Posts by Grooguit

Quote from Robrecht

On the other hand, the introduction of Liquid Profiling sounds like it could undermine one of the selling points for commercial profilers: that they typically provide a whole profile collection of every possible combination of EQ and gain settings for a specific amp, rather than the disparate one-offs found for free in the Rig Exchange. If Liquid Profiling works as described, as long as you know the knob settings of the original amp, one profile would be enough to cover every corner and every sweet spot. And that, in turn, could make those free one-off profiles much more valuable than they are now.

I thinks it's yes and no. I think one profile will now be more than a single snapshot, requiring a fewer number of profiles to represent it. But the usefulness of multiple profiles at different gain stages remains. By clicking on four or five profiles of an amp in a pack that have certain things constant, a bright switch on and a particular speaker cabinet for example, I can hear at least the profile maker's idealized sound at each of those gain stages without turning several knobs. Now it might be that once I find one profile that I want to work with, then other profiles in that pack prove superfluous after I make adjustments to the modeled tone stack, but the convenience before I get their remains. The reason to buy profile from pro's like TJ is they own tons of gear, mics, cabs, and have spent thousands of hours experimenting with mics and making profiles; any I make on the extremely limited number of amps I could get my hands on would be inferior.

Rather, I think a paradigm change in younger guitarists will render this new feature less helpful. Going back to square 1, the reason guitarist stuck with tube amps despite the convenience of digital is because until the KPA came out, digital always was somewhat harsh and 1 dimensional. We didn't stick with tube amps because their tone stacks were so amazing. Often, amps were one-trick ponies in which the tone stack only had a couple sweet spots. After playing kPA for a decade and not having owned a real amp for over five years now, I have developed a new technique for getting good tone: trying out many profile packs of many amps and finding amp types I like for specific guitars and styles, specific profile packs I like, and then specific profiles in those specific packs that do that thing best. From there, I use the powerful tweaks already available in the KPA to make them better. If I found myself wanting to make substantial changes to the EQ (using the current EQ options or the forthcoming liquids) I probably wouldn't have "liked" that amp or profile to begin with. And why should I, when I have 10,000+ commercial profiles?

Quote from BayouTexan

I hope Kemper posts a nice video on how to use these new features coming out. I would prefer to skip the manual this time and watch a play-by-play.

If they don't I'm sure someone, like ToneJunkie and many others will.

Quote from lbieber

This thread is making me laugh. I agree that Kemper has announced useful improvements that work on existing units. This is very good. But the level of optimism about something that none of us has yet experienced is somehow confusing. Can we hear and experience how the liquid profiling improves the sound before claiming it to be the next greatest thing? It is not yet clear, at least to me, that the tonestack will allow for a single profile of an amp. It is not clear that the sound will be noticeably better. Can we wait and see?

Welcome to the internet, where overreactions are what it's all about! I'm naming my next child Kemper profiling-amp! Two middle names, I don't care!

In all seriousness though, whatever flaws exist in KPA updates, they are left out features that I'd wish they'd offer. One thing that has never disappointed is the quality of what is released; so these updates seem pretty exciting. For me personally, liquid profiles will be interesting to experiment with, but my favorite profiles that I use all the time are of amps that I have never actually played, touched, or perhaps even been in the same room with. So whether original stacks are quite close to these models or not, I couldn't say, nor do I know if I will find tweaks of these models preferable to tweaking the the already available profile adjustments and tone controls.

Unbelievable! They've done it again! This will be really cool to mess with and the possibilities will be really cool. It will be neat to read the manual and how it all works together with all the current options to tweak the profile. The explanation sounds awesome though. I guess our suspicions that something significant was coming out soon were right, which explains the mystery beta update a month ago. I'm thrilled about the USB audio and frankly surprised; I had figured that this wasn't possible with the hardware. Hoping that with the integration of profiling into rig manager if they will add the ability to switch from performance to browse mode. Perhaps that is an option grayed out for head/rack owners with a chicken head knob, but would be super helpful for us guys that keep our stage on the floor!

