Posts by CKDexterHaven

I want to clarify something I wrote in my last post, about ‘confidence’ in pedals and the mental aspect. It’s all about how you think about things. For me, I often get infatuated with a very, very specific tone. And I am compelled to recreate it, with some combination of the Kemper plus whatever guitars I have. I sometimes feel a need to buy a guitar to get there, just because the original player used a certain guitar and I attribute certain specific characteristics to that guitar.

Sometimes in the tone chase, I want to buy a pedal. Let’s take a specific example. I recently wanted a Klon clone. I listened to a ton of demos, read a ton of user comments, and eventually chose a Decibelics Golden Horse. Now, if I were to rely on the Kemper Klon sim, I don’t know what I’d be getting. I chose the Decibelics because of minute, nuanced differences between it and other considerations like a Tumnus and a Centura, for example. If I used the Kemper presets, I’d basically be settling for a generic simulation. Which could very well be as good or better than what I paid $300 for. But it just isn’t nearly as interesting. It isn’t tactile. It has no story or heritage or mojo. It’s just ‘code.’

Some people don’t need to get involved in all the ‘backstory.’ And sometimes I envy that. I may eventually get to that kind of thinking. But, currently, I prefer the mindspace where all of the stuff peripheral to the actual sounds are also important toward giving me the feeling that I’m playing ‘real stuff through real equipment.’

And then there’s the practical aspect of tweaking. I never use the Kemper (Stage) hardware to manipulate anything. Just Rig Manager. I think Rig Manager is the worst of the software interfaces I’ve ever used: Fractal, Atomic, Overloud, Bias, amplitube, etc. The process of adding and then editing Kemper effects is ridiculous. I mean, the simplest aspect: you choose Klon 2 or OCD 3 or whatever, and then as soon as you’ve left that menu selection, you can’t tell which one you’re using? I really hope I’m missing something there…..

Anyway, somehow I’m fine with choosing and editing amps in the editor, but I hate tweaking pedals that way. So much easier to do it with real pedals.

So, it’s like that cliché: “there are two kinds of people….” When I had the Fractal AX8 and loved its tones… but every time I went to a music store and passed those display cases of all those shiny, colorful pedals… I got jealous and felt I was missing something—that whole experience. So, now I have a hybrid approach. Which costs money, but I think it’s the best of both worlds.

Yes.
Most users say the Kemper has great reverbs and delays, but I kept hearing really good reverb in various pedal or guitar demos that I just couldn’t get with the Stage. I eventually bought the UA Golden Reverberator and it’s just better. I basically immediately change all my profiles’ Reverb block to a stereo loop block, and Boom—happiness.

Kemper delays are okay, but I put a cheap Donner White Tape dual stereo delay into the loop, as well, and Yes. Might be possible to dial in the same thing with the Kemper, but it’s so much more immediately satisfying to just tweak the Donner’s knobs. Simple. Good. Cheap.

Fuzzes are much better—still—from pedals.

I still have like 8 ODs. The Kemper is really good at those, but I still prefer tweaking hardware and I just have more confidence in the pedals.

when my objective with a Kemper is to get ‘as close to the real thing as possible,’ it helps with the mental aspect with me to use ‘real pedals’ as often as possible. There’s a massive disconnect for me when cursoring to a preset sim for a pedal in a menu, where the settings have been chosen by someone else as ‘ideal,’ and the name of the pedal has been only alluded to… versus twisting a real knob on the very specific version of a hardware pedal I chose because of its (perceived or imagined) nuanced differences between it and others of its type.

I also have had my Stage for some months without really being happy with how 95% of profiles sounded without me making substantial volume edits to both the Amp Volume and Rig Volume.

But, I think I figured it out just this past week. I am running my Kemper into a Focusrite interface, with my monitors plugged into the interface. But I always had to turn up my amp and rig volumes to get the presets to sound just closer to what online demos sounded like. Turns out the problem was in my interface settings. When I turned Down my Computer internal volume so that I had to turn UP my interface volume knob to compensate, all the Kemper profiles began to sound as they should.

If you are running your monitors straight out of the Kemper, I dunno what to suggest— maybe turn up your Kemper Out settings and change your monitor volume controls to compensate?

Make sure your Rig volume and each amp volume is at 12:00/0db to start, and evaluate from there? Make sure you don’t have some parameter Locked at a setting that is affecting all the profiles?

Quote from paults

Look at the inputs of Focusrite channels that are connected to your Kemper Outputs. They are likely set too low of an input level. Or, the channels for your Computer Audio are set too high.

Thanks. Yeah, this Focusrite thing is not a happymaking device for me. In a hundred years of Mac ownership, i've always run internal audio the same way. It even worked this way with my previous generation Focusrite interface, which did not use software. Now, with Gen 3, though, so many issues.

I guess i've effectively turned down my internal audio sources, so that i can go harder on the interface hardware volume to reach the usual levels, which now means the Kemper is louder without having to boost the Amp or Rig Volume knobs. Seems to be closer to what i'd expect from auditioning random, unedited profiles.... I just adjusted a set of my edited profiles for this way of working — seems to be good. I'll try this for a while.

