The only reason it historically goes there was to avoid raising the noise floor from previous effects.
Yes and no. There's a basic fundamental reason for wanted it first which has nothing to do with noise. I've read that at the bottom of one of the 10 commandment tablets it's inscribed: "Thou Shalt set up Guitar Chains: Dynamics > Gain > Modulation" 
Compressing the signal going into the stack can be very beneficial.
I'm old school. Compressor goes 2nd in the signal chain after the guitar. A tuner goes 1st.
Alan, here's my setup:
Guitar > KPA > A-Wah > B-Loop: Compressor, EQ/clean boost (the Empress has both), 4 different dirt pedals > C+D open > AMP > X-EQ > mod, dly, rev.
The EQ in the loop is used to help even out different guitars and then the Studio EQ in X is to cut off below ~80 and above ~4.5K. I still have the 2 bands of PEQ if needed for a particular rig. I wanted the comp before all gain and EQ but the dirt has to go post wah. Plus I like using a pure boost with clean amps instead a dirt pedal. Using the loop this way saves me 2 slots; I wanted to keep C+D open to be used for whatever I'm in the mood for.
And having the EGO's knobs is much faster than using the KPA for tweaks. Re: Amp comp. Having it on along with the EGO doesn't sound as good as off in all examples I've tried.
THANKS!!!
Are the bass, middle, and treble's flat F points global? If yes, does anyone know what the F's are and what Q is used? Thanks.
I was a hard line user of the amps compressor. Usually ended up somewhere between 1.0 and 2.0. But it's having a negative affect when stacked with the Wampler Ego in the loop. The KPA compressor is great! Was using it with clean rigs all the time but I wanted to free up a slot so I got a stomp. The really nice thing with the Ego is I have instant access to a blend knob which I can tweak on the fly as needed.
Do you guys still use Amp compression if you are also using compression in front of the stack?
Stumbled across something last night that I wanted to double check this morning with fresh ears and it's confirmed. Every single one of the 12 rigs I loaded the last couple of days sounds best with 0.00 compression in the amp stack. At first I thought it was just the cleaner amps but it's everything from crystal clean to smoking dirt. I do use a little compression (always on) to help smooth things outs right after the guitar so the stacking is the issue.
This is now on the checklist with every new rig.
Here's the plan and the first Dirty Dozen (forum's represented). Every single rig file I ever downloaded will be stored on my PC. Amps that I can easily hang with for an entire evening, and that are not closely redundant tone-wise, get to live in the unit. Silver medalists go in the LL.
Display MoreBoggy Soul - BOGNER DUENDE (my favorite rig)
Brit JTM45 - MARSHALL JTM45
CustOdian C+ - CAE 3+
Fried A Hole - FRIEDMAN BE100
Jack Lightning - BLADES FIREBOLT (smokin amp)
Mo Heavy - MOJAVE PEACEMAKER
Mule 4550 - BRAY 4550 (marshall plexi clone)
Sold A PRS - Paul Reed Smith modified SOLDANO (love this one)
Cheers!
Which one(s) are you not clear on?
Google "PDF Britt Profile Pack 3"
None of these rigs are currently in Rig Manager?
Only a minuscule % of them.
Terrible foresight on my part!
I'm starting from scratch with a new unit (that's empty) but have a library on my hard drive that's got well over 1,500 rig files that cover over a 100 different amps. Is there a way to somehow link my folders to RM so I don't have to re-create them all from scratch and then spend a day cutting and pasting all of the files?
Anyone have any ideas when the revised RM is coming out? I really don't want to spend a ton of time setting up the current one if things will be much easier from an organizational standpoint in the newer rev.
Thanks!
Congrats! MM and the Cutlass are absolutely upper class stuff. That guitar rivals any strat (or knockoff) I've ever tried.
Even two of the same model of guitar can sound different. One will be dead sounding, the other will be alive.
Dead and alive may be a bit extreme but you are 100% correct. And it's overwhelmingly because of the wood barring any obvious major defect with anything else. I don't even bother plugging in guitars when I'm shopping.
Every chunk of wood is different. Density level and resonance point being two biggies. First off the wood has to be allowed to dry naturally (or sped up via dryers). Once the body is ready you need to marry it with a neck that's going to work with it and not against it. This is done by the smaller guys via 'tap-toning'. With the big guys is usually just a happy accident. (best strat I ever owned many moons ago was a MIM one that only cost me a few hundred bucks. The hardware and pickups were on the lower end but the setup was sound and the thing was alive acoustically. Almost as loud as an acoustic! Strum an open E and the thing would ring forever)
Re: Drying - if you've ever played a Norlin era Les Paul you know what happens if the wood isn't allowed to dry - might as well strap a boat anchor over your shoulder. Super heavy and dead as a door nail. The age of the wood matters too because of the sap than runs through it. It can take decades after a board is cut before it's finally hardened and crystallyzed. The past 10 years the big deal in boutique guitars is re-claimed lumber. Boards that are cut from really old buildings or lumber that's been dredged from the bottom of rivers.
One example: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/…rs-find-resonance-detroit
On the flip side, grab the deadest cheap Les Paul you can find, plug it into a Marshall half stack with everything dimed, and you'll find glory!
Quick note for anyone that might not know. Brain May's legendary Red Special is made from wood cut from a centuries old fireplace mantel.
So I ordered a new head and it came in today. Also, shipped the defective one back to KP. I can definitively say defective now. The new one sounds glorious just sampling a bunch of the factory presets. I'm still voting for the input circuit. If it was the output then the MP3 I played through a loop should have also sounded weird.
THE GOOD: I'm in Kemper heaven.
THE BAD: I pretty much have to re-evaluate the few hundred profiles I downloaded. I'm not even going to bother loading my last backup of the other unit - better to start with a clean slate.
Pretty amazing though that even with an issue I was still able to coax a lot of killer stuff out of the first one. Kinda highlights how fundamentally solid the tones inside of these things are!
Go and play a George Harrison Rosewood telecaster alongside a standard maple and pine/alder/ash one. I'll wait right here. 
The sound of the string hitting the crown seems to be the tiniest bit louder to me when playing legato licks unplugged.
My approach is to have a really good example of an 808 (mine is a 15 year old AM silver mod TS9) and then compliment it with OD/Dirt pedals that have uniquely different tonal qualities. I'm using the TS9 along with a Prince of Tone, a KTR (Klon III), and an older Hermida Zendrive. These are all in a loop in slot B with a wah in slot A. I use the Kemper's clean boost in C and then leave D open in case I need it for something.
At the end of the day it's all just a bit more volume with some hair on it, but they all do have a unique tone to them. All great, but different enough to make for a nice variety of dirt. 
