Posts by chu

I'd also suggest using the Monitor output EQ if everything always sounds a little flat. Maybe the cab is just a little dark and that EQ is there for that exact purpose.

Indeed, I could not agree more!

I'd spent a lot of time believing I knew exactly what I liked and was influenced a lot by bands I admired and reviews I read. But it turns out that my favourite clean tones aren't from Fender type amps at all and my ideal drive tones are far less modern than I thought! I'm not really that bothered if my Splawn crunch profile sounds exactly like the real deal, or if the Friedman BE100 clean profile is 100% authentic, I just know that they are perfect for me. I've never had a 'proper' amp where I could get my perfect clean channel and perfect lead channel before; I'd always have to make a compromise but now I don't. And I finally feel that if I was able to have a signature amp, I'd have a very good idea of what I'd want!

Just my opinion on the Mimiq; I bought one in January. At home, I run to both a mono FRFR from the monitor output and a pair of studio monitors at the same time. Not surprisingly it doesn't work in front of the Kemper well at all. If i used it in the stereo loop, it was effecting the monitors and the FRFR and it really sounded terrible when summed to mono through the FRFR. The only way i could use it was attached to the main output, so it only effected the stereo speakers and then it sounded great on some stuff. But it made solos sound distant and lack punch so I needed to be able to manually switch it on and off for different profiles which is tiresome and requires too many cable for my liking.

Besides, playing stereo works well if you're using a couple of stereo cabs on stage but if you're running direct to FOH, the speakers are often right by the walls and so most people will hear only one speaker, hence why usually they're run in mono. As mentioned, I did not like it summed to mono.

Not knocking the device, if it works for you then that's great but I disliked it greatly in practice and sold it shortly afterwards.

I wanted to be certain that the Kemper would fullfil all of my requirements before dropping a wad of money on it. Therefore I fully checked out the manual before buying it. I don't usually do so but the manual is so well written that I hit the ground running and have had barely any surprises.

It's really not that deep for a manual and I would urge everyone to read it at least once.

Based upon this bringing the Ditto Jam to my attention, I've just bought one! Arrived today and a test revealed that it sort of works. If I play at typical bedroom volumes it doesn't work very well and loses time constantly with the backing track. If I turn up the backing track AND put the little mic right by the speaker, it works really well.

None of this is a shock to me but if you're one of those guitarists that is often regarded as playing too loudly, you might struggle. One of my frequent complaints when playing with long term bedroom guitarists is that they are very reliant on being louder than everything else, likely learned by playing over commercial recordings.

Apologies if that comes across condescendingly, not my intention!

Quote from Charvelguy

Kemper has been running full page ads in most guitar magazines for many months now. Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, etc. I see it advertised far more than Fractal.

That's not what my post suggested. I didn't say it isn't advertised, just that the Fractal adverts have typically contained lists of endorsees and quotes from them.

I don't recognise this as the case. I have seen photos galore of professionals using Kempers, including the aforementioned Devin Townsend. On Faith No More's last album, the guitars were recorded completely through a Kemper. I do think that Fractal's endorsement program means that it's difficult to open guitar magazine and not see an advert full of artists claiming they use an AxeFx but even those cam be misleading if you look into how those artists use them.

Quote from nightlight

I think there's a bug with spdif reamp.

I was trying to reamp a track. Set my track output to spdif. Set Kemper input to Spdif preamp. But no sound.

I had an input plugged into the Kemper without a guitar. Touch the input, and the front input is still working!

Can anyone else confirm this?

Display More

Reamping fine via spdif for me. I'm a recent convert to spdif, I've always agreed with Monkey_man that I couldn't see a benefit to my needs until I changed everything round. Now I can leave my guitar cable connected and pedals in the loop but switch to reamping by a menu. No cable changes at all.

Each to their own. I'm not really listening to music that is generated by virtual instruments. They might go heavy on virtual effects but the real drums, bass, vocals and guitars are there in spades. If that was what I was listening to and thusly being influenced by or being paid to provide guitar to, then I'd likely consider his approach but it's not, so I won't.

Music has evolved but there have always been different methods, I prefer the sound of a real band, giving it some energy rather than sterile perfection. So for me, the Kemper straddles that role with digital ability perfectly.

I'm using a FAMC Liquid Foot+12+

It's an absolute beast and I'd not use anything else. The latest firmware has really got it right and I use it for several other items as well as the KPA. The remote cannot do what i do with my midi controller but it isn't super simple to set up. Once set though, it's immensely wonderful.

Can I ask why you use your KPR in this manner? I'm just intrigued as to the purpose as opposed to accuse you of doing it wrong!

Quote from brianiac5150

In the time I had mine, I had a screen-glitch at start-up, along with a frozen boot-up and it really got me questioning what does one do with such a device after having it for years and something goes ka-poof? My amps I take to a tech, even those which are decades old and they get fixed right up.

I see this type of comparison and will add my own thoughts.

There are plenty of valve amps out there that go wrong and get repaired. These faults are generally valve related.

There are plenty of valve amps out there that go wrong and are financially not worth being repaired. These faults are generally PCB related and cost loads to fix as you need to replace the whole board and might find that something else has also gone wrong.

So it's not true to say that modern valve amps are easy to repair; just the valve and directly related components are. But solid state amps have more consistent and reliable alternative components which don't need to be replaced routinely.

Handwired/point to point amps will likely live forever but at the lower price point there's so much PCB stuff inside that cannot be repaired. One of my favourite Marshalls amps is the all valve 6100 and that is plagued with irreparable PCB reliability issues. If it stops changing channels, it goes in the bin....

Quote from Wheresthedug

How do you define "best" ?

Better than the rest?

I owned a Morpheus Droptune pedal. It was ace at some stuff but it felt horrible on No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age. That was at gig volume, tuned four semitones down to C and has a really choppy, staccato riff. I just felt totally disconnected, it was off putting and didn't like it.

I then moved to a Line 6 Variax which felt exactly the same. Sure, it worked quite well for alternate tunings with different shifts for each string but down to C? Nope. Again, it depended what I was playing though.

I ended up with a guitar for that one song, nothing else got me close. I've since tried a Digitech Drop and went straight for that riff and it was just the same. The KPA feels no different to me, some stuff it works wonderfully others not.

I've been recording with a full band for a few weeks, reamping with a KPA. I used the same profiles i use live for the parts i recorded and frequently found that the gain was too low and delay mix too high.

Maybe it's that live I need clarity to avoid having to keep turning it up and also being loud makes it sustain better but it was very noticeable.

I'm not over thinking it, it needed more gain; I turned up the gain!

It's entirely down to how much you play out with it. When I gig, I put mine in a rack with my IEM stuff. It's a pain putting it in the rack case and wiring it up but I play once or twice a year live and don't use IEMs for normal band practice stuff. So I can't justify a second Kemper to use once or twice a year, but if gigged a lot more, then damn right I could.

Installed beta from Rig Manager. Display stayed on Tuner until I turned the chicken head knob.

Tried the new reverb, in various effects slots and fiddled with the settings. I conclude that the spring reverb is excellent across a great variety of settings. And all in the usual Kemper straight forward, logical manner.

Thank you to the team for such a generous, free gift!

I consider a FRFR type speaker a PA speaker and would only get one to play at volume ie to a crowd or with a drummer. At home, I use a small pair of active monitor speakers; they have multiple inputs so have the Kemper, USB interface and videos/songs blaring through them. They also have a headphone socket, so I can use them to sum the lot for late night sessions.

Pick your loudest profile, mine is a particular lead patch. Make sure there are no effects with volume boosts (a number of professional profiles come with EQ blocks set flat but with a few db of post amp block boost or in the cab block) and make sure the output light is peaking when you play. I set mine by having the volume in the amp block on zero and use the front panel volume knob.

Set every other profile the required amount down from this and you should have a good healthy volume at the output. The master then shouldn't need to go too high but the actual value isn't that relevant; if you crank it up full with max boost but use a quiet profile, you won't blow a speaker. A 60w speaker will always be at serious risk of harm but should give warning before giving up the ghost.

Quote from JSB

This video tipped me over to the Danelectro side:

External Content www.youtube.com

Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.

Display all external content

Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

Thanks for the reply Chu.

You might love it, I don't have big hands and in no way do I dislike the 27.7" length, it just changes how and what I play. It's not something that leapt out at me, just what I noticed after a while. But an instrument that pushes you to play in a different way can be a wonderful thing and get you right out of that rut!