Thanks again.

When I’m auditioning profiles, in 90%+ of situations, I have to turn up the Amplifier Volume and the Rig Volumes to close to 3:00 (all editing done in the software) just to get a volume where I can hear what the thing is supposed to sound like. With clean and light or medium gain profiles, it’s especially bad. With gainy tones, i usually even have to turn up the amplifier GAIN to match the demos. And sometimes, even the effects levels (reverb) aren't as they sound in the demos.

In the demos, players are just going from one profile to the next, and they all sound great, and at appropriate volume. Are they doing 'leveling' work on every single profile in advance of recording the videos, or is their Kemper just set up appropriately, so that profiles work as intended? There has to be something wrong with mine—it cannot be the case that 95% of profiles sound "wrong" and have to have so much additional volume added.

This can’t be normal/expected. But I also don’t know how much of this is related to my interface. I’m using SPDIF, but had the same issue with the analog outs.

Here's a screenshot of my OUTPUT section settings. But, let me first ask one simple question: My focusrite interface is what controls the volumes i hear through my monitors. It also controls the volumes of the demos and music i play through my computer. So, if i'm learning a song or trying to find profiles via Youtube, i set the focusrite at a volume that is about 9:00 on the focusrite dial. My monitors themselves are already pretty much cranked. So, so shouldn't i expect the Kemper to be working at/near that same level? I hope the problem is that i need to turn the Focusrite to 3:00 to get the volume i expect, which would kill me with the computer audio....

If i turn up the SPDIF further than this, i go too far into the clipping/red on the Focusrite output monitoring.

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/fr8wdaP.jpg]

universal audio golden reverberator

I know everyone says the Kemper has great reverbs and delays, but I never got those ‘delicious’ simple reverbs from it. After not being able to match what I liked from a couple of That Pedal Show episodes (CXM and UA Golden), I bought the UA. Put it in the Kemper loop, and Bang Zoom—I’m over the moon. Very simple, and fantastic. I basically just substitute the stereo loop for all the reverb blocks in Kemper profiles, and it’s always an improvement.

Quote from MattWylde

Plus getting the app approved by Apple can take quite a while, and it's beyond their control.

Apple approved our app in three or four days. If it’s “quite a while,” it’s probably the fault of the developer.

Quote from Kemper Support #1

check the delay/reverb balance parameter in the rig menu. It handles the routing between parallel and serial.

Thank you. So, now i have it at -100% / fully dialed down to the Left, and i seem to have my full effects loop effects (reverb and tremolo). Does that make sense, though? If i turn off the pedals in the loop, and just play with the Kemper delay with everything else set the same way, i don't notice a difference in the Kemper delay. So, why would i want this parameter at any other setting?

Ah, wait—so, if i delete the Kemper delay block, and i'm back to just my effects loop, the reverb sounds fine, but the stereo tremolo is only in Stereo when the RIG>Delay/Reverb (balance) is at +100% / fully RIGHT. But, if i add the Kemper delay block back in, the tremolo is in stereo again only if the RIG>balance is -100%. I'm turning the delay mix down to 0% to be able to hear what's going on. So, i guess i need to leave a Delay block in the chain, whether i'm using it or not, just be able to always keep the RIG>Delay/Reverb balance at one setting: -100%?

Sorry, i'm not understanding what this 'balance' is supposed to be controlling or why this variable exists.

Hey.

I have a pedalboard running into the front of my STAGE with no problem. But, i'm now trying to put a new UA Golden Reverberator into the effects loop in stereo. But, the Kemper DELAY cancels out the Reverb from my external pedal in the Effects Loop. Why? Is there a parameter somewhere to fix this?

As the Rig Manager is telling me, i'm using SEND 2 with RETURN 3/4.

• The Reverb—Seems to work, except that depends on what other blocks are active. If i have an DELAY block in FRONT of the LOOP block (in the LAST) effect slot, the Reverb is diminished significantly. Almost to Zero effect.

• The Delay block cancels the Effects Loop even if the Delay is turned OFF. And it cancels not just my Reverb pedal, but also my stereo tremolo pedal in that same loop.

• Seems like i can put any other effect in front of the effects loop block without effecting the reverb pedal in that loop, but Delay cancels out the reverb.

Quote from slateboy

Covered here

8.2.0.28009 Release - Discussion

Thank you. I may have to modify my standard protocol of just blindly updating.

: )

I recommend 6.5" drivers over the 5s.

JBLs are okay. But, consider the Mackie MR624.

No hiss, and they sound great at very low volume levels—the two factors that convinced me to go with them over the JBL 306P and Adam T7v.

Quote from Wheresthedug

You still save your own presets by dragging the FX block to the Presets window in RM and dropping them there. Unfortunately there is no save preset button or key command and no way to name the preset when saving. You need to locate the dropped preset then name it afterwards.

Got it. The Folder i create for those presets has to reside on the Local Library level. Got it—cool. Thank you!

Quote from bobbyodell

oh indeed it is...and you'll be saying this again...and again...and again.

