Kemper stage "Big pedalboard" construction

    Hello Guys !


    I've been scratching my head for a couple of weeks / months over this question. I'm a fairly new user of the Kemper (end of 2020) and I'm loving it so far! I play both electric and acoustic guitar (at home, for recordings, and on stage) and freaking love using 3rd party pedals (even though the built in effects are really good, I still use pedals). Whilst the standalone Kemper makes a perfect job for an all-in-one situation, I still prefer running my "gig ready" acoustic guitar (Martin D Jr) through the Aura Spectrum DI. I've bought some acoustic profiles (Selah sound) and they do the job and maybe it's just a tweaking question but I still feel more comfortable with the Aura device.

    Anyway, my goal is to built a "big" pedalboard running two separates inputs/chains of sound into one chain of effects (really sorry if I use incorrect terms). I made a quick and ugly diagram of what I had in mind and I was wondering, if, from your perspective, it seemed easily achievable or if it would be too big/complicated/expensive for what it is supposed to be. I've been scrolling pages of "switches" online, pedalboards, etc... but I have no experience whatsoever in building pedalboards. Only got my previous one which had the Aura, a Specular Tempus from GFI, a Microcosm Hologram and a Boss RC 30 on it.


    Sorry again if it feels dumb, I'm just still making my mind on this and would gladly appreciate the feedback from the community.

    Thanks a lot!


    I used to use a complex board with my Mesa Triaxis but ditched it completely when I got the KPA.


    This setup was built round an RJM Mastermind PBC10 which controlled input switching, amp channel switching m selecting Amp A, Amp B or Both and FX pedals on off within individual loops. oh and three separate programable buffers.

    As well as the pedals on show there is another row of pedals below the Fulldrive and Cali76 shelf.


    While it worked Ok it needed masses of cables (there is probably £300 of patch cables and plugs on the board itself plus multicore for 4CM connection to the amp FX loops). That amount of cabling is a nightmare to maintain and test. The whole board in its flight case weighed an absolute ton and was a nightmare to carry. Setting up the cabling took some time (compared to just plugging in the KPA) .


    I can’t tell you how much better the experience is now with just the Powered Toaster and a Remote.

    So, in short - yes you can build a board to do what you want but in my opinion it is way more hassle than it is worth and the weight and size negate any benefits of the Stage form factor.

    Not to mention the troubleshooting horror before a gig

    when there´s no sound all of a sudden .... =O


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    Like 2

    Thanks for your feedbacks ! That's exactly my concerns :) I did not think about the price of patch cables when setting up such a pedalboard though!

    Keeping it simple and separated might be the cheapest and easiest solution : The kemper in its own case, the chain of effects in a second one, and an acoustic rig aside if needed (may be even cheaper to buy specific pedals for the acoustic part instead of trying to make it all work in a huge setup with a Mastermind and tons of cables!) thanks again guys!