Piezo surprise

    A funny thing happened on my way to finding another awesome profile...
    Most would agree that the mag pickups in a Moog guitar are not ideal, shall we put it mildly, for real amps, like the KPA, yeah, I said it! Suddenly, I used the piezos only into a profile I liked, and it was pure heaven to my ears! So, I tried to compare with some Seymour Duncan's, on another guitar, and the piezos were still very impressive, and not radically different!!! In fact, before this, I was upset that I might have to forego the Moog sustain, I have been spoiled by, in order to enjoy the KPA fully.
    I was routing my Moog through my VG99, sending channel A into the KPA, with the modeled guitar going in, which worked well, but now I feel is unnecessary. I will play them parallel, into a mixer, which has so many benefits when using separate expression pedals.
    An accidental surprise that solved many problems for me. A reminder to 'keep my mind open', and experiment!!!
    I would invite you to try some piezos into your favorite profiles, and listen for a pleasant surprise...

    Moog guitar - into VG99 - Kemper.


    I wonder if your grand kids will look back and think how old school you are. ;)

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

    Piezos are far cooler than you might think because of their wide frequency range. For example, those Line6 Variax guitars use the output signal of the 6 undersaddle piezos to build the emulated sound of other guitars. With the help of some DSP power the piezo sound can be transformed into a strat, paula or whatever.

    I however have noted that the Vg99 guitar out into Kemper's front input doesn't give the same warmth/drive as the Mags direct into Kemper, nor do the modelled guitars. Still very useable but not the same.

    @coipu...yes, and I think running parallel into the 99 and the KPA, gives benefits of both...no need to connect them together, other than midi PC commands, perhaps.


    @tylerhb...most of these profiles just love the piezo input, thankfully. As you say, I bet if I really work it, I could emulate some classic guitar sounds, using eq in the stomp pedal section. So far though, I haven't felt it necessary to do those sounds, as the 99 running along side has that. At any rate, I love it, there are so many combos with those two.


    @delinquent...chasing old school sounds and staying young through better technology.
    The KPA is nouveau, old school!
    The 99 is clay, waiting for the artist's hands.
    The Moog sustain can really exploit anything it plugs into.


    I be very, very happy!!! :thumbup: