So in short - yes?
It should work without a problem?
So in short - yes?
It should work without a problem?
Hi everyone!
I just purchased the Mission Engineering Pedal for Kemper, and was now wondering (a bit late to be fair) whether the Pedal works over S/PDIF out?
When I first tried it, it wasn't working, and I remember reading somewhere that S/PDIF out isn't affected by pedals (volume for instance?) but I'm honestly not sure.
I haven't dived deeper into it as I am waiting for a longer TRS cable , but the thought just came to me and I couldn't find the thread where I read this info.
Thanks!
Dan
Thank you everyone for you helpful replies!
Display MoreHi,
had the same "issue" while ago with stage and powered cab.
The solution for me was to set a high cut around 8-9 and mainly try every rig with imprint set in amp section to Frfr.
If the rig was Profiled with a V30 for example, using the V30 imprint is an nice improvement (most times at least).
Having V30 as a global imprint setting and go through rigs which are Profiled with a different speaker, Sounded harsh and shrill here and there.
Unfortunately, it is not possible yet to set Frfr as a global imprint to go through the rigs and manually improve the rigs you like by changing the amp section imprint.
But anyway it's just a few more clicks, nothing I would moan too much about as I am still happy how many Features Kemper introduces FOC without one has to purchase New Hardware.
Keep on rockin
This is nice advice, it definitely improves the issue to a certain extent. Thanks!
Display MoreCouple of comments from me ( not sure how helpful this is):
1) Don't expect headphones and Kabinet to sound the same. I know you already know this but I do wonder what, if anything, you have done to EQ/tweak your sounds for headphones which won't necessarily work for the Kabinet.
2) Because of point 1, some profiles will sound better through different monitor solutions, so try other profiles. MBritt profiles are notoriously dark but come alive at volume ( although I know you are saying its a problem with shrill sounds). Hence I would avoid any big EQ changes before trying other profiles
3) Volume plays a big factor - see point 2
4) Try different imprints
5) Kabinet placement is definitely a consideration
Hope you resolve. I use my Kabinet at every gig and love it.
Thanks for your reply!
Yeah, I don't expect them to sound the same, but I would expect if my guitar sounds amazing over headphones, for it to sound atleast acceptable over the Kab.
It is weird, because I don't have this issue with my Telecaster, which honestly sounds quite good, however very thin compared to my Eastman T386. Also very thin over headphones. The pickups are much lower output though. Maybe I have to adjust the height of the pickups on the Eastman. I just don't fully comprehend how it can sound so different in quality - heaphones = amazing, kab = shite.
I have also tried a bunch of profiles from ToneJunkie, which are definitely more suited to the Kab than MBritt, but ultimately face the same issue...
Don' forget the Deeflexx or the ToneShield.
https://www.thomannmusic.com/deeflexx_h1_aura_v2.0.htm
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Well this is pretty interesting to be honest. But I don't see myself spending 350€ for a piece of plastic, seriously what are they thinking
How is the Kabinet positioned? Like the amps you played in the store, or aimed at your face?
The Kab: On the floor, aimed slightly upward with the built on tilt-feet (more toward my face and slightly off-axis). In the store they sat square on the floor.
I sat a similar distance away from them as I do from the Kabinet.
Do you think this would make such a big difference? Thanks!
I use a powered Kemper with the passive Kabinet so not quite the same setup but should be the same unless there is a physical problem with your Kabinet.
Make sure that the Cab section of the Rig is ON. Turn off the Rig cabinet section only by using the Monitor Cab Off button in the Output Menu. If the cabinet is turned off in the Rig’s Stack section the Kabinet will go into Full Range Mode not Imprint and (as there is no speaker simulation in the rig because it is turned off) the sound will be very bright and possibly shrill.
Hey thanks for the reply!
Yes I have the Cab section on and Monitor Cab off, using the Creamback or V30 imprints
I have been fumbling around with the global Low Cut/High Cut, and especially putting the High cut to around 9K does improve this "shrillness", but I guess also changes the sound somehow?
Hi everyone!
I am once again asking for your support
I've been using the Kemper Stage for a while now, and last year I got the Kemper Powered Kabinet to go with it.
