Posts by Jason Leo

Well we tried Kemper today at school with PA and then cab, didnt tried it through fx loop.

We though that it sounded ok and fine. If someone passes by the room, he would probably think we're using an amp.

Some profiles sounded bad, some ok and some good. We didn’t profile an amp then compare, We only tried some from rig exchange and rig packs. I’d say Kemper doesn’t sound good or bad, it’s more about profiles.

We just believe there’s something “magical” about tube amps, and we still prefer to play tune amps for gigs or recording, if it’s a good one. If someone’s playing a good profile, I don’t think I would say “oh he’s definitely playing kemper, not amp”, there are differences but it’s still a guitar sound.

Quote from joedreamliner787

I had the same issue when I bought mine. Could not get awesome sounds so I bought a SM57 and mic'd up my ENGL powerball II with my EVH 5150 III cab then I bought an eVH 5150 1x12 cab...problem solved and have my engl in a box . I made some profiles that are lead/rhythm live, lead/rhythm studio and both with a delay added. The difference is the studio patch simply bypasses the power head and uses a cab sim. I found you should profile and record your reference amp exactly the way you want without its reverb if the amp has reverb because the kemper reverb works amazingly well. I dont profile my amp flat aka all knobs at 12o'clock. Also the guitars and pickups make a difference IMO so I recorded different profiles some with higher mids and gains for my parker guitars vs my active emg guitars. I have a few of my profiles on rig exchange. Feel free to give them a shot. My sound is remarkably close to my full engl setup. Hopefully this is helpful!

I’ll check them out, thanks!

Quote from MistaGuitah

Well the Kemper is what it is. The only reason I can respond to your post is because it took me years and years to finally come around to modelers, and only recently after much trial and error, did I become willing to spend the big bucks for them. When I plug into my BE-100, Diezel, or any other tube amp, it's obviously a leveled-up experience from both my Kemper and AX8. I don't have any unrealistic expectations though. When it comes to practice and just improvising and coming up with riffs, it's so much easier to use my Kemper or AX8 than to fiddle with my tube amps. I wonder, have you let your teacher and classmates play through your Kemper? If so, did you still think it sounded bad when they were playing? To be honest, the Kemper nor the Axe FX/AX8 sound convincing enough between amp models/profiles through a speaker, but recorded tone is almost impossible to distinguish.

Yeah I bought it because sometimes I don’t really need to use amps. I still prefer to use amp and cab for serious recording, but sometimes I just need a plug n play amp for practice.

https://soundcloud.com/user-776669749/splawn-nitro

I'm not sure if this works. Profile called Splawn Nitro, from Rig Exchange.

1. Suhr Standard with SSH+ humbucker
2. Suhr Classic with SSV humbucker
3. Grosh NOS Retro with single coil

https://soundcloud.com/user-776669749/marshall-golub-crunc

Another one called Marshall Golub Crunc, I was using Suhr Standard.

Both are unprocessed. After I turned off the "Pure Cabinet", I do think it sounds better. I still think high gain profiles sound fake and digital.

The studio is basically booked up all the time. I’ll try to record something today. I just have too many things to study and practice, but I’ll try.

Quote from MistaGuitah

I'm no fanboi, but there are too many variables here. What kind of pickups do you use? If they're active pickups, high output ceramics, or cheap single-coils, that can all make a difference. Give some examples of the settings and profiles you use. What gauge strings? Is your action low? Maybe your guitar teacher has a fine technique, and technique has a lot to do with how good a player sounds. I've had my own struggles trying to figure out whether to go Kemper or Fractal, but I never doubted the quality of the tone - and I'm a pretty die-hard tube amp guy. I don't know man, but it sounds like something with your settings, or setup, or technique that must be off if you already tried updating your Kemper, etc.

I have tried my Kemper with a Suhr Standard with SSH+, a Suhr Classic with SSV, a Grosh NOS Retro with 3 single coils and a PRS Artist package SC245, all passive pickups. I use 10-46 for Strats and 11-48 for PRS. Action is average I think.

