Kemper powered rack onto a 4x12. What's the secret?

[thiswaythatway]

So a local GC near me had a Kemper for a while and they had buried underneath some other crappy gear for weeks. I was happy to see them set it up on a 4x12 all ready for demo. So I played around with it twice, each time around 20 minutes. What am I missing because it didn't good at all. I was just going through stock presets, just Mesa and Marshall one's. Everything seemed to lack body. There was plenty of gain on tap but the tones were not that great. When I switched presets each time the cab light would come on, and I'd shut it off and could hear a difference. Is that the way to shut off the cab or is there a global setting? After messing around with I just couldn't wait to plug into a real amp. If I'm missing something let me know and I'll mess with it again.

 

[fearhk213]

I'm curious about this too. I heard someone playing one in a local store through a 4x12 with some direct profiles he made. It did not project out of the cab like a regular amp, and it was turned up pretty loud too. It also had a sort of distant/detached thing going on - kind of like a mic'd cab coming through a PA. It was odd.

 

[JerEvil]

You can globally turn off the cabs from the "Monitor Out" on the non powered one. Not sure how you do it on the power head. If you turn the cab off on the stack section then it would be off going to FOH as well. Not a good idea unless mic'ing the actual cab.

I've posted my vids many times. Between the vids or live, no one has eve said it sounds thin. No one I know is that nice. My friends would tell me if it sounded shitty. Maybe I'm lucky with good profiles.

 

[sleewell2]

Turn the cab sims off

 

[the4thlast1]

Turn cab sims off, ...... I have the power rack version, sounds very good though a 4x12, the stock profiles did not impress me, I didn't try that many of them but the ones I did sucked for high gain especially. I went on the exchange and downloaded way better profiles that kill the stock ones I tried.

 

[fearhk213]

I know when I heard it the cab sims were off, but maybe the direct profiles weren't made very well.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

There is something called "merged" profiles which better isolate the amp from the cab- that is the type of profile you would want if you are doing KPA>4x12. There's an internal parameter to adjust so the cab sims are OFF going into the 4x12 but ON to go through the house PA.

Chances are you were scrolling through the stock profiles which are generally considered 2nd tier. I think there is a Vai For Love of God Marshall profile which is pretty cool though if you can find that.

All of that being said, KPA>4x12 is not the best application for Kemper. DI in the studio is a dreamy and wonderful tonal experience. Bands that gig a lot would love the lightweight and embrace the di to house PA as that can be really awesome as well. Traditional amp cab setups are at best acceptable but not the reason you get into this product, but the ironic thing is that is how most would audition it in a guitar store.

I need another one.....

 

[gibson5413]

Too bad we're not closer Dan! I think you would like my setup. I have some killer profiles that would meet what you're looking for.

 

[Mklane]

The thing that worked for me was taking it off the cab I had it sitting on and replacing it with an Axe II/ matrix setup

 

[smdb]

It's all about the right profiles

 

[smdb]

It's all about the right profiles

 

[VH4_BigRig]

Hey Dan, I know you're a big Mesa guy, and when I got my Kemper the majority of stock high gain profiles, in particular the Mesa profiles, weren't very good. I think I liked 3 out of 25-30 that I tried? My guess is that the profiles you were using weren't the best- there are a bunch on the rig exchange and for sale that would likely be closer to what you're looking for. Also, in my limited experience using the Kemper with cabs (a Mesa 2x12 and Ampeg 4x10) through a solid state poweramp, I didn't like the sound as much as I did through my monitors. Like others have said I likely needed to spend more time turning the cabs sims on/off and tweaking things, but I didn't bother because I didn't have the time.

If you want to hear what it's really capable of, maybe your best bet would be to search the exchange for some profiles and get some from some forumites, put them on a jumpstick, and bring them in to test at the store? The transfer process is super simple! Hopefully the store would be ok with it. You may or may not have to format the stick on the kemper first. That or borrowing/renting it and putting stuff on and testing stuff at home? Good luck either way if you give it a go!

 

[the4thlast1]

Yeah my KPA actually sounds great through a 4x12....as mentioned its all about good profiles and cab sims off..Anyone else like the KPA through a 4x12 or you all prefer P.A. or monitots ?