Kemper for Live - Questions

[Jevil]

I'm mainly a stage guy so I wonder how good is the Kemper for live gigs and I have some questions.

1 - People profile amps with its cabs and mics, so what happens if I plug a Kemper to a poweramp and a cab? The signal is already passed thorugh a poweramp/cab/mic so it would be like doing it twice. Am I right?

2 - I've seen in videos that there is a Cab Off button, but I dont understand how can it be turned off if its been profiled with it. Does it really works?

3 - Are there profiles of just preamps? I guess that would be the best way to do it.

4 - My idea would be to use the power section of my Engl Savage and the preamp of the Kemper and try different amp profiles. Does it worth it or not?


EDIT: SORRY LASSE I THOUGHT I WAS INTO 'BACKLINE' SUBFORUM. I'M WHIPPING MY ASS RIGHT NOW.

 

[B36arin]

1) Yeah, people profile the whole chain, but the Kemper somehow manages to separate the amp and cab parts pretty well. It's possible to send the fully processed signal to FOH/monitors and to send the signal with the cab sim removed to a power amp at the same time if you want to do it that way.

2) See 1. It's not 100% perfect, but it does the job. It does depend on which power amp you use, since different ones might have different characteristics. I've had good luck using my KPA through the FX return of my Recto.

3) I think there are, but as far as I know the profiles don't work that well. The KPA was designed to profile the whole chain, not just a preamp.

4) The Kemper shines when you use the direct output to FOH/monitors. If you are playing small stages and need the backline to pull a share of the overall sound the Kemper will work, but when you get to bigger stages where the PA is big enough to amplify the whole band the Kemper really shines.

For what it's worth, I'm heading out on a Euro tour later this year with a mixture of both kinds of venues(small and big), and I will be using my KPA with a power amp for the smaller shows(KPA direct for the bigger ones). It's just easier and it sounds great.

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

1. You can set it up so it disables the cab on the "monitor out" output, it takes some EQ tweaking on the monitor out EQ to make it sound good; but it works!

2. See 1

3. Yes, they released a DI pack a while ago that's just preamps profiled, haven't tried them though.

4. For on stage monitoring it works great; I do this but with a Magnum 44 poweramp for "stage monitoring" and then I run DI into the board for FOH sounds. I run the poweramp to have something pushing air behind me and to be able to get some feedback if I need it and then I run one XLR to my in ears and the other one to the PA.

 

[Jevil]

Thanks for your answers guys! Very interesting.

I contacted a friend who owns one, so I will try it soon.
I specially want to try the sound difference between my cab and PA, and be sure that the direct output to the FOH is almopst the same to what I hear from the cab. It could happen that I dial a great tone out of the cab but it is not good for the direct output... and viceversa.

 

[xFkx]

The thing with the cab... my guess that the kemper has nothing to do with convolution, it's algorithmical like the axe-fx. It has some sort of proto-simulation in 3 seperate blocks, pre-amp, power-amp and cab, and the profiling process just adjusts a large number of settings on this proto-simulations. And that's why detaching the cab module seems to work fine. But that's just my wild guess..

 

[Jevil]

Tube poweramp or SS?

 

[B36arin]

I've had good results running it through my Recto power amp, but I haven't tried it with a SS power amp. I'm going to order a EH 44 Magnum power amp soon which is solid state, looking forward to hearing how that sounds.

 

[Jevil]

I've had good results running it through my Recto power amp, but I haven't tried it with a SS power amp. I'm going to order a EH 44 Magnum power amp soon which is solid state, looking forward to hearing how that sounds.

Isnt it too small?

I think I'll get the Kemper and then try different poweramps from local bands.

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Isnt it too small?

I think I'll get the Kemper and then try different poweramps from local bands.

It's loud enough, the only problem being that all the volume range is between 8 and 10 o'clock; then it's on full blast

I just got back from touring festivals with my kemper/magnum/in ear setup and I can honestly say that I've never had a sound this good both on stage and live!