It’s not about technique because my classmate played it, he just played a few notes. Actually just an a minor chord could tell the difference, it sounded open and “sounded like a guitar amp”. But my kemper, hmm... I’ve owned more than ten tube heads and I now have 5 tube heads and they’re all great with the guitars I mentioned. I hate to say I’m a tube amp guy because I really want to keep using my kemper.

Quote from nightlight

Try a firmware reset, that may help. It could be something went screwy. It won't affect your Kemper and is a simple procedure.

As others have suggested, play around with the pure cabinet option.

Also, just to check, what do you have your master output set to when you run into your setup?

I tried to turn off the pure cabinet this morning, it did sound a little better but the volume wasn’t loud enough, I’ll try it again when I’m home.

Quote from jonathanthomas83

Im using Genelecs 8020s and a Babyface Pro too, except my Kemper is the absolute best sounding piece of gear being run through those bad boys.

Please check out some 3rd party profiles, you're doing yourself and your Kemper a disservice by not doing so.

Is the “Pure Cabinet” on your kemper engaged or not?

Quote from music

Well, maybe the Kemper is not the right gear for you.Buy the stuff of your teacher, which sounds good for you.
So you will be happy, that‘s the easiest way.

Blackstar ID:30? You’re joking right?

Quote from Zappledan

No, that's not the profile I'm referring to. Search for rmpacheco on the Rig Exchange.

Oh I didn’t use it. Will check that out!

Quote from JohnL1974

Have you tried turning off or reducing the 'Pure Cab' effect.

This made a major difference to my tone. For a long time I was like "This does not sound as great as I thought".... then I saw this thread of someone else highlighting the issue, tried it and was like wow!!!

I think it is on by default.

This is thread here:

Dissatisfied with Kemper, fizzy distortion, boring woofy bottom end, no mid punch, lack of detail in sound - FIXED! LOVE MY KEMPER

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Wow that might help! Thanks! I hate reading dictionary-thick manuals. I’ve only read how to use it, but haven’t messed around with the knobs.

Quote from V8guitar

Pretty sure its how its set up but that doesn't really help...

Some profiles are duff but there are plenty out there that should be good enough. Suggest you post some sound clips as mentioned above.

Just out of interest, can you get hold of PA/FRFR passive speaker to at least try the direct sound out the power amp ? That might also give a clue?

Thanks I’ll give it a try with PA in school.

Quote from stfuzz

I don´t know if it has been said here before, but: Don´t forget that your Kemper pictures the sound of a miced amp. And if you are not used to listen an play through miced amp your ears might be confused.
The gear you are using should definitely work out.
With your G-string: might be that something is resonating....check it with a different guitar.

Good Luck!

Yes I do listen to the amp to cab sound more. But because of my elective course I’ve been listening to miced amp a lot.

Quote from nightlight

What firmware are you on? You aren't a registered user, so I'm assuming you have not updated since you bought the unit.

Also, can you post us some audio clips? That might help hear what you hear.

You can also try a firmware reset in case something has been corrupted.

I also suggest registering your Kemper and contacting support.

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That’s weird because I already registered. Maybe that’s because I changed my email. I’ll check. It now has 5.50 beta, the newest one. And I update it pretty frequently.

Quote from szykman

did you tried using your kemper with a pair of good headphones?

i personally prefer my kemper sounding throught 12 inches speakers or at least 10 inches

studio monitors usually have smaller speakers and maybe that is why you did not found the tone

you may like to test then with "monitor cabs on and off"

i tested all my profiles that i play with using many different settings and found amazing tones...

hope you will get there too, i would ask you to have paitence and you will dominate your kemper soon but you have it

since 2 years so maybe contact support and provide some audio samples will help other experienced users to help you better

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I have the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro but only used it with my Kemper once. Sounded the same. Indeed I connected it to my cab and it sounded a little bit better but that’s not the reason why I bought it...

