Real Pedal Discussion

    I have a few very nice pedals that I purchased over the years that sound great in front of my real amps. But, when I run them in front of the Kemper their just so-so. They just don't have the "magic" that they do in front of my Lonestar or XTC. In fact, the Kemper internal pedals seem to work better with the Kemper. The thing is, I want to be able to use my real pedals too and have them sound as awesome as they do with a real amp.


    I like trying new pedals but lately I haven't even got any new pedals because they just don't have the same vibe in front of the Kemper.



    How you guys run your real pedals? Do you get the same sound from them in front of the Kemper as you do when you run them into a real amp?


    A few of my pedals:


    Wampler Sovereign
    Bogner Red
    Koko Boost
    Majikbox Rocket Fuel
    Maxon OD808
    SD-1 Keeley mod
    BB preamp

    I guess it is normal that overdrive / disto pedals do not react the same in front of digital equipement like KPA. These kinds of pedal are there to color the sound, but to increase the signal level before attacking the preamp stage of the amp. You cannot have the same behaviour in front if a digital equipement. The input stage is set to maximize the signal/noise ratio according to the guitar level. So it is not able to handle the higher signal level.

    Quote from ChristopheSeyler

    I guess it is normal that overdrive / disto pedals do not react the same in front of digital equipement like KPA. These kinds of pedal are there to color the sound, but to increase the signal level before attacking the preamp stage of the amp. You cannot have the same behaviour in front if a digital equipement. The input stage is set to maximize the signal/noise ratio according to the guitar level. So it is not able to handle the higher signal level.


    Yeah, That's what I was thinking. That's a shame because now I can't really use my pedals as I'd like.

    One thing I do when I use my distortion/boost/fuzz pedals is to either add an EQ or Boost in the "A" slot on the Kemper. Just a little bit, to add back that sparkle and boost you would have going into an amp. Even better is to profile your fav amp with the pedal(s).

    The ones I really dug and are dirt cheap


    -Xotic EP Booster (mid boost that is awesome with most amps, almost can't live w/o it) little over $100
    -DOD Yellow Pedal overdrive (cheap and awesome) Under $40
    -EH Holy Grail (for my boutique amps w/o spring reverbs) Used you can get these for under $50


    As to boutiques, I had a ton, and with the Kemper I've sold them all, even my Xotic because in the end the problem isn't the pedal, it's the amp you are trying to make sound different and with 1000 amps at my disposal, I don't really need more than the KPA has.


    Although I would like a different Fuzz than the stock and a Spring Reverb built in.

    The only pedal I have tried in front of my KPA so far is my MJM London Fuzz.


    I didn't like it at first...I had it going into the M Britt Princeton profile...but I found that I just had to switch profiles until I found one that worked. I think I ended up using the 59 Bassman from Top Jimi but I'm not quite sure. I also added a stomp - either the soft shaper or the Green Scream - I don't remember. I set it to help round out the tone without adding volume and it sounded great!


    I think choosing the right profile to go with your pedal is a huge part of the equation.

    Quote from viabcroce

    This would solve the impedance\input sensitivity issue and equal to have the pedal before anything else, like in a real amp.
    You'll find the easy steps in the manuals :)


    HTH


    I'll give that a shot for the "distortion" type pedals. I think I did that once before with my Strymon El Capistan echo. It didn't seem to make much difference, however, that pedal is not a "distortion" pedal and is usually used in a loop anyway.