Posts by Chris Duncan

  • Yamaha DBR15s for small rock gigs?

    Hey, guys.


    I'm playing in a three piece that may end up doing some weekend work next year. I sold all my PA speakers & power and just have a Yamaha TF-Rack, which for a band this small is an adequate mixer for mains & IEMs.


    This is a classic rock cover thing (think Bad Company, Black Crowes, etc.), so we're just going to be playing small to medium venues, I'd say from restaurants to modest rock bars. The band is a Kemper, a DI bass, a miked drum kit and two 58s for vocals, and IEMs for monitors.


    I haven't gigged in years and the new equipment these days is pretty good, so I'm wondering if small PA speakers like this are close enough for rock and roll or if I have to lug more speakers than that.


    For those of you who are working small / medium venues, do you think a pair of DBR15s or their Mackie Thumper equivalents would handle a three piece rock band?

  • Kemper: better with frfr or through power amp and speaker

    Quote from VAVL82

    Please share the brands you’ve chosen for FRFR, very keen to hear your feedback.


    Thanks in advance!

    I bought the Yamaha DXR10 based on recommendations here. It's not the cheapest solution. However, because I've been very happy with it, I haven't felt the need to explore any of the other options.


    Also worth noting that I bought it before Headrush became another viable FRFR solution, and well before Kemper started offering the Kabinets. I'm sure both of these sound good. Headrush is about getting an FRFR for a cheaper price. The Kabinet is about the amp in the room experience.


    My only other thought is that the DXR10 has a 10" speaker. I play classic rock and that's fine for me. For metal guys doing the lower tunings and heavier tones, it might also be worth comparing a 10" to a 12" inch to see if the latter gives you a better experience for heavy guitar riffs.

  • Ahhh What's that? A New Kemper Model? Profiler Player

    Wow. I leave you guys alone for five minutes and you're already on about something new...


    I currently have a powered toaster and remote which live in the studio. If I get back out gigging next year, I'll probably buy the Stage because I enjoy the performance mode / buttons and tuner on my remote. That's a larger footprint than the Player, but I don't use any other pedals. The Stage would still slim down my rig and also let my toaster stay nice and comfy in the studio. So, the Player isn't something I would need.


    That said, I think it's a brilliant addition. If I look at it as yet another amp sim pedal instead of expecting it to be a Stage or a Profiler, it's clearly going to be a huge success. It's all the tone quality you'd expect from a Kemper, and for guys who don't care about performance mode (which I'm sure is a very large percentage of users), it covers most of their needs and fits on a pedalboard.


    I also understand the intentional limitations. I wouldn't spend $1500 on a Stage if I could get the exact same thing for $700. If I want a Stage, I'm willing to pay for it. If I didn't need all that, I'd be happy with the Player's limitations and the money I saved.


    Adding paid upgrades to different levels of functionality makes sense. However, like others my first thought was, "Is this a sign of things to come, an end to all the free OS updates and a move to pay as you go?" I have the same trepidations when a software company offers a subscription model even though they promise to still offer perpetual licenses (which often quietly disappear a year later).


    If it was anyone other than Kemper this would be a serious concern, but these guys are the gold standard for product support. I can't imagine the company changing its DNA because of one product. They are who they are, so I expect ongoing support for all products to continue to be best in class.


    Well done, guys. Wishing you much success!

  • What's New?

    Quote from V8guitar

    Chris Duncan


    Can you take another break from your Kemper and then come back and ask what has changed....because it can't be co-incidence this time that we get a bumper load of improvements ;)


    You weren't working with Kemper during your sabbatical were you ? Ha!

    I'm not smart enough to work for these guys.


    This is just the way my little universe has always worked. It's been an interesting life thus far.

  • WTF is up with all the Software Errors?

    Quote from Ruefus

    Like the auto mechanic reading the notes:

    Customer states: There's a squeak when driving over a bumps.


    If you can't even positively identify the problem....what would you like the tech to do about it?

    My favorite story about this, which is allegedly a true story, was a guy who told his mechanic that if he went to the store to buy chocolate ice cream, when he went back to his car it wouldn't start. However, if he bought vanilla or strawberry, the car started just fine. Of course, they laughed him out of the shop.


    He wrote letters to GM and other such stuff but ultimately it came down to this. Because chocolate was the store's most popular flavor, they put it on display in the front of the store (it was a big store). Other flavors were at the back corner, about as far from the door as you can get. The car had a problem with "vapor lock," which will resolve itself after sitting for a while. The extra time it took to go to the back of the store allowed things to resolve, and his car started.


    So it turns out he wasn't crazy after all, but it's easy to understand the mechanics thinking otherwise.

  • WTF is up with all the Software Errors?

    Quote from alexburnsred

    I am doing it just like that and i can't select paste. sometimes it works, most of the times not. Using a Macbook Pro.


    As I said, visit the biggest Facebook Kemper groups. People there share my experiences. And most people try to avoid using the Rig Manager because it causes so many problems. I asked them to post their issues on here, but they don't want to, however.


    well, i just started my Profiler in Performance mode, loading a peformance I edited yesterday.
    surprise, surprise: Slot 3 is a totally different profile now, which I never selected or anything....

    Like a lot of other guys here I develop software for a living. The single most important thing in fixing a bug is "steps to reproduce," preferably from a clean point of entry when possible, e.g. 1. turn on the Kemper, 2. start RM, etc. so that you're working from a known and reproducible state.


    When someone tells me that xyz doesn't work but I don't have that specific level of detail, it's very difficult to solve the problem. If I can't reproduce the issue in my debugger, it's hard to know what part of the code the bug is in. And, importantly, without steps to reproduce, when I think I've fixed it I can't repeat those steps to confirm that the bug is really dead.


