Kemper monitoring in loud stage situations

    I have a Kemper Stage guitar amp modeler with a Line 6 Powercab FRFR monitor that I use only in flat mode for practice at home and as a monitor at church. When at church, the Powercab is on the floor of the stage, next to me, and pointed towards my head. A goal being to hear myself while minimizing impact to the stage and house sound. Everything is great at home, and I keep things at pretty low volumes. However, when I’m at church and using the amp as a monitor I run into problems when the stage volume is high. Most noticeably it’s when there are horns that are blasting a section of the music. It’s then that I can’t hear myself. I then try to turn my amp up, and I notice I’m unpleasantly surprised with boomy bass. I’m really just trying to cut through the mix without the boomy bass (also don't want to blow a speaker). Maybe I’m just looking for high end, though I’m not really sure how to best articulate what I’m looking for.

    I’ve thought about turning down the bass knob on the Kemper, but I don’t think I want to affect the house sound at all. My hope for the Kemper was to give the house mixers a good amp sound, and let them control volume, equalizer, etc on their end, and control my monitor the way I want it. Though, I wonder if I’m getting overly loud bass with the Powercab loud, then maybe they’re getting the same thing.

    Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing, and have any solutions or recommendations? I’m open to anything. Thanks!

    Frank Henard

    Edited 5 times, last by fdhenard (June 19, 2021 at 10:48 PM).

    Hi, fdhenard.

    Welcome to the community. I'm glad you joined us.

    A whole bunch of suggestions come to mind. In no particular order

    • Create your tone at home at stage volume levels. That way the spectral balance (lows mids highs) are the same in both places. Read up on Equal Loudness Contours
    • Check your FOH mix. Your FOH sound guy may already be cutting your lows because they are bass-heavy at performance volume
    • Use In-Ear-Monitors
    • Change the stage layout so you are not so close to the horns
    • Change the musical arrangements so you and the horns are not playing in the same frequency ranges at the same time

    Kemper Profiling Amplifier (unpowered) [2014], Remote [2016], Stage [2020], PowerRack, Remote & Kab[2021]
    Twitter | LinkedIn | My Blog | My Kemper Notes

    Edited 2 times, last by ST (June 12, 2023 at 9:17 PM).

    You also have separate EQ on your Main out and your Monitor out on the Kemper. You could try adjusting your personal EQ from there without affecting the main outs at all (assuming you're using monitor out to the Line 6).

    Quote from fdhenard

    I have a Kemper Stage guitar amp modeler with a Line 6 Powercab FRFR monitor that I use only in flat mode for practice at home and as a monitor at church. When at church, the Powercab is on the floor of the stage, next to me, and pointed towards my head. A goal being to hear myself while minimizing impact to the stage and house sound. Everything is great at home, and I keep things at pretty low volumes. However, when I’m at church and using the amp as a monitor I run into problems when the stage volume is high. Most noticeably it’s when there are horns that are blasting a section of the music. It’s then that I can’t hear myself. I then try to turn my amp up, and I notice I’m unpleasantly surprised with boomy bass. I’m really just trying to cut through the mix without the boomy bass (also don't want to blow a speaker). Maybe I’m just looking for high end, though I’m not really sure how to best articulate what I’m looking for. Drift Boss

    I’ve thought about turning down the bass knob on the Kemper, but I don’t think I want to affect the house sound at all. My hope for the Kemper was to give the house mixers a good amp sound, and let them control volume, equalizer, etc on their end, and control my monitor the way I want it. Though, I wonder if I’m getting overly loud bass with the Powercab loud, then maybe they’re getting the same thing.

    Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing, and have any solutions or recommendations? I’m open to anything. Thanks!

    Welcome to the community. I'm glad you joined us.

    You could try IEM;s (In ear monitors) - I use them on stage as my other guitarist has very loud stage volume - I am constantly telling hi to turn down but it creeps up - sound engineer's nightmare but at least with the IEM's I can just have a little of his guitar and I can hear mine fine - I also have my main vocals (me) in my IEM's so I don't have to strain to hear myself. Best investment I ever made, Started cheap with XVive U4 but upgraded recently to a Sennheiser G4 system.