Posts by bartlettpsj

Quote from HowardBrown

Manual page 96:

Bass Boost

The KEMPER Kone has been designed to have a perfect tone when the cabinet sits on the floor. Whenever you lift a cabinet into free space, it will lose a certain amount of the bass fundamental, as the mirroring of the floor will attenuate it. This effect can be compensated by pressing Bass Boost "which adds 3 dB to the low frequencies."

Can't find anything else in the manual on it but more could be in another section I'm overlooking, nor in specs on the kemper-amps.com page or the kemper US store, but try what BayouTexan wrote above.

Thanks Howard - yes I saw that. Curious what frequencies they refer to (and what Q). I have been boosting around 120hz. BayouTexan mentions really low frequencies (50hz). Let me try that I didn't think of trying such low ones.

I would like to simulate the Kemper Kone bass boost in another FRFR cabinet with a different modeler.

Can anyone guide on what the EQ curve should be to achieve the same? (i.e. what frequencies do I need to cut and boost)

I appreciate that not all FRFR speakers are equal (btw mine is Celestion F12M-150), but some ball park figures would help to get me started.

Kemper is near perfect - and I think the Kones took it to 9.5/10.

My wishlist:

1. I'd like left and right VU meters.
2. Visual Spectrum Analyzer! (that would be a first)
3. Stereo powered Amp (two outputs) built in.
4. A way cataloging your amps on device (w/o) rig manager - e.g. hierarchical defined by user! Marshalls, Voxes, Fenders and then under these maybe 800, 900, SIlver Jublie etc
5. Sorry - I think the Rig Manager UI sucks - take a look at Axe FX, QC etc.
6. Related to Rig Manager, but an intelligent controller that works with rig manager.
7. More Imprints (maybe - but I like the current ones) - or ability to add our own
8. Bit more clarity when we need Cabinet Off and other related settings etc - its a bit confusing with the Kones.
9. Stereo Effects Loop at same time as Stereo Monitoring.
10. Plug-in architecture so 3rd party certified effects can be added.
11. Kemper PC/Mac - a software version of Kemper w/DSP !

Is there any progress from Kemper to improve the sound when using high gain with imprints w/Kone?

We all know that high gain (e.g. ENGL, JCM800 Cranked etc) sounds great in Kone 'FRFR' mode, but with Imprints the sound is usually muffled / blanket over speaker.

Imprints with lower gain is flawless and awesome.

bobbyodell - I'm really glad you kept the Kemper. I think a lot of us suffered from expectation that you just turn it on and it sounds identical to the exact sound you want thru any amp/speaker combination. It can sound near identical but not out of the box. Many profiles sound terrible out-of-the-box. I've even seen complaints about MBritt profiles, which are pretty much the standard profile for the Kemper (esp. for non-high gain). My first epic fail was after just buying the Kemper I went to a practice session with a friend who had a small PA in his music room, and expected to just plug the Kemper into that and it would sound great. It sounded like I was playing thru a cardboard box. I plugged into an external cabinet and sounded wooly. But that was a year ago and I learnt the device and I can get such awesome sounds, that are better than the original amps. I think with Kemper you gotta spend few months with it before you can then just stop tweaking and know the few setting you need to adjust..

I saw Tim Pearce talking about his Kemper and was saying he just uses it like an amp. He only sets it to a Marshall Plexi and uses the gain knob- and that's it. I've got to this now. I have 3 favorite profiles and just use them, and adjust guitar (vol and tone) to taste -- and maybe add an effect to taste.

Oh - in terms of Chorus, I love the CE-1 / Dimension sound you get on a JC-120 / AD-120VTX. My trick it to use Air Chorus and have the Depth set low (1.5 / 2.0 ish).

Celestion C90 Black Shadow. Sounds great in a Boogie. Assuming Kemper can 'solve' the high gain issue with Kone (no imprint often sounds better).

Anyone got a date for new imprints? - or even a way to get IRs converted to Imprint format and we load/share our own?

I mention the C90 because a friend has one and it really sounds big.

Quote from mars8000

I have a non-powered KPA and I'm aware that Kone Imprints are controlled from the Kemper DSP only. I was wondering if i can use them externally for my tube amp. Will this work or anyone might think of a better idea ?

I was hopping that Kemper can sell A DSP box that does the imprints for external gears

Method 1:
Guitar > KPA > KPA ( Amplifier & EQ are off ) > Monitor Out > Tube AMP input > Speaker out > 4x12 Kone

Method 2:

Guitar > Tube AMP > tube amp FX Send > Kemper input > KPA ( Amplifier & EQ are off) > Monitor Out > Tube AMP FX Return > Speaker out > 4x12 Kone

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mars8000 - I don't think you want to use the tube amp as a tube amp as that defeats the purpose of the Kemper, which emulates a tube amp. What I do is take the outputs from the Kemper (master out or monitor out depending on the speaker used) and put it into the return input of the amp (you don't need to use the send)-- that way you are bypassing the pre-amp, which is likely adding a lot of tube amp warmness (that you don't need). Hope this works for you. (your power section of your tube will also be tubes so it may just be too warm).

Quote from Yam the Bomb

Wow I just found this thread and it's my exact same experience. I just put two Kemper Kones in my Victory 2X12 and it's so disappointing just thin and tinny. I've done cab on cab off and all the different speaker choices as well as the bass booster. But it's not even close to a good tone. Has anyone ever figured out the solution to this? I feel like I'm one button push away from great tone. But as it is it's no good.

Sounds great through a regular guitar cab though with regular speakers.

