Using the Kemper for Acoustic Gigs...

  • Man, this thing is so impressive...another successful gig last night and 2 more guitar players in the crowd that came up and had 20 questions about my rig. :) Neither had ever heard of the Kemper and when I gave them the nickel tour they were blown away. Maybe 2 more customers?


    What i'm finding most useful is using the stereo effects and not the rigs/cabinet simulations that I've found on the Rig Exchange (even bought a few...). I've tried many of them and none of them sound as good as my guitars straight through with various effects. I dunno what it is - but the cabinet simulation part just detracts from the actual sound of the acoustic. I could see using those if you wanted to make your strat sound like an acoustic guitar for a song or something but I guess I just don't get why you'd want to color the sound of the acoustic itself by using some emulation of another guitar/preamp/DI? My Maton sounds gorgeous...just plugged into the board and a tich of reverb...so the Kemper for me is a multi-tool that gives me a bunch of colors I can choose from on the remote along with a tuner and a looper. Obviously this thing is built for electric rigs - and I absolutely love it for that...but the stereo effects with acoustic guitars just sounds gorgeous.


    Primarily I'm using reverb and several different types of delays...love the swelling types that are nice to fill up some space on certain tunes and then use the morphing effect on the remote to add in a little more of the effect when needed.


    I run stereo out into 2 channels in my mixer - hard pan each and the effects just sound incredible. Couldn't be happier with this purchase and the sound quality of my rig at this point.


    Thought I'd share a pic a friend took from the gig last night - my wife and I sing together and my youngest got up and played the shaker with her on a song.


    Thanks Kemper folks - I'm a happy camper.

  • Ah, I'm planning to get into the KPA on solo gigs soon. I play a Godin LGX-SA, so it's more of a piezo thing I have going on. I currently send it through a TC Ditto into the mixer of my Bose L1 Model II. I won't be able to take advantage of stereo effects as the Bose, by nature, prevents that. But I'm really anxious to add more color that I can control, particularly with the Morph. I'm also thinking of using the pitch to drop an octave for looping some tapped out beats.

  • I'm glad you're so happy with the acoustic output @klincejr. I've been using the Kemper for electrics for several years now, and am going to add my Maton 808 to my live gigging, so your input is quite valuable.


    So far the Maton, with feedback buster, sounds best straight through my PA, or through my LR Baggs Acoustic DI box to the PA, they both sound good. But they both still feedback a bit, especially with the mic turned up (hi frequency squeal.) When I run it through the KPA using any acoustic rigs I get even worse squeal, and this is with cabs off. Could you describe exactly what effects you are using, and are you using any type of rig as the backbone of your sound? I'm confused and highly curious.


    Thanks!

    Gary ô¿ô

  • Hey Gary,


    I don't really run a lot of the internal mic with my 808TE...just a smidge, in fact. Personally, I don't like the sound of it as it tends to be boxy and brittle sounding. The piezo pickup all the way up with a little bit of the internal mic is how I run mine and I never have any feedback problems. If I ever do - it's around the 100Hz range and that's an easy fix at any gig - I can just pull it out with a notch on the channel EQ's for the acoustic.


    Again, I use no cabinet emulation in my live setup. I'm basically just running a clean signal through the Kemper and then using it for stereo effects...primarily reverb and delay. I do have a patch that adds a little overdrive that I use from time to time when I'm looping and want to play a lead tone over the top.


    My PA is pretty simple. 808TE into the Kemper (usually wireless) stereo output into 2 channels of my Allen and Heath Qu-16 (each panned hard right/left) and out of the mixer to my EAW Redline RL12's. We do use a small 8" coaxial monitor but just for clarity - it's not loud - just so we can get a little more intelligibility on the vocals.


    I know Tommy Emmanuel runs his 808 with the mic pretty wide open too I think if I recall correctly - but he's using acoustic amps on-stage and then feeding that signal to the FOH so he has a lot more control and his stages are far larger than what I'm playing (and assuming you as well) so likely more distance between him and the amps. Either way, I just haven't found a good tone with the internal mics on the 808 turned up more than just a little bit and it had nothing to do with feedback - it was just that I didn't like the way it sounded.

  • It's gotten to the point that I have to have the Kemper plugged between whatever I am playing at the moment and the PA, regardless if it is acoustic or electric. The convenience of being able to switch acoustic guitar (steel string or nylon), along with mandolin, into the same rig as my electrics, and have the sound guy only need to send one cable to me and not touch a single knob for transitions, is priceless.


    This weekend I will be playing my first pure acoustic gig with the Kemper, using a vintage J-45 with a K&K pure pickups system, and a mandolin with a Baggs Radius. These go into various effects in the Kemper, and the amp modeling is disabled. There is a slot in each performance for each instrument, and the effects are tailored for each. Turns it into a plug and go solution, the sound guy need not do anything but set levels. It's also great to have a volume pedal to quickly change instrument levels for solos and dynamics.


    The only real disappointment I have with the Kemper for this use is the inability to use the Alternate input along with the normal input for switching instruments. With my old Line 6 HD500 I could plug the electric into the normal input and the acoustic into Aux In, leave them both plugged in, and use the patch to select which instrument to use. No plugging and unplugging. As I understand it, the Kemper has hard wiring where if you use the Alt In, it disconnects the front panel in, and you can't use it. But the sound quality of the Kemper in all uses far exceeds this minor inconvenience.

