Posts by Gasp100

  • Alternative BAG/CASE to the Kemper / Namba?

    I have read through a few threads but didn't see any results that have good links to EASY TO FIND bags or cases for the KPA. I'm gigging this next week and need a way to transport safely and easily FAST. Might have to purchase the bag new (ouch!) but would love to find a great alternative for cheaper. Any help appreciated, if it's has pockets and such for cables that would be perfect.

  • Atomic amps CLR's

    I almost made a terrible mistake of selling my Atomic CLR NEO and KPA. The Atomic is now indispensable for any gig as a main or monitor for acoustic duo / trio and my KPA rig. I won't use modeling at this point without the CLR, it makes that much of a difference. I landed on a Fryette Sig X patch and undid the posters tweaks (obviously he was tweaking KPA to make up for monitoring setup). It's unbelievably good...

  • Just when I thought I was out...

    I know a few "full time" musicians and none of them have the disposable cash required to snag a Kemper (or AxeFX II), especially when you factor in full featured foot controller and FRFR or high quality power amp cab. Some of them do take their tone seriously, but they do well with mid-level stuff (modeling or otherwise). I'm quite frugal with gear -- one piece of gear in, another piece has to go -- but, I can afford to have ONE really nice rig. I find that for my uses (live, acoustic/electric, home recording / silent practice and recording, no micing) the KPA or the II is best of breed.
    When I decided I would not lift my newly acquired Bogner Shiva out of the basement for even one live gig I immediately knew I had made a huge mistake ditching modelers to go back to tube amps. Especially knowing that I would keep / gig the crap out of my Atomic CLR with the Zoom G3X.
    I will say I was astonished to find a new KPA jumped in price to almost $2200 and that a "standard" new AxeFX II is STILL OUT OF STOCK.
    Finding a used KPA that same day I jumped on it -- I prefer the blackface one but color is not that important at this point :)
    I'm looking forward to testing the Shiva profiles linked in this thread along with some of the new(er) ones listed and some tried and true amp factory profiles.
    One thing is for certain, I'm OVER getting a modeler to sound exactly like an amp in the room. That's not what I need, I need great tone through FRFR that translates at live gigs and doesn't cost a fortune to retube, bias, change speakers, etc...

  • Just when I thought I was out...

    Lol Hoth, I'm back too :D
    Sold all my II rig, my CLR was returned because UPS scraped it up. I've been playing primarily acoustic gigs but just picked up a number of full band shows. Tried a real JVM, pretty nice but needed work, Bogner Atma, very cool a little small sounding and then a Shiva - incredible cleans, overdrive solid but not perfect but way too big and heavy to cart. Plan is to profile the crap out of Shiva and JVM and have it all while using the CLR, will see ;)

  • Overdrive Stomps RIDICULOUSLY LOUD = UNUSEABLE?

    Hi guys, I'm back after a short detour. So what would be setting the clean sense "correctly"? For my guitars and the KPA I usually have clean sense set to -3 or so. Are you saying that I should be setting the clean sense HIGHER (starting at zero?). These levels routinely clip the output LED into RED. So then I should look at my clean profiles and work with individual gain staging / volumes and redo everything? Then test stomps?
    I will pick a clean profile and do some testing.
    And yes, VERY often I will find a profile that has promise but too much gain and I will use the GAIN knob on the unit to clean it up correctly for what I need.

  • Overdrive Stomps RIDICULOUSLY LOUD = UNUSEABLE?

    Another quick question (which I believe I have asked before) -- I have backups of several KPA's that I have had and I know for sure some of these backups have some nice profiles that I want to bring back in -- is there a way to "crack" open these backups to see individual profiles to job my memory without performing a full restore (out of the question right now, I have gigs lined up to years end)?
    I normally EXPORT individual rigs (profiles) that I consider keepers for just this reason, but a lot of profiles have come and gone which I have not even checked out as of yet.
    Side note, just grabbed the Mesa Blue Angel and SLO 100 from TAF -- both worthy purchases as I always wanted to try the Blue Angel and Andy's clips of the SLO 100 are incredibly sick!

  • Overdrive Stomps RIDICULOUSLY LOUD = UNUSEABLE?

