Ice cold, Mr CK
What I would like to see is the ability to switch some of the dedicated FX post amp to preamp. In other words, allow us to choose our routing options for these FX.
I believe this would give us the edge to create cutting edge new sounds that have never been heard before with the quality that only the Kemper provides
Are you speaking of reverb and delay? All other effects can be placed in any effect slot.
Unfortunately quite a bit of stuff: Zoom MS-70CDR, Electro-Harmonix Freeze, Digitech Whammy V and occasionally a Zoom G3.
I completely agree that the Kemper doesn't need nearly as much EQ tweaking compared to the Pod. And I actually relaxed my EQ'ing on the Pod quite a bit once I found some good cabs to mix in parallel.
But I'm curious about how one EQ will change how another works. I mean I understand that if I cut in EQ #1 then boost in EQ #2 I shouldn't expect neutral output - I would have reduced the SNR of the cut frequencies at # 1 and would be reducing the SNR of all other frequenies in #2 and thus getting a worse tone overall. But aural artifacts or differing functionality... would you mind explaining?
I'm by no means an expert, but most EQs work via phase shift and the more you use the more artifacts you are potentially creating. This is far, far outside of the general discussion related to EQ in the Kemper, but an educational video none the less.
Trust me I'm not colour blind I will actually film me playing my guitar so you can see what I mean. I'm going to try CK's way of setting up the CS and see what happens I hope it works. Must say my cleans are a lot quieter that my distortion rig even when clean rig volume is on 0 db and distortion rigs are on -4 db. But if I increase CS to even them out I get solid red input LED
Because each rigs volume can be variable not only due to effects but in the way the profile was created, you really need to set the clean sense using a single rig and compare volumes with the gain up vs at zero. Once that is balanced then relative rig volume needs to be set using the the volume knob.
Yes, indeed. I've actually been kind of avoiding some of the Pod HD circles since I got this thing. I don't want to dog the Pod, but I'm afraid there is no other conclusion at this point. I haven't turned the Pod on since I got the Kemper. I eventually want to use it as a midi controller and possibly for some effects the Kemper doesn't have or I can't fit on the Kemper. But my first priority is to get some good sounding Kemper rigs and A/B Kemper vs. Pod HD. Gonna be a sad day for L6 fanboys.
Good to see your name again as well. I remember you talking about the Kemper I guess about a year or so ago. Your satisfaction spoke a lot to me, especially since you, like me, aren't the type of guy that's going to dump a ton of money on gear that doesn't absolutely blow you away.
Now we can fight about EQ'ing the crap out of your rigs! Hehe, actually, the Kemper is much, much, much simpler in that regards. It is not limited by crappy cabinet simulations that have to be used in parallel, but also adjusted for phasing issues via EQ block latency. LMAO - what a disgusting little hack that was. So now, you just find the right cabinet, make some small tweaks using the BMTP tonestack, and maybe add a Studio EQ to lop off the extremes and tame any problem areas or get just the right emphasis on some part of the mids.
Ha! Something you should check out as well or the deep cabinet parameters on the KPS. There is control over the high and low end shape and it is extremely powerful. If you're looking to shave a little high end, you could do it here and save a slot. It's different sounding than an EQ as it seems to really be shifting the peaks of the cabinet. Cab character (if i recall the name correctly) is also very cool to mess with.
I love the tones I've gotten with the KPA. Since getting it, I've tried going back to several other more affordable solutions and not found anything gives me as satisfactory result!
Hmmm...you know when you stack multiple EQ's and each EQ will affect the way another downstream EQ works right? They don't simply function in isolation. Your approach to the HD500 isn't as necessary to the Kemper. There's really no question as to whether the sound of the profile matches the sound of the miced up amp. Now the profile at hand may not be to your liking, but with the variety available, it might be easier for you to audition a bunch of stuff to find something close to your tonal needs in order to only require minor tweaks than end up with the aural artifacts induced by multiple serial EQ.
Thanks both for the advice! - I have a better interface on the way and I might go down the regular UNO path again.... I basically put up this post since after hours/days of trying to get concise info (like a side by side comparison chart, known issues like the interface, editing software recommendations) on both those chips I still ended up having to try them myself. And learn the hard way!
Will, if I understand your tip for syncing the stomp lights, you achieve it w/o the 2 way MIDI?
