Posts by Tonester88

After taking a good bit of time and working thru the Kemper, various profiles, Xitone FRFR cab, my 2 x 12 I think "for my" preference that I have a better understanding of the strong points and and weaker points for my use.

Thru a recording console or FOH the Kemper is an amp/tool that is quite hard to beat. It is as flexible as it gets especially when using IEM from what many have stated. "FOR ME" where it still is just not quite there is thru cabinets. It just does not have the feeling or quite the tone that I am used to or looking for. While tube amps are considered old school these days, there is just something about them that is hard to fully emulate, especially the way they feel to play on.

I more than likely will head back to the land of dinosaurs (HaHa) and keep using amps for now.

I appreciate everybody's responses and recommendations on things to try. I really appreciate Squarehead as he took some extra time with many suggestions as we seemed to have similar issues.

I am not putting the Kemper in any less light than any other piece of gear. For many it is working great and if it makes them play more or be more efficient that is great and I envy it.:)

I will say the Kemper has a great community on the Forum and while sometimes it gets a little rough and tumble for the most part most are out to help out where they can.

Appreciate the help!

Brommel Thanks a ton!! I am traveling today and tomorrow, but I cannot wait to try out the profiles that you sent. That is what has been frustrating for me initially with the KPA because I know I have seen videos of Doug using it and these guys have them sounding good. The only thing is that I am always hearing the FOH mix or videos that have them into a recording interface. It would be nice to hear what Doug hears standing next to his cab and the settings he is using that is for sure.

There is another guy that gets fantastic tone from it out in Florida..

He has several clips using the Kemper since he picked it up recently. I have talked with him before buying the KPA. Of course again these videos capture the FOH tone and he uses in ears for his monitoring rather than a cab.

Quote from Bommel

BTW
what guitar do you use? then i could help you with finding something you might like

I typically use Suhr guitars. S1, S5 or some type of superstrat or strat. I have a SSH+ in the S5 Suhr that I play the most and that pickup needs a changeout as it is a little too hot. Thru the years I have found that I am liking less output pickups that are more open sounding.

One thing I have noticed with the Kemper is the drastic change when running thru pickup settings. I.E. Humbucker to split settings. A lot of dropout in singles versus hums and variance with the KPA.

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I actually have a powered MBritt Xitone on the way so I will be able to try it with an FRFR powered solution next week.

Thanks Bommel I will def. check out some of your DI profiles. Like I said I want to give it a few weeks and keep giving any suggestions a shot.

Thanks!

To all....

I would like to thank everybody for putting their thoughts in on my original post. I never like to see any thread go into posts that start getting at each other. And that is for sure not why I posted my original questions and thoughts. I am definitely going to keep working with the Kemper for a bit more as I still have a few weeks of a return window before giving up.

With regards to the Line 6 comments as there seem to be many posts around that specifically with the AX212. That amp IMHO was quite ahead of its time. That kind of broke the scene for modeling and everything that has came after it. As far as recording thru an interface and FOH the Kemper from what I have heard in the clips is a much better sounding piece of gear. My point was more of an in the room set of thoughts. The Line 6 just feels more immediate under the fingers and seems more like an amp feel and playing wise.

It also had a quality of just being any old amp in the room as far as the vibe of the amp. Just the approach of sounding like a typical raw amp sitting next to you. Tonally The AX212 was not as clear and defined as it had a bit of muddiness to the gain and clean channels were not nearly what the Kemper is capable of. The setting that I tweaked 20 some years ago was the Joe Satriani preset. I took that preset and messed with it and the guys that I knew that had or still have them still use that setting to this day for overdriven stuff.

That is where I was coming from in terms of the AX212.

Maybe these clips will help convey what I am expecting from the Kemper sample wise.

The first clip is a Jeff Beck clip. This particular tune is one of the better examples "for me" of how a good amp can convey every little harmonic, ping of the strings and "sass" with a little digging in and very delicate dynamics. It puts out all those little things that the player is capable of putting into the amp. Especially when playing with fingers like Beck does which a good amp will give every tiny nuance with that sweet depth. Bring the volume knob up a bit and the amp just wants to take off from you right out from under your fingers unless you kind of control it if that makes any sense.

