Third gig with KPA and no sound!

It has taken me a while to get the confidence to use the KPA in a live setting, but last night was my third gig with my KPA, CLR and UNO4K. I've been getting some good feedback on my sound and the combination works well together.

I'm using 2.1.1 release and avoided 2.2 because of the gig.

Anyway, setting up in a pretty cramped space with the audience ready to dance, there was no sound at all from the CLR after the KPA booted up. I couldn't hear a thing from the CLR so assumed that was the problem and started swapping cables and powering the CLR off then on...no luck. Getting a bit worried and ready to drag in my backup tube amp, I vaguely remembered a forum discussion about no sound, but because it hadn't happened to me before I didn't take much notice of the fix so I powered down the KPA and started it up again...voila....sound!
Panic over for now.

But then later in the gig, the worst thing happened. No sound at all again. This time I looked at the KPA and it was showing the boot screen but no progress bar and nothing I did could make it go away so my only recourse was to power down and wait for it to restart (meanwhile the dance floor was starting to empty

Neither of these things had happened to me since I bought the KPA a year ago so it shook my confidence a little in using the KPA in a live setting.

On top of this I noticed that I have a bad LED on the vol control

I remember as a kid falling off my bicycle and my parents saying I should get straight back onto the bike.

I'm hoping I can avoid the the strong urge to go back to my tube amps and just get back onto that bicycle for the next gig…..I like riding the Kemper!

Yeah, but without the smell haha!

Quote from Desiato

Bummer dude! Sorry to hear you had the volume dropout at a gig. It's got to be the worst feeling. Like blowing a tube or a fuse on a power amp.

That;s the weird thing though, although I MIGHT have had the no sound after boot problem before (can't be 100% certain), I definitely haven't had the lock up and showing a screen just like the start up screen.

Makes me think it might have been a "dirty power" problem, but there's no way I'm going to start carting around a power conditioner, not for the size of gigs I do.

Next rehearsal we'll practice what to do if it happens again. usually we play with a sax player who could have done an extended solo, but this time it was just me bass and drums!

If it DOES happen again though, I'll definitely be sending a backup to support.

Quote from Karl

I've experienced this bug twice on pre 2.2 firmware. havent taken my kemper out for a while though. Backup rig is going until progress is made on all no sound issues.

Well, yup, I know the size of the gig has nothing to do with if a conditioner makes a difference or not to the power, but it definitely does make a difference to the amount of "stuff" i have to carry.
I play in a band with two women, a drummer and a guest sax player so usually for small gigs I'm the one who has to haul PA, lights, my girlfriend's bass gear and everything else that's needed. For larger (and usually better paying), there's either PA provided or we pay a sound guy!
To be honest the last thing I need to carry and worry about is another piece of gear that I don't need to carry with my tube amps.

Thanks for the link though. If I only had to worry about my own stuff I'd probably consider one of these.

Quote from VCuomo

The size of a gig really has nothing to do with it. A power conditioner isn't a big deal to take to gigs and it can prevent damage to your KPA (as well as your floorboard, amp, etc.). I always take one of these to my gigs, and it's all of 7"x7"x6" and weighs 6lbs. It's cheap, but effective, insurance for gear that costs way more than the cost of the conditioner. IMO, of course!

Yeah, it sure adds up quickly doesn't it.
Thanks for the idea about the Zoom, but I'm still a bit of a tube amp snob and until the KPA, never used anything other than tube combos.
I started using the KPA live because I got tired of hauling two (or sometimes 3 ) amps to a gig.
I'm still taking 1 just in case the KPA decides to quit on me but now the Super Reverb stays at home
But like you, cables (power and signal) are something I take PLENTY of to a gig,,,,never know when one of them is going to fail.
Sounds like you had a good show Geraldo….wonder what it would have been like with the KPA!

quote='Geraldo7','index.php?page=Thread&postID=111505#post111505']Hey Gizmo,

i have never experienced something big like this. But when playing the final rehearsal two hours before the show for 200+ people my preamp (i used a korg A4 before the KPA was out) went out, then on, then out again. The conductor of the musical was upset. I checked the cables, everything. You'll know how this feels ... I would have used my single channel tube amp, a vox-like handmade gem from germany, but ofcourse i would have lacked the diversity of my six or seven sounds i had prepared for the show.

I checked the cables again, played the rehearsal with one sound. In the break i changed to the plug socket quite a few meters away from my place with a 5 meter cable i fortunately had with me. Bingo! Goodness, what a relief. Tried to replicate the failure to no avail. Good Gods of music. The show went extremely well. Standing Ovations. I do not dare to imagine what would have happened if i had not the cable with me! All is well that ends well?!

Yes and no. I will never forget this and try to have EVERY single thing backuped. But like you i cannot afford to have 2 KPAs. So here is my ridiculous long list for a show this size:

• KPA - Backup: a Zoom or the Korg = 5kg + 3kg
• Power Amp - Backup: a Magnum mini amp = 8kg
• a small 1x12 - no backup = 6kg
• a fantastic guitar - backupped by a good guitar, two cases = 10 kg
• a bag for the KPA and a case for the cables - backuped by more cables = 4kg
• miscelaneous things, this and that, strings & scores = 2 kg

and this is only me! for one single gig. medium salary. i feel with you! it must have been horrible. try to get a used zoom hd for cheap money and check the list above. at my age i prefer teaching music now.

cheers[/quote]

Nope, no power conditioner. I expect the KPA to work under the same circumstances that I would use an amp or any gear. The fact that it was only once (the startup problem is s/w I believe) makes me think the power was not THAT bad. No one else (or the PA) had any problems and there was some other digital gear there too.

quote='tlkshowhst','index.php?page=Thread&postID=112786#post112786']Gizmo, are you using a power conditioner of some kind? I'm pretty sure the Kemper will not work properly is the power is inefficient or unstable. I've had similar issues, but those stopped when I plugged the Kemper into my Furman.[/quote]

Given the huge complexity of this device and the continual enhancements being made, I personally think the Kemper team is doing a GREAT job of testing. Although I did have this problem (only once so far) I think they have listened to the community and responded extremely well to issues….which I think in many cases are often our own. I still have many questions unanswered, but I honestly believe they will be at some point.
I agree about the "bug" forum/list though…it would be good to avoid the many duplicate posts.

Quote from Bevosss

I had a similar problem though not at a gig. I've had my Kemper about 10 days now, after 3 days I left it on for a long period and had been loading profiles into it and backing up etc, I plugged in and no sound! Flicking through the profiles I found a few at the start (renamed with numbers prefixing them) that worked, but no others would. I rebooted and the problem went away, but sure made me feel a bit suss about using it at a gig.

Just found another bug in the performance mode, makes you wonder who's testing this software before release...do they have a beta team here? There should at least be a bug forum so you can check if it's a known bug before you report it.