Posts by ronjazz

The Solo6's are nice speakers—costly—but their usefulness will depend upon your intended home application. If you are planning on connecting them to your Kemper, I can tell you that I have a pair of CMS 65's connected in stereo, and I have not been happy with their volume output. The Solo6's have slightly larger internal amps, but I don't think that their ultimate output will be significantly greater. On the other hand, if you intend to use them for mixing, either will do the job. The best advice is to find a reseller that will allow you to return whatever you do not find appropriate, because they will sound different in your home studio than they will in a store setup.

Hello Waraba,
Yes, I've tried various colored passive speakers, but they couldn't cut the mustard ... at least for my ears.
But I must reiterate, that when bypassing the Kemper Powerhead's internal amp the sound is good through powered speakers. I simply could not find, for reasonable cost and of reasonable size, a powered speaker that did not muddy up the low end of my L5's. In addition, the few powered speakers that I've tried could not provide the desired volume output. I have since switched to an Acoustic Image Clarus 4 Plus, along with a Buscarino Chameleon cabinet. Together, they provide the tonal quality that I was searching for—with very little if any effort in regards to tonal adjustment—in a very portable package, although, admittedly not inexpensive.

Hello,
I thought that other arch top guitar users might appreciate a followup on my tone quest.
So far, none of the passive speaker cabinets that I have tried with my powerhead (Raezor's Edge Stealth 10, a borrowed Redstone, and several custom cabs) have been capable of producing the typical, sought after dark, jazz tone with my arch top guitars. Since most of these cabs, the first two in particular, have received good reviews in regards to tone reproduction, I came to the conclusion that the Powerhead is at issue, although it does a good job when feeding self-powered monitors via the direct outs. I then connected several of these speaker cabs to an outboard SS amp/preamp combo, and suddenly the tone appeared without any effort whatsoever. And BTW, I've tried every tonal adjustment possible on the Kemper—cabs off—before arriving at this conclusion. So my personal opinion is that the Kemper is great, even wonderful, when connected to self-powered monitors but, as odd it as it may seem, its internal amp does something to the tone when connected to a passive speaker. I have also arrived at the conclusion that, given the plethora of included amps with distortion, that the Kemper is not designed with jazz guitarists in mind.
I plan on keeping my Kemper, but will not be using its internal amp. As for my arch tops, I have taken a different path that consists of a SS amp/preamp combo along with a high end passive speaker cabinet specifically designed for arch top electric and acoustic guitars.

HI and thank you for your reply.
I have tried adjusting input sense, however, reducing input sense results in very low volume output from the Focals making it a no go. I have also tried adding a studio EQ stomp and adjusted the frequency range to correspond with the lower frequencies, but it still did not cut the mustard. I have no issue with my archtops with floaters— they sound fine, but the L5's and others with set PUPs do not seem to bond with my current setup.

Hello,
I love my Kemper Power Head toaster, and have been using it powered with a 4x12 cabinet—which I do not like, as it's too brassy—and unpowered via a pair of Focal CMS 65 powered speakers (somewhat acceptable). I play archtops exclusively and have noticed that the Focals sound a tad muddy with my L5's. I'm not sure whether the problem is the fact that the Focals have only 6.5" woofers or if it's a placement issue. However, due to architectural constraints I cannot reposition the speakers. Therefore, I have been contemplating purchasing a passive cabinet and have been considering either a Raezor's Edge Stealth 10 ER or a comparable Redstone cabinet that I would power either with the Kemper's power amp or, if not a good match, with an Acoustic Image Clarus. I wonder if any of the experts on this forum have experience in this regard, as any input would be appreciated? I should add that this setup is not being used in a performance situation but, rather, a home studio.

Oops! just read that Redstone is out of business, so that leaves the Raezor's Edge as the only contender.

Hello, and thank you. I will give them try.

Hello,
ACOUSTIC IMAGE is an amplifier/combo manufacturer. The model whose profile I am interested in acquiring is their "Ten 2".

I suspect that English is not your primary language and that you misunderstood my initial request.

Hi Sharry,

I just did exactly that and came up blank ... no Acoustic Image. I'm sure you know that Acoustic Image is an amp manufacturer, and that I am not searching for simple Acoustic guitar profiles?

I looked at the rig exchange before posting, but I guess I missed it ... thanks.
As for guitars, I have more luthier made guitars than I can play in a lifetime, as well as a 25 yr old L5. So, as you can see, "good guitars" are not at issue.

Hello,
is anyone aware of the existence of an Acoustic Image profile for the Kemper?

