Posts by Noisenet

  • Biggest Test Yet for my Profiler Sounds

    This past Saturday I was asked to do a one off fill in with a band who'd been a big Southeastern US regional act in the 80's. They do reunion gigs once in a while - just so happens this particular gig, their guitarist couldn't do it, so I was asked. The gig was in fairly large outdoor park opening for Styx. Giant national act sized stage, killer PA and lights, the whole schmeel.

    During soundcheck, while checking my guitar I pulled out my IEMs and nearly crapped my pants - it was the biggest guitar tone I'd ever heard - I couldn't believe it was mine!

    Unfortunately it was only a 45 minute set - I say unfortunately but truth is I forgot that I'm a 49 year old outta shape dude so I was carrying on like I did when I was 22 and touring the metal circuit LOL!!! Another 45 mins and I'd prolly be dead :-o


    Gotta lay off them burgers and beer LOL!!!!!!

    Anyhow, afterwards our soundman, with whom I've worked every gig for the last 5 1/2 years, told me that was easily the best and biggest my guitar had ever sounded. That includes nearly 4 years using Marshalls modified by Voodoo Amps with my custom modifications, which are some of Voodoo's more popular mods (I ran across one at Summer NAMM, of all places, a couple years ago).

    During the brief time I was hanging around out front I had several people stop me and comment on my guitar sound, some saying it blew away what they were hearing from Tommy Shaw's Bogner Shivas. In all fairness, those Bogners sound incredible but their soundman wasn't doing them any favors. Tommy does have 2 Kempers in his rack but they're currently being used for backup :-(>

    The next night was a private party gig in a beach bar not much bigger than a large living room LOL. It's a party we play every year and soundwise, it's a nightmare. All concrete and glass. This time, for me, was different because I'm running a KPA and IEMs, I heard EXACTLY the same tones both nights. As someone who's gigged for a living for roughly the last 30 years, that's truly a revelation for me!

  • Great switch for more remote control options

    I was looking for a good 2 button footswitch to add to the functionality of my KPA and Remote. I had been using a Marshall 2 button amp switch but the buttons are latching, kinda confusing trying to remember where in the '2-on then 2-off' cycle I was when in the heat of performance LOL!!!!

    I grabbed a Boss FS-6 without realizing that it requires a battery - not even an option for plugging into the power supply on my pedalboard (at least not without a kludgy workaround). Unfortunately it had already been velcroed to my board (though the non removable rubber backing on the bottom is resistant to adhesive - WTF Boss?) and used for a gig - just so happens the gig was at a tiny little bar right on the ocean so my few steps on the pedal were from sandy shoes, which caused tiny little scratches, pretty much negating my option to return it for a refund :-/

    So I was looking on Reverb for a two button option that doesn't require power and ran across this - it's a 4 button switch, the guy markets them precisely to Kemper users. 4 momentary switches, 2 trs jacks. $59. It appears the top buttons are mounted such that they're a little higher than the bottom row, lessening the chance of an errant tap on the bottom row when going for the top row.

    I ordered one, it got here today, works just as advertised. Great solution for adding more control buttons.

    https://reverb.com/item/167690…per-amp-and-other-effects

  • Vary Rotary Speaker speed with Foot Pedal or Controller?

    I went to check this out, there doesn't seem to be a difference in speed relative to tapping tempo.


    After doing this I switched to another setting via the Remote - lo and behold, the sound switched to the one I'd switched to, but the remote kinda shut down, and the display on the KPA didn't change. I hit a few buttons, nothing. The thing dun froze up on me. I switched it off, after a few seconds it just powered down, no shut down routine. I turned it back on, seems to have booted up fine.

    I guess all the tinkerin' and tweakin' I've been doing tonight got it kinda frazzled. This has happened before, hope it's not something that'll happen live.

  • So I'm into my 4th weekend gigging with my KPA...

