UPDATE - Stratocaster problem ( Stratitus) made the Kemper sound raspy with distortion when Gain was used. Guitar returned to Sweetwater

    Well the title says it all. I am in the process of trouble shooting this with Tech Support. Armin has heard how one of his rigs sounds with the Strat. Bloody awful. Same rig with the Soloist or LP sounds great.


    Strat sounds great thru FRFR QSC K10 (and thru my Fender Deluxe 90 amp) , but with Kemper rigs that have mid to high level gain, the tones are are raspy and awful.


    I use the Strat a lot and am beginning to think about checking out the Axe FX 2. Since getting rid of the Strat is not an option, this may be my Plan B.


    Its a shame though since I like the Kemper. I sure hope this can be resolved by Tech Support.

    Edited 3 times, last by lasvideo ().

    Yes, I agree. Something is wrong. I hope it can be fixed without having to ship it somewhere and not have it accessible for many weeks. Its like 5 months old.


    Might demo the Axe so I have a quick fix option if this isnt resolved in a timely manner.

    Didn't you describe the same or a similar problem before?
    Didn't you describe a workaround that you found yourself (lowering distortion sense) here in the forum?
    Is this the same problem or a different one?
    Sorry I'm losing track here (no disrespect intended).
    And what did support say?

    Quote from Ingolf

    Didn't you describe the same or a similar problem before? Yes , when I first got the Strat
    Didn't you describe a workaround that you found yourself (lowering distortion sense) here in the forum? It only worked on rigs with low level gain, as it turned out.
    Is this the same problem or a different one? Same exact problem
    Sorry I'm losing track here (no disrespect intended).
    And what did support say?

    I submitted all related info and samples. Just waiting to hear back from them.

    Hello, the problem is probably that some rigs will never sound right on a strat , you should consider using only the right rigs that will match your strat. For heavier stuff , switch to the LesPaul , you don't see that much heavy metal bands on SC strats


    You also should borrow a few strats from your friends or invite them to try the KPA, it's probably a flaw in the US strat you got, you know I had a similar issue with mine US strat.


    I agree that some rigs sound fabulous on strats while lots of hi to very hi gain will sound like cheap solid state amps on cranked fuzzboxes without a minimal tweaking.


    give a try to the stock peacemaker rig from Joptunes ( available on Rig ex as ' Peace ' ) or the heavy start rig I did tweak for my squier ( 'Vibrochamp'66 heavy') , both of them sound full , heavy and without any buzz in the drive.

    Thanks!


    Heres a clip that illustrates the problem Strat distortion

    Have you tried just rolling back the treble and presence? The single coils are going to be a lot brighter than your humbuckers. Maybe to test you could start from a mid to high gain rig you like with your humbucker guitars, change to the Strat and roll the treble and presence quite a bit. Then fiddle with the gain to get it where you'd like.


    Which of Armin's rigs are you trying?

    Yup I altered those in addition to Input Levels. Still there. If I reduce gain to 0 the raspy distortion is gone. But that means I am severly limited as to how I can create tones (and I LIKE gain on my guitars) using the Strat on the Kemper. Check above for a link to the sound clip that illustrates the problem.

    We discussed all this also via email - ALL distorted rigs (Stock and from different sellers) sounded strange with lasvideo's Strat.


    I tried some of the rigs with the most prominent 'awful' sound with my 3 Strat's - and it sounds great with all 3 of them.


    So yes, there is something strange in lasvideo's KPA or setup - but this other guitars seam to work fine.

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    Quote from Michael_dk

    Have you tried reamping through a different profiler?


    I'd give a hand if you want it. I could also make a track for you to try out (Don't have a strat, but I do have single coils).


    Could be interesting to compare.


    Thanks! I do appreciate your help. But Im going to wait to see what the talented folks at Kemper have to say. Todays my 60th birthday and I dont want to dwell to much on this bummer situation

    Happy birthday!


    Yes, I agree - after your birthday - record your dry guitar sound (can be done via the KPA) - double check if this track when send back to your KPA creates the same bad sound and send me this track - I'll try it with the same rig here.


    You could also do this with any of the stock or RE rigs - so other users can test this too.


    I am sure you'll get your KPA sounding great with ALL of your guitars.



    one other test:
    Take your guitar, KPA and headphones to another place - and try again - single coil PU's captures strange things some times.

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    Have you checked the setup on the Strat? Fret buzz becomes very prominent when using strats with gain, and will produce exactly the kind of rude distortion you describe.

    Its installed in a rack in the studio.Thats where it is used.