Hello, and thank you all for your suggestions.
There is no DAW in the equation ... my arch-top is plugged directly into the front input of the Kemper toaster and its signal goes directly to a Dangerous Music Source and from there on to the Focals. I have not done much to the various profiles that I have downloaded, aside from tweaking their EQ's—mostly low frequency cut. I will, however, follow the suggestions made, including some of the suggested profiles. Thanks again.
BTW, the the chorus-like issue is present through headphones as well and is appreciated mostly clearly with high frequency tones ... 10th fret and beyond.

Hello,
I have downloaded a series of clean profiles from the Kemper site and have purchased others from the AMP factory, but they all seem to have a tonal aberration that I can only describe as a chorus-like effect. I cannot seem to achieve a warm, clean jazz tone without that added factor and I do not have chorus applied to any of the profiles and I have downloaded all of the Fender profiles available on the Kemper site. I am using a variety of luthier made arch tops, some with floaters and others with set PUPs, but all have the same tonal issue when fed through the Kemper to a pair of Focal CMS 65's. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good, clean profile that can be downloaded, either free or paid?

Hello,
Can the XLR and TRS return inputs be used simultaneously along with the auxiliary return?

I already have a stereo effects device returning to the Kemper via the Kemper's XLR and Aux. returns. I would like to use, without removing the existing connections, an external Looper and my thought was to return the looper's output to the Kemper's TRS input return if it is active in this situation. Or, in the alternative, could it be returned via the Kemper's front side instrument input?

I understand that the Kemper Remote offers a looper function, however, I need more than 30 sec., as well as multiple tracks.

Thank you in advance.

I may be late to this thread, however, I have recently added a pair of Focal CMS 65's as a replacement for a 4x12 cabinet that was being used along with the Kemper Power Head. What a difference! I have an older pair of Adam P11's in the same room and compared to the Focals they are harsh, but I suppose that is due in part to the ribbon tweeter championed by Adam. Anyway, I play archtop/jazz exclusively and until the Focals I had not been able to replicate a really good, smokey jazz tone which I correctly assumed was the fault of the 4x12 guitar cabinet. I knew that The Kemper was clearly capable of creating the desired tone and the Focals made that ever more apparent with their smooth, mellow output. My only complaint with the various monitors tested—Focals included—is that their output, in terms of volume, is somewhat limited but it is by no means inadequate. BTW, IMO, the low end is so good on these monitors that no sub is required.

Hi,
I have a Kemper Power Head with an Axe-FX II XL+ running through the Kemper FX loop. Works well, actually great, as such but I have yet to try the aforementioned patches.

Hi DigitalBlues,
Thank you for your input.

I believe that I have solved the volume issue and it appears to have been a Kemper setting. I had turned the cabinet simulation off for the rigs that I normally use
due to the fact that it had been connected to a 4x12 guitar cabinet. In doing so, it turned off the rig's internal amplifier volume setting. When I went into the settings page for the rigs that I use and turned the cabinet simulation back on for the Focals, the amp volume once again became an available setting and I was able to increase same to achieve a decent level, but I still have to set the monitor controller's volume level to 50% of max to get a good audition volume but, then again, the Focal CMS65 is 100watts as opposed to your 200W and your monitors may be more efficient than mine. As an aside, my older ears may also enter into the equation but, then again, i hear things that others do not.
Thanks again.

I have connected the KPA Powerhead's Main Outputs to a Dangerous Music Source device's input and its speaker Outputs to a pair of Focal CMS 65's whose volume controls are at maximum. The speakers are set at +4 db and all connections are balanced. In addition, the Kemper's Main Outputs are unlinked and the volume is set to maximum as well. My question relates to the fact that I cannot seem to achieve adequate volume from the speakers unless I set the DMS's volume control at the 3 o'clock position. And assuming that the DMS's volume control is linear, that doesn't appear to leave a lot for further increase in output. My suspicion is that the issue relates to the Kemper's output, since the DMS's throughput is allegedly passive. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions in this regard?
Thank you in advance.

Good suggestion, thank you.

Thank you, but would it represent a tonal improvement over a 4x12 guitar cabinet?

Hello,
I have a small studio (12'x13') and am currently running the Kemper Power Head into a 4x12 cab. via its speaker out. While the output from the cab is good, and perhaps overkill for the size of the studio, I suspect that I am not experiencing the full range of tonality from this setup. Thus, I wonder if I would not benefit from a good pair of powered, near field monitors, such as, for example, the Neumann KH120? Any thoughts in re this dilemma ... guitar cab vs monitors?

I have reviewed the post below this one and have evaluated the monitor suggestions offered, however, they are too large for my application.

I should mention, that in either case, the cab and or monitors are for auditioning/practice purposes only. Actual mixing would be done via a digital recording deck and then transferred to a separate DAW with its own speaker monitoring system.
Thank you in advance.