    Quote from paults

    Another versatile use for Morph is adding Delay Mix and Feedback, and using tap tempo so the rig will work with multiple songs.

    I do that too LOL!!! In fact, I JUST set up a morph so that when I hit the button the delay morphs to something similar to EVHs SDE3000 setting. Sorta. A one off I have coming up has one song where there's some slow whammy bar bending and diving with heavy delay going on. I don't use a whammy but can fake it well enough with enough delay LOL!!!! I don't really wanna have to switch to another performance for that one thing (all 5 slots are full) so Morph to the rescue!

  • ​Addendum after a long day of profiling/tweaking:

    What I was getting with the really really saturated tones I was trying to profile was a situation where the mods were way off, leading it to almost sound as if there was a wah cocked somewhere in its position sweep (there wasn’t, of course). It only happened on sounds that used the JMP-1’S OD2 drive, and only when running through the cab with WHS Veteran 30s and HM75s. When I switched cabs it stopped happening...of course I also lowered the gain a little so I’m sure that had more to do with the result than the different speaker cab.

  • ​Addendum after a long day of profiling/tweaking:

    Quote from Ingolf

    Interesting.

    I can confirm that I also have experienced the phenomenon that refining fucked up an otherwise great profile.

    Of course there’s nothing wrong with an e906 (I'm using one myself), but why not have another go at it with your first mic combination and without refining?

    In most cases refining isn’t necessary anyway.

    Actually this time around I saved both refined and unrefined, so I could go back with fresh ears. At least for these sounds, refined won out each time. As for the ones where it just didn’t work, I’ve no real interest in those sounds through that speaker cab. The same sounds (with gain dialed back to a more sensible yet still shreddy friendly level) through the cab with the G12-65s is exactly what I’ve been looking for, so it’s a win!

  • So I'm into my 4th weekend gigging with my KPA...

    Quote from V8guitar

    Are you using Morph for boosts as well? Gives you 5 more sounds within a performance.


    I find this really useful on top of the main sounds for added umpf.


    All I do is add a bit more volume, gain and treble for a bit of cut and allocate it to my main rhythm slots, set to instant change....I can click in to get riffs to stand out a bit more ( I'm in a dual guitar band). On my solo slot I have morph to add more reverb and delay for the slower solo sections...

    I am using morphing fairly extensively. I use it on my clean channel to go between a smooth tone for more funky scratching type stuff and a brighter, more thin ‘Sweet home Alabama’ type thing. For my lead channel I use it to go from moderate drive for lower key lead stuff to more over the top drive for that type of thing. I use it on a couple other channels for various things as well... really a super useful feature!

  • ​Addendum after a long day of profiling/tweaking:

    So I woke up around 1PM today (got home near 5a.m. from a gig 5 hours away from home, us old farts need sleep LOL), a little later than I wanted, brewed some coffee and commenced to a day of profiling fun. Because of my setup here, profiling involves a good bit of 'pre' work. Both of my 4x12s reside in my bedroom, across the hall is our 'attic', which is really a 40'x20' room with 13.5" ceiling that's used largely for storage. The room is nearly completely full and it's unfinished, meaning the walls and ceiling are nothing but R-13 fiberglass insulation. Between that and being full of stuff, it's a super dead room. Perfect for slapping a mic or two on a 4x12 for some profiling goodness.


    I have two old Marshall 4x12 cabs - one is from 1979 and currently has WGS Veteran 30's and HM75's in an X pattern. I've used this cab extensively for recording and it sounds great for really heavy rock stuff. The other is from 1982 and has its original G12-65s in it. The 1979 also came with G12-65s - three are in a box, the 4th is in my Fender 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb and sounds like it was made to be there!


    So I lugged the 1979 into the attic first, ran the requisite cabling, re-routed the cabling from my JBL studio monitors from my Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt interface to run straight to my Kemper. I did this because I don't have any kind of line mixer and if I keep the speakers connected to the Apogee, also running an output to the KPA, I cannot listen to both the reference amp and the Kemper amp through the monitors because of a feedback loop. It's a pain in the butt, but I wanted to profile with both a Unidyne III SM57 and a U5 MD421, I don't have a line mixer of any type, so this is the only option.


