Please listen... is this the way Kemper should sound?? Problem with sound

    Hello,


    ever since I bought Kemper I've had problem getting a good distorted sound out of it. I was so assured that the fault can't be in Kemper that I tried different strings, changed EMG 81 pickups to my Kramer guitar, changed to using SPDIF output, got a bunch of commercial profiles, and also I doubted my Focusrite Scarlett 18i8, but I don't really think it's from that. As I'm running out of options, it has to be the Kemper itself. So, the question is, is there something wrong with my Kemper?


    Could you please, and I would really appreciate it, listen to a couple of samples I recorded, and try to determine if there's is something systematically wrong with them. To my ear they sound thin, harsh, distant and weak.. especially the ones with the distortion pedal, but others also in smaller scale, but still enough to make them sound bad to my ears at least. Maybe you can replicate them with your own Kemper and try if it sounds the same.


    1. A clean profile.
    2. The same clean profile but I added the first distortion pedal from the stomps (BM Brite) and didn't touch anything else but adjusted volume so it wouldn't clip.
    3. The same as before but I turned the gain from 0 to noon.
    4. Lasse Lammert Big Rock profile.
    5. Lasse Lammert Chain of Damnation profile.
    6. Premier Profiles JCM800 Tight Heavy.


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    *I have the newest firmware.
    *No EQ on outputs.
    *Clean and distortion sense are 0.
    *Pure cabinet is off.
    *I accidentally left on 4.4 of "Space" to the output... don't remember seeing that before.. did it come with the new firmware update? Anyway, it's not enough to lead us astray here.


    Please, ask more information if you want. I can also record more samples. Notice also the pops and crackles in the second sample... what's going on there??


    I created the video with movie maker and also putting it to youtube seems to cause loss of audio quality, but I hope this is enough for you to determine if the Kamper is working.


    Cheers!


    Markus

    2 and 3 sound like there's no cab.
    4 is easily the best-sounding to my ears, but still not stellar.
    5's somewhere between 4 and the no-cab-sounding ones.
    6, the JCM, is just plain thin and harsh. Again, sounds like the cab's off.


    So, is there any chance the cab's off in some Rigs? You said they sound "thin, harsh, distant and weak", and I concur.


    One caveat 'though: I'm only able to listen on my crappy Mac speaker, but I'm kinda used to its thin, harsh, mono sound enough to be fairly certain those Rigs sound like crap. At least you know it's not just you who's hearing the crappiness, Markus!


    Oh, and welcome to the forum, mate!

    Thanks, Monkey_Man. I appreciate your input. I'm glad I'm not the only one hearing the crappiness... in a way.


    I quickly tested and yes the cab was on on those, and it sounds even harsher with it off.. like it should. So, that's not the problem. Or maybe the cab simulation is not working properly?


    Could you or anyone else test with a clean profile and the first distortion stomp to see if they will match the numbers 2 and 3??


    Cheers!
    M

    My pleasure, Markus.


    Sorry Mate, but I can't do any testing of Kemper or RM for that matter. Everything's offline, and I don't even have recording ability ATM. Will be this way for some months.


    Somebody who can oblige will surely, definitely, 100% be on his or her way soon. Just hang in there mate.

    I had a similar problem with my brand new KPA.
    Solution was to perform a rig reset:
    Turn on KPA while holding RIG button.
    This will reset some internal parameters and won't delete any rigs.


    If this does not works, you could also try a system reset, which is the same as before but holding the SYSTEM button instead of the RIG button.
    You better make a full backup of your stuff before performing a reset, just in case...

    I contacted the support and sent them DI recorded sample along with other stuff and information, let's see what they say.


    The resets didn't work at least.


    It would have been nice to hear how it sounds with others when you just take a clean rig and put the BM Brite distortion on it, or turn up the gain... just for comparison...


    M

    So... despite ppl agreeing the sound wasn't good, the reamping by technical support confirmed that there is nothing wrong with my Kemper.


    To my ears... the high gains are not natural, sadly, but I guess that's the way Kemper is then.


    My search for not harsh distortion rigs continue...


    So far I have bought a bunch from Premier Profiles and Top Jimi, along getting a bunch of free rigs.


    I'm open for suggestions.


    Best,
    Markus

    Hi Markus!


    Welcome to the forum.


    I'm wondering, do you have any previous experience with hearing a cab recorded through a microphone?


    Listening on very good headphones, I'll say that 2 and 3 sound horrible, but I'll chalk that down to that stomp just not being suitable for the profile used and/or guitar.


    I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with the other profiles, but maybe the sounds don't appeal to you.


    Try messing with the pure cab in the output section, and with the definition parameter in the amp section and see what that does.



