Posts by Kaschko

Lucky Lady Vintage Guitars Any updates on pack 2? Loved the first one. Looking forward to your take on the Deluxe Reverb.

She is definitely very popular. I was also wondering why she wasn't on the list.

Quote from CKDexterHaven

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.’

I totally know what you’re talking about although I wish I didn’t. ?

Quote from CKDexterHaven

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.

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I second all of this and am glad I’m not alone. When I use real pedals they naturally lead me to some good tones. Their limitation of knobs and options guide me into the direction of how the pedal was meant. It’s intuitive. The Kemper is in many ways not intuitive. It’s a great tool to copy sounds but not to discover them. I played with the Kemper big muff and had a hard time dialing it in to my liking. I plugged in my real big muff and had the sound I was looking for in seconds. Afterward I could copy it on the Kemper but had to use settings and options that the real pedal didn’t have to get close to the sound. The result was 90% there but the missing 10% are enough to use the real thing.

I also got lucky to call the Boss Waza Tone Bender my own. The sound and the way it reacts to my guitar volume can’t (yet) be copied by the Kemper (at least not the toaster version).

Then there are other pedals that add a certain secret sauce, especially some boosters like the EP or RC. The Kemper booster doesn’t do the same thing and, ironically, lacks EQ options.

I also use a Boss SY-1 to add a fat bass tone or hammond organ to my guitar signal, which the Kemper can’t do yet.

I also found the Reverbs lacking a bit but then realized I just much prefer my spring before the amp section. Still thinking of trying a Strymon Flint. The UA looks great, too. I happen to like the Delays but wish I hadn’t sold my Catalinbread Echorec. Another story is the looper which has too short recording time in my opinion.

Anyways, I think it speaks for good Kemper profiles that they take pedals well.

As always, YMMV. But glad some others do it the same way as I do it.

I have some pedals in front of the Kemper. Mainly fuzzes.

I’m big into fuzzes and hope I can help. I usually run my pedals just in front of the amp.

It’s important to try profiles with different gain levels with your fuzzes. My Big Muff prefers cleaner amps, my Tone Bender needs a crunch setting. Have never tried the Fuzz Factory but would guess it wants a cleaner amp setting, too.

When you hold the AMP button, you can raise the profiles power sagging. That often helps to make pedals sound better.

Which profile are you using? Not all profiles have the same quality or flexibility. My favorite post-JTM45 Plexi is M. Britt’s 50w.

https://mbritt.com/product/69-marsh-pack-36-profiles/

It comes in various gain stages and with two different cabs. I prefer the Greenback. Start with the lowest gain stage and go higher until the Fuzz sounds good.

Okay guys, I ran a bigger test now. For those who don't have the time to read it all: I don't think there's much difference in sound after all.

I connected the Focusrite to the Kemper with both SPDIF and analog so I could go back on forth between the two sounds easily.

In the beginning, I set both SPDIF and Master outputs to 0db. As it turned out, the SPDIF output is about 4db louder than the analog Master. I played with lowering the db output of the SPDIF connection on my Focusrite by 4db and then I tried leaving it at 0 and instead turning down the main output of my Focusrite so both SPDIF and analog would have the same volume in the room.

There is a clear difference in sound when I lower the SPDIF db output on the Kemper by 4db. Probably because the focusrite has to work a little more and colors the sound?

But when I leave both outputs at 0db and match them with the master volume on my Focusrite, I don't hear much of a difference. Somehow I believe the analog sounds a bit clearer but it's possible I just imagine that because I find it easier to find the sweetspot volume-wise. ( digbob seem to confirm that the former might be true.)

I then connected the monitor speakers directly to the Kemper again. To match the volume to my interface test I had to adjust the Master output to -14,5db. The result: After all, I don't think there's a difference between plugging the monitors directly into the Kemper or going via interface.

I believe what happened inside my ears is that there is a volume sweet spot for the Yamaha HS5 speakers in my room and probably I hit it first when I went directly into the Kemper.

I found it easier to dial in my sounds when I connected analog since it's a less hot signal. I will just go analog from now on because I only have one long SPDIF cable anyway that I could use for reamping.

As Shakespeare said, much ado about nothing...

