Running a Kemper Profiling Amp through Fryette Power Station and Cab

Squawk

Minor irritant. May cause a rash.
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I thought I'd post this on the forum, as a friend of mine was asking me about this via email.

I have a Fryette Power Station here, which is an attenuator and a reamper. So, it acts as an attenuator while also reamping the power section through (I believe) 2 6L6 power tubes.

The question was asked "how does the Kemper sound powered through the Fryette, through a real cab?". So, I set it up to test and find out the answer.

Here was my reply after testing this out:

I just ran some tests with the Fryette Power Station and the Kemper Rack. Line out from the Kemper into the PS. Speaker output into my 3rd Power Dream 2x12" cab (1 Alnico Gold, one Vintage 30 speaker).

Simple test, turning of the speaker emulation on the Kemper. For "real amp" reference, I had just been playing the Jackson Ampworks El Guapo right before this test, with a couple pedals in the fx loop (delay/verb).

My impression is that while it sounds pretty good, it's still lacking in feel and tone. There were some profiles that work better than others when tested this way.

My overall opinion is that the Kemper is best when used direct, either with headphones or line out into a DAW. Or, if running live, to FOH, or possibly FRFR. (I don't know what FRFR solutions are out there now, and how good the results are with them).

Essentially, turning off the cabinet and running through a "real" cab and the tube power section of the PS, took the Kemper from sounding and feeling very, very good, to sounding more in the POD arena, if that makes sense...

You miss the tube feel, dynamics, dimension and overall tone, so it's less inspiring to play, bringing it down to "POD" level, in my opinion. Sounds ok, but less fun to play.
 
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Makes sense, 'cause you'd be pumping a full-path tube emulation through yet more tubes.

If nothing else it'd surely wreck the authenticity of the original capture (Profile).
 
Yeah, it's replacing the cab portion of the profile with a real cab, so it seems to be losing something in the translation. The cab that I tested with is one that tends to sound really good with all my amps here, so I figured it's a good baseline cab to test this out with.
 
Makes sense, 'cause you'd be pumping a full-path tube emulation through yet more tubes.

If nothing else it'd surely wreck the authenticity of the original capture (Profile).

Is your Kemper powered? Have you tried running though a cab at all?
 
Unpowered rack unit, so no, Mr. T.

It'll be used for recording only, so I'll use it "as is".
 
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