Posts by heldal

Quote from nico45

to MY EAR, the DSR is the winner.

...which is exactly the point of explaining an opinion. There are few absolutes in audio, and I completely agree that the DSR is excellent. In my opionion it is considerably better than the DXR, but it is also twice as expensive. The CLR is by all means excellent, but things are hardly ever as superior as the most extreme fanbois claim. I might choose the CLR for a dedicated monitor, but the DSR is a more versatile and powerful speaker. Pricewise they're about the same.

Availability and serviceability is much better for Yamaha than Atomic in all but possibly a handful of countries. Just the cost of shipping a unit to the UK or US for a repair is considerable, plus there's inconveniences with import/export documents etc. I've had experiences where papers have been messed up in shipping so that goods returned from warranty repair have counted as a fresh import, and I've had to pay 25% VAT for the second time on that equipment. This gets very expensive, and it is a lot simpler and cheaper to deal with local suppliers.

I've got my toaster and wireless-receiver in a small 6U rack so there's room in the back to mount the kit properly. I would have made the converter-box so that it would fit inside the back of the toaster, secured by the existing chassis screws. Ideally both power and MIDI should be pulled from within the KPA too so there's no loose cables and nothing sticking out from the back when you put the KPA in its bag or case.

The 7-pin cable is a standard cable that is no less stage-proof than any other midi cable.

Quote from Ingolf

Why? To my understanding there's a facility in the UK where European units can be serviced.

Good for the UK.
No so much for the rest of us compared to the big brands that have multiple service-points in many countries.

A keyboard amp is a much better companion for the KPA than any guitar amp/cab if you want to enjoy the simulated cabs of different makes. Most keyboard rigs use FRFR amp/speakers these days. Is that "piano amp" some other beast?

Make a backup before installing anything to be able to roll back. There have been problems in the past with betas that had to be retracted, but none that couldn't be recovered from with a downgrade. Also, serious problems that affect many users will be noticed and reported in the forums within a few hours. There has been few reports about problems with 2.6.0beta since its release so I wouldn't hesitate to install it at this point.

Quote from CountDissident

-Mesa Boogie 4x12 cab: MESA Engineering 4 x 12 Rectifier Standard Slant Guitar Cabinet

-Crown XLS202D power amp: Crown XLS-202D Power Amplifier 200W @ 8 Ohms | PSSL

Is this a compatible rig? If not, please elaborate.

Also, would a QSC HPR152i be a better fit? QSCHPR152I
Thanks!

Display More

The Crown/Mesa combination will work, but that cabinet will color all rigs. You loose the ability to sound exactly like the amps from other manufacturers. You will also struggle to achieve the similar sound on stage as through FOH unless you use a microphone in front of the mesa-cab to feed the FOH-system.

The QSC speaker is a more versatile option for the KPA, but I would recommend a 12" cabinet instead of 15" for a guitar-system.

Quote from theplayer

Does this mean I have to buy another cabinet? What is FRFR?

In a traditional setup every element in your signal-chain will colour your guitar sound:

Guitar -> Effects -> Preamp -> Effects(loop) -> Poweramp -> SpeakerCabinet -> Microphone -> recording/live mixer

The KPA in its default configuration simulates everything between the guitar and the recording/live mixer. If you connect that to a tradidional speaker-cabinet you add another "filter" to the effect of the cabinet that already is included in a virtual rig.

FRFR (Full Range Flat Response) is a term used for amplifiers and/or speakers that are designed to handle all audible frequencies equally well. A traditional guitar amp/cab is focusing on the frequencies a guitar produce, and is anything but flat-response. In fact it is the uneven amplification of different frequencies that give the amp/cab its unique characteristics.

To use the KPA with a traditional guitar cab without turning off the KPA's internal cab-simulation is like putting a microphone in front of a traditional amp and run the signal back into the power-section of a different amp. It may be an interesting experiment to for example put a microphone in front of a Bassman and run it into the effects-return of a Trirec and listen to the result through a Mesa cab, but I'm not so sure the result would be all that nice If you turn off cab-simulation and use a specific cabinet all then all virtual rigs will be colored by the characteristics of that cab. A Bender blackface profile is never going to sound authentic through a Mesa or Marshall cabinet. A cabinet from a traditional guitar-rig may sound ok for many profiles/rigs, but you will only be able to use the KPA to its full potential with FRFR amplification.

Quote from whippinpost91850

There's been some A-B testing with the DSR10 and the CLR

There is no 10" in Yamaha's DSR-range. You've probably tested the DXR10. If you compare the DXR12 to the DSR112 you'll find that the DSR is much more linear than the DXR and thus much closer to the Atomic CLR. The DSR is also much more expensive than the DXR, and it is heavier as the DSR is plywood compared to the rather flimsy plastic in the DXR. The price of a Yamaha DSR112 is close to that of the Atomic CLR so it isn't a unit you buy unless you want a better and more powerful all-round speaker or are concerned about the availability of spares. Getting spares and/or repairs for Atomic products is no walk in the park if you live outside USA.

I've tried both, but unfortunately haven't had the opportunity to A/B-test them. My opinion, although subjective, is that the DSR112 probably is closest to the CLR of any speaker I've tested. The CLR is possibly better at close range, while the DSR packs more of a punch in a big room or on a large stage. I recently bought a second-hand DSR PA-rig (DSR112+DSR118W) for smaller events and have since also used the 112s for my KPA. The DSR112 with its 1300W amplifier is overkill as a monitor in most situations, but it does sound really good. Even the loudest of drummers is no match for this speaker.

