Thoroughly Disappointed, Please Help!

    Quote from MacDre

    Hey guys, I just got a Kemper and I am running it through two Yamaha HS7 powered monitors. So far I am greatly unimpressed with the sound I am getting. Clean tones sound good, but anything with distortion sounds thin, harsh, kind of muffled, and just overall shitty. Granted I am used to a direct blast from tube amps. But then again, even a shitty little Line 6 digital amp I had years ago was much better than this. I havent even scratched the surface with all the settings but I have been able to mess around with the EQ and still can't get anything to sound close to acceptable. From what I have read, the tones Kemper produces are that of a mic'd amp, and me not being an audio producer is not used to this at all. But what confuses me is I watched countless videos on youtube before buying of blind comparison tests between the real deal amps and the Kemper and they were almost indistinguishable. So what gives. Are the stock profiles just bad? Do I need to spend more time tweaking the settings? I am scared to sink more money into it by buying new rigs just to be disappointed. At this point I'm already thinking about returning it.
    And before anyone asks, yes the cabinet setting is turned on and I have tried various different ones.

    I kinda had the same issue in the beginning. But listening back recordings made clear that the thing works like advertised. But I was missing the oemph in the room too. I have a tube poweramp (Koch ATR) and go to a 2x12 cab to give me that air and push. I started using the profiles by Guido Bungenstock and Bert Meulendijk and then the KPA finally felt like an amp to me. I like my amp in the room sound so much that I now record the direct output as well as micing my cab and blend the signals, since in my mixes I sometimes missed the depth and warmth of the 'live' sound as well. You'll get there.

    Before I forget, thank you everyone for the responses.


    Going to kind of go off topic now but I figure I'd keep all my noobie questions in one thread.


    I don't know if I can live without that feeling of air being pushed my combo amp produces, so I am thinking about buying a cabinet. Probably either a Marshall or Mesa Boogie 2x12, or a Bogner if I wanna look fancy... unless someone has a better recommendation. Since I got the non-powered Kemper, I need an external amp, or power source, correct? How powerful? The cabs I have been looking at all range from 120 watt - 160 watt, so I assume it would need to generate at least that much.

    A tube poweramp will color your tone, whether that's good or bad is up to you. Many take the FRFR route to reap all the
    benefits of the KPA, others prefer cabs. So many variables, watch as many demos as possible! Some suggestions: in no particular order.


    Speakers/cabs
    Yamaha DXR-10 or 12's
    Mission Gemini 2
    Atomic
    Friedman


    Amps
    ISP Technologies Stealth
    Quilter Tone Block 201
    Matrix GT1000FX
    Mesa 50/50

    And its safe to assume because of the size, that these FRFR's are going to give me a similar sensation to a direct blast from my combo amp?


    Is it bad to drive speakers with less power than they are specified as requiring? Because that Koch ATR tube poweramp is 2x45watt stereo or 1x90watt mono and the Matrix Neolight NL212 is 8 ohms 120w mono mode or 16 ohms, 60w per side stereo mode.

    Edited once, last by MacDre ().

    Quote from MacDre

    Is it bad to drive speakers with less power than they are specified as requiring?

    You're thinking of solid state power amps, tube amps don't care about that.


    If you're using an underpowered solid state amp it's possible to overdrive it into clipping that can destroy your speakers. (Tweeters specifically). Solid state amps should be double the wattage of the speakers to avoid clipping the amps into distortion.


    About the cab suggestion, if you're in the UK/EU, check out Matamp. You can get a custom made cab for less than a Mesa cab.

    Quote from 808illest

    Speakers will only take as much power as the amplifier puts out. It's bad the other way around in most cases!

    This!

    Quote from nakedzen

    You're thinking of solid state power amps, tube amps don't care about that.
    If you're using an underpowered solid state amp it's possible to overdrive it into clipping that can destroy your speakers. (Tweeters specifically). Solid state amps should be double the wattage of the speakers to avoid clipping the amps into distortion.


    About the cab suggestion, if you're in the UK/EU, check out Matamp. You can get a custom made cab for less than a Mesa cab.

    There is a reason the SS in the Kemper needs to be 600 Watts (and other SS's are also delivered with high watts), where my tube amp is 1x90 watts and so much louder than the build in SS. But trust me, the NL212 and ATR have plenty of headroom and I do play LOUD :)