    Hi guys, yes I will export the rig(s) in question and send. They are clean (as clean and loud as I can keep them from clipping for live usage). The thing is that I can't monkey with the basic sound because the cleans are dialed in (beautifully) for use with my guitars/rig and stage/recording ready. Normally I have a clean (and then use IA switches to enable FX) and then of course I have other patches/rigs to switch to for medium gain, crunch, etc... But there are some tunes where I don't even have time (or want) to switch a patch and want to use an IA to engage a drive to stay within the same patch.
    I might try to record an example as well.

  • Overdrive Stomps RIDICULOUSLY LOUD = UNUSEABLE?

    I had posted about this issue several KPA's back (haha, and NO I'm not kidding!) but I'm still having the same issue (now using the KPA Rack). EVERY overdrive / fuzz option that I try is INCREDIBLY, RIDICULOUSLY LOUD when inserted in a clean/cleanish patch and basically unuseable. One person mentioned trying to tweak the clean sense / dirty sense but that doesn't help and here is why:
    My clean sense is usually -3 (forget what the exact dB measurement is) and that is because one of my guitars is dual humbucker, all of my guitars come close to matching that output so the all "work" with the same input and I can lock that setting.
    My distortion sense I believe is at 0 or just slightly below; I don't need to clean up any over driven amp patches and if I do I work the gain to my satisfaction.
    I have a great Deluxe Reverb clean and I think a TS or DS1 stomp in the rig and the volume of the stamp is -5 (as low as it will allow) and the drive is very moderate, ~3.5?
    I feel like the quality of the drives might actually be pretty good (jury still out) but they are essentially un-useable for me at this point which is a problem. I don't want to have to pay for and rely on anything outside of the box, my whole goal is a totally integrated solution.
    Any ideas? (the boosts - pure/confidence, etc... actually sound very transparent and nice, they do their job well!).

  • Playing a REAL acoustic (with built in pickup) through KPA

    I have an acoustic gig tomorrow and I would love to bring the KPA rack. Some of the tunes have more modern breaks (Avicii) that could use some heavy processing (verb, chorus, delay, pitch, even distortion) of my acoustic tone. Does anyone have any great acoustic patches for this use? I'm not talking about acoustic simulation using electric guitar, I'm talking about a real acoustic (I'll be using a Taylor 526e). The AxeFX has a tube pre simulation that is quite nice, any profiles like that for the KPA?

  • Uno4Kemper

    I just got my KPA Rack (first rack version, third attempt with the KPA) and I already have the FCB1010 with the latest Uno. I know how to program most of it but I'm considering the Uno4Kemper chip. I have purchased 2 uno's before and his great software editor (although it seems the Uno4Kemper might make the software obsolete).
    My main interests are tuner on the floor - how well does this works? does it track nicely? is it easy to read, even on a dark stage? fast enough for quick in between song tuning?
    Is it a PITA to have both midi IN/OUT cabling running? I have found a few dual ended cables that look like they are not too bulky, they might do the trick?
    I don't know anything about performance mode but it sounds like this chip makes using either mode pretty simple?
    I think assigning something other than wah (to the expression pedal) is just done within the KPA itself, no?
    Also, with Uno4Kemper and wanting to use the tuning option does that mean the right expression pedal must ALWAYS be assigned to volume control only?
    Thanks!

  • Profile ideas for gigging in a cover band?

    Mario, this is almost to a "T" the exact same thing I am trying to build. I actually have an acoustic gig (possibly the first of many ;) in mid-May and now I'm starting to think about using the KPA inbetween my very modest Epiphone acoustic (that has an internal pickup/GEQ) and PA. Have you had good results running electrified acoustic into the KPA?
    Any pointers on any of the profiles you listed above? Like the settings for your acoustic profiles, some of the base profiles that you tweaked for your full rig?
    Also, anyone know if I could assign the tuner to an FCB1010 pedal? I didn't think that was possible, sounds like it is at least with the GCP in Mario's post?

  • Profile ideas for gigging in a cover band?

