Posts by V8guitar

    It can be sensitive but it should shut off pretty quick (0.5 second at the most, it feels like. Someone might be able to give the actual speed). If its not, its still detecting some movement. Put it this way, for me its no slower than rocking a crybaby forward to click it off.


    You can obviously switch wah on and off using one of the stomps but that is a bit of tap dancing.


    However, I always hated the crybaby switch anyway as often you don't successfully switch on or off, so either of these options hopefully should be as good or better.

    Many Kemper users will consider you insane for not going direct. (Myself excluded) I really want to make direct work for me and I'm sure I will. But I am so sadly old school that it just seems the easy & lazy way out to just throw a mic on it as it sounds great, done. But the advantages of going direct are so big that I must get there as many many artists have before me. It'll just take a little work like anything does. I have ran nice tube rigs and pretty good digital rigs and the best part about having an awesome digital rig (that sounds analog=Kemper) is that once you spend the time getting it set up the way you want (which can take a bit) you can waltz on stage without a worry in the world, flip a switch and have everything familiar. That makes for me having a good night and that's everything!

    Same could be had miking one but I like the idea of being able to turn up my cab and not red light the board which usually changes things you accomplished at sound check once the soundman backs off the gain and my front wedge goes with it.

    This was me in my 1st year of Kemper ownership - miking a 4 x 12. It works ok but man you do miss a big part of the benefit.


    I do get the hassle, especially when you have a sound you like because I can tell you - I had to effectively start again. I found the profiles I was using were actually not very good but masked by the 4 x12. I had to get an FRFR speaker ( because I had no access other than at gigs) to find the right profiles etc.


    You've nailed the advantages - my set up and line check is so simple and sound men love it. Literally mike lead into kemper, hit a chord, then solo volume and sound man happy. You stop worrying about mike placement ( I've had mikes fall over etc) or if the sound is coming through the PA OK.


    You are not insane but I found it worth the effort. The good news is, you don't have to delete anything and perhaps during lock down is the time to have a go. You need to be able to audition profiles at volume through an FRFR set up really but headphones are a great place to start.

    I assume you've checked the obvious input and output leads?


    Many times I've plugged them in the wrong way round...Otherwise sounds like a faulty Wah.


    I would encourage you to use the built in one to eliminate noise, batteries, click on and off etc...

    Couple of things from me:

    LED lights create a lot of electrical interference so defienatly check those.

    Not all power conditioners are equal and solve the problem, hence why finding the source would be better first

    As mentioned, you won't damage the amp, its the speakers you'll damage.


    That said, I think you will struggle to blow the 4 x 12 and no reason why you should vs any other amp - except that you have 600 watts on tap. In other words, whatever volume you ran at before you should be fine with some headroom.


    Sorry to be the "old man" here but playing at that volume can be counter productive. The KPA sounds great at low volume and obviously being digital doesn't need to be cranked ( although needs some volume to hear what it sounds like due to Fletcher blah blah).


    Its your drummer you need to keep up with ( as they are usually more difficult to control - no volume knob) but I would encourage you to rehearse as quietly possible to pick out issues. High volume can hide so much, which will show up through a PA at a gig. If something sounds good tempered down, it will sound amazing loud...conversely we have found things out at low volume which we missed. Vocals are typically difficult to hear at a loud rehearsal and many a time we've picked up issues with vocals as a result of dropping volume.


    Don't get into a volume war as some people then take it to a gig which becomes a nightmare.


    Few audiences like horrific volume and few sound men like high on stage volume and I think its one of the reasons sound men like the KPA as it gets it down at a relatively low volume.

    Both have a slightly different purpose. FRFR will be as accurate to FOH as you can get. Some people didn't like the FRFR experience this and wanted to capture the amp in the room sound, hence Kemper released the Kabinet. Both are for on stage monitoring and neither are designed to be miked up.


    My view is the FOH sound is the most important. I would suggest if you are happy with the CLR, stick with it. The Kabinet is very good, I've played mine live and really like it but unless you are missing something it will take you 1 step away from the FOH sound.

    Cheers dude!

    The drums are midi and programmed by myself. Tones come from the Getgood drums Invasion kit.


