Good idea. But i will wait for your experience with the PA. I own the Kemper since some month
and i'm still fiddling around with the sound results between real amp and real cab and Kemper
with earphones, with studio speakers, PA-speakers and FRFR's. It is a never ending story which i still have not
understand in detail...
Yesterday and today I went to the rehearsal room.
Connected the Monitor Out (EQ neutral) to the Return of a 5150 (+Marshall V30 4x12).
Connected the Main Out (EQ neutral) to a mix desk (EQ neutral) > PA amp > EV TX1152 speaker.
Yesterday I spend most of the time going thru all the profiles with Till's Cablab 017 as my main cab profile.
Today was going back and forth between 5150 and PA. And both on high and low volume.
At higher volume I found the PA better sounding, more clear and more tone. If I decreased the bass on the Kemper the PA was still a full tone while the 5150 stack lacked body, specially on high volume.
I spend a lot of time trying different eq settings on the Kemper (keeping the eq of Main/Monitor Out neutral). Adjusting the EQ had the most effect on the PA, but that's because the Marshall cabinet not being frequency neutral. I kept on eq-ing and got irritated sometimes that some eq-adjustments (on the Kemper) that were brilliant on the PA, did almost nothing or didn't have the same effect on the 5150 stack. I tried the EQ on the Monitor Out, adding mids to get a better tone. Didn't work.
I spend the last hour only on the PA because it just sounded so good.
Tried the other cabs in Till's Cablab. There are all kinds of flavors , I still have 017 as my main cab. It has all the frequencies very well balanced, so it's very easy to eq on the mix desk. I also like 031 a lot, it's much brighter but the high frequencies are also balanced.
Pure Cabinet.
I liked the sounds with Pure Cabinet (5.0), but also without. With PC the sound gets a bit more direct, so I see PC more like a Direct on/off button.
Back at home I wondered if my PA settings would sound the same on my KRK RP8 studio speakers. I had to adjust the bass (on the Main Out EQ) minus 3 (!!) to get the same sound. Reasons may be; the PA speakers need more bass, the KRK's are bass heavy, my room needs bass traps/ bad acoustics.
@ hal2000.
For me, if I had to buy some amplification for the Kemper and I could only choose between a real poweramp+cabs and a PA system, I would defenitely go the PA way. Two days earlier I would have said " go tubes", today I say " go the non-tubes way".
Amps still in the Kemper after testing/deleting:
Bogner Uberschal from Chris O
Engl Savage from Sinmix
Engl Savage from JEVO
Fryette Pittbull from RiffEm
Marshall JVM from Sinmix
Mesa MK2C+ from Djemass
Mesa MK3 from Thumas
Mesa Recto from R U Sirius (2x)
Mesa Recto from Sinmix (absolute favorite!!!)
5150 from Sinmix
Randall V2 from Sinmix.
I deleted a lot of other amps that were not different enough to take up space.
So this is my to-go list. Keep in mind I'm a narrow-minded metalhead with own preferences, but I do like a thick, fat but clear tone.
Cheers, Tom