Full Stereo FX Loop

  • Currently there is no allowance for using a full stereo fx loop (stereo out and stereo return) in the post amp slots. This functionality could be added and the user would still have full monitor stereo out in the Stage (use a pair of sends as a stereo pair and a pair of returns for the stereo return) and at the expense of Monitor Stereo in the Rack/Head models. Being able to use the Kemper's own stereo FX in combination with external units would be very useful.


    One other consideration: using the FX loops without necessarily losing an FX slot. This approach was used with the Space effect - where it can be set to active in the output section and operate without consuming an FX slot - this would be a great option for FX loops also. They could be switched in and out by use of the Kemper dual Switch for example or by MIDI or just left permanently in the circuit as with a hardware guitar AMP effect loop and external effects could be bypassed or activated on the external unit directly. In this scenario, the location of the loop in the signal chain (eg between X and Y) would be a setting in the menu.

  • A full stereo FX loop would be really nice to have. Currently I'm only use a mono FX loop currently, but it would be nice to be able to bring in more "colorful" stereo pedals into the Kemper.

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  • Are you aware, that this is only meaningful, if you place stereo effects in front within the PROFILER signal chain? The Stack signal is still mono; feeding this mono signal into an external device via two cables doesn't make the sound more "colorful". The first module you can place a stereo effect in is module X, so the first module that such a super stereo loop could effectively add value is module MOD followed by DLY and REV. Only in these three modules it makes sense.


    Could you provide concrete examples which KEMPER stereo effects you would want to use in front in order to drive which external stereo effects?.

  • If someone has a bunch of stereo delay/mod/reverb effects that they want to be able to use along with the Kemper options in the same rig then they would want to use them after the amp stack.


    I often start after the amp stack with the stereo widener and run mod/delay/verb after that. You might prefer the editing and the tones on your external boxen and you might like to layer more than one thing of the same class in your sound. If you have a stereo modulation unit or two with heaps of patches then chaining them together outside the KPA and then coming back for delay and verb then this could work for you. Same with the other effects - people layer delays and verbs all the time just like they layer drives - call it gain staging or whatever. How important this sort of flexibility is depends a little on the style/genre of sounds you are working with.


    By the way - to me the idea of locating a send/return point BETWEEN the existing slots in the signal chain - so as to sacrifice none of the current slots - would be highly preferable to the current situation where you only have the option of inserting the loop in one of the 4 post amp slots. This would be absolutely the best way to go - place the loop where you want it and either leave it on all the time or switch it somehow with MIDI or with a switch without losing one of the 4 post amp slots - as I pointed out, the SPACE effect works something like this - it doesn't cost the user a slot.


    People who use pedal boards often have multiple pedals of a kind all available to use separately or in combinations with their amp tone. Their pedal board is part of their expression during playing. Helix - for example - offers 12 foot switches in stomp mode - so if you like MOD effects you might have as many as 5 or 6 sitting there programmed ready to go. Expanding the possibilities within a given Rig would be great for people who don't have fully programmed set lists for pre-planned performances.


    Anyway - don't worry about why, just ask why the hell not? All the ports are there with their poor liddle A/D and D/A converters twiddling their thumbs, I expect the DSP impact of using full stereo loops is minimal (do these outputs involve any dithering or some other processing or is it the same signal that would pass to the next effect ?) and this funtionality (full stereo loops) is standard on a great many other music creation devices.

  • Definitely second this, in fact massively surprised you can’t already do it given the inputs are already there.


    example 2: Kemper double tracker out in stereo to stereo delay back into Kemper in stereo to a stereo reverb

  • Could you provide concrete examples which KEMPER stereo effects you would want to use in front in order to drive which external stereo effects?.

    A simple example of using a full stereo loop: stereo delay in the DLY slot of the Kemper and reverb in the REV slot of the Eventide H9 (no loss of stereo delay from the Kemper)

  • I don't understand that example, since there is no effect module post the PROFILER's REV module to hold an effect loop anyhow. And you are free to place your Eventide post a KEMPER stereo output. So is this really a "practical" need?

  • Burkhard - users may wish to record their KPA using the USB/SPDIF no matter what the configuration. Having options to go out to another stereo effects unit - or a whole chain of them - and then come back to the KPA and use the Kemper stereo fx after external modulation effects (for example) and then exit in the digital domain via USB or SPDIF to your DAW.


    Consider also the possibility of not wasting the KPA's stereo FX slots with [send/return units]. Allow the user to retain all 4 post amp section slots for the internal effects and insert a [stereo send/return] circuit in between the slots at a location chosen by the user from a menu.

    We do this with the space effect on the output - an effect is applied in this case but no wasted slot - excellent idea it was too.

  • I’ll add to this. For my example I would simply want to use the X slot to go out to a nice compressor, then a Strymon Deco, maybe a delay, come back in stereo, then use the Kemper reverbs and maybe another delay, and then use the final slot to go out to a Strymon Flint (last verb and some trem) while maintaining the stereo signal and then come back in.

    • Official Post

    The PROFILER offers no "super stereo" effect loop. The send is always mono. You could position the Flint post the PROFILER in your signal chain and feed it from a stereo output.

  • Hey, why can't the Monitor Out just be configured as one side of the stereo send and the Send Out as the other?

    The configuration totally makes sence, for example if you want a stereo chorus to go into something like an external stereo delay which returns into a stereo reverb (has anyone said this? sorry, bros...) or, which I was just trying, send internal stereo delays into a Boss slicer and return to stereo reverb. There is an enormous practical need of something like this. Not to forget the recently integrated USB-interface functionality which contradicts to using the stereo outputs for such needs.

  • Stereo in/out aside, I'd be good if the external loop could be placed between slots instead of occupying one.


    That's an interesting idea as I frequently use Loop Distortion to bring favored drives into play.


    Yeah....you can get the Kemper Drive to sound *like* a King of Tone, but when A/B'd against each other....the Kemper Drive is missing some sort of richness the real KOT has. You also can't get it to sound like an ODR-1 in any believable way.


    (These aren't criticisms. Just the realities of emulation. I find the drives more enjoyable/effective when tweaking to taste. Love it or hate it - ain't nothing quite like a KOT.)

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche