Posts by creative360

Quote from yeky83

Landau and Landreth both use always-on pedals most of the time, and Ford's used a pedal for his overdrive tone since the 2000's... if you're going to dis people at least get it right.

I have it right. I’ve sat next to the stage for all of those guys. Landreth certainly uses a ton of Zen, but sounded best with less hair and Landau sounded best clean as well, and that’s what his tone was for 90% of the night, both in LA and more recently with Gadd in New York. I’m not claiming it’s exactly the same as the boost he uses, but he could easily get his sound with what’s inside the green toaster. The only time I saw Ford live was during his brief duo tour with Scofield. Ford’s Dumble was too loud for the small venue, and he was not using the Zen or the Dumkudo even though both were there. Scofield, on a strat copy through a Two Rock was amazing, even though it wasn’t the tone we all know and love.

It would be nice if the preset name (factory and/or user preset) appeared on the lcd and in rig manager when it was loaded.

Analog stomps have been mythologized way beyond their actual necessity in the musical voices of most of the iconic instrumentalists who inspire me. And you'll notice, with the internet icons whose records don't really matter so much, like Carlton, Ford, Landau, Landreth, etc, for most of their greatest tones, and yes I dis but I also love their playing, those pedals aren't even engaged.

Pedals—lining them up, bragging about them, thinking that they matter so much—it's a silly fetish. There are plenty of musical compressors. There are plenty of musical od's. I've always stuck close to the fairy-dust overdrives, but only because I've used them since before they were polemic devices at the center of endless internet debates. Just like I've used Valco amp circuits, silver 70's Fenders (vintage I could afford at the time) and later clones of Dumbles. Most great amps need little or nothing more than a nudge.

The KD does that. Versatility starts and ends in the hands of the guitarist, at least from my perspective. And from what I see among Kemper guitarists, most find their sound and aren't endlessly surfing profiles. Sometimes a new pedal is inspiring, but more often than not, when I return to analog, pulling something out of the drawer because I'm remembering how great it is, its greatness underwhelms, and the hassle of the cabling, the scratchy pots, etc .. well I don't need it. I'm just looking for my tone.

ymmv

Yeah the universe of vintage fuzz through the CK lens—In particular bias parameters—would be amazing. And the “chirpy” “blossom” of Zen/SOV/Ethos etc Dumble pedals .. a take on that would be cool. But for now, CK & Co have definitely hit the marks that are most important to me on a regular use basis. I haven’t experimented enough yet, but I think some of the extended parameters of the KD will enable me to forgo at least some of the pre- and post-stack equalizers that I’ve been using. It will be nice to free-up some of those slots.

I've been lobbying around here for a "Kemper Drive"—a master engine that covers key push needs—for years already. Yay, this one delivers. I'm very happy. If at all possible, sure a few more db's of output on tap for some of the cleaner kinds of usages would be appreciated. But honestly, in real-world, historical applications .. especially in a recording context.. those tones don't require the same kind of juice that many folks feel they're after when playing in a room alone. The Kemper and OC drives are already getting at the vintage tones. And if we're honest, while yes this is really cool, the Kemper with a bit of creative tweaking, Soft Shaper, EQ etc, was already getting the tones. And if we're really, really honest—and if I was CK & Co this is what would've annoyed or at least amused me about guitarists from day one—all the iconic, best drives—and I own or have owned them all—have always been way more alike than they are different from one another. But you know, we like what we like. So thanks for understanding.

The coolest of nerds. Since day one, the Kemper philosophy seems to be built on a combination of sincere reverence for the history of beloved tones—it’s the ultimate living, open-source working musician’s sound archive—and in equal measure a dismissive waving-away of historic misconceptions and myths about what makes analogue legacy tones so special. Add to that a dash of novel even felicitous parameters so that guitarists aren’t strap-locked to the past. ckemper is still the best. ymmv

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Drives need (and are supposedly getting) work. Comp is okay but lacks character(s). Everything else is fine-to-great, but it’s a computer so things like rhythmic filter effects (Midi Murf, Robotalk) would be cool. Like their new acoustic and volume sim—nice—but times ten.