My guess is you have turned the cabinet off in the stack -- it's odd but even though you have a Kone you still need to have the original cabinet on -- it's how the algorithms work. Also Monitor Cab Off and then you can change the different imprints. I find the Jensen P12Q or P12R more pleasing - even when a Celestion would normally be more applicable. If you are doing high gain, then don't use Monitor Can Off button on the Kone page (this is FR mode and generally gainy people prefer without that with Kone).

Personally I always like a little extra bass - and often set the monitor bass to +1.5 -- even after the extra Kone bass boost. But that is probably because I play really really quiet bedroom volume most of the time. Loud would be bad and probably need -1.5 !!

Anyone tried the monoprice class-D amplifier? https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=605030 - $150

Perhaps a cheap icepower clone by China?

Btw - anyone know what Kemper use for the powered amp? Is it an icepower module?

Quote from Finally

So my Kabinet arrived! My first impression is that this is incredible! It really does sound like the source amp. This is a dream for a small gig or jam.

The fender profiles with the Jensen imprints have taken on a new life.

Exactly - I have found fenders with jensens the best, although also (not trying to advertise) the new mbritt 2020 pack is amazing through it. The Marshalls on low gain are superb - high gain good too - the Am dream and the VibroVerb - all amazing with the Kone.

Quote from Chris Catalyst

Yeah and it now sounds a bit like when I put it through my regular Marshall cab with the cab setting left on. It's better though, with a bit of tweaking. I wonder if that's what I got wrong - it didn't instantly sound like a V30 or whatever.

Did u managed to get sounds like a V30? And what kind of profile u using - high or low gain?

+1 Metronome sounds a great and very simple feature they could add.

I wish they also enabled looper without that mega expensive remote.

BTW - I think there is some kind of software bug there. Mine was clearly more left than right. I adjusted panorama +1.0 and it then sounded balanced. But then if I changed to another rig it seems to be balanced now with 0.0. There is some wierd memory gone wrong. Maybe Kemper can take a look? Not sure how to report officially. I even tried with headphones and tried swapping the ears round just to make sure it isn't my ears.

Quote from PartOfNothing

Same thing for me here. FW 7.2.1, Left channel is louder

Same for me - did you get a solution? i checked both stereo monitors and headphones, left slightly louder.

I think it sometimes is less unbalanced.

Obviously can adjust the panorama, but shouldnt need to should I. Is my Kemper faulty? or is there a global setting thats slightly less biased?

Quote from teamjim

So was gigging last night, running in stereo (also stereo in-ears for fun). I noticed that one 'side' was slightly louder than the other, this was confirmed by visual gain levels on the desk, next to me. The really bizarre bit was in the trouble shooting between sets....

1. Switched L and R cables between my delay and reverb pedals in the effects loop. NO CHANGE.

2. Switched the 2 cables going back into the Kemper (from delay in effects loop). NO CHANGE.

3. Switched the XLRs at the kemper end. NO CHANGE....

at this point you'd be thinking it's the desk right?..

4. Switched those same XLR cables at the desk end - and the louder L side switched sides with the quieter R side, so the R was now louder

Repeated multiple times, totally baffled, as was the sound guy. Same kemper, desk and exact same cables was fine the night before. Mental. For the whole 2nd set, the R side was now louder as a result of switching xlrs at the desk end, changed them mid-way through second set at the kemper end and it made no difference, still louder in R

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Hi, sorry to reply to old post, but did you get this resolved? I am also finding the left channel slightly louder than the right. I can tell thru headphones or stereo monitoring. I mean, I can adjust the panorama, but shouldn't have to?

Quote from digbob

You have to turn on Stereo Monitoring, then the Direct out will become your second output for stereo Monitoring

When you are using stereo send/return you cant use the direct out as that is being used for the send.

Hopefully this question is still appropriate in this forum. How do we get stereo Kone monitoring at the same time as stereo send/return.

Basically we only get Kone 'magic' if we are using Monitor - either through monitor/direct or through the powered amp speaker. I am trying to use Stereo effects in the send/return (which uses send + direct out (L)/alt input (R), so how can I run the monitors for the Kone magic -- the Main Out's don't do Kone - I tried. I can only get mono monitoring either through the speaker out or through monitor out. I have a stereo power amp.

I do have a question for ckemper - I think you said literally any class D solid state amplifier would do? If so why is there a huge difference in price between says Powerstage 700 R&L or a HB Thunder 99 or a Car Radio Amplifier or CAmplifier or Carvin -- I know a huge difference in W output, but would we expect the same sound output from the Kones at the same volume - or are all class-D's not equal from your experience?

Quote from thegman

The K-Stack

Nice - anyone got a double Kabinet stack? Not sure if there is any point and would it be different to a 2x12 Kone setup?

Quote from mcuz51

sounds indeed more open on the video, but in the room it sounds really muffled compared to the DXR12 or even a Headrush FRFR108

I find those profiles also muffled. If you change the CAB to Mars 1960AV it sounds totally different and open (hold cabinet button and find a Mars 1960AV from Lars Luettge)

Also if you try MB - Marlon - A1 with FRFR or GB - Diesel VH Four (same amp different profiler!) they will sound nice.

All profiles can be tweaked to sounds better for your specific environment & ears but my guess is always start with a profile your ears like and then tweak.

But yes I find some high gain profiles boxy and muffled -- but not all. I think the trick is getting the right combination of CAB, Definition and EQ. Also I like to choose a nice profile, then find the best imprint for my ears (their impact is always very different per profile) and then tweak Definition and EQ.