Powered Kemper into a Marshall 1960 4x12, everything sounds bad

    Bought a powered Kemper head about a year ago, using it through my Marshall 1960 4x12 and just can't get this to sound good. I am playing mostly Metal ( 5150 III, Mesa Dual rec profiles, etc ) Have tried hundred of different profiles all from Merged to DI through the rig manager, messed with the Main Output settings, made sure Kemper Kone was off, made sure Monitor Cab is off, tweaked EQ settings in the profiles themselves, etc. Everything sounds bright, somewhat fizzy and just doesn't have the sound of a real tube head into a 4x12. I know the speakers on the 1960 cab are a bit bright ( G-12-75) but something seems off. I read on a Kemper forum where another use was having similar issues and after going back and forth with Tech Support and trying to tweak things, he sent it back and got a replacement and said problem solved. Turned out to be a funky unit. I don't have that luxury since I bought mine used about a year ago.


    If anyone has any other ideas or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. If anyone is in the Philly / South Jersey area as well that could help me in person or let me try their powered to head to see if I got a lemon or not, would be great. Thanks for reading!

    You can do a "init globals" to set back to factory settings in case you set something wrong and forgot what is was. Honestly, metal tones sound pretty nasty alone no matter the amp or cab. In the mix, they come out much better (at least to some listeners).


    Also look into the Pure Cabinet setting at around 2.5 when using studio/merged profiles.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    You’d be surprised at how Kemper support will help. If you have an ask them for help, that is something I would definitely do.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

    Having some more info would help. Until we know what you are doing, we are just guessing.


    EXAMPLE:

    High Freqs are very directional. Meaning they beam out the front of the speaker cone. So you need to tweak the sounds with your head at speaker level. If you tweak the sounds standing up and then mic your amp, it will sound like complete trash because you will have boosted a ton of highs to make up for the fact they are beaming at your legs and you cant hear them.


    The speakers high freq response is crucial to the Kemper doing its thing. But in general it is hard to get a bad sound out of a decent cab with good flat speakers. The problem may come from the tone of your speakers not matching up with what you are trying to play thru them.


    If you are not doing anything crazy, then your best friend may be the HIGH FREQ CUT. All of the pros on here use it. Somewhere between 4-8k. Below 5-6k you may start noticing the pick attack is starting to get soft, but you get rid of the most fizz.


    Loud volumes can change your tone A LOT! Maybe you are playing loud enough that the speakers are driven hard into compression and you have boosted the Highs to try and bring it back to life.


    REPAIR HELP FROM KEMPER

    Since you say you got it used, there may be a reason it was being sold. Contacting support may be a good thing.

    As a matter of interest, are you running the Kemper with cab on or off?


    Over the years I've had varying results depending on the physical cabinet used. I found that some cabinets work better than others. Some I used with the cab on and others with cab off.


    I'm sure youve tried this stuff already though.

    Quote from Robman

    As a matter of interest, are you running the Kemper with cab on or off?


    Over the years I've had varying results depending on the physical cabinet used. I found that some cabinets work better than others. Some I used with the cab on and others with cab off.


    I'm sure youve tried this stuff already though.

    Cab sim is off in the global settings since I am using a real 4x12. I did for the heck of it though, try to hear what these profiles sounded like with the cab sim on and it was way worse.

    Quote from BayouTexan

    You can do a "init globals" to set back to factory settings in case you set something wrong and forgot what is was. Honestly, metal tones sound pretty nasty alone no matter the amp or cab. In the mix, they come out much better (at least to some listeners).


    Also look into the Pure Cabinet setting at around 2.5 when using studio/merged profiles.

    Tried this already, thanks for the info though. I

    am using a Marshall 1960 cab with G12-75 speakers in it which are a bit bright anyway. I am getting another EVH 4x12 this weekend that has the Heritage speakers in it which are definitely darker. Maybe that will help?