Most of you guys have seen my posts about my Kemper Stage not sounding right.
I had 3 concerns:
1 - The profiles never sounded as good as what I have heard others get from the same profiles.
2 - The profiles sounded dead. Like there was too much compression in the line somewhere.
3 - If I tweaked a profile all day long and got it perfect, it sounded terrible to me the next day.
I think I may have an answer. I use a standard stereo receiver as my computer/Kemper monitoring device. I use it with Behringer 8" passive studio monitors. It has always sounded very good and flat. And I could add an extra bass boost that would let me know how it might sound on a subwoofer type system. I also have bad hearing.
The stereo receiver was the problem. Well a major factor.
Over the years I always found with my previous gear, I would tweak a sound and it sounded bad the next day. Several Line6 products right up to the Kemper. But it really showed up more with the Kemper, due to the amp getting older and the Kemper sounding better to begin with.
There was also a 4th issue that I knew was not Kemper related: As the hours would pass I would need to continuously turn up the volume. I assumed my ears were getting adjusted to the level. Again, bad hearing. And this also led to a point in the day where no matter what, everything sounded bad. I assumed my ears were fatigued.
After struggling recently, I decided to swap out my old favorite die hard receiver with a new one I had laying around. Boom. Night and day difference.
1 - The Kemper sounds much better overall. A lot of that gritty crisp distortion I knew was missing is there! Some is still missing but now I know it is most likely from the speakers. I have played the Kemper thru other speakers I have and it is much more crisp thru them.
2 - Profiles sound much more dynamic. I would still like more because I am a weirdo, but much better.
3 - Now when I tweak profiles, I am not confused the next day when they sound terrible. They still sound good the next day.
4 - I set the amp volume at 50 and play all day. Never need to turn it up, never get fatigued.
I think my old amp was sagging. This led to a loss of upper mid distortion. And as the hours passed, it got worse and the frequency shifted slightly. Since it all happens so slowly I never noticed it changing.
I now trust the Kemper a little more as my gold standard. Which makes me very happy since I love everything about how it works and what it does. Still one of the most amazing things ever created by human kind.