While not a studio level recording, this next clip of just guitar into amp in a live room setting with a player with exceptional touch, shows the kind of sweetness and dynamic range I am looking for in an amp. Goes thru cleaner styles up thru some nice tasty drive. To me at least it gets back to the idea of the Beck clip above. Whatever little subtle approach in playing up thru digging in the amp becomes part of the whole vibe there next to you. It is right there completely in sync with immediacy with every little thing you do as a player in reaction.

Perhaps that will give a better picture as to what I hear in my head and what I want to feel under my fingers and hear right next to me thru whatever speaker solution it takes.

The Doug Rappoport clip is fairly similar to how I would have my general sound running. I always have a reverb running and delay is running just about 90 percent of the time. Sometimes as wet as the video and sometimes more pulled back but always on unless a song needs to be straight out.

I am looking for a good productive thread here as I am hoping to see if the Kemper can get me where I am trying to go. Everybody is passionate about the gear that works for them and that is part of being a player. So I am not saying any gear is great or bad. I just need to figure out if the Kemper will do what I need it to do for my tastes and style of player.

Thanks again for all suggestions posted so far!!

With regards to a di profile. That may be the closest solution for the cabinet on stage...

What then happens with the mains going to front of house? Does the DI signal then get paired with a cabinet ir for those outputs or would you have to use a merged file to feed a guitar cabinet on stage direct and then send the merged signal front of house.

Thanks

Hey Awesome Elvis..
I may take you up on that. Got a busy schedule thru the weekend here with the holidays, but it would definitely help to see how somebody with some time with the Kemper has things set up.

Have only tried it thru my cabinet at home so far. I have not had a FRFR monitor as of yet. I do have a Xitone MBritt on the way. I have not tried it live yet as I would not have any confidence in playing out with what I am getting from it so far thru the cab. FOH I am sure would sound fine, but my playing would be not up to par as it feels way different under the fingers to play and I have not found any type of drive profiles that sound very good thru the cabinet. Still could be my settings or something I am missing, but I am reading thru the manual trying to figure out what I may have set incorrectly.

Been borrowing tube amps right now for gigging since I do not have any physical amps right now. Borrowed a Bogner Helios 50 the other night. What an excellent amp, but with a lot of limitations as far as channel switching etc. Had to use a lot of volume knob for cleans as it is a very straight forward amp. But what a hot rodded plexi sound. When playing a wide variety and styles of music it is not really a very versatile amp for the situation, but I made due with it.

Hey Keith,

I sent you an email earlier. I have not received a bounceback as of yet.

Used the email posted earlier in the thread..

Also to answer a few posts. I do not have any physical amps right now to profile for a comparison. I cleaned out most of my pedals and sold off my amps to help fund the Kemper purchase so I am down to whatever rigs are available to try.

Right now I am pretty hesitant to go out and buy any profiles from the well known places that get listed on here regularly. I have tried the free 50 pack from Britt for instance and cannot imagine anything purchase wise would be that much different than getting a good taste of those samples. Before I go out buying any profiles I would like to get to the bottom of what can be done settings wise in the Kemper with the samples available on the Kemper site first.

Thanks for all of the input and posts. Hopefully the settings that I listed above will lead to some thoughts from the more experienced users on the board here.

Appreciate it Squarehead. I am not throwing clips on here for any type of "look at me" angle. I think it tends to help others understand where is a poster coming from experience wise and what is it that the player is trying to achieve with a specific piece of gear.

I have been playing for about 40 years and have been around the block gigging for a good 30 years of that. Back in the day there was nothing compared to today available to players. Back then you got your hands on what very few amps etc. that were available and it was up to you as a player to find a way to push the gear to sound good thru sheer playing ability. I think it actually is a lot to do with what skill and experience I have as a player today.

Anyway I choose those clips purposely to reference an amp that was not a top of the heap amp. I have a pretty decent ear on messing with knobs and settings to finally get there to what tone and feel I am after. I am pretty picky though the way an amp feels and responds to what I put into it dynamics wise. I am a decent enough player to really push an amp and squeeze quite a bit out of them.

Listen to all that are responding. I am not in here to troll on a Kemper at all. I love the size and concept of it and would love for it to work out. Like I said earlier in a post, I have no desire to go back and start hauling tube amps around with a big pedal board of effects. Or having to keep up on the maintenance of them. Believe me, I really would love for the Kemper to be a solution, but it has to get really really close for me to justify the cost input of the unit and for me to feel confident with it behind me on stage at gigs.

Hey Kemper Folks...

Sorry for the delay in getting back int to the conversation. So some of the common replies for checking connections...