Thanks again - I've read alot of posts here from both you guys and learned a lot in 3 weeks... I appreciate the sharing of knowledge.
There is no 2-way MIDI with the standard UNO, or at least I couldn't figure it out. You simply need to program the FCB to mirror the KPA rig. For example, program an FCB to trigger rig assigned to MIDI PC 1, and then you program all the stomp (CC) pedals to match their state in when the rig loads. Then whenever you stomp on the pedal assigned to MIDI PC 1, all the CC pedals will light up accordingly.
confused
when you dial the "headphone amp in the room" sound in - do you still use that profile for recordings?
I am having a hard time understanding how adjusting a profile to make it sound good on your headphones would not interfere significantly with the sound on my studio monitors (for recordings).
For now I have adjusted profiles to my guitar monitor (L6 Stage source) or studio monitors (kh 120), depending on the intended use (playing/recording) and simply accepted (more or less) how it sounded through my headphones.
What am I missing here?
Do you want the sound of an amp in a room (ie distant miced) in your recordings or not. If so, the technique above works. Here's a demo, the intro employs the "room" trick.
https://soundcloud.com/willchen28/kemper-soundside-52-deluxe
Hey, BTW welcome aboard. The KPA is a huge step up from the POD HD huh? I recognized your name and just remembered from where. 
Bumping this up as I'm linked to it in 2 responses today. still loving the FCB1010 w/ UNO and have no plans to "upgrade" to the UNO 4 Kemper.
Standard UNO does not support two way communication with the KPA. Please see this post for more detail in programming the FCB UNO: MIDI Programming Tips
Thanks CK for chiming in ill give your wise words a try when im back in the studio. Must say im not in to metal at all but my PRS Navarro seems to be veryhot and they are passive pickups and with clean sense on -12db it still flashes red. So from what you are saying is that its fine, there is no clipping. This is good to know as -12db is the limit on the KPA and i cant turn it down any more.
I'm curious, are you plugging directly into the front input on the Kemper or into some other pedals first? Secondly, have you ever been checked for color blindness? I mean that in all seriousness. I didn't know something was wrong until middle school and wasn't officially confirmed until college. There are many degrees of color deficiency and those of us who suffer from it don't all simply see black and white.
You problem was using Ed Dixon's program which doesn't properly recognize the latest UNO version. Since I have absolutely zero need to cycle though hundreds of presets, I found the extra flexibility of the standard UNO ideal and never updated to the UNO 4 Kemper. Pick up the FCB/UNO Control Center (the official UNO editor) with the regular UNO (not UNO 4 Kemper) and it's a breeze. I used to have mine programmed with the bottom 5 switches as: clean, clean w/ trem, diirty, dirty with flanger, and fuzzed out. With the top 5 pedals as boost, chorus, rotary, reverb mix (from more subtle to full wet), and delay feedback (from more subtle to oscillating into feedback). This set up (with a Zoom G3 for reverse reverb and a random filter effect) covered all my gigging needs at that time. You absolutely get stomp box light sync, you have to program it that way. For example, for any effect which is locked on the KPA, you need to set that CC for no change when you switch patches. For all the other patches, you need to set the initial value of the CC to on or off to match the patch. This would of course be extremely time consuming if you had to do it for every rig in the unit, but given most people take a good deal of time planning out their sounds for gigging, programming the FCB to align really only adds a nominal amount of time in the grand scheme.
http://www.lg-fcb.com/lgfcb_software.php
here's a more detailed thread covering the topic I wrote a while back:
If you're right, then I do understand my misunderstanding
But, then a clear technical statement about it by the Kemper team would be appreciated, to go further than "belief"...
Why would they need to further state what is already clearly stated in the manual? From page 19-20 of Kemper Profiler Basics. Have you actually read the manual?
QuoteDisplay MoreClean Sense
Different types of guitars produce different output levels depending on their pickups and string gauge: for
example, humbucker pickups generate higher voltages compared to single coils, and active guitars generate
even hotter signal levels. If you feel that clean sounds are either very loud or very soft compared to
distorted sounds, you can adjust “Clean Sense” to a level where clean sounds have the same perceived loudness
as distorted sounds. “Clean Sense” determines the volume of clean sounds, but not the way the amp
or the effects are driven. A low level guitar output stays cleaner; a hot guitar will still distort more easily.