Quote from unclemar

jus wanna spend some money on new gear,,, ,can always spend it elsewhere,so,, a little info, would be nice, for loyal 10 year plus, kemper users,,

jus sayin,,,

They've learned the hard way about making announcements of upcoming things before it's sorted out. 30 seconds after excitement comes "when will it be ready" "why won't they update us on how long" etc. If they're in beta testing with something and are having conversations about upcoming things, it's probably right around the corner. Then again maybe not. Their best course of action is to lay low and say nothing until they can deliver. Cause whether we are in the dark or in-the-know, we'l be waiting until a stable beta is ready anyway. My best guess is they will announce firmware update, not a new product as the timing of a new product announcement might have made sense at NAMM, then again what do I know? If something's not ready, it isn't ready and you hold off an announcement until you have your ducks in a row.

What's best to use depends on the skill of the sound man. If he has no experience he might just leave everything flat to where it would make sense to give him a more mix-friendly signal. If he has medium experience he might do certain things EQ wise by default without using his ears. If he has high skill he might like your tweaks and not double up on them because he IS using his ears. In all these situations, listen yourself as best you can to the house mix and communicate as much as possible.

Especially if the person is skilled, don't discount the effect of how your guitar sounds to you in your IEM's as that can affect how you play. Personally, my playing diminishes when I don't like my sound. In this case, I can count on the sound man to, say, use a HP filter and perhaps boost a certain frequency that helps it cut. But in my in-ears, I have myself loudest and those same tweaks make my guitar sound thin and shrill because they are purposefully on top of the mix.

Quote from Wheresthedug

My approach to levelling volumes between rigs would be to use the Kemper Crunch rig that is automatically loaded in slot 1 of each new performance as a baseline reference. I believe it was the first rig ever created by CK and is intended as a reference rig but I can’t remember where I got that from so so could be imagining it 🤣 Adjust other rigs up or down to balance well with the Crunch rig and you won’t go far wrong.

what he said. The advantage of adjusting rig volume is that it takes into account any EQ you use and resulting volume changes. That said EQs before the amp tend to push the amp harder and not affect volume (though they certainly can affect how they cut in a mix ) If I’m using an eq afterwards, it’s either to shape tone, in which case I normalize it with its volume control, unless I also want it to produce a small volume boost.

If there’s a amp and cab you use a lot in performance mode, but in different performances and with different combos of effects, not a bad idea to normalize its volume in the amp section like where’s the dug suggests, but the amp and cab save as presets. Then when you create a new performance you can drag those into a new performance and know they already are normalized

Quote from Kellerblues

They are on the exhibitor list...

I looked and couldn’t find them. Nothing came up on search

Quote from Ruefus

Sounds like a ferrite bead/core/choke. Sometimes they're molded in, others they can be removed.

It's a piece of ceramic (ferrite) surrounding the wire. No electronics and no risk if you use a cable without one. It's there to suppress high frequency electronic noise.

Good to know thanks! I think I'll place the simple cord without it under my desk and see how it goes, as I don't need a longer one there anyway.

I have the original power cord, I believer they're called IECs that came with myvStage. I have a number of basic IEC cords like around, that lots of devices use and I'm sure they would work.

However, the kemper one has a bulge near the top that perhaps covers some circuitry? Like some sort of protection or something? I kind of want leave one cord under my desk and keep one in my go-bag, but wanted to make sure there was no need to purchase a special cord. But, if there's some benefit or protection, I have no problem buying another.

I saw some threads about there being no need to buy a fancy cord to improve things, didn't see anything about whether it's advisable to use the one that came with the KPA.

Pair it with a nice strat with yellowing pick guard

My stage actually froze once today while using rig manager with this new beta. But it was when I tried to switch rigs with my mouse back and forth real quick a number of times in a row while I was trying to A/B compare a couple rigs. Restated just fine though. I had been playing it and around with rig manager for several hours.