Quote from RDM

However, I'm confused re: your responses to BayouTexan. I think BT was suggesting that any comparison should be done at equal volume -

Hi! I think BT was not referring to output volume but input gain. I listen to the different connections at about the same dB in the room. But unlike the two front inputs of the Scarlett, the analog inputs in the back, as well as the SPDIF input, do not have gain knobs. You can adjust the output volume in the Focusrite Control program though.

.

Quote from BayouTexan

Can you not control SPDIF gain (input level) from the Focusrite Control Panel?

No, there’s no control for that. I can only adjust the Kemper output.

Quote from dmatthews

What output are you using, and what cable type (XLR or 1/4")?

SPDIF from Kemper to the interface. Speaker cables are 1/4" to XLR. XLR goes into the speakers, 1/4" goes either into the Kemper directly or the interface.

Quote from BayouTexan

An interface should not color your sound. Maybe you are hearing a difference in levels of the guitar signal since the interface has a gain knob.

Hi! Since I'm using SPDIF there's no gain knob on the interface.

Hi all,

I used to have my Kemper connected to my Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 via SPDIF and then my Yamaha HS5 connected to the Scarlett.

Recently I tried to connect the speakers directly to the Kemper and couldn't believe how much better it sounded. Fuller and rounder.

Has anyone else experienced that difference?

I wouldn't mind leaving the speakers plugged into the Kemper but then I cannot use them for anything else like Logic / listening to my recordings. Tried going interface into AUX Kemper but it sounded horrible.

Is this normal behavior? Would I maybe get a better experience not going via SPDIF? Do I have to calibrate the interface to the Kemper?

Quote from Dynochrome

I find that having HPF/LPF set correctly makes a big difference in consistency. When just playing a live cab, it doesn't make as much difference as when I am using studio monitors or through a big P.A. I have different outputs adjusted for "Live" and "studio".

The way I set the LPF that helps it to sound like an "amp in the room" recording/studio monitors is I listen to my cabinet as I turn down the LPF. As soon as I hear it affecting the high end, I stop there and go up a little higher. (usually around 8K) That keeps frequencies that would normally not be heard with a "real" cab out of the recording/studio monitors for a more "natural" sound. Every speaker setup has a different crossover, EQ etc.

I imagine if you set up your Kemper with a perfectly flat set of monitors then played it through a perfectly flat P.A it would be the same, but most P.A. systems are not flat by any means.

If things sound different between setups, like it has been mentioned, it's not the Kemper's fault, it's the differences in what it's going into.

So you cut the highs at around 8k globally? Where do you cut the lows? I appreciate the input since I rehearsed with my Kabinet today and found it very harsh in both fullrange and imprint modes.

Regarding volume pedals again, can anyone talk me through how you would use them? If you use them to adjust volume, isn't that what the person at the mixer will do? Wouldn't they just turn you down again if you suddenly go louder? Or is it for a lead tone that you define before the show?

One use I could imagine is when I use more gainy profiles and roll back the guitar volume knob to get a clean sound. It cleans up nicely but also loses volume, so I guess I could use a volume pedal to get the clean sound back to "unity volume" or whatever you wanna call it. However, I could also just morph the same profile into a second stage with more volume. Is that how you guys use it?

Quote from deadpan

I have to have a profile loaded other than the one I want to rename to rename.

Ah, that could be it!

I updated my profiler and restarted my system, now it seems to finally work. Not sure where the bug was, could have been rig manager or the profiler.

Then it must be a bug. I use macOS Catalina.

Quote from BayouTexan

Are you renaming the rig under "All Rigs/ My Profiler" folder?

"All Rigs" -> "Name of my profiler"

So yes.

Quote from musicmad

Rename it in the field as you do. Press enter and mouse click outside the dialog.

That doesn't work. It changes the name of the profile but as soon as I change to another profile I get the message: "

Switching to another Rig without saving first will discard the changes you've made in the Inspector. Use the Store buttons in the Editor to save your changes. Modifications made in the Editor will not trigger a warning but need to be stored as well. Making a Rig a favorite or rating it will be stored instantly without saving first."

I can click "discard" and "save". But if I click "save", the profile immediately changes back to its old name. The name change was NOT saved.