  • The only real disappointment I have with the Kemper for this use is the inability to use the Alternate input along with the normal input for switching instruments. With my old Line 6 HD500 I could plug the electric into the normal input and the acoustic into Aux In, leave them both plugged in, and use the patch to select which instrument to use. No plugging and unplugging.

    I totally agree, this would make it a breeze for me as well. My solution is to use my new Boss AS 2 2-way selector pedal, which lets you switch guitars with just a press of a pedal. It runs on a 9-volt battery (which is stupidly encased with screws - difficult to change on a gig, so better put in a fresh one first), and is only like $50.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • I play electric guitar in a classic rock cover band and accoustic guitar in a band where we cover rock and pop songs as own accoustic versions. I experimented with some profiles for my electic guitar, but are there any good profiles for accoustic guitar on the rig exchange.


    Accoustically, I play a Taylor CE something, but would like to use the KPA for some effects (EQ, delay, reverb etc). Usually, I plug the Taylor into a DI-box, which goes straight to the mixer, which sounds ok, but I would like to change and improve my tone. My band mate rungs his guitar into an L.R. Baggs Pre-Amp and it sounds great. I would like to dao something similar with the KPA. If there some good rigs out there that would be great.


    bbb

    It' s only Rock n Roll, but I like it :D:thumbup:<3

  • There are some good acoustic profiles on the rig exchange made by Dorrus. And Bert Meulendijks has a good acoustic pack for sale.


    Ik play in a rock cover band and in an acoustic duo. For acoustic I also use the Kemper. Sounds really great with the profiles mentioned.

  • There are some good acoustic profiles on the rig exchange made by Dorrus. And Bert Meulendijks has a good acoustic pack for sale.


    Ik play in a rock cover band and in an acoustic duo. For acoustic I also use the Kemper. Sounds really great with the profiles mentioned.

    Thx, I can imagine that the KPA sounds great as it is better with clean tones than overdriven and hi-gain-sounds, which sound a bit harsh to my ears.


    bbb

    It' s only Rock n Roll, but I like it :D:thumbup:<3

  • I've had good acoustic results with my Taylor played through a DI box using profiles such as;


    ADI21 by White Fang
    AER by Stefan (and his 60 DP Piezo, and his AER Bright). AER is what Tommy Emmanuel uses, so that can never be a bad starting point.


    I do find a little tweaking always helps, plus reverb. A light phaser and/or chorus work nicely for some songs also.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • I've had good acoustic results with my Taylor played through a DI box using profiles such as;


    ADI21 by White Fang
    AER by Stefan (and his 60 DP Piezo, and his AER Bright). AER is what Tommy Emmanuel uses, so that can never be a bad starting point.


    I do find a little tweaking always helps, plus reverb. A light phaser and/or chorus work nicely for some songs also.

    Glad to hear that! I would have never imagined somebody would use them... I took those profiles from a 30$ piece of gear (not the best but worth its price) just as a test.

  • I play electric guitar in a classic rock cover band and accoustic guitar in a band where we cover rock and pop songs as own accoustic versions. I experimented with some profiles for my electic guitar, but are there any good profiles for accoustic guitar on the rig exchange.


    Accoustically, I play a Taylor CE something, but would like to use the KPA for some effects (EQ, delay, reverb etc). Usually, I plug the Taylor into a DI-box, which goes straight to the mixer, which sounds ok, but I would like to change and improve my tone. My band mate rungs his guitar into an L.R. Baggs Pre-Amp and it sounds great. I would like to dao something similar with the KPA. If there some good rigs out there that would be great.


    bbb

    BBB,


    I'd try using a patch and then then turning off the amp sim portion and see if you like the sound better? My guess is that if you have an acoustic that sounds good straight into the mixer then you don't really want or need to muck with it using any of the patches unless you are going for some other kind of sound or tone. Like I said, I play a Maton 808TE and it sounds incredible straight into the mixer with a touch of hall reverb so I found that using any of the acoustic patches tainted that tone in a way that wasn't better or worse to me - it just didn't sound as good as having the amp sim portion of the KPA bypassed. That said, the stereo effects are awesome on the acoustic guitar so if you are in fact running a stereo rig (in my case I come out of the stereo outputs of the KPA into 2 channels on my mixer hard panned L/R) then you might find some benefit there especially if you are doing anything where you want some swelling reverb, delays, etc... An added benefit that I use quite a bit in my acoustic setup is the morphing function on the remote. One touch of the button and you can increase/decrease the decay or delay time or whatever you want effects wise. It's a killer rig for solo acoustic for sure and having the remote that doesn't need power that includes a tuner and a looper just makes it a no brainer for me.

  • There are some good acoustic profiles on the rig exchange made by Dorrus. And Bert Meulendijks has a good acoustic pack for sale.


    Ik play in a rock cover band and in an acoustic duo. For acoustic I also use the Kemper. Sounds really great with the profiles mentioned.

    Thanks Jacques ! Just bought the Acoustic Pack from Bert Meulendijks, They are great for acoustic guitar! :)
    Glad you liked my free ones on the rig exchange to :thumbup: