Acoustic little/no volume

  • I wonder if anyone can help share some tips on this:


    I have a Garrison Acoustic with powered Headway pickup (tried new batteries).


    Into my tuner (pitchblack pro) or interface (18i20), I get a great clear signal... however into the Kemper input, virtually nothing. So little, the noise get needs disabling.


    Am I missing something obvious? I've tried different profiles too, no luck getting volume.


    Thanks in advance

  • It sounds like the output from the guitar is so weak that it needs a mic preamp to make it usuable. Have you got anything else that is instrument level only to test it with?


    I’m not trying to be cheeky with this one but you are plugging into the input and not the headphone socket. You have no idea how many times I’ve done that and stood scratching my head :D

  • It sounds like the output from the guitar is so weak that it needs a mic preamp to make it usuable. Have you got anything else that is instrument level only to test it with?


    I’m not trying to be cheeky with this one but you are plugging into the input and not the headphone socket. You have no idea how many times I’ve done that and stood scratching my head :D


    Ha, no offended because I've done that many times.


    So with the Focusrite 18i20, the level is ok, slightly weak (can't remember off my head) but manageable with ease.


    With the pitchblack pro (and Boss TU2), it tunes fine plugged directly in. However, the pitchblack pro might be able to accept a very weak signal, and the TU2 has the buffer pre tuner.


    Maybe I need a DI, I was just wondering if was doing something stupid (ala headphone socket), but maybe it is just a weak output.


    Strange though, because it has never struggled before with any other device. Annoyingly, I sold my second acoustic recently, so I can't test with another active acoustic.


    If all else fails, I'll record the acoustic direct, and reamp to the Kemper

  • There is nothwas ng specific that you need to do because its an acoustic. So if the Kemper is receiving and outputing a decent signal from an electric guitar on a specific rig it should work just fine with an acoustic. If you have electrics available to that as a test. If not just to the old holding the end of the cable test. If you are getting noise when you touch the cable the problem is the guitar signal if not then you may have inadvertently changed a setting somewhere in the profiler.

  • While obviously the "correct" solution would be to figure out what needs to be done so that your acoustic signal is relatively the same as any other guitar, I had a thought on a hack that you might try to get you through the night.


    Plug your acoustic into the back reamp return instead of the front panel. Then change your input source from the front panel to reamp, which will enable the reamp sense level. In this manner, you can boost the input (up to 12db I think, working from memory here) and that might bring your signal strength back in line with a regular guitar.


    If the signal is still too low after the reamp boost, or the signal to noise ratio is unacceptable, then you'll need to explore a preamp. However, this might be a workable solution if the stars align and the moon is just right. If not, I recommend sacrificing goats.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Same problem here, have you figured it out.


    I'm trying to use my taylor guitar with a Kemper profiler but I get a very week signal when recording.

    When I use the same rig with one of my piezo equiped electric guitars I have a normal volume.

    When I plug in I notice that the ES2 (preamp) of the Taylor is activated because I see a red light inside the guitar.

    Volume on the guitar is full open.

    Clean sense is about +1,5 dB

    I use a laney 30C2 profile with added boost of 1,5 dB, volume of the amp is at zero dB.

    I record my guitar through a Focusrite 8i6 with SPDIF.

  • What is the Volume of the SPDIF Output?