Posts by Boanerges

My 2 cents on this.

I've been using a competing Product for a good three years mainly going FRFR. I've owned a non-Powered KPA for a year and a half, and only recently started replacing the other box for live use. The big shift for me was doing my own profiles. I started missing the rumble of a real cabinet onstage, so I purchased the Matrix GT1000FX power amp, which sounded amazing running it the way described in the OP - w/o cab simulation thru my own cabinet onstage and fully simulated out to the FOH (using profiles that I made With the same cab that I use onstage). This meant carrying another rack, so I jumped on the Upgrade option Kemper offers for early adopters and bought a Power Rack, hoping the internal power amp would do the same job as the Matrix.

In short, it does. The Power Rack sounds amazing, and is amazingly powerful (and I'm known to play loud). Combined With the warm and dynamic sound of the KPA, the power amp really delivers. I dug out my previous rig for a gig yesterday, just to calibrate my ears, but was instandly disappointed and spent the rest of the gig regretting I didn't bring my Power Rack as a backup.

Quote from DonPetersen

please check what your outputs are set to (although a DI content here would show up in all rigs.)

please pm me in order to send me the profiles in question, please.
and a backup for good measure

thanks.

Thanks, I will do this later today (haven't got the kpa in front of me right now). I'll check the outputs, but can you tell me if there's something I should be aware of when setting the outputs, out of curiousity? (Apart from the obvious stuff, feeding the foh or soundcard with too hot signal etc.)

I'd really like to know what went on here and hope that CK or anybody with technical knowledge of the profiling process can chime in.

I made a series of profiles using my old Marshall and a Friedman. I got quite a few very good results, with sounds spanning from clean-ish with some hair to moderately overdriven tones. All of this were done in my home studio using one SM57 in front of a Scumback M75 loaded in a Port City cabinet.

Now, most of the profiles were ok, and I'm using a couple of them on a daily basis. One of the profiles however, a distorted Marshall sound, behaves strangely. I didn't notice it immediately in the studio, but when I took it live, I started noticing that there was kind of a clean sound in parallel with the distorted sound, as if part of the guitar signal bypassed the amp and went direct. The part of the sound that was distorted sounds really great, but this slight direct sound of the guitar ruins the sound.

I'd really like to know what's going on here. I suspect that something's gone wrong during the profiling process, but what?

Also, are there tweaks to do after to remedy this? The direct parameter in the amp stack, the only relevant parameter I can think of, is at zero.

Quote from Silence2-38554

If you could please elaborate on any noticeable differences between these two amplification sources, that would be great. I just got my KP rack, and an thinking of exchanging it for a power head while I'm still within the return window. The original plan was to pair the rack with a GT1000FX, but I'm now realizing the portability advantages of the lunchbox & how nice it would be to just have the power section built in & be done with it. From what I've gathered online, the Kemper power module can sound more natural for clean & dirty tones, but the Matrix wins hands down for Hi-Gain stuff, which is mostly what I play. How would you compare the two volume/tone wise?

When I searched fo info about the differences/similarities between the Matrix and the B&O inside the KPA, I did not find anything to suggest that the Matrix wins for high gain stuff -- If you can produce some links, I'd be interested too I'm not into the scooped high gain stuff, when I play high gain it's more on the higher gain side of hard rock than it is scooped metal or recto-stuff. Think a fairly cranked Friedman HBE, in addition to clean to crunch sounds in the Plexi landscape. For these sounds, I haven't found any disadvantages in either of the power amps. I love the internal amp for what I use it for, although it must be said that I've only had it for half a week -- three live gigs and one rehearsal.

Quote from Silence2-38554

If you could please elaborate on any noticeable differences between these two amplification sources, that would be great. I just got my KP rack, and an thinking of exchanging it for a power head while I'm still within the return window. The original plan was to pair the rack with a GT1000FX, but I'm now realizing the portability advantages of the lunchbox & how nice it would be to just have the power section built in & be done with it. From what I've gathered online, the Kemper power module can sound more natural for clean & dirty tones, but the Matrix wins hands down for Hi-Gain stuff, which is mostly what I play. How would you compare the two volume/tone wise?

I would love to plug back and forth between the Matrix and the Kemper's internal power amp to compare, but the coming weeks are too busy for that. So memory will have to do

Firstly, the Matrix is powerful, 1000 watts bridged in 8 ohms, and my initial fear was that the Kemper's internal 600W amp would be too weak for a couple of my rock'n'roll gigs. I really hate not having headroom when using a power amp with the Kemper. I'm glad to strike this from my fear list; the Kemper's power amp drove my 2x12 8 ohms Scumback cabinet nicely -- I stopped turning up long before I reached the ceiling.