    So after setting everything up I commenced to playing, adjusting mic positions, playing, adjusting.....etc. I was profiling my Voodoo Amps modified Marshall JMP-1 preamp, running into my Marshall 9200 power amp, with 5881s. I used to use this rig with my current band and still have the settings I used, as well as some I used on a recording project, of which I really dig the guitar tones I got.


    So I ran profiles of the rhythm guitar tones from both banks of settings. When I got to the lead tones, though, the KPA didn't like what I had in the JMP-1. They're really super high gain, I'd profile them, then during the refining stage, something happened and they just began to sound like total butt. Kinda like a wah cocked somewhere in the middle, although there was no wah in the chain. After a few attempts I gave up. I was really more interested in profiling this setup through the 4x12 with the G12-65s anyhow, so I moved on.


    Once getting everything set up with the second cab, and the mics best positioned, everything went smooth. I ended up backing off considerably on the gain for both the rhythm and lead tones, the Kemper grabbed everything really well!


    Once I finished a thought hit me - when using this rig live I always used a Sennheiser e906 mic, that signal chain is what I used for a long time and gave me the best overdrive tone I've had in the last several years. So I tossed my 906 on a stand, positioned it, checked it, repositioned it, and ran profiles of the same presets using the 906.


    After getting that all done, wrapping up all my cables, re-patching my monitors how they're supposed to be, etc, I took a little ear break, grabbed a bite, then came back.


    Lo and behold, the profiles I took with my 906 are the ones that are gonna stick, I think. The ones with the 57/421 combo sound killer but for the live sound I'm accustomed to, the 906 based profiles are just working better. I think these profiles have a more focused mid-push that I need, and have always had, for punching through the mix. The '57/421 combination sounds a bit more 'metal' than I need for this band. Don't get me wrong, I'm a rivethead at my core but I also know what I need in order to keep this paycheck flowing LMAO!!!!!


    Our soundguy is used to running my EQ flat, with just a tiny low end rolloff. He's had to work a bit to get my driven tones to have some balls these last few weeks, so he's been complaining LOL!!! See what happens when ya spoil a soundguy? LOL!!!!!!


    I'm doing a one-off with another band this coming weekend, opening for Styx in Charlotte, NC. Thusly I have had a bundle of their material to learn, so I went over it all (with the help of a few Bud Lights - don't hate, it's what I like LOL) using the new profiles. Immediately it's obvious to me how much better these tones cut through, how much more prominent the low mids are, like the tone I've had the last several years and am used to.


    So I think these might be the keepers....FINALLY!!!!! If I get to this weeks gigs and they're still lacking, I'll throw in the towel and look a bit deeper into some of the M Britt packs I've bought. BTW - I bought his JCM800 pack last week - one of the Silver Jubilee profiles from that pack is damn near dead on for a Slash type tone. We cover Sweet Child, so that works great for me.


    Also, Mr. Britt's '69 Plexi pack, taken from a '69 50 watt Plexi, has some really damn near dead on Scorpions toneage going on. Thinking of trying to talk the band boss into some Scorps so I can throw these tones out there LOL!!!!!!!!


    So I'm several weeks in and still loving my Kemper - a whole lot more than my neighbors are at this point LMAO!!!!!!!

  • So I'm into my 4th weekend gigging with my KPA...

    Here's an update on my experience with the KPA:


    First off, I use, basically 5 or 6 sounds. The majority of my gig is played between 4 settings - Clean, heavy crunch rhythm, heavy overdrive lead and slightly broken up, SRV-ish. Number five is fairly clean, good for chicken picking stuff for a couple country songs we play. Other than that, if we do Van Halen stuff I have Top Jimis profiles and I have a Slash sound I made from a Michael Britt profile from a Silver Jubilee earlier this week.


