Kemper and HD500

    Hi there. Just received the Kemper Unpowered Toaster. Love it! Can't say enough good things about it. For now, with my budget I am going to try and make it work to use my Line 6 HD500 in conjunction with the Kemper. However, i am wondering if it is possible to do the following:


    I would love to have my Line 6 HD500 running effects. However, one foot switch or slot in the HD500 will midi trigger an amp (i.e MBritt profile Marshall Jubilee :) Is that possible? Then if I go to another patch in my line 6 hd500, can I have a different amp midi triggered in the kemper (i.e. Mbritt Little Queen)? Is that possible or am I crazy? I do understand that I can have the hd500 being JUST a midi controller but for now I would like to use the Kemper as an amp only and use the effects from the Line 6.


    Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am new to midi (never really had to deal with it much for my guitar rig before.

    Check out the POD HD500 Advanced Manual (Here is the link: POD HD500X Advanced Manual. Look under appendix 'B'. There is the possibility of sending midi messages to control your Kemper. I used to use it solely as a midi controller, but never tried to use it with effects and midi at the same time because of the more complicated setup. I pretty sure it is possible. Give it a try, let us know how it goes! Pay attention to the warning about using the HD500x in looper mode, they say it automatically sends certain midi messages, you may not want those to hit your Kemper it could cause some issues!

    Just out of curiosity, have you spent any time with the Kemper effects? I have an M13 that I've used with "real amps" for years and I've never felt the need to use it with the Kemper. If there's nothing specific missing, it might be a lot easier to use the HD500 as a midi controller with KPA effects.

    Hello,
    I used to use a Boss GT10 as a controller. I could use the four cable method to utilise the FX from the GT10 in the stereo loop of the Kemper. I could change rigs via midi while using FX on the GT10.


    In fact it was possible to place the Kemper in the loop of the GT10 too. Again I used four cable method. This way I could use all the stomps and FX from both the GT10 and the Kemper. Same deal using midi cc's to change rigs via Performance mode.


    Eventually, I found this was overkill for my needs and reduced the GT10 to a one midi cable controller status as I found the Kemper FX to be perfectly good.


    Finally, I bought the remote when it came out. It has it's quirks and the looper operation could still be improved, but it is a very well integrated piece of hard wear.
    HD500's have plenty of connectability so I would be surprised if you couldn't achieve the outcome you want using one. I expect you could route your connections guitar- hd500 input- hd500 stomps- hd500 send- Kemper input/alternative input- stomps -amps & cabs- FX - Kemper monitor out (to include reverbs) /stereo loop or main outs stereo- hd500 stereo return (if it has one ) them to hd500 outputs stereo or mono. This would allow you to place FX in conventional positions and for you to control position of Kemper in the signal chain with the Hd500, but I am only guessing.
    I expect you can midi map different patches to select different rigs/performances on the Kemper jumping from one rig to another as you have suggested. Hd500's are midi compatible and are used by many as controllers for the Kemper. The manuals have lots of midi cc message info in them. Worth looking there I would say.
    Hope this helps.
    Cheers
    Pre-Amp

    Quote from Carp

    Just out of curiosity, have you spent any time with the Kemper effects? I have an M13 that I've used with "real amps" for years and I've never felt the need to use it with the Kemper. If there's nothing specific missing, it might be a lot easier to use the HD500 as a midi controller with KPA effects.

    Good point @Carp. I use only Kemper effects. The only thing in the HD500X that might be worth using over the Kemper is the different Reverbs (Cave/Octo/spring) Other than that, I really like the Kemper effects. With the new delays you can do a really nice shimmer effect and not need a shimmer reverb either. You might try that out before doing the more complicated setup @scottbrockettmusic.