With a limited budget I'd look at Fenders MiM/Baja models and G&L ASAT Tribute series (Korean built). Tonal difference between all the models available is mostly in the pickups, and you have to try yourself to see how well different models fit your style. Lots of rock-players favour the bluesboy models that have a humbucker in the neck. Myself I would go for a G&L ASAT Classic S Alnico, but that's a more expensive US-built model. It has the tele-layout with a regular tele-like singe-coil bridge and lipstick neck pickup, but with a 5way switch and a center single-coil that adds the strat-type phase-shifted 2 and 4 positions.

Is there a list of reported bugs that have been fixed somewhere? To me that is just as important, if not more, than a list of new features and enhancements.

Quote from vmv

I was wondering if there are any updates to your
ticket you have with KPA regarding the problem we are having with 2-3
seconds of noise/crackling/poping/snapping/wavery tone when changing
tone banks.

I have not yet received any further information from Kemper support about this issue.

Quote from ckemper

You confirm exactly what we have observed. It happens with several guitars, while other guitars don't do it. We were able to retrieve the same noise with just using an audio interface, as mentioned.
You might agree, that if there was such a "impedance problem", it would not be specific for a fraction of rigs only, since any impedance issures play in the analog domain, while rigs exist in the digital domain, and do not communicate with the impedances.

I've tried this particular guitar with a couple more tube-amps, and there's no crackle. If I record it directly there's no crackle through the high-z inputs on either a Roland UA-25 EX, a RME Fireface UFX, or indeed through the mic-preamps on a Behringer X32 with a DI-box in front. Furthermore, there's no crackle if I re-amp any of these direct-recordings through the KPA either. Hence, I still believe that the source of the crackle is somewhere in the interaction between the KPA and this particular guitar when they are directly connected.

I've seen several variations around this crackling theme. Broken pickups, bad wiring, or external electromagnetic noise may be more prevalent with some guitars, but I don't believe that is the full explanation. I've got a Les Paul with burstbuckers (2+3) that produce crackle on quite a few clean profiles, but there's none of that audible crackle through an ordinary amplifies no matter how low or high I crank the amp. Pickups, wiring, jack and components in this guitar are all brand new and it has got the best possible EM-shielding. I've isolated the crackle from the KPA with a signal analyser and compared to the output from the guitar. The analyser doesn't see anything coming from the guitar that would be an obvious source for the noise. Other guitars produce no crackle on the KPA with the same rigs. I suspect this may have something to do with how the KPA's input handles the impedance "seen" from the guitar, and that some values may be problematic.

Recently there has also been quite loud crackling that appear for 3-5 seconds after switching to certain profiles. Then the KPA "settles down" and sounds just fine. For me it happens mostly with clean profiles, but others have reported problems with distorted rigs too. This problem has been verified by the support-team and registered as ticket #KA00084252.

The KPA's XLR output is rather hot so I suspect that the FOH-mixer is clipping the signal. In my own setup I lower the KPA output by 20dB in the output configuration and detach the mains from the master volume. That puts it within the range of levels engineers expect from DI-attached equipment. Detaching the mains from the master volume give the sound-engineers full control of the level through FOH regardless of how I set the volume for monitoring. The KPA sounds great in this setup regardless of whether I connect my own FRFR to the monitor output or use the house front monitors.

Some techs insist on using DI, so connecting the 1/4" outs via DI-boxes to the FOH-mixer is another option.

Your KPA must be broken if none of these alternatives work.

Why not make it just one 9m cable for bidirectional midi and power instead?

http://www.fcb1010.eu/

Now that we have a flag to indicate that a rig is intended for bass, it would be nice if the base-frequencies used in the algorithms to manipulate tone and presence would automatically be adjusted accordingly whenever a bass-rig is active.

Sounds a bit like a problem I reported recently. It affects only a few rigs, mostly clean, where there's a few seconds of crackle after switching rigs before it settles down. It doesn't matter which method is used to switch between rigs, or if there's a midi-controller attached or not. Kemper support acknowledged the problem (jul.30) and confirmed they were able to reproduce it with the sample rig I sent with the complaint. The issue is registered as ticket #KA00084252

Quote from Raoul23

Yeah I've seen one for sale on thomanns I think

http://www.thomann.de/de/thon_…_kemper_profiling_amp.htm

I find the LEDs on the toaster to be essential for on-the-fly tweaking on-stage. I tend to use the KPA very much like a real amp. I.e. just a handful of rigs with a lot of tweaks to gain/volume and tone along the way. I have also gone wireless, and find it convenient to have most of the rig pre-connected and ready to go. My solution is to mount the KPA toaster on a shelf in a shallow 6U rack with the receiver for the wireless in the 6th slot, and then put the little rack on an amp-stand on stage.

For this you want a very shallow rack. I've built my own from parts I had laying around, but would otherwise use one of those made for the new breed of digital stageboxes such as this
Most shelves for 19" units are considerably deeper than this type of racks so you'll need to cut off a bit so it won't stick out on the back.

Here's the rack sitting on a shelf at home:
[Blocked Image: http://img5.fotos-hochladen.ne…ads/kparackk67el2czq4.jpg]
The panels on either side of the profiler are cut from a sheet of aluminium and painted.

An amp-stand such as this works a treat if you don't have a backline stack to put the KPA on top of.

Quote from viabcroce

since the MIDI protocol management might not be the (only) bottleneck.

Is it a problem at all?

MIDI itself is no bottleneck for program-changes with other similar devices so I fail to see why it should be a problem here. The information exchanged for switching rigs is nothing compared to the exchange between midi-instruments being played, or the midi-information involved in the synchronisation of mixers, DAWs and control-surfaces.