Posts by andy_i

  • Road report / The perfect foot controller please Kemper

    I've just come back from a two week tour with my Kemper. I'd be interested to hear other users' takes on these issues, but this is what I feel would be essential for the "ideal" floorboard for the Kemper:


    • Up/Down 5 or 10 switches per bank - led for whichever patch is active stays lit


    • Large, clear, BRIGHT display indicating the name of the patch and the patch number (so two-way comms with the unit)


    • 4 x Stomp controls with colour LED to match the colour of the stomp available / being used and a separate on/off LED. Using two FS-6 momentary stomps got confusing, as I had to keep looking across at the KPA to see what was on/off and which effects I had loaded.


    • 4 x XMDR controls (x, mod, delay, reverb)


    • Takes its power from the KPA


    • Does NOT have foot pedals for volume / wah, but instead has option for external controller in via balanced jack and feeds that signal to the KPA. Maybe they could do one with pedals for the home enthusiast, but the bulkier the board is, the worse it is for the touring musician. One top reason for me buying the KPA was to scale down without losing tone. If I suddenly have the equivalent of a G-system to tote onto planes again, it would defeat the object for me.


    • Tuner button / mute button


    I also presume performance mode will bring with it large patch numbers - it's very difficult to figure out what's going on in the heat of battle and know if you're on the crunch sound you set up on 32 or the one on 14, so accordingly aren't sure whether to go up or down. (not always, but I found myself losing my place every now and again - having the info clearly displayed would help avoid having to develop a personal braille librarian system for complex live performances).


    Other things which would be useful: in future editions of the Kemper, consider putting a tapped hole in the base for attachment to a mic stand (similar to what they do with AER acoustic amps). It's always good to have the KPA within arm's reach and, much as I like the look of a Boogie stack onstage, it's overkill to have it there purely as a Kemper stand. :D


    Note on levels: the 'boost' stomps didn't seem to do it for me in terms of getting up from backing level to solo level. Our engineer was constantly dissatisfied with the boost until I programmed a separate solo patch in each case with the output volume about +7db hotter than the rest of the sounds. It would be really nice to have a 'boost' stomp that affected that output level directly at the end of the chain with up to 10db of clean headroom. Maybe I have it wrong and that is exactly how it works already, but it didn't seem to be the case. The sound appeared coloured, regardless which boost I used.


    Some of the venues we played had DI boxes without pads, so I had to manually dial my level down to minus 10db. It would be great to have a 0/-10/-20 pad on the outputs at the back.


    I wasn't clear on whether the KPA defaults to mono with one output coming out of the left. I've been sending the outputs stereo to the house and, as a result, spending a lot of time modifying delays to fire down the centre (4:4). Obviously in a live situation, the last thing you want is guitar sounds in stereo with ping pong delays and panned effects. This is for the same reason as any other heavily panned stereo source in a big venue - someone to the front left of the venue will have a very skewed perspective of your sound compared to the engineer. Stereo panning is great for headphones / hifi, but is banned for big live concerts. :!:


    That's the crit, but let me say this - the Kemper has made touring a much more effortless and streamlined affair. Once the software is where it needs to be and the foot controller is out, it's going to be incredible! Every guitar tech we used on this last Australian tour was crouched down after the show, writing down the name of the Kemper and making notes. All of them, without fail, were astounded by the tone and the concept and had good things to say about it. I'm guessing, from the reactions I saw, that the KPA hasn't come out yet in Oz / NZ, but should do well there!


    btw. I used the Namba bag for the tour and it was fine for carry-on. I wouldn't go sending the KPA in the hold in the Namba, but it was perfect for general portability. It's not 100% snug around the body of the Kemper, but a towel in the front to give the rotary encoders extra protection fixed that up.


    pics


    [Blocked Image: http://www.andyinnes.com/images/kpa1.JPG]


    [Blocked Image: http://www.andyinnes.com/images/photo.JPG]


    [Blocked Image: http://www.andyinnes.com/images/photo2.JPG]

  • Compatible Foot Switches?