    Anyhow - the first couple weeks, the sound that was giving me the most trouble was my clean sound. After the first weekend (I don't recall what I used for sounds) I profiled my Fender 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb. I originally tried Michael Britt's Grab & Go pack, in which he has profiles of this exact amp, but I have my own particular settings, and I've swapped out the speaker in mine to a Celestion G12-65 from 1979, so that amp has its own sound.


    Anyhow, if you've read some of my other posts you'll remember I was having problems getting the onboard compressor stomp to give me what my MXR Dynacomp gives me when going into the Deluxe. A couple weeks ago I finally gave in and ordered a power supply for this pedalboard so I could have my comp and my wah, which I also couldn't get right using the Kemper's on board options. Ironically, while I was waiting on the power supply I got the Stack block comp sounding REALLY close to my MXR. Nonetheless, when the PS arrived I thre a Dynacomp out there.

    My clean sound now is damn near pristine - I'm getting a lot of comments on it, especially from my bandmates. So I'm thrilled with that.

    Now I'm having my biggest problems with my heavy rock crunch and lead sounds. Both are using a profile I made of my modified Marshall DSL100. My soundman has been telling me that he's missing the warmth and balls my tones have always had but all the gigs we've been doing we've been kind of rushed so I couldn't get out there and listen for myself. This evening I was finally able to do that and I can hear exactly what he's talking about. He's definitely not wrong. The problem, though, isn't with the Kemper, it's with my profile. It's definitely lacking down around 300-500hz. I could dial that in with the EQ but I don't have a slot open after the amp in the rhythm crunch sound so instead I'm going to re-profile that amp with a different speaker cab, as well as profile my Modded Marshall JMP-1/9200 rig. The tones I used to get out of that before switching to the Fender a few years ago were otherworldly - I've also recorded that rig a good bit, with the mic combination I'm going to use, and in those recordings, when mixed I didn't need to EQ the guitar at all, it just sat right there in the mix perfectly and sounded gargantuan - so I have no doubt I'm going to get killer results. I should have done that from the get go.

    My SRV-ish tone uses a profile I took of the Deluxe with a Lovepedal Super Six w/Stevie Mod in front - using a Sennheiser 906. It's a really great sounding profile. I think when I redo the Marshall stuff, I'm going to run thre 906, in addition to my 421 and Unidyne III Sm57, then either blend it in or profile that separately, for more options. Then if these turn out ok I'll also profile my '86 Laney AOR100, my '65 Fender Bassman and my $400 Bugera Plexi Clone (that sounds amazing). I have one day, Sunday, to do all this so hopefully I can get the right tones dialed in.

    So anyhow, that's where I'm at currently with my KPA. Since the vast majority of the stuff we play uses clean and only slightly overdriven tones, I'm really happy with the sound so far. Once I get these other profiles done (which I now know exactly what I need) I'll be that much happier.

    Wednesday night a friend of mine, a fellow guitarist on this circuit, dropped in and caught the last song of the set - Turn Up The Radio from Autograph, which is a pretty rockin guitar sound and solo. After the song we were done. He came up & said, simply, 'That's it - Monday I'm buying one'...meaning the Kemper. And that was with the flawed sound. Can't imagine how he'd respond if I had the tone I'm going to have after I reprofile....

  • Question regarding the use of IEMs with the KPA

    Quote from jpoelmans

    Well, if you have a proper (digital) desk with stereo aux busses (like even the Behringer x32) you will have stereo guitar into your in-ears, even when your in-ears are coming straight from the desk.


    Our 5 piece band has it's in-ear transmitters in the x32's rack, that's 10 cables less. And, should anyone want to thinker with the monitor mix (which isn't really necessary once soundchecked properly), they can always use their iPhone app...