    The wah is an old dunlop crybaby I've had knocking around that I put in the effects loop of the kemper as I currently don't have a midi control pedal though I plan to get one in the future!

    FYI I converted my crybaby to an expression pedal and use the Kemper built in one. Works really well.

    Garrincha V8guitar Garrincha deadman42 - So all of you are telling that you can get the same tones as a Tone Bender mk I, II or III, smiley or any other number of unique fuzz sounds? None of you would put a Chase Bliss Automatone in front of your rig and use it as a overdrive or fuzz? I would love to know how to get all these sounds out of my Kemper. None of you would use a Klon, Timmy or Blues Breaker? All of you think the Kemper can do all this sufficiently enough?

    I can't talk about fuzz because I don't use it. True fuzz to me sounds like a cheap amp/pedal to me so not a sound I go for.


    With regards to your other points, I have never used external drive pedals. For me they are brought in to add something missing from a given amp...to drive a cleanish amp into overdrive. Id rather use an amp with overdrive. Its like don't buy a slow car and try to make it fast. Buy a fast car in the first place.


    I never got the point of having a beautiful valve amp sound with all its harmonic overtones.....what makes a valve amp special... to slap a transistor based pedal in front of it. So for me, I always tried to get the sounds I wanted out of the amp and guitar. The whole balancing the gain stages, noise/true bypass, faff....just unnecessary for me.


    I totally respect people who do this and of course there are many great guitarists that do this despite having unlimited options with amps e.g. SRV. But SRV's sound isn't amazing or mystical to me....its his playing that is!


    Would I use a Klon, Timmy or Bluesbreaker? Nope. Not in the valve world or digital world. This "special" interaction that many people talk about I've not experienced. To me they just push the gain and change the tone. I went through a pedal phase many years ago and had a bluesbreaker - didn't like it at all.


    Do these pedals add something the KPA can't do? Possibly, but I believe even if that is the case its so small that its as much psychological than real - BUT I'm not a sound engineer. I probably can't pick up these nuances like others.


    If you love your pedals, keep them. For me I don't need them.

    Love it! Nice one dude.


    How did you do the drums? I've been debating between my electronic kit ( which I can only play basics) and a drum machine.


    Is the wah the Kemper built in one?

    Im totally an amp gain person partially for this reason. I've never been able to balance the edge of break up sound with an OD pedal and get pleasing results with a valve amp.


    Ironically I've been getting more success with the KPA but not heard any weird issues. couple of things to check out:


    1) Try with different profiles ( Im sure you've done this)

    2) No strange noise gate interaction?

    3) you are using it in the "pre" section not post?

    4) You on the latest version - some changes were made around volume compensation. Probably not related but worth a check?


    Otherwise suggest you post some sound clips so others can try to understand if its "normal".

    Easy mistake to make, even for an experienced user.


    I keep finding things that I should know but I don;t :)


    Perhaps we should have a section for users with over 5 years experience called " Things I should know but am now too afraid to ask" :)


    To be fair to you, your avatar does say you are a "student" so.... :)

    V8 - Great perspective. I will absorb all of this before making my decision. I am gonna try to wait until March to make my final decision. (Work Bonus).

    Its nice to be excited by new gear so you must be chomping at the bit.


    Couple of other things I thought about ( as my mate is int he same position as you and thinking of getting one, hence I keep thinking about what you need to know)


    1) Your biggest issue is choice - eventually with profiles but initial with how you want to monitor (FRFR etc). for me that's another reason to go powered toaster or rack. I prefer rack because I think the toaster is better suited to studio as the rack is designed to be rack mounted.


    2) The Quad cortex - its not even released yet and its probably going to be a great unit but the Kemper is an established product, road tested etc. There is a lot to be said for that


    3) When you get it, think about what you need first - so many people set theirs up in different ways, some have 1 amp per song, I tend to use 1 performance ( same as a "bank" on an effects unit) per band. Once you how you wan it to work, setting up is relatively easy and intuitive.


    4) Strongest part of the Kemper is the amp sound and feel. Weakest part ( although improved greatly recently) is the computer interface. As I only use this for setting up ( for which it works very well) Its not a problem for me.


    5) If you go for the Rack or toaster, don't forget to budget for the remote. Its essential for live and whilst there are other options, for me, its the easiest and most effective solution ( its plug and play as well!).