    Quote from guitarnet70

    Latch switches won't work, you need a temporary switch. Mono cable for single switch, stereo on for double switch. I use 2 Boss FS-6 connected with stereo cables to switch A, B, X and Mod


    Same here - 2 x FS-6 and a Midi Moose, while waiting for the bespoke Kemper foot controller. ;)

  • Andy Innes in WW tournee with the KPA

    Quote from JoeBlob

    Hi Andy,


    do you use the amps only as a stand for the KPA or are you going without cab sim into the return?


    I use the return without cab sim, although they also make very good stands :)


    Not all power stages are created equal, though. It sounds pretty good through the Boogie Dual Rec power amps, with a touch of EQ on the Kemper's monitor out required in the top end. This Marshall, on the other hand, struggled with the clean tones - breaking up at any usable stage level, so it functioned mostly as a stand and I pumped the Kemper level through the pair of bi-amped wedges - sounded fantastic!


    I have also used an AER compact 60 and Studio XL with sim engaged. They are a pretty good FRFR solution for stage when you're in a bind.

  • (just a ghost)

    Sorry to ask the bleeding obvious here: are you getting the distortion / clipping with more than one guitar? I presume you've tried a few?

  • KPA Editor

    Quote from Slowfinger

    This would really be cool. And I would like the idea of creating an ordered sound list on the PC and upload it on to the KPA for each gig.


    +1 for the editor. If I get a backup KPA will that be a +2?

  • Stereo footswitch stomp selection

    I'd love the ability to determine the two momentary footswitch functions for a stereo connector. Currently there is a limited selection e.g. stomp a/b, stomp c/d, rev/delay, etc. . If that's not possible, could you add a stomp B / Tap tempo option? Please?

  • 3 way switch

    I have Boss FS 6 and I'm busy trying to do this in system. I only get option for patch change up/down with stereo switch, then all the mono options. Where do you set this?

  • the wahwah is incredible

    Quote from luntho

    what pedalboard are you using to crash the kpa?


    Sorry - just saw this. Art x-15 ultrafoot.


    I bought a midi Moose yesterday and installed 1.03 - now all seems stable.


    I'm not sure about the wah settings either. The FV500-H controls all the parameters perfectly, but the tone seems to suck a little no matter what I do. For now I've gone back to a Fulltone Clyde in front of the KPA.

  • sort by Amplifier

    Quote from Rafport

    Now we're at start and i'm yet loosing myself to find the right tone. it should be a great idea (and very easy to realize) a sort for model of amp, in my opinion useful than name, author or date. When i want to search for an Vox AC30 or a modern Mesa tone, i need to find it easily. I know that the bundle tones in Kemper can't use real brand, but user can and i guess the world will be full of amp profiles soon! It will be useful also order by kind of speaker.

    + 1 list by amp name please.

  • Mesa Boogie Roadster

    Quote from Capitancamparro

    These are great! You captured alot of the "lush" Mesa magic in those! Very cool! Was it the Roadster Combo? Or Head and Cab? If yes, what cab?
    These are a little on the bassy side, but with a little bit of tubescream and/or Pream Definition raise and -2 in Bass they sound absolutely beautiful!


    Head and cab. Cab is the Roadster 2x12 - smaller with a more focused midrange than the standard Mesa v30 2x12. Anticipating some overkill in the bass response, I actually mounted the cab on an amp stand for the profile to diminish the floor effect, but it still sounds a little sub-heavy on the modern setting. All the eq's were more or less @ 12 o'clock, but presence around 1 o'clock.


    I'm thinking about redoing the drive ones with a little less gain and rolling off some bottom end on the modern channel. Let me know if anyone's interested...

  • Mesa Boogie Roadster

    I see you've been spying on me ;)


    I'm still going to run the piezos out in tandem with the mags for all the rhythm and flavour stuff. The difference is that (I'm hoping) the KPA will replace the boogie and [maybe] the G-system. It can't be crashing when I switch patches - that is an instant stage death ;(


    The jury is still out here on the Kemper FX. Some of them sound pretty good, but I may end up having to keep the G in the loop of the KPA. Ask me again in a month's time.