Quote from Rapidfire

Have you tried another guitar? That nasal sound will happen when you have incorrect truss rod adjustment or the action is super low. Ive also had bridge sag on les pauls cause this especially on the g string. A lot of times you cant hear it through a real amp because its so loud.

I was thinking it might be because of the pickup. The bridge pickup on one of my guitars is pretty hot, it’s a Suhr SSH+. So I tried to use another one with Suhr SSV, which is vintage level or a tad hotter than vintage. I still heard that frequency, I also tried with my SSS Grosh and the frequency was still there...

Quote from Zappledan

Hi Jason, and welcome to the forum. I can assure you that the sounds are there. Have you tried the rmpacheco Morgan AC20 profile? That one is universally admired for a clean to slightly crunchy tone.

If you’re talking about the profile called More Gain or something like that, that’s a good one compared to others. It doesn’t sound overcompressed. I don’t hear that annoying frequency.

Quote from sambrox

What kind of tones are you after? Can you name a band or guitarist that you think sounds like it's somewhere in your ballpark?

I bought it because I thought I could get many useful tones, from clean to high gain. I’m personally enjoy Marshall’s, both vintage like Metropulos and modern like Friedman amps.

I find that the more gain a profile has, the more I find it fake. But I’ve played my buddy’s EVH it sounded fine, though it’s not my cup of tea, and I have an ENGL Savage, which I pretty enjoy playing it. To me those high gain profiles just don’t sound good at all.

Quote from paults

If you are sending too hot of a signal to your interface, you may be overloading the interface, and getting less than optimal tones.

Unfortunately that’s not the reason. I set it at pretty reasonable volume around -18db.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Could be, Jason, but you won't know for sure 'til you hear the A/B with the amp.

Hey, a $300-amp Profile is still a Profile. Either the Kemper captures it accurately or it doesn't. If it does, IMHO, that should be a signal to you to either revise your settings M.O. or look beyond the freebies into commercial packs.

The 3rd-party-Rig-discussion sub-forum (so many hyphens!) would be an ideal place to put forward your preferences and receive recommendations from those who've bought (probably too many!) packs.

Bear in mind that we ought not to mention specific commercial Profilers here in this thread or it'll be moved, and besides, we're just trying here to establish whether or not your baby is broken in some way or another.

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Oh yeah I’ll try to find some highly praised 3rd party profiles, if I still don’t think they’re good, then there’s something wrong either with my Kemper or the settings.

Lol it sounds weird to profile a $300 amp but I guess that’s the way.

I downloaded all the rig picks and tried them. I couldn’t believe it was profiled by professionals, more professional than me at least. I wanted to blame either the rig pack maker or Kemper team for not taking this serious but I think it’s more because of my settings.

Hi guys,

I’ve had my Kemper for about 2 years but I’m still having trouble finding good tones. Though I didn’t buy anything from other profile makers, I’ve tried nearly all of the stock profiles including those from rig packs, so nearly 1000 profiles.

It makes no sense, really. Before I bought it I had watched some YouTube videos comparing profiles with real amps, they’re not identical but similar enough for me to bring it home.

It’s a PowerHead version but I didn’t really use it with a cab. My interface is an RME Babyface Pro, and the monitors I’m using are a pair of Genelec 8050’s. It should work more than fine. But every profile sounds fake, digital to me. Most of the high gain profiles have that “compressed digital nasal sound” especially on G string. IT MAKES NO SENSE. Sure there’re bad profiles that sound fake, but some Kemper vids on YouTube really sound impressive. I was there might be something wrong about the settings in case I chose wrong input or output option so I tried the “Init Globals” which should make most of settings back to factory settings, but it just didn’t work.

I have guitar recording elective and my teacher used a Blackstar ID amp and a Shure SM57 for demonstration. Oh man it sounded even better than my Kemper. I talked to him today and We’ll use my kemper next time in class. I’m thinking if it’s because I didn’t get the settings properly or something else?