-I am in the "red" speaker jack out and not the monitor out.
-In the "Output" section I have the following settings:
*Main Ouput - Master Stereo
*Monitor Ouput - Master Mono
*Monitor Cab Off checkbox ticked
*Main Volume - -16.0db
*Monitor Volume - -18.0db
*Main Out Link - checkbox ticked
*Monitor Out Link - checkbox ticked
*Monitor Output EQ - All zero'd out
*Output Addons - Pure Cabinet - checkbox UNticked
*Power Amp Section - PWR AMP Boost 6.0db
*Power Amp On - checkbox ticked

The Input Section
*Clean Sense - -1.7db
*Distortion Sense - -1.0db (Turned this down due to the Suhr SSH+ pickup seeming to drive any overdriven type of profile too much

Those are the main IN and OUT settings I am using to base my comments in the OP. The clean based profiles do not sound all that bad. Found a few Fender based cleans that are pretty decent. But once getting into any type of driven profiles that were pre-loaded or available from the Kemper site for free Rig Packs from various companies it just falls apart. Just does not sound or much more importantly feel anything like any amp I have played in the past. Not sure where the subtle latency is coming in. It may be just milliseconds, but I can definitely sense something is not locked right up with the sound when playing lead/solo lines.

The last few tube amps that I have played on since letting my Line 6 AX212 go about 10 years ago:
*Blackstar HT60 - Pretty good sounding amp for the money. Clean channel was fairly sterile and it was heavy as all hell.

*Hughes and Kettner Grandmeister - Trying to get the tube amp and the idea of programability with effects and all similar to the way the Line 6 AX212 worked. Just did not quite have the overdriven character that I preferred.

*Landry LS50 - Really nice clean channel and marshall style channel - Fairly heavy to lug around and needed a full pedal board full of pedals for reverbs, delays, overdrives etc. etc.

*Redplate Magica - Really nice amp on both clean and dirty side. Probably the best tube amp that I have played thru for overall ground covered. Was a lighter head physically, but still had to have a full pedal board with a bunch of pedals for effects and it had a very fussy effects loop that had to have a buffer pedal to keep it from sucking tone etc.

Now as much as it was a pain in the ass dealing with keeping up with tubes, biasing them, lugging them around as they are not the lightest things, having to have a full pedal board of effects to go along with them etc. etc. Once up on stage and all hooked up, the things had the most visceral, organic touchy feely quality to them and they would get such a sweet tone to them as you would get them up in volume a little bit. The louder the better for sure, but typical gigging volume would get the goods typcially for "that" whatever it is that happens with a good tube amp.

Unfortunately, around the house I cannot get the volumes up too much on tube amps as I live in a neighborhood that just is not very "amp" friendly for getting a tube amp somewhat enough to get into some of the poweramp versus just the preamp stage of the amp.

So...after looking into the Kemper since gosh...I am guessing around March of this year I thought this thing on paper seems to be the Holy Grail of solutions to all of these problems.

So far in reality I am just not getting anywhere close to what I have experience on amp wise in my background of playing. And believe me I am in no way wanting to bask in the glory of having to go back to a tube amp and go out and have to get another sack full of effects pedals to put on a board to get setup again to gig that way.

One thing that has been common in a lot of the threads I have read thru the year is how great the FOH is and it seems as though stage monitoring short of in ears (absolutely hate them and will never be able to deal with that approach) is always kind of the step child part of the equation. I do have a MBRITT Xitone cabinet coming my way to try that over the cabinet.

I do live in the Nashville area so most of the time there is somebody pretty decent running sound. Usually don't have to worry about FOH all that much. For the most part show up with just about any type of amp and they will get things sitting right in the mix. Not a worry from the player standpoint on fretting over FOH. I concentrate on what is happening a few feet from me thru the cab. I want guitar/cabinet interaction when needed and want to hear a damn stellar tone and vibe going on right there on stage.

Since I am in the Nashville area I do know of a guy that hangs around Michael Britt quite a bit and seems to know the Kemper pretty good since him and Mike spend quite a bit of time together with the Kemper doing the profiles. If anybody knows the Kemper it is anybody associated with Mr. Britt.