So, hey—am I just being dense again, or is there no way to create/save our own presets for individual effects? Do we have to save the whole profile and then lock that effect and bring in a different amp profile ?

Quote from paults

Yes. The Presets are in your Profiler (if you have updated it to the latest OS}, and in Rig Manager when you click on an FX Slot, and browse the FX.

So, the ‘types’ of effects presets in the menu per specific effect... they correspond to the presets that used to be in the left panel folder? Okay.... I was under the impression they were treated differently. Like, the ones in the folder were specific presets, and the ones in the menu are more general ‘types.’ If that makes sense.... I wish I knew that was going to change, as I would have noted the ones intended to go for, but I can’t now reverse my steps to see (separately) what I’ve used in some of my profile presets.

Thanks for the reply, sir.

It’s a bit frustrating, though. The current presets setup is closer to what I asked for in a suggestions thread, but I didn’t prepare for it....

I'm on v 3.2.28 of RM. Seems like i updated twice fairly recently, and didn't notice at which point my effects presets disappeared.

I used to have them in the left panel, i think in the My Profiler(?) section. And i could search within that area, then drag a preset from the list onto a block, and presto-magico... effect. Now, those presets are gone. What did i do wrong? Can i re-download them from somewhere and re-install? Or has this feature been 'upgraded' to some other method?

Quote from Burkhard

These are the same functions as in the PROFILER user interface. Both functions are explained on the very first pages of the Main Manual chapter Rigs and Signal Chain:

Load Defaults

While working with the Effect Select Screen, you may have noticed the headings used to separate presets associated with one effect type from those associated with the type above. Those headings are not user presets —instead, they contain a default or neutral setting of the respective effect type. If, for example, you load the heading Graphic Equalizer from the right column, all its frequency bands will be flat at the beginning.

You can load these defaults via Autoload, or you load them manually using the soft button “Load Defaults”.

Load Type

Preselect a new effect type and press the soft button “Load Type”. This effectively locks all parameter settings, e.g., Mix 50% and Ducking +0.5, so that only the effect algorithm itself changes. This works in contrast to choosing another preset or “Load Defaults”, both of which overwrite the parameter settings.

“Load Type” will often make the choice of algorithms easier: for example, you can make a dedicated setting for a wah effect, and then step through the various wah types — the overall effect will change, but settings for the various ranges, including wah pedal control, will remain the same. You can also switch between a phaser and a flanger, to check the different impact of these two algorithms, and the modulation scheme will remain unchanged. “Load Type” is exceptionally powerful in exploring the numerous delay types, while c

Display More

Thank you. But, i'm still not understanding. What you describe—i don't use the device itself for editing... i'm only using Rig Manager. Are you saying the RM duplicates what is in the hardware UI, even though the feature only works on the device?

• Ability to REFRESH the Rig Manager so that i don't have to Quit and Relaunch every time i've powered off the Stage device.

• Indicate which Effect Preset i'm currently using/last selected. For example: the Menu shows a checkmark for DISTORTION > KEMPER DRIVE > ...but then does not indicate which one i'm working with. [Also, what does "Load Type" and "Load Defaults" mean? Nothing happens.

• Upgrade: Tremolo and Vibe? I'd love to not have to spend $300+ on a killer vibe for Hendrix/Trower/etc.

Okay, FOUR things:

• A "graphic EQ" with sliders? That would just be a different graphic representation of what's already in there, right?

Quote from ckemper

By setting the Clean Sense you have solved your problem the correct way.

But 9.3 dB is an unusual high value, that shows the true symtom of the problem: your guitar is either very soft or it enters the Profiler at a very soft volume. Never seen that.

Do you have other devices between your guitar and the Profiler?

Hello, sir. I'm honored by your reply.

I am running a pedalboard into the Kemper.

And i really had only been working with one of my guitars for clean tones when i was following the steps (above) to figure this out, a Strat with Lollar pickups. I'll try a tele and Jazzmaster later tonight with cleans.

Do you use Rig Manager? Download the profiles and then just drag them into your chosen RigManger folders. Really simple.

Before I edit one, though, I COPY the Rig Manager profile into an Edits folder, so as not to remove the original from the RM.

I did a factory reset, reinitialized Globals, and rebooted. But, then i got zero sound. Weirdness. The tuner was recognizing signal, but no output. I checked all the Output section settings, but couldn't find a culprit.

Reset the System again, and rebooted, and boom—instant tone. I set Clean Sense pretty high: 9.3db, and now everything seems to be working as i would expect. I can randomly go through all the presets and they're far closer in volume, regardless of gain level. Not 'the same,' but close enough that i can browse without having to constantly stop and tweak levels and whatnot.

So, consider me a happy kemper for the night, and now i have a ton of profiles to test this weekend.

Thank you, all, for your assistance. I'm sure i'll be back with some other questions, but it's so nice to know there's a responsive and friendly community here.

*By the way– does anyone know of a Divided by Thirteen BTR 23 profile? I'm always coveting Papa Stache's tone, but have not yet seen a commercial profile of that amazing amp.