The Kab is pretty cool, but I am having some issues with getting the "right" sound out of it.
When I use my main guitar, an ES335 type, the sounds I get from the Kab are very "shrill" and sort of uncomfortable (mainly when using the bridge pick up and some higher gain profiles).
When I go through my DT990 headphones and leave everything unchanged, it sounds absolutely amazing, truly...
I do play mostly through my headphones, but I think I would play more through the Kab if I got it to sound right. The other day I was in the store trying out some guitars, and noticed that the tube amps I was using (e.g., Fender HotRod deluxe, but also smaller and cheaper ones) had a much more pleasing sound to them (warm balanced).
Maybe I need to change some EQ settings?
I was using the Grammatico profile from MBritt (it's slightly better with ToneJunkie profiles, but I like this one) with the Creamback imprint (I tried all of them) and Kemper Kone active, Bass Boost active, directivity around 3 to 4, going through Monitor out and using "Master Mono" output.
Help would be much appreciated. Do you guys get the Kab/Kone to sound like your headphones?
Thanks!
Display MoreAdding to the excellent suggestions so far:
I try to use it as I would use an amp on stage:
- first, learn about the "typical" amps for your main playing style; listen to your "heroes" and their sounds, and find out what they use to create that sound
- then pick a general model that is a good match to your general repertoire - a Mesa Boogie Treadplate may not be the best amp to start your Country career with; and playing death-metal through a Fender Twin can also be difficult. I'm not saying it can't be done, but if you are a beginner, start with the obvious. Get a good set of profiles for this amp from a reputable source.
- For your selected amp, pick three or four profiles, from clean, through "dirty", "crunchy" to full high-gain (if that's your thing). These are essentially your "amp channels", and you should get used to thinking about them in terms of these categories - makes life a lot easier
- Don't worry too much about speakers - pick profiles with "typical" speakers, or use merged / studio profiles and combine them with a good "allround" speaker / mic combination that works for your genre
- Now focus on getting to know these four key tones (clean, dirty, crunch, high-gain) and what you can do with them - that should already give you a lot to play with
- For effects, I'd recommend you leave most of these off in the beginning (maybe except a bit of reverb, and a delay to switch on for soloing). Then start adding them to your basic patches and get a feeling for what they do to your sound.
- My recommendation when starting out: only add effects WITH AN INTENTION - don't just switch them on and off and fiddle with parameters. If you want to have longer sustain, use a compressor and learn what it does to your playing dynamics, and what the parameters do. If you want more grit to your clean or "dirty" tone, use a drive pedal and learn how to use its controls. If you want to create wide, "ballad-y" sounds, try adding a chorus or phaser, ...
In terms of organization, I've built a couple of generic performances for different musical styles: blues, classic rock, pop, ... Each of these has a set of standard sounds - typically clean, dirty, crunchy, high-gain rhythm, lead, from left to right - around one amp model selected for that style. Of course, some of this varies - not so much need for high-gain stuff in a blues performance, but maybe two different lead settings. Maybe more than one clean patch for the pop performance - with and without chorus, so you can select your "ballad" sound directly without having to switch on a chorus.
Then maybe a "morphed" variant for each of the five sounds - I usually have a "more effected" variant of my five basic sounds on morph. Also, I have a wah on most of my patches, set to bypass@stop. Doesn't get in the way, unless I step on it, so no fiddling, no need to switch it on or off. Just good to have in an "all-purpose" performance. So I usually have one or two expression pedals plugged into my Stage - one dedicated to the wah, the other for volume (usually post-amp).
Once you have these basic performances set up, you're all set to forget about "programming" the Kemper and just play - you definitely have enough colors on your palette with this. And don't worry about the sound not being "exactly" like the original in the song you are playing - in most cases, you can get close enough, as long as your playing is up to the task...
Now you may encounter a song that needs a custom-built variant of one of your performances, with a specific "signature" sound that defines the song. For this, I usually copy the "standard" performance that comes closest, and then start fine-tuning the amp and adding and customizing effects to get closer to the original. But that's a different discipline - we're talking "sound design" here, and you can spend hours down that rabbit hole...