    Two questions: How are you connected to the kemper when recording? And is anything flashing red or reddish when you're playing (input or output leds)?

    Yep, 2 & 3 sound terrible but I never use the distortion pedals in the Kemper.


    Try Rig Manager and search for Sinmix's free profiles. There's some great heavy stuff there, my particular favourite is his Marshall 6100.


    Every profile has been created to suit the creator's environment. The guitar, pickups, monitoring and whether it is for bedroom, album, live band etc all change the way a tone would be shaped.

    I've gone through a bit of the same feelings but there are great distorted tones out there, you just have to keep at it.


    Try different cabinets- there are lots of ir's available for free that you can import in and then use on different profiles. That can make for a world of difference.


    I also use an EQ "pedal" a lot. I put it in the "X" slot and then cut out the harsher frequencies.


    Of course there are a lot of other parameters that you can play with such as the profile's EQ block, the EQ of the output that you are using and the Amp's parameters, such as "definition" or "clarity". And then like posted above, the "pure cab" option has a big effect on the overall sound.

    What I don't understand in 2 and 3 is why are youusing a clean profile and put a distortion stomp before it adn then increase the gain. Like this it will always sound as pedal distortion because the distorted character of the amp was not captured in the profile, which was made on clean settings.
    If you want high gain why not just start tweaking from a considerable distorted rig that you like, as in 4 , 5 or 6? That's the way to go.

    The Lasse Lammert profiles sound great to me, particularly the big rock.


    I've had great experiences with Premier Profiles, but haven't spent much time with the JCM 800 pack.


    I will say this - all samples sound like there's more distortion than I like to use.

    Quote from kukulkahn

    What I don't understand in 2 and 3 is why are youusing a clean profile and put a distortion stomp before it adn then increase the gain. Like this it will always sound as pedal distortion because the distorted character of the amp was not captured in the profile, which was made on clean settings.
    If you want high gain why not just start tweaking from a considerable distorted rig that you like, as in 4 , 5 or 6? That's the way to go.


    Yes, that's actually how I try to do it always. I just wanted to know if other ppl get the same harshness as I do, when increasing gain/adding a stomp on a clean profile. Just to test if my Kemper is operating correctly.


    Thank you very much everybody for suggestions. I will check out all of those rig providers and also try and start tinkering with the Pure Cab, EQ and others stuff you suggested.


    Cheers,
    Markus

    Quote

    Yes, that's actually how I try to do it always.


    What;Using a clean sound with a distortion pedal for metal sounds;This way you will always have a lots of "work" to make it sound good with the KPA.I dont like this at all.Just does not sound good for me.Is this where you´re "comming from" before you bought the Kemper;Than just start to think about to change your "philosophy"..


    I guess you need just some nice metal-profiles..ofcourse buying some from Sinmix will help you a lot but you will also find many very good metal-profiles (Rectos,5150s,Splawn,Engl,Bogner) in the RE.I could recommend @R U Serious profiles which are very good..try them,tweak a little(EQs,pure cab etc) bit and dont use (at least not for starting) any pedal in the FX-slots.


    If you get good results you still can spend a lots of $ for all the other very good commercial metal-profiles out there.


    greetings

    Quote from Nikos

    If you get good results you still can spend a lots of $ for all the other very good commercial metal-profiles out there.


    As a very high gain user here, I totally agree!
    in RE there's a big collection of free profiles to try out that sound pretty good and will give you way more than decent results, but if you want to take it up to 11, check some profiles by SinMix (I'd suggest) or other good comercial profile makers.


    Also, in my experience, there are profiles so good, that will fit perfectly with my guitars without any need of tweaking anything in the kemper (not even stack eq adjust is needed).
    Hope you can get your axe deliver thunderous metal tones

    4, 5, and 6 all sound perfectly fine to me.


    1, 2, and 3 sound like you don't have a cabinet module turned on, so there's nothing to filter out all the harsh noise and fizz from your pedal/amp.


    You can't just take any old clean profile, throw a metal distortion in front of it, and expect a good sound. There's a reason nobody in the real world buys a Metal Zone and plugs it into a Blues Deluxe. When metal guys talk about using a distortion pedal with a "clean" amp, they usually mean taking a good metal amp, like a JCM or a Recto, turning the gain down to be fairly clean, and then boosting it with a pedal. The amp and cab are still giving you the same voicing, but the distortion gets more clarity and the low end is usually tighter because the pedal is rolling it off beforehand.

    Difficult to say whats going wrong there. In the past i had harsh tones with my Strat too. I change to Humbuckers
    and it was a different world.
    I you want, you can chose a free profile (which make harsh tones to you) and send me that saved profile. Also send
    a record made with spdif.
    Then i will load this profile and will do a SPDIF record too. So we can see if it is something with your Kemper or not.