8 jack goes to the AUX input on the ME-1.

Quote from SQUAREHEAD

Thank you DML, I will try this! Will the ME1 allow me to mix this in with all the other instruments?

Yes, but the AUX input has no dedicated volume pot, you'll have to set the Kemper's volume with the Master Volume on the Kemper. Notice that this will affect the volume to FOH as well.
And of course, you'll have to mute the Kemper XLR signal on the ME-1.

I have a Yamaha DXR and Sennheizer IEM its fantastic sound and even good bass responce! its a perfect setup for me live!

@SQUAREHEAD - I had similar issues, so some trouble to get a good sound into my ears even my FOH sound was just amazing. My solution is to use a splitter - e.g. Behringer MX882 Ultralink Pro , which is 8 channel splitter/Mixer (at Thomann €99,--). I'm running my Kemper main outs (stereo) into my Behringer and from there the split signal into FOH. I also run my monitor signal into my Behringer (without my Guitar). In Behringer, I do my (stereo) mix, which does go into my Sennheiser G300. I'm using Stage Diver 4 . Since I've done the 100€ invest into the splitter/mixer, I'm very happy with my sound (and don't give a shit how the guitar does sound thorugh the monitor mix anymore, haha)

I experienced poor quality on my earphones, too while my FoH was alright. In my case it was the poor LD MEI 100 IEM, attenuating some db at around 10kHz.

Since I am pretty sure that you UE's provide excellent sound quality, you'll have to think over your routing of the signal. You could do the following: Send your Kemper signal to the mixing console and rely on the guy there to provide a great sound to the audience. Tell him to provide you with a stereo signal from the console without your guitar (important). (You can work with a mono signal, too but you'll have to connect it to two inputs on the back of the Kemper).

Hook it up to the (1) Auxiliary input and the (2) return input of the Kemper. Connect your earphones the the headphone output of the Kemper (you can use any IEM gear in between like a Sennheiser etc.). Use the "Aux In"-->>> "Headphones" section to mix those two signals ... done. Or send your direct Kemper signal to a Shure PSM300 on the left channel and a signal from the AUX of your FoH console to the right channel and blend those two signals using the volume knob on your body pack.

Please remember, that for this solution, don't use an AUX (monitor) signal from the console including your guitar channel.

The FoH signal is a mix of your band w/o your guitar, and you add your Kemper signal directly from your Amp w/o somebody messing around with. hope that helps, best regards

The profiles sound good foh because you are listening to a speaker from a distance. The IEMs are giving you the the equivalent of putting your ear next to a speaker where the mic was placed for the profile. The only way for me is to eq the IEM signal.

FoH and with my studio headphones I like my profiles very much as well.

Nevertheless, through my IEMs I could not get the high gain profiles sound good. Whatever, I know that it sounds good through FoH so I do not care.

2nd: I see my IEM as a control over my playing. I do not expect to have the most monstrous mix on my IEM. I use it primarily to keep the focus on my playing. The mix and EQ I need for this differs to the tone I expect from my rig for FoH sounds.

But you are right: the KPA's performance on high gain profiles with IEMs lacks a little bit for me. I do not blame the unit for this since I am not sure if it's me not being able to dial it in correctly.