    If for some bizarre reason you can't get on with the Kemper, the second hand market remains strong - as my mate is finding out when trying to buy one. So you risks are really low.


    Roll on March :)

    I hope this thing actually lives up to the hype ... My band does alot of casino gigs and they like quiet stages and plugging direct in .... I would love to just bring just a small pedal board with this on it to drag through the mile long walk , across the casino and hotel areas to make it to the event rooms . instead of tons of other gear amps and cabs etc.

    After covid is over if music ever returns i mean ...



    If only it sounds great direct and can capture like they claim....

    Although obviously the stage can do this :)

    Correct, I understand I can have a slot where delay is on or off but I can’t figure out a way, when I turn delay on to have it STAY on when I got to the next slot, without locking it. I have four of the slots with levels of drive- clean, drive, more drive and lead and a 5th with some special effect. Anyway, I don’t want the delay ON until I want it ON but when it is engaged, I’d like to step from clean to drive with delay still ON. I don’t want to turn it in ON when using the clean slot, then when I change to a drive slot have to turn it on again. The only way I know to accomplish this is with the lock feature on.

    Yep that's the only way because the effects are not separate but linked to the slot. In practice this is way better because of the options you can save but in exactly what you want to do you only have those 3 options

    1) Locked

    2) external effects

    3) dedicated slots for those song parts.

    I have come from a similar background and I play majority live with some very occasional home studio work.


    The difference between the units is:

    • The only advantage of the stage is form factor all have the same functionality. However the Rack and Toaster are way lighter and more convenient than a regular amp so you are winning already over a conventional set up.
    • The only advantage of a separate power amp is stereo.

    For me a powered rack and remote is perfect. I turn up to a gig, I have 3 leads...power, speaker cable and remote cable. No faff with power at the front of the stage because I don;t run outboard effects. I replaced my heavy ENGL head and massive pedal board with a rack with my wireless inside plus the remote and couple of expression pedals.


    Because its powered I can use the in house/festival 4x12 if needed or take my Kabinet/s. I like it at amp height as well for any last minutes changes.


    So with a powered rack I can run anything - powered monitors, unpowered, FRFR, guitar cabs, Kabinet all straight out of the box in one unit. Perfect!!!! Its just not as compact as the stage.


    However you can't go wrong....all of them can do the same thing its just what you personally prefer. As I like to have my cab behind me on stage, running xlr's from the stage back to an amp and cab seems odd to me BUT very doable.


    Couple of other comments:


    1) I don't tweak at gigs. No need, the sound is consistent ( no mike placement variation or valve inconsistencies - yes room variance but I let the sound engineer manage that). The only change I make is on stage volume at sound check then done. Also sound engineers will love you because the monitor sound is not linked to the FOH signal ( unless for some bizarre reason you want it to). So, plug mike lead into Kemper, hit a chord, sound engineers goes " yep got it" and done for level check. Easy!


    2) Does it sound any good? In my 30+ years of playing I have always been looking at the latest gear etc. I've had my Kemper 6 years and not looked at another amp since.


    3) It is massively flexible and programmable with so many 1 touch features e.g. turn volume pedal to zero and auto switches to a silent tuner. Wah can be set to touch sensitivity so no clicking on and off.... morph is an additional feature where you can set another set of values to switch between without a separate "patch" e.g. I use it to boost for riffs, whilst I have a totally different setting/patch for solo's...


    4) The workflow is closer to an amp than other platforms ( e.g. Helix and Ax) IMO. Its not a technically scary.


    5) need you live sound recorded in a studio? Plug an XLR in and boom...there is it!


    Hope that helps...


    BTW the Johnson Millenium JM150 Digital amplifier was cutting edge and sounded good! I remember wishing I could afford one when they came out.

    ...or alternatively rethink your workflow.


    Certain songs will require delay on and others with it off but want to put it on during the song. I can;t believe you have that many variations that mean you can have a slot dedicated to these options.


    Just to be clear, you can have a slot that comes on with delay on or off with your choice. I don;t use lock at all, its just one option here.


    To me either of these options are way easier than an external delay pedal that ( in most cases) will have 1 delay setting and tempo.