    We use an M32 for FOH and a separate M32 for monitors so the capability is definitely there. Not sure, then, why I dhaven’t don’t do it that way. At this point it’s no issue though, I run a sub snake for my and the KB players mic lines, run a cable to one of the returns for my mix and I’m done. I’m about to head to a gig, I’ll take a look and see why I didn’t do it the other way...

  • So I've had this Kemper thing for 2 weeks now....

    Quote from Finally

    I agree about the compressor. The built in one gives a lot away compared to a Bogner Lyndhurst (for example). That and the distortion stomps are not at the level of the pedals they emulate, but they're close.


    I just run a tiny pedalboard. I also use Buzz Feiten tuning, so I need a separate tuner as well anyway.

    I have my remote mounted to a Pedaltrain board so it can be in a road case as our gear tends to spend a lot of time in a big bumpy equipment truck. It was nothing to just slap on the wah and Dynacomp. Amazing how a little $79 pedal can be such an integral part of a rig LOL.

  • So I've had this Kemper thing for 2 weeks now....

    Actually I did try those settings, downloaded the zip file. I tried each of them, with my wah running in line so I could easily A-B them. None of the settings gave me quite the sound of the Crybaby Classic I've become accustomed to, so in the end I gave in and put one of those on the board with the Remote. Since I'd also been missing my Dynacomp (which I did finally get the Stack compressor about 98% of the way to) I also popped that on there as well. It's not too combersome having those couple pedals out on the board, and doing so it makes sense to also have my wireless receiver (old X2 Digital wireless stompbox type - the company eventually acquired by Line 6 and became the basis for their wireless stuff) on the board - prior to that I affixed it to the side of the rack containing the KPA. Works well.

  • Question regarding the use of IEMs with the KPA

    I do it this way because otherwise I wouldn't have the option of hearing my guitar in stereo. It's something I've wanted for a long time & now that I've finally got it, I love it. We use the same monitor console on every gig we play so the monitor mix is basically set it and forget it. I have a sub snake (with 4 returns) on my side of the stage for both me and the keyboard player so it's no problem to run my stereo lines, monitor return and vocal mic to that. Got it all dialed in last night at the gig, sounded really great!

  • Question regarding the use of IEMs with the KPA

    'K, so I pulled my IEMs out of the rack and brought it upstairs where my KPA is (that rack when full is freaking heavy LOL, don't care to lug it up here) to test the difference.

    Wow, what a difference! First, I didn't realize it but Space wasn't being added to the monitor (and direct) outs I had running to my IEMs - so I assumed I was hearing it but that it didn't amount to much.

    Duh.

    So that was one difference. Also, just the overall tone of the thing sounds better coming out of the Headphone out, then going into my IEMs. I'm thankful that I had a TRS --> 2x1/4" cable laying around because I doubt I would have purchased one to test this - I would have really missed out. I don't know why but imaging sounds cleaner, effects sound more rubust, the amps sound like amps (like they do through my studio monitors) whereas before, through the IEMs, clean and semi cleans sounded good but dirty sounds were pretty bad.

    I've yet to test this with the full monitor mix but I'm gigging tomorrow night so I'll know soon enough.

    Now that I've done this I don't wanna go back to the old way, so I gotta go see if I can find another one of these cables to I can carry a spare LOL!!

  • Question regarding the use of IEMs with the KPA

    Hi All,

    I currently run a line from the monitor console (with no guitar) into my KPA, mix that level with my guitar using the Aux In Level control, then send the output in stereo to my in ear transmitter via the Monitor and Line outs on the rear of my Kemper Power Rack.

    I sometimes see others discussing running the output, instead, from the headphone out on the front of the unit, into the IEM transmitter.

    Is one better than the other or are they the same? My KPOA is mounted in an 8-space shock mount rack with no empty slots (KPA, Furman power unit, IEM and a 3 space rack drawer) so a permanent connection to the headphone out would be kinda tough to pull off.

    Any advice?