texhex
Roadie
- Messages
- 664
TLDR; The Kemper Rack has less grounding and USB noise than the Kemper Stage and the Rack sounds better (insert bong hit emoji) to me.
*****
I‘ve had a few Kempers off and on (mostly on) for the last 4 years. I had the same Stage for 3 years (went from a Rack to a Stage) and the Stage is what I used to create probably 60% of my Profiles, the other 40% from the Rack. The one thing I noticed right away back when I switched over to the Stage from the Rack was how much more noisy the Stage was compared to the Rack. Like instantly more ground noise and USB feedback.
The ground lifts in the Stage are electronic switches vs a physical switch on the back of the Rack and I could turn the Stage lifts off and on and get it relatively quiet but it wasn’t the same. I also bought and installed several USB ground lifts which I’m still using but they never 100% eliminated the USB noise either on the Stage, very faint but still there. When I would USB ground lift the Rack, the noise was totally gone.
I remember being very put off about this at the time but I lived with it because I liked the form factor of the Stage.
Well… enter me picking up a Rack and Foot Controller this week. Wow, what a difference! Zero noise, none, no ground hum or USB noise. The Rack is plugged directly into the exact same cables that the Stage was and it was instantly a night and day difference.
According to the serial number on this Rack it’s from 2021, the Stage had a build date of 2020, the Stage was also the newer build vs. the original Kemper Stages (see post #4). I even had two separate brand new Stages from Sweetwater last month and they were both as noisy as the previous one I had. This Rack just kills the Stage in terms of noise. Crazy.
Another thing is that for the past two days I’ve been going back through my Profiles and I swear they sound better through this Rack. I also created a new profile of the Badlander and it sounds fantastic.
The thing that kept plaguing me about the Kemper vs. Tonex was that there was always some weird smearing on the high notes of my high gain profiles vs Tonex captures. There is none of that now through this Rack. WTH?
The Tonex captures still sound closer to the amp but the Kemper profile I just made of the Badlander sounds incredible. I’ve actually dialed in this profile to sound “better” than the Tonex capture. This is the thing I love and missed about the Kemper, I can adjust settings after the profile is made and get it exactly where my ear wants it to be.
Anyway, I thought I’d share my experience. In terms of how I have all this crap wired up, the Rack has noticeably quieter ground noise than the Stage.
I’ve also reconfirmed that I have to have a Kemper in my gear collection. It just does something nothing else does and I really enjoy using it every time I play through it.
*****
I‘ve had a few Kempers off and on (mostly on) for the last 4 years. I had the same Stage for 3 years (went from a Rack to a Stage) and the Stage is what I used to create probably 60% of my Profiles, the other 40% from the Rack. The one thing I noticed right away back when I switched over to the Stage from the Rack was how much more noisy the Stage was compared to the Rack. Like instantly more ground noise and USB feedback.
The ground lifts in the Stage are electronic switches vs a physical switch on the back of the Rack and I could turn the Stage lifts off and on and get it relatively quiet but it wasn’t the same. I also bought and installed several USB ground lifts which I’m still using but they never 100% eliminated the USB noise either on the Stage, very faint but still there. When I would USB ground lift the Rack, the noise was totally gone.
I remember being very put off about this at the time but I lived with it because I liked the form factor of the Stage.
Well… enter me picking up a Rack and Foot Controller this week. Wow, what a difference! Zero noise, none, no ground hum or USB noise. The Rack is plugged directly into the exact same cables that the Stage was and it was instantly a night and day difference.
According to the serial number on this Rack it’s from 2021, the Stage had a build date of 2020, the Stage was also the newer build vs. the original Kemper Stages (see post #4). I even had two separate brand new Stages from Sweetwater last month and they were both as noisy as the previous one I had. This Rack just kills the Stage in terms of noise. Crazy.
Another thing is that for the past two days I’ve been going back through my Profiles and I swear they sound better through this Rack. I also created a new profile of the Badlander and it sounds fantastic.
The thing that kept plaguing me about the Kemper vs. Tonex was that there was always some weird smearing on the high notes of my high gain profiles vs Tonex captures. There is none of that now through this Rack. WTH?
The Tonex captures still sound closer to the amp but the Kemper profile I just made of the Badlander sounds incredible. I’ve actually dialed in this profile to sound “better” than the Tonex capture. This is the thing I love and missed about the Kemper, I can adjust settings after the profile is made and get it exactly where my ear wants it to be.
Anyway, I thought I’d share my experience. In terms of how I have all this crap wired up, the Rack has noticeably quieter ground noise than the Stage.
I’ve also reconfirmed that I have to have a Kemper in my gear collection. It just does something nothing else does and I really enjoy using it every time I play through it.