Secondly, when it comes to sound. Without directly comparing, and at the volume levels I play at, I think they sound somewhat similar. Anyway, I did not notice any big difference driving my 212 cab. Actually, I noticed more of a difference between the GT800FX and the GT1000FX than between the latter and the Kemper. Don't take this to be the truth, though, this is just from my memory and most likely coloured by the fact that I liked the Kemper's power amp from the first tone i played through it. Of tonal differences I think I can recall is a slight boost somewhere in the mids on the Matrix -- I remember that I kept thinking when plugging into the PowerRack the first time that the Kemper was more neutral eq wise than the Matrix. Again, these are impressions purely from memory. Both amps sound really great, and my main point is that the Kemper's internal amp is not inferior. Which says a lot, as the Matrix has come to be sort of a benchmark amp for modelers.

A bonus: The internal power amp doesn't make a sound whereas the Matrix 1U is slightly noisy if you're gonna use it in quiet studio settings.

Now, I just regret that I didn't buy a toaster instead of the rack, as I love the form factor and the additional leds. (I bought the rack version in case I didn't like the power amp and was stuck with the 1U Matrix ;))

You're welcome, and sorry about the brief and overly enthusiastic review, perhaps at the expense of information. I had to let out some steam I`ll be back with more impressions after the coming days` gigs. Also, I have a couple of nice Marshall and Friedman profiles that I`ll post in the rig exchange soon.

Quote from mattlocked

Exciting times for the gigging musician. Convenience at its peak!!!

Absolutely. For a lot of us it means a lot to be able to carry less items & rig up and down quickly (lots of gigs around town, fly gigs etc). This setup not only rigs quickly; it weighs practically nothing (except the speakers whenever I want to carry them) and does not compromise the sound. Rather the opposite -- My DSL and HBE never sounded better than through my KPA

So I took the opportunity to use the upgrade option for those of us that bought a KPA early, and yesterday I got my PowerRack. I was really curious as to how the internal power amp would compare both in sound and power/headroom with my beloved Matrix GT1000FX -- having everything in a 3U sized unit instead of a separate head and rack mounted amp would really make things simpler.

So I decided to test it on yesterday's gig, and installed my 3-4 profiles, set up the scenes as I have them on my old KPA, hooked up the UnoFCB and was ready to roll within an hour.

I really have to say that the internal B&O amp was a pleasant surprise. I went from the KPA to my 2x12 Scumbacks without speaker sim, simultaneously sending a stereo signal to the FOH with speaker sims on, using a profile based on the same cabinet that I use onstage. As with the Matrix, the sound was punchy, no nasty frequencies or dull sounds at all, just pure power. And the freaking rig doesn't make noise at all (not that it matters live)! Also, the unit does not weigh anything. How is this even possible?

Quote from lef38

Nice spot !
Hopefully the kemper didn't crash at that moment

Never had the KPA crash on me.

It's most definitely a Kemper onstage with Lincoln Brewster, playing the American national anthem...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az6NBHH8tHQ

He's been known to use a Pod live and in studio, actually sounding great.

I'm currently using a non-powered lunchbox with a GT1000FX, AND I have just ordered a Power Rack version of the KPA.

The GT1000FX sounds absolutely fantastic toghether with the KPA, both through a regular guitar cab with cab sims off in the KPA, and through FRFR cabinets. I've tested this against the GT800 and Marshall tube amps, and actually prefer the GT1000FX.

These days, when I'm not flying or otherwise doing gigs where it's more convenient to go directly to the PA, my KPA is feeding the Matrix and a Scumback equipped 2x12 Port City cab. What I've done is that I've profiled my Marshall + my Friedman using the Port City cabinet. On stage, I run the KPA with cab sims off throuhg the Matrix and into the Port City. Simultaneously, I feed the PA with the entire profile, where I used the same cabinet. IMHO, this sounds absolutely huge, using the real cab onstage and the profiled one through the PA.

So why order the power rack? I really want to scale down as much as I can with as little as possible compromise to the sound. The Matrix needs to sit in a separate rack, and it means messing with extra cables etc. I'm hoping that the internal power amp in the Power Rack is as good as, or close to, the Matrix.

I've been using the Axe-FX for years, the Axe 2 for the last year, and I don't want to be too conclusive when judging sound -- things change and we listen for different things in different contexts, but my current setup with my own (simple, really) profiles of my favourite rigs really does it for me.

You can't go wrong with the Matrix, anyway. I'll post back with my experience with the Power Rack compared to the Matrix when it arrives.

I guess this is just another W/D/W setup. What goes through the FRFR-speakers are just the FX, the amp tone comes dry out of the Dumble/Bludo. That's what I read he was doing a couple of years ago, at least, and lots of other guitarists do it this way too, with regular guitar cabs or FRFR speakers.