Quote from lbieber

I've seen you mention this in other posts and have never understood it? It does not reflect my exprience. Changing rig gain does change volume in my experience. And my sound meter(C or A weighted) agrees with my ears. Perhaps your experience is different due to your comments regarding clean sense, which I admit I don't understand fully. I read many conflicting posts about what exactly clean sense and distortion sense do. I suppose I should go to the Kemper video about this and then work with the unit to finally figure it out.

go to a mid to high gain profile. Lower the amps gain to zero or anywhere in between. You have a cleaner version of the amp at basically the same volume, instead of having to noodle around with the volume to get it to match, then wondering if you got it right and having to go to another rig for comparison.

if your KpA isn’t functioning like this, go to the clean sens settings and adjust (higher power pickups needs negative settings, lower power like single coils need positive. The test that you got it right, lower or raising the amps gain doesn’t affect volume much.

Quote from Wheresthedug

This!!!

That’s why CK created the Crunch rig and it automatically loads in Slot 1. By matching volumes to that you will have a consistent baseline.

didn’t realize that. But that makes a ton of sense. I always figured that it was because they want something there by default vs a rig with the amp cab bypasses. So that’s another way to go about it. Set your clean sens correctly. Add rigs to a new performance, make sure their perceived volume matches crunch rig m. Then tweak them, copy and paste, and add effects to taste.
for my part I’ve been using TJ commercial profiles for the last few years almost exclusively and they all are relatively balanced volume wise. I often create performances that are based on a few profiles of the same amp from a set. I end up with a few copies of that performed with some variety of effects that I stick with for a while. Thus even if they weren’t balanced with other profiles, for live sake, they’re balanced with each other by default.

It actually seems like a pretty cool unit that some will appreciate. While it looks a lot like a Helix, it seems to take some inspiration from the kpa, beyond profiling that is. For one, they prioritized no audio gap and spillover of wet effects between presets, while giving you a respectable 14 effect blocks per preset. That's more like KPA with 5-Rig performances, than the QC or Helix with their mammoth presets and big audio gaps between. You can organize presets into "songs." It looks like you can also have individual effect presets, which is more like the KPA, as well as a looper that's always available vs. one you need to save DSP and manually add when you want to use it like QC and Helix. It expands this by having a practice tool and metronome.

The deal killer, like every all-in-one unit ever created except the KPA, is the need to manually adjust volume after adjusting gain on amps. I don't know why so few people seem to appreciate this, I feel like I'm the only person that ever mentions this. Forget touch screens and editors, there's nothing more time consuming in all-in-ones than having to manually adjust volume after making gain changes.

To be fair, having glanced through the manual, compared to all the other units, this is the most similar to kpa logic, in finding smart ways to do things that jive with the way my brain works. I'd prefer it to a QC or Helix. The price point is a major advantage as well. If I wanted an all-in-one other than the KPA (which is still king for a number of reasons) this would be what I would buy.

curios to others thoughts. At some point, Line 6 will have to get into the profiling/capturing world. When they do, do you think they'll role out a new flagship all-in-one, or will they integrate it as a feature upgrade in the Helix? I'm almost wondering if they'll do the later. If you like the way the Helix operates (personally there's things I love and hate about it) it's a great unit and aside from the lack of touch screen seems to go to to toe with the QC in terms of DSP, and would be an upgrade in many ways over the QC if it could only capture/profile amps. (Actually, I'd buy this generations's Helix LT with a Tonex in the loop over the QC.)

One issue that can come up is that if you going FOH with the KPA, they'll have to have a decent monitoring system for which you'll need 100% of you stage volume from. For the other bands, the guitarist is getting most of his needed stage volume from the cranked up amp behind him vs being 100% on being turned up in the wedge, in a mix that might be shared by the rest of the band.