Extremely hot guitars can generate unwanted distortion, also indicated by a red Input LED. To prevent this,
turn down “Clean Sense” a bit.
Distortion Sense
Distortion Sense should normally stay at zero (middle) position. Every rig will react as if you have plugged
your guitar to the original amplifier.
If you feel that your guitar tends to drive the distortion too hot (or too soft) for the majority of preset rigs,
then calibrate your guitar by adjusting “Distorted Sense” accordingly.
✔✔Note: Clean Sense is not a simple input gain; you will notice that it does not affect the gain of a distorted
sound. Distortion Sense is also not a simple booster, as it does not affect the gain of clean sounds. Neither
of these parameters colours the sound.
The input section is locked by default. The settings will be relevant for every rig or performance until you
decide to unlock it. If you unlock this section, the input settings will be individually saved and recalled per
rig. Alternatively, you can leave the input section locked, and create local presets for individual guitars. You
can then switch between these presets independently of switching rigs.
For example: if you want to use different guitars, you can create a customized local preset for each. When
you switch guitars, simply select the respective local input preset, and the rest of the rig will remain unchanged.
Remember: the input section is locked by default, therefore changing rigs will not affect it.
Which headphones are you using will_chen ?
An Audio Technica pair, can't remember the model. I think they were around $70. Nothing too fancy. They were a huge upgrade over my Sennheiser HD 280 Pros though...
hehe - well i actually tried both approaches tonight. SPACE is nice if used subtly, like many other things. But Will's tipi also works well and IMO better than space.
I still use my method more than the new Space effect. And profiles will vary, but I think upping the character knob in the cabinet section can often add to the illusion one is not sitting right on the speaker. But some profiles which were likely made with off axis micing sound perfectly fine without any cab character adjustment and some sound worse as the cab character is increased. It's just all about experimenting.
Would'nt it be much more simple to state red input led = digital clipping on input, as on any audio/digital device of the market, instead this whole procedure of hearing/seeing calibration ?
Or maybe I do not understand that you all mean that it's simply impossible to digitally clip the input converter at all ?
Personally, I think it would be somewhat poor design for a device like this to allow a device to distort it's own AD/DA converters. No reason not to strap in a soft limiter to stop it. But the bigger question would be do you actually hear something undesirable or are you worried about a "what if"? Like I mentioned, I do not believe the clean sense should be viewed like the old school input trim required for good AD/DA. It is meant to balance the volume between clean and distorted profiles.
I think ultimately everyone should stop worrying about a glimmer of red until they understand the tonal implications. So set your gain to 0 and start strumming hard while adjusting clean sense. Use your ears to identify the threshold where clean sense starts digital clipping and see how the LED responds at that setting. Try chugging mutes and open chords and single notes. Now, turn up the gain and see how a digitally-clipping input sounds when distorted. Then, turn down clean sense and compare the LED behavior and tone.
Words on a forum won't likely help you. You need to either watch a video or do the above experiment yourself to get a grasp of the tonal impact and where the true "danger zone" in relation to the LED behavior lies.
It's really not about pushing things to the limit, that's completely unnecessary. The Kemper doesn't need careful input gain staging to sound good. Take a distorted profile (probably with compression set to 0 would be best), any distorted profile with the gain higher than noon. Play it and note the volume. Turn the gain to 0. Play. Are the volumes the same? If the gain at 0's volume is lower relative to the gain up at noon+ raise the clean sense, if the gain at 0's volume is higher relative to the gain up at noon+ lower the clean sense, and if the gain at 0's volume is the same as the gain up at noon+ don't touch the clean sense. Now lock it and don't touch it. When you switch guitars, do it again. Save each input config so you can quickly reference them when you change guitars rather than going through the exercise again.
Seriously, the input led is for quick reference only. All you guys are really obsessing over nothing as the clean sense isn't like the input trim you had to use on older digital devices to set proper gain staging. It really is intended to balance the volume differences between clean and dirty profiles.
I don't bother with global EQ with my CLR. I figure that's the whole point of getting a CLR in the 1st place. The only tip I have is to read the manual on gain staging.
I thought the EQ on the CLR was corrective based on usage scenario?
No. So if you do buy a Kemper, get an FCB-1010 and be happy. When/if the official arrives, you can weigh the alternative to see if it's worth the price premium to get it.
