So first of all I'm not sure if this is the right sub to post this. It is a combination of "issue" and "other hardware" and "which profiles" so I hope this is ok.
So my situation is the following. Yesterday I had my first rehearsal with my new project. I went there pretty confident with my Kemper and left extremely
disappointed. I heavily suspect user error on my part. The thing is I haven't rehearsed or played gigs in 4 years so I'm kinda out of the loop in terms of sound and
loudness. I was very pleased at home with what I had but as soon as I cranked the volume things started to fall apart. Yesterday evening I though about just letting my
Kemper stay at home and invest in a new tube amp to do what I want. But then I though that is kinda dumb. Not only are there a bunch of features that I could hardly recreate
with analog gear, also so many people are using the Kemper live. So as I said, I suspect the problem lies on my part.
What we are playing is Heavy Rock and Metal. D is our standard tuning. We are doing Pop-Metal covers. Like Victorys "I'm so excited", or Jaded Hearts "Larger than life" or Mystic Prophecys "Shadow on the wall". So that is what I'm looking for. Not the typical Metallica metal sound, more of a modernised midrangy 80s hard rock tone.
My gear for yesterday was the following:
- Kemper Profiling head (white) + Remote (Software 7.2.2.16146)
- Camplifier Studio
- Harley Benton G112 --> Which I have equipped with a KEMPER Kone.
Loudness was not an issue, which honestly surprised me. I thought the Camplifier would have trouble keeping up but in terms of volume I still had headroom. And we even agreed that we wouldn't rehearse as loud as yesterday in the future (kinda did it because it was awesome after such a long time ).
I tried quite a lot of different profiles. Some of the stock ones (like Tills dual amps), Tone Junkies Mesa, some profiles I did out of my Helix. And at some point they all sounded the same to me. What really shocked me was that I didn't like the KEMPER Kone AT ALL in that situation. As soon as I disengaged it and just used it as FRFR it became more bearable but still far from great. It all sounded very harsh very fizzy.
The guitars can be overlooked in this case, we tried a bunch, some from the other guitarist as well. Of course there were differences but none of them solved the main issue.
One thing that can be noted is that I use the transpose feature of the Kemper to detune my guitar from standard to D.
Our other guitarist is using a Maxon RTD800 into a George Dennis Mighty Mouse 30 (EDIT: with the matching 1x12 cabinet) for reference. I know I'm comparing apples to oranges BUT the KEMPER Kone is advertised as recreating the "Amp in the room" sound so maybe it's only oranges to grapefruits .
I like the Kemper for a reason. Like other digital amps it's just so convenient (which in itself isn't really metal but what can I do? ). Transposing my guitars means that I have to bring less guitars to a show and can pretty much do the gig with one guitar and a spare and that is something that I was definitely looking forward to. Also I have all the effects I could ever need at hand. The Kemper doesn't need to be miced up. It solves grounding issues on its own. Also if HAVE different guitars I can very easily get them to the same point sound wise where changing from a Les Paul to a Strat on a tube amp can be a bit tricky. I mean I don't have to tell you, you all know the great ways of the Kemper
So I really want to make this work. But I'm also let's call it "project focused". If the Kemper doesn't do the thing I need I will keep it for practise at home but have to try and come up with a different solution.
So what I really need is advice in terms of:
How do I set up my Kemper for rehearsal situations? What additional gear am I missing? Which are in your opinion the best profiles I can get for the type of music I want to do?
Thank you for your input in advance! I really want to make this happen with my Kemper.