As one that usually plays with IEMs and usually doesn't use any stage amp or personal or shared FRFR monitor, I've gotten use to the sound of playing through buds. A few summers back I played two sets a day for 8 days at a camp with the worst possible monitoring situation with the whole band sharing one mix. I could hardly hear myself. So (with help from a 15ft 1/8" stereo extension cable) I plugged my IEM's directly into my kemper Stage and gave myself the extra volume of my own instrument, while simultaneously lowering the volume of everything else as the buds blocked out some of the other stage volume. Couldn't be happier.

Quote from lbieber

I would also like the ability to search and replace profiles(amp and cab) in the the perfomance/slots. This would allow me to renormalize profiles and insert them back into the performances without having to do it manually on a one by one basis.

I believe you could save presets of amp and cab settings you like. Then when you're in performance mode, you can drag amp and cab presets into the amp and cab sections. You don't even need to leave performance mode for this. Say you're in performance mode and make some amp and cab tweaks. Make a preset of each. It will default to be named as the name of the rig and appear at the bottom of the effect preset's list.

Whatever you do, make sure you set the clean sens correctly before touching any volumes, be mindful that browse mode and performance mode may have different clean sens settings, the input section can be locked or left unlocked and therefore different per Rig. I'm a use-one-guitar a performance guy, so I keep the input section locked and set clean sens for the guitar I'm using that day. The clean sens is adjusted correctly when if you go to a gainier profile and reduce the gain and the volume stays consistent at all gain levels. (If the cleaner sounds too soft, up the clean sens, if it's louder, lower it, single coils need higher values) Figure out what the clean sens should be for any other guitars you play.

Only then worry about volumes between Rigs.

I would do any leveling in browse mode. I'd pick one Rig, perhaps your favorite, that you forever use as your volume reference, whether you continue to like and use it or not. (Might not be a bad idea to see if this reference Rig's volume is one that is typical of Rigs in general, don't pick an unusually loud or soft one) Whatever Rigs you plan on using in performance mode, edit in browse mode first. Even better, make a copy of that Rig first, perhaps give its name some sort of special character that distinguishes it from raw Rigs. Take that copied Rig in browse mode, (perhaps save it in a special folder for edited Rigs) and do any basic tonal adjustments, (gain, EQ, definition, clarity, Pure cabinet, etc,) and save it. Maybe add some go to effect presets you use in general when you don't need anything special and save that in those Rigs too; then you don't have to reinvent the wheel over and over in performance mode. Then when you create performances, bring in those edited Rigs into performance mode. All your Rigs across various performances should then match in volume. Then you can tweak just about any parameter add various effects to your heart's content and all the volume should match.

Keep in mind that the KPA is the absolute best in volume when compared to any other multi effects modeling/capturing unit out there. It is the ONLY unit that doesn't screw up the volume when you adjust the amps gain, but automatically compensates, as long as the clean sens is set correctly.

One caveat: perceived volume when playing in isolation is different than when played in a mix. You can adjust everything perfectly when playing solo and it matches, but tones that in particular don't have as much high mids will sound lower in volume in a mix. So it's not a bad idea to save the X slot for an equalizer. See if subtle adjustments there fixes any volume inconsistency in a mix. A great way to test that (again ideally working in browse mode and adjusting there) is to play along with a recording on your computer and see how it cuts comparatively to other Rigs. If you're using an audio interface and DAW it's easy. Otherwise, utilize the aux input on the kpa and hook up your phone or computer's headphone output and play along with a recording. Then you can switch Rigs and see if the new one cuts as good as others. And again, do this before using the Rig in performance road.

Another thing to try is to set the ducking parameter to 1.0 or so and just leave the delay on all the time. Then it stays out of the way while you’re doing rhythm stuff. Worth playing around when anyway. I never thought I’d like such an effect and now I’m hooked.

I set the amp compressor to about three. And that seems to make the rolling back your guitar’s volume so much more versatile because you don’t lose as much perceived loudness.
I often try to just switch to a cleaner version of the profile, by rolling the amp gain back some. But given that I’m also singing simultaneously in many instances, I always like being able to clean up with the my guitar’s volume knob, the amp block compressor helps. I use a treble bleed in my guitars, which also cuts down on the need for as much amp block comp