The Yamaha arrived today. Did a quick plug in and test over lunch and I can see why everyone enjoys them so much. There are a few options, and I was wondering which approach was getting the best results for those of you who use them.
I have a powered head, so I turned off the amp, plugged a guitar cable into the monitor out and into the cab. It's set to line in, and I started with the signal all the way down on both the Kemper monitor out (using Master Mono as source) and the cab. I got significant hum, even though cab is using same power outlet as Kemper. Tried the ground lift but that did little to help. Switched cables to a known good cable, same results.
I then grabbed an XLR -> TRS cable and went into the XLR input of the Yamaha. No hum. I'm happy to run in that configuration but I'm surprised the TS input had so much hum, so I'm wondering if I just did something stupid.
The rest of my comments will be in the context of XLR in. I experimented with levels starting with off on both and working my way up. The Yamaha appears to be happy with the monitor out level on the Kemper turned all the way up. With the speaker volume at noon, it was easily pushing around 108db, no noise, good quality sound. Do you guys run the Kemper at full and adjust the speaker, or run it low with the speaker high? The first seems like the best for signal to noise, but I'm just trying to verify that the levels the Kemper puts out of the monitor running at full is a happy level for the Yamaha.
Regarding the other options on the cab, I set the both the contour and HPF to off as an initial reference point. The manual mentioned possible hyped bass when sitting on the floor (I'm using it in wedge configuration), but it sounded fine to me. Are you guys leaving these off? My primary concern is artificially screwing with the sound, which might be okay on the profile I'm testing with but turn out to be suboptimal for many others. Also, my thinking is the "flat" in FRFR is kinda the point, but it would be great to hear the perspective of more experienced folks.
By the way, I'm feeling plenty of low end thump (M. Britt Friedman for high gain test), which I mention because some are concerned that an FRFR doesn't give enough guitar in the room vibe. I had monitor cab off running powered into the Marshall 4x12, but with cabs back on and enough volume to compete with a drummer, it feels pretty good to me. Of course, it doesn't sound like the 4x12, but that was why I bought it. I wanted something that would deliver the same kind of sound I get in the studio, and that will be going to FOH.
So, digging it to be sure, and with DSP off running XLR in everything's groovy. That said, if there are tips, tricks or better ways to get the most out of this guy, would welcome the suggestions.