How to create a “Clean + Distorted” sound?

    • New

    Hi all,

    Let me clarify my question.

    Unlike the Helix which offers a dual amp path, the Kemper has only one amp sound you can run at a time.

    I would like to be able to blend a tiny bit of my guitar’s clean signal into my Kemper’s high gain rig I have already programmed.

    Is there a way to do this within the Kemper?

    A

    Does anyone remember the Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive pedal? It allowed you to blend a certain amount of your guitar’s clean tone with the pedal’s main overdrive options.

    Could I run a Sparkle Drive into the Kemper’s FX Loop in order to do this?

    Could I somehow use the Exotic X-Blender pedal to do this?

    I’m looking for the easiest and cheapest way to combine my guitar’s clean signal with my profile’s distortion tone, to get a little extra clarity when playing complex chords and during certain solo passages.

    Thanks to anyone who might have an answer for me!



    • New

    You can do the blending easy with a morph on the Amp's Direct Mix parameter. You could even morph the Amp's gain and the direct mix at the same time to go from sparkly clean to full out distortion. SImply apply the morph of Direct Mix and Gain in opposite directions. Of course, you will need an EXP pedal to do it.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Like 1
    • New

    A combination of clarity and direct mix is what I'd start with.


    Clarity to 'clean up' the distortion (read the manual...neat concept). Direct mix for.....well...your clean signal.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

    Like 1
    • New

    The Kemper has a small parallel option. I turn it on in the INPUT section of the rig using RIG MANAGER. I usually use a Graphic EQ and a Chorus on that signal and mix that with the amp profile path. I think the limitation is the first two stomps are only available. It is meant to be used for bass.

    I also have a Helix and use the same parallel GEQ Chorus setup on that.


    I also wrote a VST and made a parallel path before the amp section just for this purpose. Since I wrote it myself I have 3 stomps and 2 modulation slots available. And I tend to use a more distorted sound into the chorus on the VST. Mostly because I do it all in stereo and the chorus spreads it across the speakers nicely. So that is another option using a Kemper stomp to add grit and use the amp for cleans. Gotta love the Kemper.


    For new people trying this stuff, you always have to think about phase issues with two paths.

    • New

    Morph the mix parameters on two drives, one set for grit and the other for “clean” boost. Add a morph range for your compressor, eq etc etc. There are a million ways to use morph to achieve gradations in tone. Dual amps would be cool too, like using an old Supro for dry gritty rhythm and something cleaner and sustaining for melodies. But the truth is I never did this live with amps, nor did any of my heroes. So morphing is good enough, since the guitar volume alone was already good enough before the Kemper, and in the studio it doesn’t matter. Morph advancements were discussed a while back, so I’m sure at some point we’ll all be getting our minds blown by that.