The amp tone through FRFR-speakers is a different thing altogether and must not be confused with this kind of w/d/w setup

I think Larry Carlton uses/used the FRFR cabs onstage for fx (and perhaps acoustic guitar) only. There's always sound from his Dumble's (or Bludo's these days) cabinet onstage.

Ok, so I've just ordered a PowerRack using the coupon rebate upgrade option for us early adopters. Yay! I've been using my good old toaster together with a Matrix PowerAmp to feed a Scumback M/H75 equipped PortCity, and I'm hoping that the built in power amp in the PowerRack will serve me just as well, ridding me of one extra item to bring to gigs. I've profiled my Friedman HBE using the same cabinet as I use live, so I feed the FOH with the full simulation and run monitour out to my Matrix->PortCity w/o cab sims. Sounds absolutely amazing, both on stage and through the pa & on tape. I hope the internal power amp delivers the goods using this setup!

My Axe-FX 2 collects dust these days, though...

Haha, priceless. Please point me to a script for recalibrating mothers in law.

Need some help here. I've posted about this before, but I could really use some input from those of you having played your KPA through both the power amp that comes with the new powered line of KPAs and a Matrix power amp (such as the GT 1000 or 800 FX).

Here's my (admittedly first world) problem. I'm currently using the original toaster version through my excellent Matrix GT1000FX. The Matrix powers a cab with Scumbacks on stage with cab sims off and I send a signal to the FOH in addition to this. Best of both worlds, sounds great, and as you may have heard or read, the Matrix (particularly the GT1000FX) is an amazing amp.

But the Matrix power amp means another box to carry and additional cable clutter, so I've considered upgrading to a powered KPA -- practical for fly gigs etc. Since the Matrix sounds so good for this particular application, I'm a bit scared that the KPA power amp won't deliver with the same power and sound quality.

So, can anybody having experienced both the internal KPA power amp and the Matrix shed some light on this? Does the internal KPA power amp compete with the Matrix, both for flat FRFR applications and for powering a regular guitar cab? Any strengths/weaknesses I need to know of?

I didn't make backups of the profiles, so they're still on my Kemper. But as soon as I do, I will post them on rig exchange. Will try to make a couple of clips as well so that you can hear them as I hear them; if there's one thing I've learned from owning the Kemper it is that a profile that sounds good to one person doesn't sound all that great to another

I only just started profiling my own amps, hopefully with good results. Sounds great in the studio, but the acid test for me is how the profile will work live.

Here's what I really liked. I profiled my Friedman HBE and my old, modified Marshall DSL. The cabinet is a Port City OS 212 with Scumbacks (m&h75). I found the sweet spot on the speaker I favoured, which with these two amps was the M75, and went for it with the only mic I have, an SM57, which I tend to choose live anyway.

I did a bunch of profiles, adjusting mic placement and amp eq as I went along and got a couple of profiles I think sound great -- spot on compared with the original amp. The fun thing started when I fed the profile back into my Matrix poweramp with cab sims off, and out from the Matrix back into the cabinet I profiled. The sound was extremely similar to the direct sound from outputs one, much more so than I had hoped for.

At some clubs I play I miss the rumbling of a cabinet, and running FRFR always sounds thin, which has nothing to do with the quality of the Kemper (it's the same with my Axe 2). This way I can bring my Matrix amp and my Port City and have the same sound on stage from my speaker cab as I have through the PA.

Or at least I hope so. Will try this at a gig tomorrow, but if it works as it did in my home studio, this will be a sweet rig!

thanks, all, many good suggestions and many ways to achieve the same result. Having owned the toaster for a year and a half but this week it replaced my (dare I say the word) Axe 2 for three gigs and one studio session. Will come back with my impressions after tonights gig

Quote from Trazan

Not sure I understand...you're in slot 1 - push the copy button, move slot 2 - push the paste button. If that ain't easy you're a lazy son of a gun

Well, yeah, I'm lazy I'm aware of this method. But let's say I've copied slot 1 to slot 2, and then want to change amps in slot 2 but keep the fx from the copied rig. This is my typical scenario these days. In this case all the effects that I copied is replaced with whatever the new amp is set up with, and so I have to set all the fx up again, which can be tedious, even when copying effect by effect from slot 1.

The thing is: I have made a performance, performance 1, which is set up with 5 amps of the same kind and the same selection of effects but with different values per slot. Slot 1 is just reverb, slot 2 is rev and delay, 3 is loud delay etc. I want the exact performance copied to performance 2, 3, 4 only changing the amp type for each performance. Performance 1-5 = marshalls, performance 6-9 = voxes etc, but with the exact same fx layout (slot 1 just reverb, 2 reverb and delay, 3 loud delay etc).