Hello everyone. I have posted on this before but wanted to follow up and get some advice. I bought a powered Kemper in the hopes of connecting it to an Orange 2x12 cab and get a close approximation to basically owning a bunch of amps I don't actually have. My hope was that I could get a Engl profile for example, either a direct version or one where I can disable the cab setting, and have my setup sound like I now own the real Engl. Now I knew it wouldnt be EXACTLY like having the real Engl amp, but everything I heard about the Kemper led me to believe that it would be pretty darn close, nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. So far that has not really been the case, and I'm wondering if my hopes were too high or maybe I'm just missing something. Here are my steps so far:
1. Upon my first powerup of the Kemper and getting the latest OS patch and the latest Rig Manager patch, I was highly underwhelmed with the sound of the profiles it came with. Clean profiles generally sound pretty good, high gain profiles however sounded very bassy, muddy, etc. The best way to describe it is it sounds like someone through a blanket over my cabinet. (and yes, I have all cabinet emulation turned off, even locked, for all profiles)
2. After much research and advice from the forums (thank you!) I started to make some progress. First I bought some high quality profiles from Michael Britt (Dual Recto), Andy James, Reamp Zone, etc. Now I have a nice selection of high gain amps from reputable sources. Next, I put a Graphic EQ in the "X" position of the chain and adding a low cut filter helped considerably with the out of control low end that every profile seems to have through my cabinet. From there I adjust the clarity and definition settings in the amp section, then finally adjust the EQs and Presence on the main amp screen. This improved the situation pretty dramatically and the difference of before and after is pretty night and day. However, the "blanket" over my cabinet sound has turned more into a "sheet". Progress, but not what I'm looking for.
3. Over the last few days I have found more options that have helped a bit. Turning off "Pure Cabinet" also helped make the sound a little more "alive" as opposed to stuck behind that sheet. Nevertheless, it's still there and just annoying enough to make me want to stick to my real amps instead of the Kemper.
With all that said here are my questions:
Is there anything else I can try or may have missed?
Is this all due to running this through an Orange Cab and not an FRFR? If so, what is the point of a powered Kemper if not to power "regular" guitar cabs?
I prefer the Axe Fx for recording, though I may give the Kemper a shot at recording and see if it's worth keeping based on that alone. However my goal was to have the Axe for recording and the Kemper for playing live in the room. So far, it's falling a little short in that area, and I'm wondering if it's just not ideal for what I'm trying to use it for? Again, clean profiles sound quite good, none of that muffled behind a blanket sound, it's all in the high gain profiles, which is sadly my main interest.
Thanks so much everyone for your help and feedback! It's much appreciated!