Clipping, Clipping and more Clipping - Please help

  • Hey everyone -


    Need some Kemper help here.....


    I guess I was so carried away when I first plugged in, I didn't realize how much clipping was actually going on. Not only from the "Input" light, but also the "Master" light.


    I use extremely hot pick ups (Joe Bardens) and very good cables (George L's). In my opinion, this combination gives an extremely pure signal path into whatever you plug into (whether the Kemper, or an actual tube amp). I'm not sure if this combination is actually too hot for the Kemper.....


    Can someone please walk me through the recommend settings so I'm not clipping so much? Interestingly, you can NOT actually hear the clipping coming through the monitors all the time...it just clips within the unit sometimes. Lots of red going on thats for sure. And red typically isn't a good thing. ?(


    In many cases (and on many profiles both user and stock), I can have my guitar volume nearly off - and the volumes of the Kemper very low and I still can clip the "Input" when hitting the strings hard. Is this normal or is there something else I can do? I am currently using Firmware 1.4.


    I saw another thread about clipping, but I thought we could dedicate this one to all things "clipping".


    Thanks for any/all of your input. I really appreciate the support.


    Stay frosty -
    J

  • Turn the clean sensitivity down until the input light shows green or amber.
    The distorted sensitivity is a matter of taste as it doesn't affect the actual input levels. Im not sure how it works but probably is a volume control AFTER the AD conversion and therefore doesn't effect the actual input volume but does effect how much drive you get out of the amps.
    Turn amp or cab volumes up/down (many people here seem to prefer to use the cab volume here) to prevent overloading the output (red light on the master button)

  • If you use hot pickups then you might need to tweak the clean and distortion input sensitivity (I think that's what they are called anyway). You can get to the controls by pressing the button under the input LED. I usually tweak this until it lights up orange when I play the loudest notes on the guitar, maybe touching red every now and again.


    After you have sorted that you may need to adjust either the profile output or the master output. I usually have the master output set at around -15db. To level out the profiles/rigs I then use the volume know in the rig settings and adjust to the desired level, I sometimes get a little orange on the master led but not much, it's usually light green or something like that.


    Spence

  • sheguitarplayer....


    I adjusted the sensitivity and I'm still getting the clipping for sure.


    What/where is the "profile" output? And I thought the master output was just for Monitors and/or headphones?


    Excuse my ignorance here. I'm just a tube guy playing in the digital world for the 1st time :)

  • XpennoKPA -


    See my last response, but I still don't get this "master output" function. In addition - not sure what the "master output" has to do with the INPUT clipping.


    They are both clipping on my unit. And clipping pretty regularly.


    Thanks for the feedback and help....means a lot


    J

  • Ok - WOW. This is interesting. So I'm using a DISTORTION profile and I turn DOWN the CLEAN sense and it took care of the clipping!


    I thought the CLEAN sense was only for clean tones?? Just check it out on some other profiles and it seems to be working.


    Right now I have my CLEAN SENSE set for 1.5 (how does this compare to others)? At 1.5 with these pick ups it never goes into the Red, but it does hit the Amber stage a little bit when I really hit the strings hard.


    Ok - 1 down, 1 to go.....what about the MASTER light clipping?


    Getting closer.....


    thanks!!!

  • Right now I have my CLEAN SENSE set for 1.5 (how does this compare to others)?

    I'm using different values for different guitars, between 3 (active humbucker) and 8 (active single coil). I figured out the levels exactly the way XpennoKPA described.

  • In regards to the "master volume"/main volume is there a sweet spot were everyone keeps this global setting?


    Master do not influence the tone. I have 2 settings (-20db and -10db) depending on what kind of channel I do get on the board

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • Ok so the "master volume" does NOT influence the tone....does the other "volume" on the bottom portion right of the Kemper influence the tone?


    Or are both of these simply used to get a desired balance of volume across profiles?


    Thanks - apologies for the newbie questions

  • ....and finally there is the "Cabinet volume" too....so there are 3 different volume variables at work here?


    Do any of these actually influence the tone? Or are they all just used for differentiating the audible output of your tone....

  • It's magic!


    :D


    Yeah, three volumes....


    I don't know about the amp master vol and whether it's also profiled and has the same basic effect as a master vol on the profiled amp but the question has crossed my mind a couple of times.


    I also don't know if the cab vol affects the entire amp stack tonally or not, it's nearly impossible to not be seduced by the increase/decrease in volume and believe there's a difference.


    I just keep an eye on the lights.


    The light! The light! Go to the light!


    :D

  • AFAIK none of the volumes provide any kind of gain, so no influence on tone. In my experience the cab volume has less output clipping problems than the channel volume. The master must be post D/A conversion and can clip only the receiving unit.

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • Ok so here is what is definitely confirmed:


    1. The Master Volume has no impact on the "tone", only the volume


    2. The Amp Volume (bottom right corner), has no impact on the "tone", only the volume


    Both of these are confirmed in the Kemper manuals as well.


    However, there is nothing in any document that even talks about the 3. The Cabinet Volume. Various people seem to think that this also has no impact on the "tone", only volume. Can someone please confirm this?


    So are you guys leaving your Amp Volume set to "0" and doing all of the actual volume adjustments via the Cabinet Volume?


    If this is the case, then the Master Volume is also set globally to ??? in your experience to get best results live or in the studio?


    Thanks again for your patience! :thumbup:


    Stay frosty,
    JEL

  • I normally use a mix of Cab volume and Amp volume to get the rigs to unity and Master as a global setting. The level depends from where you are plugging the outs (mic level, line level, spdif...)

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • I know I've read somewhere that the cab-volume is supposed to change the size of the cab (not the speakers but the speakerbox)..I can't seem to find it in the manual though

  • I know I've read somewhere that the cab-volume is supposed to change the size of the cab (not the speakers but the speakerbox)..I can't seem to find it in the manual though

    Hi-Shift and Low-Shift do exactly that, not the volume.

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • However, there is nothing in any document that even talks about the 3. The Cabinet Volume. Various people seem to think that this also has no impact on the "tone", only volume. Can someone please confirm this?

    Yes, cab volume has no effect on tone.