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Torsten
Hi Torsten! Thank you soooo much for this detailed post, it really answers almost all of my questions
I had been setting up my performances in a somewhat similar way, but basically it was just randomly tossing 5 profiles with increasing gain in there and I ended up only liking one, maybe two of them. I really need to take the time and work on one amp/performance and get those 4 to 5 sounds down.
One question I still have, when you switch to a high gain or lead tone, do you already have some stomps/ODs active, or is it just a high gain profile (maybe already profiled with an OD) ? I guess it depends?
Thanks again!
Display MoreJust my two cents here... don't let the unlimited options and capabilities of the Kemper overwhelm you Dan. That's easily possible so as Don said try to keep it simple and adjust and add effects only step by step.
For sure they are. How many of your favorite artists do have 6 different traditional amps on stage? Not so many I guess. It's super cool to have those capabilities and I'm guilty as well of trying a lot of amps which I will physically never ever get into my hands. Beautiful stuff out there. But that's a different stream than playing guitar and making music. I call it "tone chase". Better to limit that sometimes...
And sometimes (only sometimes!) even when jamming with others I do treat the Kemper as a "single channel one sound" amp, not changing the profile at all. Just with a few stomps (like an analog pedal board) and then with switching pickups, using volume knob, using different playing styles I change the sounds to fit to the songs. In rock/blues/funk that works pretty well... take a plexi amp and a boost... here you go
Many. Definition parameter is key. Sometimes a little bit of the eq or compression parameter. But don't let this overwhelm you. I have a few go to profiles, a fixed combination of effects for all the slots (soft shaper, booster, green scream, phaser, two different delays and a reverb) and some performances set up to quickly deliver for songs or jams. Here and there (especially in the creative process with the band) I do add or change one of the effects. Haven't done that for some weeks now.
In studio work I always connect the Kemper to the computer and use RigManager to load from the library what I need. And by the way I rarely use the effects the profile makers have put in there. I immediately change this to my standard set described above after checking if there is something super inspiring which I'd like to save for myself.
You're on a good way with your thoughts Dan. You'll make it. Don't let the complexity make you fed up. So just reduce the complexity and enjoy!
Wow, thank you so much for that detailed and uplifting answer! That was really helpful in thinking in how to use the Kemper.
So like Don said, I will focus on using maybe one or two profiles and try/setup a few fixed effects for those and not worry too much about the million available options.
Also, do you have any other pedals to go with the Kemper? Like the ME expression pedals (and if so, how many)?
Hi guys!
I'm in need of some assistance
I've been using the Kemper Stage for around two years now, almost entirely at home (mostly through headphones) and sometimes jamming with friends (Kemper powered kabinet). I have however come to the point where I'm almost fed up with the thing... The sound is great, but it just doesn't feel so practical (to me). I want to sit down and be able to focus really on just playing, being able to change the sound as quickly and easily as possible. At the moment I have set up performances for each set of amp profiles that I own (around 6 ToneJunkie amps, which are awesome), since that is more convenient than flicking through 300 profiles. However that is only 5 profiles per amp... Also I never touch the settings or any of the effects that come with the commercial profile, so I'm stuck with whatever effects come with it (there is just too much going on ). Mostly I would be interested in reverb, delay, chorus, maybe fuzz, boost and wah (need to get the expression pedal though).
I'd appreciate some insight on how you guys are using the Kemper to get the most out of the thing. What settings do you adjust within profiles? Do you test all of the effects or you have same effects that you use for all (or most) of your profiles (any recommendations)? And how do you then set it all up in the most convenient way to have all of the sounds you want and switch between them as easily as possible? Maybe there is a checklist of stuff I can do and then just forget about it and focus on playing...
If it helps, I use an es335 type and a tele, and try to play mainly rock/blues/funky stuff.
Sorry if this a bit of a general question... I'm still learning guitar in general, and I would rather focus on that than all the settings. So any suggestions are very welcome .
Thank you so much in advance!
Best,
Dan
try the analog outs, please and see how that sounds
yeah ive actually already tried the analog outs as well as the headphone out from the Kemper, but the result is the same.
I think the common understanding is that the difference you hear is caused by the space setting. Try enabling it for all outputs and see if you have the same experience.
I have it on my todo to make some comparisons between recordings from analog and headphone out.
Yeah I have had that enabled for all outputs
The Focusrite has a different headphone amp than the Kemper so it's going to sound different.
Yeah I guess this is what it boils down to... I read somewhere the Kemper HP out enhances a certain frequency spectrum that is very appealing. Huh, Idk. i guess I will try with the mixer eventually to get the sounds right
I have a small mixer between Stage and the interface, also an Headphone Amp (have to feed 4 Headphones). The interface also feeds back to the mixer. I have the exact same signal from the Stage, the Mixer directly ( even in playback) and the Headphone Amp. Never plugged the cans in the interface though...
Thanks for your reply!
Interesting, I've read something like this before. May I ask what audio interaface and output from the Kemper you are using?
Hi guys,
as I've already commented in another thread (to no avail), I have been having some issues with my newly purchased Focusrite Scarlett 8i6.
The main thing being that the sounds I get from the Headphone jack of the Kemper is a lot nicer than the sound through the Scarlett headphone out.
It sounds less compressed, cleaner and just chimes much nicer. I've tested with a bunch of different profiles (mainly from ToneJunkie), and I came to same conclusion for all.
Initially it was an issue of volume, which I bypassed by getting a Mackie headphone amp. It sounds good, but not quite Kemper headphone good.
Is this a common problem for all Audio interfaces?
My setup is:
Kemper -> SPDIF -> Scarlett 8i6 -> MacBook Air -> GarageBand
I've played around with output settings of kemper (-db, space, cabinet) but nothing really helps.
Some input would be much appreciated
Thanks!!!
Wow!!!;
I was curious about that as it just didn't seem right. It appears that Macbooks now sense the impedance of anything connected to the headphone socket and adjust the voltage to match 😯
Not sure exactly when this was added but if your MacBook is recent this could explain it.
Yeah its an M1 MacBook Air. But its running through the Headphone amp from the 8i6 though righ? Like I'm just sending my Macs signal through USB to the Scarlett? Maybe I exagerated when I said "very" loud, but it is definitely much louder than my guitar sound from the kemper, to the point i cant hear my guitar, even on max gain.
Anyway, I am getting a small Heaphone Amp now, that should hopefully sort that out.
I'm also wondering whether I should keep the 8i6 with S/PDIF or just get a cheaper 2i2, since I didn't notice too much difference between S/PDIF and analogue out.
what headphones are you running? It sounds like you may have an impedance mismatch where the headphones have too high a load for the interface’s headphone amp.
Oh right, I didn't think of that. I am using the DT 990 PRO, they have pretty high impedance wth 250 Ohm. They sound marvelous though through the Kemper, is there a better way to solve this? Get a different interface?
Thanks!
e/ The volume of the heaphones listening to my MacBook gets veeery loud though, which is weird (through the 8i6)
Hey all! I just purchased the same Audio Interface, Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 3. Gen. I also am hearing noticeable difference between sounds over headphones directly through the Kemper HP vs. the Scarlett HP out. First and foremost it is much louder and clearer through the Kemper, sounds amazing. Through the Scarlett it sounds okayish, but too quiet and not as aggressive, slightly more compressed maybe.
I'm running the Scarlett over S/PDIF, I have the volume at 0.0db on the Kemper (so maxed for everything). Using Master Stereo for S/PDIF out. Tested with and without "Space". I've played with the sliders in the Software control of the Focusrite, but it only makes the sound worse.
Anyone got an idea why this is? Seems very similar to the issue Kaschko had.
For mono: BAM200, SD170, Palmer Macht 402. Not sure if you want/need stereo or not
Thanks! It says Palmet Macht 402 is a stereo amp? That would be perfect
Alright, thank you very much!
I'll give the Kone a try, but dishing out 700€ for a power amp seems a little high...
Any other suggestions for a power amp?
First of all thank you for the warm welcome and helpful response.
Seems like the Kone/Kabinet is more popular than I expected from reading online.
I would need an active version of the Kone though, since I have the Kemper Stage, right?
Do I build this myself or just run a poweramp into the kabinet?
Again I'm really out of my league here
Gracias!