Just for background reference of styles that I fall in here is a few snippets that I have recorded. I choose these as they were band audition clips and these were all recorded with a Blackstar HT Stage 60. Not the worst, but not the greatest tube amp out there. Point being that I can typically get things to sound pretty decent with just about whatever I am playing thru most of the time.
The tone on the clips is pretty much what you would get on stage coming out of the cab.

https://soundcloud.com/stringsnthings-1

After reading, reading, reading and watching endless hours of Youtube videos etc., I finally got down to purchasing a Powerhead and remote bundle. I updated everything thru the rig manager, hooked it up to my Hughes and Kettner 2 x 12 cabinet with Vintage 30's.....

Went thru every rig pre-loaded on the head and then went thru and auditioned each of the available rigs to download in rig manager and I am completely dumbfounded.

I will say this in no way trying to show any disrespect to anyone on this forum or using a Kemper. This is the worst sounding and feeling amp I have plugged into in 40 years of playing guitar. And I am saying that with confusion and not trying to be disrespectful in any way. I don't get it, I am completely bummed. I just don't get it. With so much hype around the Kemper I am just totally at a loss. I have heard countless sound samples on the net and Youtube and have heard great clips. I cannot get the Kemper to do anything remotely near what I have heard. I am not interested at this point with the FOH or thru recording software. First and foremost I need an amp and cabinet to sound and feel like a million bucks right up on stage near me. If I am not inspired to play like I play with what I am hearing coming out of that cabinet it is not going to matter what the FOH is getting.

Yes I have turned off the cab sim in the monitor out section (also controls poweramp out connection) going to the 2 x 12. I have messed with the input settings to set up a good input level. I have messed with the definition and clarity of each rig. I found a few clean rigs that sounded decent, but anything with any level of gain from breakup thru fairly overdriven is just not hardly useable let alone decent sounding.

Here are some of the main points that have just left me kind of shocked and confused with the Kemper:

1. The feel of the Kemper does not feel anything at all like any tube amps that I have played. There is a complete lack of a connected feeling from guitar to the amp. Almost like there is this subtle latency and disconnect from what you are playing and what is going on soundwise. Very prominent on solo type work with lead playing especially.

2. Most of the overdriven rigs all seem to have a awkward gain structure to them. They all seem overly gainey to get some push going for soloing etc., yet if you back down on the gain knob it's like you lose any type of what I would traditional call a natural compession from an output section of a tube amp. Most of the gain tends to be very raspy and fizzy. Very much more of a razor type drive. Backing down the Definition tames it down a bit, but it still seems like an unatural sounding overdrive.

3. I have played several different variations of digital gear so I am not all that unfamiliar with it. I played thru a Line 6 AX212 for 15 years. A buddy of mine still has one and we put my Kemper setup next to that amp and the Line 6 just sounds so much more natural and plays and feels like an actual amp whereas the Kemper feels nothing like a real amp.

I am using high end guitars so all of my other equipment is not lackluster. I use Suhr guitars. I was testing the Kemper with a SSH+ and SSV hum hum setup.

I run this same guitar thru Scuffham's S-Gear and the Steeler amp in that software (basically an old marshall model) and it sounds and feels so good. I can play on that software for hours it sounds and feels so real. Unfortuneately it is on my recording desktop and it is not a gigging amp.

Before I return the Kemper I just want to see if there are any of you out there that have any input as to what I could be doing wrong or what I may have missed. My only conclusion is that I have to being doing something wrong. I have to be missing something for my Kemper to sound this unpleasant from everybody else out there using it.

Any help would be much appreciated so I can make sure to explore the Kemper thoroughly before returning it. On paper it is a dream come true for ease of use and setup for gigs etc. But I have had to borrow some tube amps for the last two gigs that I recently played because there is no way I could use the Kemper with what I am currently hearing and feeling coming out of it. Not by a long shot.

So I am finalizing my decision between the powered and non-powered version of the toaster head.

I have a Xitone MBritt powered FRFR on the way. I also currently have a Hughes and Kettner 2x12 standard cabinet with Vintage 30's.

I am leaning toward the powered version to have options and to also be able to run the Hughes and Kettner 2x12 from the onboard poweramp as well as the Xitone for a stereo setup.

In thinking it thru the only confusion I have on doing this would be....

Would I have to use merged profiles only using that setup in order to turn the cab off going to the Hughes and Kettner 2x12 and allow the full profile thru to the Xitone for the stereo setup. Not sure if I could use studio profiles in a setup like that due to not being able to disable the cab simulation to the H & K 2x12.

Thoughts?

