Stupid Clean Sense and most probably Stupid me...

    Hey guys,


    I was *&?*& around tonight with my guitar that has Seymour Duncan Blackouts in them. I know they are pretty hot pups.


    I feeling like playing some Metallica and loaded the TAF-Stileto Crunch++ and changed the Cab to a Metallica Death Magnetic IR.
    Bass: +1.8 Mid: -0.1 Treble: +1.3 Presence: +2.8


    Sounds pretty *&?*? good and all but it seems that my input is always close to be clipping when I'm mildly palm muting. Even just normal playing, not too strong produces this...
    I was going from Drop D to normal tuning back and forth with the same result...


    Since I am now on 2.2 Beta, my Clean Sense is at -10dB instead of the old numbering method. Even if I put it to -12db (max) I still get in the Dark Orage range of the LED.


    Is this Dark Orange OK? Should I just be worried when it goes solid red more than very occasionally?


    That Clean Sense always did threw me off. Shouldn't be hard to understand but I'm clearly not getting it...


    Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with how every sounds and feels, I just want to make sure I am getting the most out my KPA and kind of understand that Clean Sense thing...


    Below, one of my favourite cartoon strip of all times that kind of describes how I am feeling right now...


    [Blocked Image: http://science06.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/farside-full-brain.jpg]


    Cartoon strip from Gary Larson, The Far Side.


    Thanks,


    Marc.

    As long as it doesn't turn red all the time you should be fine when everything sounds good :) You can also check a clean rig and see if you get any unwanted distortion from your pickups - if no -> everyhting is good if yes -> get other pickups :D No seriously - I don't know what one could do when overdriving the input with clean sense to the minimum!

    MJT Strats / PRS Guitars / Many DIY Guitars -- Kemper Profiler Rack / Kemper Remote / InEar

    Quote

    Must admit this drove me insane at first but now I just ignore it.


    do you agree that such an advice means nothing but "the red light is useless since it does not mean clipping anymore" :D

    I rather had yellow for the warning "take care, you're coming in the hot zone" and the red for "too late ! you're clipped"...
    As you can find it on most audio device, and on KPA before...


    So we've got a new feature request : the user should be able to set the theshold levels for the yellow and red light :thumbup:

    How about we request that a "blah" appears on the screen to indicate a 'Green' light, and "blah blah" for a 'Orange' light, and "blah blah blah" for the 'Red' light?


    Or, for the French guys, "voom Thierry" for Green light, "va voom Thierry" for 'Orange' light, and "va va voom Thierry" for the 'Red' light?


    ;)

    Quote from Deny

    I haven't had time to update my KPA yet, so here goes a question: did anyone perceive any changes in tone with the new clean sense dB scale and LED thresholds?


    I didnt at all. My CS was at 0.8 and DS was at 0 before update Now my CS is at -10 and DS at 0 This is how the KPA put it after the update. so ive left it at that. My tone has stayed the same :)

    Trust your ears. Have any of you guys ever had gear with meters on them before? They are typically more for quick visual reference in setting signals, but you've got to trust your ears. A quick flash into the red is typically no big deal, what you want to avoid is a constant red (unless distorting the input stage is what you're going for). In fact without some type of compression, you probably want a quick flash in the red (or darn close to it) as the electric guitar's unprocessed signal is comprised of a transient much, much louder than the sustained sound.

    But what if the metering is made after the A/D conversion ? Then the red light should mean something like 3 samples at 0dbFS, i.e. digital clipping...
    Does someone know how the input metering is done ?

    Quote from lohworm

    But what if the metering is made after the A/D conversion ? Then the red light should mean something like 3 samples at 0dbFS, i.e. digital clipping...
    Does someone know how the input metering is done ?


    Trust...your...ears! Think about what you are asking. After your signal has been converted to 1's and 0's, what threshold would you be clipping? The Kemper is distorting digitally by design...

    Quote from Raoul23

    The threshold on the input LED has been changed by CK. I to had this problem with my Navarro PRSand CK informed me what he had done. The KPA has lots of head room so unless you red light isn't on contently you be fine. Must admit this drove me insane at first but now I just ignore it.


    Is that how it works? I assumed that a red light means your input or output has clipped. Don't think it has to be constant. Ideally, it shouldn't happen at all, or at least, that's what I thought.


    I think Mr CK should change the LED colours, I was really confused initially by the yellow/orange and red LEDs. Perhaps it would be easier to identify if the LED for clipping was purple or blue! 8o

    Quote from nightlight

    Is that how it works? I assumed that a red light means your input or output has clipped. Don't think it has to be constant. Ideally, it shouldn't happen at all, or at least, that's what I thought.


    I think Mr CK should change the LED colours, I was really confused initially by the yellow/orange and red LEDs. Perhaps it would be easier to identify if the LED for clipping was purple or blue! 8o


    This is a scenario in which my color blindness seems to be a blessing...

    yeah... problem is... I hear clipping.. :(
    driving me crazy!! especially when I know it's something I can control but just haven't figured it out yet. LOL

    Gettin' funky up in here..