    I totally get being frustrated with stuff that isn't working (I have less patience than I should). That said, did you open a support ticket as Burkhard asked, and if so did you include specific steps to reproduce for your problems?


    These guys really do want to help us, and these are the tools that they need to do that.

  • WTF is up with all the Software Errors?

    Quote from BayouTexan

    I am having issues with RM 3.3.50 loading up. It seems to take a long time to connect to the Rig Exchange before starting the progress bar on the start screen. Then, when I minimize RM and maximize it, I get a pop-up screen that RM lost connection. This has been going on for at least a week or so.


    I'm using Windows 10 Pro, and I have 400mbps connection. I never had this particular problem before. I am assuming the Kemper servers are having issues.

    I know this is 101 stuff so I apologize in advance, but my biggest pet peeve with Windows 10 is the constant stream of updates whether you want them or not. The single most potentially destabilizing thing you can do to a computer is update the OS, and now that's happening on an almost daily basis.


    I have had more than a few audio problems where things were working fine, I go to bed, and the next day they're magically broken. In those cases rebooting the computer (hence the 101 apology) has cleared the problem.


    I know there are other pain points for RM, but on Windows 10 the very first culprit I always look for is an update, even when it seems unrelated to audio.

  • What's New?

    Updates big or small, I don't think I've ever bought gear that had this kind of continual enhancement. I've still just scratched the surface of all that I can get out of this thing. My main keyboard is a Kronos, and while it's a beast as is, Korg updates are nothing like Kemper. I like buying gear that I won't outgrow, and both qualify, but the Kemper just keeps getting better and better (unlike my playing).


    I have all the M Britt profiles, which really covers the kind of thing I do pretty comprehensively. However, given that the Legends packs are free and they also cover the classic rock genre, why not? And I was really impressed with the versatility of the Kemper Drive. I haven't been gigging (and it wouldn't fit in my car) so I haven't looked at the Kabinet, but I'll have to look at the fuzzy stuff as well.


    And good to be back. This is one of the few happy places on the Internet.

  • What's New?

    Too much fun! Just watched videos for all the Legends packs as well as the Kemper Drive. I knew these guys would keep putting out cool stuff, I just didn't know what it would be.


    See, now I want to play guitar again.

  • What's New?

    Hey, guys.


    I've been immersed in trying to get some keyboard chops the past year (although you wouldn't know it from my playing), and my guitars have been shamefully ignored more often than not. Not surprisingly, I haven't been around the forums in that time, either.


    I just scanned all the OS releases but couldn't really get a sense of whether or not there's been any major updates. The last update I did was the big reverb release and subsequent patches, and of course the rig manager editor release.


    I know there's been a steady stream of incremental tweaks, but have they done any other major releases like that? For the most part I tend to operate in "if it ain't broke..." mode when it comes to technology, but if there are new toys to play with that's obviously a whole other thing.

  • Tired of the constant updates

    Quote from G String

    Chris Duncan - in which way can an update be unexpected when you have to actively install it? Rig Manager offers you an update, and downloads it once you instruct the application to do so. Then, you get an offer to install it. To me, that's not something unexpected. Can you clarify what you mean?

    I thought that perhaps RM did automatic updates instead of what you just described. I always turn off the automatic update feature in apps so I don't have any experience with that aspect of RM. I do get frustrated with Windows automatic updates, so I thought there might be similarities.


    Mostly I was just trying to be polite. :)


    I'm a huge fan of the amount of updates you guys do for the Kemper, both OS and RM. Knowing that they're available when I see a new feature I want is a major value-add to a product I already think highly of.

  • Tired of the constant updates

    Like some of the others, I have automatic updates disabled and I only do updates when there are new features that I know I'd use. I think the last updates I did were the big reverb release and then some time later updating both so that I could get the new version of Rig Manager with the editor. Haven't updated since, and it's been a rock solid platform.


    If you didn't understand about the automatic updates setting and were getting unexpected and undesired updates, I can certainly relate to the frustration. I still wince every time Windows 10 forces an update on me, wondering if it's going to break anything. However, the Kemper guys do great work, and since it's all optional, once you get your system settled down and auto updates disabled you'll have a stable platform and can just enjoy playing guitar.


    As for the constant stream of updates, bug fixes and new features, I'm just astounded at the level of support I get for this thing. The fact that I don't update frequently doesn't alter the appreciation I have for what very few tech companies do, and Kemper does very well - take care of their customers.

  • Show your latest guitar

    Wow, that really takes me back. In the beginning I was an SG / humbucker guy for years before I went Strat. I had a variety of used ones around that era ($175 was a darned good price!), but none were that pretty. Most had stop tailpieces, all had adjustable saddles.


    The only one with a tremolo had a Bigsby, which I thought was the most horrible system on the planet as it would constantly go out of tune. In retrospect, those were the Van Halen days and that's just not what a Bigsby was designed for.


    In the early 80s when I was working in NY, one guitarist had a late 60s cherry finish that looked very much like your new one. It was absolutely mint, and whatever year it was it, it was the period where there was almost no heel joining the neck. It was my holy grail vintage SG that I would never be able to afford.


    Then after one gig during the winter he left it in has car overnight. The next morning he opened the case to discover that the finish had cracked in a checkerboard pattern, covering the entire body with small, centimeter sized squares. It was one of his go to guitars so he brought it to the next job anyway and told the story. I don't know who wanted to cry more, him or me.


    That new one of yours has got to be a joy to own.