Thanks

So just so I am clear on routing options:

1. The powered head is identical to the unpowered head with the addition of the poweramp output on the powerhead.

2. So stereo FOH still the same on both units and either monitor out to powered FRFR or poweramp to drive a cabinet or standard cab from onboard poweramp.

3. If messing around for home use and want to run stereo cabinets of some form, would you use the main outs that would normally feed FOH to cabinets (powered, poweramp to cabinets etc.)???

Sorry still learning about the Kemper.

I have been leaning toward the unpowered version. The one thing that I like about the MBritt Xitone FRFR is the ability to have a range from full FRFR to flavors of a standard cabinet for a more traditional tonal range.

I would like to take advantage of the full profile the way that the capture was intended thus the FRFR route. I have never played with a FRFR so I am not sure how they handle getting nice feedback versus a standard cab and tube head. I have used Line 6 modelers from way back when Line 6 first came out and I also like the Scuffham software so I am not too worried about navigating the digital world with the Kemper unit.

Just looking to make sure when I do go to purchase that I am getting the best model for my needs.

Getting down to purchasing a Kemper Unit. I am trying to determine the best version for my needs. Here is the basics of how I would use it:

1. Recording into a M Audio Omni I/O Delta Series interface to Cubase.

2. General Home Jamming thru some sort of cabinets. Stereo would be nice just for jamming and utilizing the effects for a big sound. I have settled on the new version of the M Britt Cabinet from Xitone for a main cabinet if the unpowered unit is the route to take. Would need to find a more affordable option for the stereo portion for now. A Tech 21 Sound Engine perhaps as the 2nd? I thought about a matrix poweramp and 2 passive FRFR speakers, but I am not big on fans running in amps. Have had a few traditional tube amp heads that had fans and just never cared for it. Could always hear them whirring away in the background.

3. Occasional gigging out. Mono or Stereo(?) on stage for monitoring and then feed FOH in stereo.

I currently have a Hughes and Kettner 2x12 standard cabinet with Vintage 30's that could be used, but not married to having to have a traditional cab.

I also think that I read in the forum somewhere that the Powered version could not do stereo?

Anyways that is the basics of how I would be using the unit and trying to determine the best toaster model to get for what I do.

I play a wide variety of music and like a lot of dynamics and subtlety in an amp. Think Jeff Beck with volume knob dynamics, playing with fingers to get very nuanced variation in attack. Like to play with and off of natural feedback as well so not sure how FRFR handles that versus traditional cabs. But I do play a lot of different stuff from cover band 80's, rock, shredder type stuff like Doug Rappoport or even country now and again. I am in the Nashville area.

Thanks for any help and input!

Pretty sure that I will be. It is just a matter of figuring out the best setup to go along with the Kemper. I know how the Scuffham sounds and feels (at least thru studio monitors). Just trying to figure out if I am more of an amp in the room player or if the mic'ed amp chain would not be too different than what I am used to with real tube amps and the Scuffham that I have been using lately.

Since you have played thru both, would the Scuffham be considered more comparable to a studio or merged profile tone thru an FRFR or would it fall more on the "amp in the room" experience?

Knowing that may help in the decision of whether to try to find a solution that sounds more like an amp in the room (guitar cab/poweramp) or if a FRFR approach with something like a Xitone Michael Britt cab or possibly a Gemini 1 or 2 approach. FRFR, but sounds like these may have the amp in the room flavor still.

Have been researching and learning about the Kemper over the past few weeks. Trying to figure out the best setup as far as guitar cab versus FRFR etc.

My equipment experience has been with Solid State & Tube amps early on, then played thru a Line6 AX212 for about 10 years starting back when they first came out (got spoiled from that amp with the footcontroller and calling up presets with everything amp,effects wise being on and ready per the preset), back to tube amps for about the past 12 years or so. Beyond the Line 6 AX212 from the past the only current digital product that I have any experience with is the Scuffham S-Gear software.

I really like the Scuffham software. The Steeler (Marshall Plexi Style) amp in particular sounds and feels pretty good. Albeit I am playing thru monitors and it does not have the balls or punch of an actual amp, but for recording works well for the ease of use.

My question is for the those that have a better handle on "amp in the room" versus "mic signal path"....If anybody has tried Scuffham S-Gear would that be what most would consider an "amp in the room" sound or would that be more like what I hear from people in the forums being a "mic'ed sound"?

Also, how would the feel of the Kemper be compared to a reference point of the Scuffham S-Gear which I have used quite a bit?