    I'm posting this in the main user section to try and get a good cross section of people who own and use the KPA (some may not be full members of the forum or might have problems posting in the private forum). I'm looking for ideas on my profile usage for gigging with a pop/rock cover band. I have found after playing ~50 gigs over the past year that I use:
    1 or 2 very nice clean tones: crisp, precise, detailed either / or Vox / Fender inspired. Right now I'm using a HiWatt profile I grabbed from TAF and while I do like it and it cuts, I'm not sure this is the ONLY clean profile I need. Looking for something more spongey and full with a lot of perceived headroom. In the pop songs we do a lot of "Reggae-esque" songs - "Santeria" (Sublime), "Lazy Song" (Bruno Mars), etc... and damn if my humbucker and P90 guitar distort the KPA's output/input very often at gigs.
    2 rock gain tones: LOVE the Ceriatone Yeti profile that I believe is free off the exchange. I'm also dabbling with an Orange profile, but might be interested in more Marshall hot rodded stuff. SLO?
    1-2 lead tones: Again the Yeti is killer but would like to add a second, thicker, smoother -- again, the SLO from TAF? Mesa Maybe?
    I need ORGAN and SYNTH-like stuff... any help? I know a lot can be done with the new harmonizer stuff, but I'm daft at setting that up... I do know that for organ we are dealing with pitch (probably 1 high, 1 voice low?) and usually a Rotary behind? This would be for Bob Marley "Three Little Birds" and Rihanna "We Found Love"... whatcha got?
    "We Found Love" also has a crazy whammy type break... right now I'm using WAH on my lead tone with is just OK. My Zoom G3 has an effect called "Bender" or something? Really easy and pretty cool, but I want to do gigs KPA only... ideas?
    Here is Rihanna's official vid, Clav/Organ ~54 in and Whacked out "Helium" sounds ~1:45 in.


    I'd like to hear and see what you other guys are gigging with and if you have any "special FX" songs with neat ideas using the current and new KPA FX.

  • All overdrives WAY TO LOUD... how can I fix?

    I'm trying out some drives inside clean patches and the overdrive pedals are way too loud. Each and every one is at -5 (lowest it will go and still a bit too loud for my tastes). I have messed with distortion sense to -3, but anything lower is messing with my dedicated gain patches. HELP! I use a mix of profiles, some are a base clean that then I engage FX including overdrive. Others are dedicated patches for rock rhythm, lead, etc... I need both options.

  • Some "new country" - Miranda Lambert Mama's Broken Heart

    I LOVE the Presonus, quite honestly it has changed the sound of the band, how we "monitor" ourselves and makes the possibility of pro quality demos, recording live gigs and in house mixdowns direct to our website so easy, it's a total blast. It's fantastic for me because I can test and retest all of my guitar rigs at home (KPA direct, emulated out of my BlackStar direct, G3 direct) to make sure I'm getting great sounds and perfect levels.
    In most cases you want to pull the live stuff right off the preamps, meaning what I put to tape (ie. disk) is completely raw (no FAT channel processing meaning no compression, no gate, etc...).
    I use Capture version 2 (just came out) to track the entire performance and drop markers between songs.
    I then go back and touch up the markers and Capture has an option to EXPORT session (wav format) between markers. So I export each song, then import them into Reaper. At this point I have a Reaper project template setup with all my favorite compression, drum buss, vocal delays, etc... so I know I'm at least pretty close with EVERY song every time (at least from practice). Very fast, very fun and high quality sound.
    OF course the real beauty of the Presonus is creating and recalling scenes - if you play the same rooms often like we do you get a killer live mix and if your equipment doesn't change much and you know it well the next time you walk in and recall that particular scene = done!

  • Fender Champ 1967

    Quote from Kris

    Hello everyone!


    The effect used in the clip is actually found under the VST-plugin "ReaDelay (Cockos)". It's called "large room". Fool around with the "wet/dry" signal to find a setting you like. Personally I found a sweetspot with the dry turned down and the wet up slightly. Man, you should think this was a different kind of forum considering what I just wrote... ;)

    Reaper is amazing... my favorite DAW by far and it's almost free. I believe that "reverb" is actually a convolution reverb plug in so kind of like an IR for reverb if that makes sense? Same for their delay and some other plugs ins, they are really high quality and they sound fantastic. In fact I don't think I have installed any third party plugins since I switched to my MacBook. There are so many things built into Reaper I have not even scratched the surface.
    Cool profile BTW, is it on exchange?

  • Some "new country" - Miranda Lambert Mama's Broken Heart

    This is a rough mixdown from tracking during rehearsal. I'm panned to the left playing the KPA, the second guitarist is right playing an L6 head both direct. He did a really cool fast trem patch and I used my standard slower trem, touched the wah a couple of times and used the Certiatone Yeti for overdrive and the outro lead. Not nearly perfect, but loving pulling digital tracks direct off the board (Presonus) and being able to mixdown at home on the MacBook.... the KPA is amazing direct obviously!


    https://soundcloud.com/gasp100/mamas-broken-heart