I’ve been evangelizing about CK & Co creating a one-slot master Boost-Drive-Comp-Fuzz for years. No cutesy names that echo the icons, but the capability to get in to all of those territories, that we associate with Klon and the other boosts, TS Zen Jan Ray, KOT, etc etc., FF Muff (bias controls for fuzz). And beyond.

I still own drawers of special analog pedals so I know what it is, but I think that with certain workarounds (like soft shaper, pure boost and profiles with baked-in pedals) the Kemper has pretty much always been able to get it done inside the box. Could it be better and easier yes. Do guitarists who remain faithful to their analog boards sound better? That’s not nearly as automatic a yes as a lot of people would like to think.

ymmv

As a veteran of dozens of shows with the CLR and DXR10, who then pretty much abandoned frfr in favor of guitar cabs, I'm looking forward to experience firsthand if the Kone actually locates that almost mythical sweet spot in conjunction with a powered Kemper. I want to believe.

The lure of frfr, the way it purports to address so many challenges on paper, can be hard to resist. Sure, yes, an frfr speaker is what it is and kind of does what it claims to do, but something is still missing. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I'll wing-it and carry zero monitor and rely solely on available PA gear. But even that feels less like giving-in to the frfr compromise mindset.

To my ear and to my gut, frfr has never translated the visceral, amp-like Kemper recording studio experience to a live setting. However primitive, or maybe because there’s something tangible and decisive about them, real cabs do.

It’ll be so great if the chameleon Kone delivers on its promise.

**Has anyone else wondered if there would be any benefit to setting the new Kone firmware to “EVM12L” while playing through an actual EVM12L?

Great profiles don’t require much of anything special beyond ears. It would be so refreshing if Pat and Doug released a pack of profiles created using the same easy approach as the ones in their video. And no more than two or three profiles per amp, at settings that please no one but themselves. As I noted over at TGP any one of those profiles in the video could carry many a guitarist through an entire show. It’s a reminder of how, with so many pedals and effects available inside of the box, just how rare pared-down, vintage tones seem to be in the digital web universe. ymmv

Sure would be nice to have an official editor already. I hope that it encompasses (and expands) the functionality of Rig Manager. I like the physical device the way it is (powered toaster). But I have so many use cases where editor accessibility would dramatically change the work flow for the better, and in creative ways. It's not just about housekeeping. And I'm still hoping there's a "master drive" in the works (incorporating boost and sophisticated compression, eq and fuzz)—in one stomp. I don't care if it eats-up other resources. I just want to be able to fine tune all those parameters that impact that aspect of a rig in one place. In a way, people make too big a deal about the differences between analog drives. Those differences are pretty subtle. CK & co should be able to create something in the digital realm that gets us in to all the iconic zones and beyond. Every couple months or so I reintroduce analog drives—TS, D-Style, Klones etc—and each time I realize that I really don't want to go back there. Having a deep, easy way to scratch that itch but within the device would put all that to rest, for the most part. Ugh, many of us have been very patient (since really, the KPA gets us to most of these tone spots since day one). Still, it's time.

The Origin Effects pedals are great. I owned the first Cali 76 with the upgraded internals for about a year. It was just too big for the board and then I went no board. Great to see they combined it with the Sliderig in a small enclosure.

But the truth is, there are several great compressors even some of the famous cheap guitar pedals that have major character, that aren’t transparent at all. All the old stuff like Dyna Comp and Dan Armstrong and Boss, up through all their descendants, all the boutique era stuff, Analogman etc. Even the $25 Joyo clone has an amazing, particular thing. It’s like a Dan Armstrong, but more hifi.

The point is that pedal compressors can add so much musicality and zing and they’re not all the same. There must be parameters that could address these qualities. Kemper could easily (maybe not easily but confidently and successfully) design something that provides a way to get at inspiring compression applications, versus purely utilitarian.

Congratulations to every guitarist who has been waiting, hoping and rationalizing about how for his workflow a self-contained floor unit is the best solution. I hope this unit meets your expectations, and more! And congrats to Kemper too. I doubt this thing will be cheap. I'm pretty certain it will be wildly popular.

And now I'm hoping that, Kabinet/Kone notwithstanding, this may free-up the Kemper team to further explore new sonic initiatives, versus hardware development. I'm also hoping that my good old powered KPA is still a viable vessel for whatever is coming down the road for the foreseeable future.

Ingolf ... We know that you know that we know that you know ...