Posts by nightstick

  • Loud Rig When Powering Up

    When powering on my Kemper Stage, a loud, high-gain rig is briefly loaded before switching to the most recently used setting. The screen does not show what rig this is as it happens. Here is a video demonstrating the issue. I'm holding my thumb on the cable to get it to hum since a hum is a more consistent tone than playing through it as this might be more helpful in demonstrating when it happens. With a guitar, it's much more jarring if I'm already strumming it or the engineer already has it live through the PA.


    Kemper start up
    www.youtube.com


    The latest updates are installed. This has been an issue for quite a while. Anyone else with this issue? Or ideas on how to fix it?

  • Kemper Stage - Gating/Distortion Issue

    I did, but it sounds like your issue may be a little different. The microphone system in my acoustic is giving off DC voltage and sending it into the Kemper - which it shouldn't be doing. So the mic system does need to be repaired or replaced. The Kemper just seems to be much more sensitive to that voltage than any other device since everything else I plug the guitar into functions just fine. Only the Kemper has issues. For now, I'm just running a separate tuner pedal between the guitar and Kemper as a workaround until I repair the mic system.

  • New Ibanez GSR200 Bass works with Helix but Not Kemper

    So it seems like as long as the voltage is below .20, it is sounding fine. Around .60 it will play, but gets distorted. Above 1.0 and the Kemper starts gating it.


    The odd part is that I have the guitar on a stand and I'm not touching it at all. All I'm doing is testing the voltage, plugging it into the Kemper, unplugging it, testing again, plugging it into something else, unplugging it, testing it, etc... The voltage seems to jump around after plugging it into devices. It doesn't seem to be a connection or loose wire because I'm not moving the guitar or unplugging the cable from the guitar. If I leave it unplugged and test the voltage every few minutes, it doesn't change at all. Plugging it in and out of devices seems to be what makes it jump around randomly.


    Anyway, I'll take that issue up with LR Baggs. Regarding the Kemper, I think it's safe to say that, unlike most devices, it will distort or refuse signals accompanied by voltages above .5 or so.

  • Kemper Stage - Gating/Distortion Issue

    Response from Kemper:


    Could be an impedance issue:

    Unfortunately, I do not know your guitar and the specs but I can provide you with the Profiler Input specs:


    Front INPUT: 1⁄4-inch TS unbalanced, dynamic range >108 dB, impedance 1 megohms

    ALTERNATIVE INPUT: 1⁄4-inch TRS balanced with ground lift, dynamic range =105 dB, impedance 825 kohms

    RETURN: XLR balanced, 1⁄4-inch TRS balanced with ground lift, dynamic range =105 dB, impedance 825 kohms

  • New Ibanez GSR200 Bass works with Helix but Not Kemper

    Response from Kemper:


    Could be an impedance issue:

    Unfortunately, I do not know your guitar and the specs but I can provide you with the Profiler Input specs:


    Front INPUT: 1⁄4-inch TS unbalanced, dynamic range >108 dB, impedance 1 megohms

    ALTERNATIVE INPUT: 1⁄4-inch TRS balanced with ground lift, dynamic range =105 dB, impedance 825 kohms

    RETURN: XLR balanced, 1⁄4-inch TRS balanced with ground lift, dynamic range =105 dB, impedance 825 kohms

  • New Ibanez GSR200 Bass works with Helix but Not Kemper

    Quote from Burkhard

    This thread is about a permanent issue of a particular bass model, which seems to deliver inappropriate high voltages by design. Loss of sound is like headaches - can have many different root causes. Or do you have reasons to believe, that the preamp of your acoustic guitar temporarily delivers high voltages as well? And why would that be intentional?

    I'm not sure what you're asking about whether it's intentional or not? Are you asking if my preamp is intentionally delivering too high of a voltage? I don't know? If it is, no other devices I plug it into seem to have a problem with it. Just the Kemper.


    The issues described in this thread are exactly what I'm seeing in my guitar. No signal to the Kemper when plugged directly into it. If I throw a Boss TU-3 pedal between them, it gets signal just fine. The guitar works perfectly fine in every other amp, processor, mixer, and interface I plug it into. So it's exactly the same problem. The only difference is that it only started occurring after 2 years with no issues. And mine is an LR Baggs Lyric acoustic pickup rather than an electric bass pickup. The Kemper doesn't like it unless there's a buffer between them. This time seems to be permanent as it's persisting after a few weeks now. I've tried several 9-volt batteries, all different brands.

  • Kemper Stage - Gating/Distortion Issue

    Quote from Wheresthedug

    think the main point about what Hubert is saying is that it may not be a design fault but rather an intermittent fault in the wiring of your particular instrument. It could be a dry solder joint or something else shorting a connection somewhere.

    Again, if this is the case, then how is it that it only happens when plugged into the Kemper and not when plugged into any other processor, amp, mixer, etc/? It's not intermittent. I'm sitting here going back and forth right now. Plugged into the amp, everything is great. Plugged into my computer interface, great. Back to the amp, great. Into the Kemper, gated and distorted (unless I turn the volume down). Back to the amp, great....

  • Kemper Stage - Gating/Distortion Issue

    Hubert,


    As I mentioned in my original post, I've changed the 9 volt several times and still have the issue. The contact also seems to be fine because the guitar works perfectly fine in every other amp, mixer, and audio interface I own, regardless of where the volume knob is on the pickup.


    Regarding the issue described in the thread I reference, I'm referring to the most recent posts where they point out that the Kemper seems to shut down the signal if the voltage is too high. I guess you could call that a design fault by Ibanez and also a design fault by LR Baggs in this case if it's the same issue (which it really sounds like it is)... But either way, the Kemper seems to be the only device I can find that has a compatability issue with the guitar.


    You mentioned testing it with a voltage meter again but I'll re-ask my question - If I pick up a voltage meter, what exactly should I be looking for to know that the 9v or pickup is causing the issue? And then how would I go about fixing it?


    Thanks again.

  • New Ibanez GSR200 Bass works with Helix but Not Kemper

    Quote from Burkhard

    Your description seems to contradict itself. Is the issue accidental or is it depending on the output volume of your acoustic guitar? If it'S accidental I see no relation to this Ibanez bass, which delivers 4.5 volt at its output. Sounds more like a cable or contact issue.

    I've used the same guitar with the Kemper Stage just about every weekend for 2 years with the volume at max on the pickup. The issue has only happened twice out of nowhere. The first time, it went away the next day and I couldn't get it to happen again. This second time, the issue persists but if I turn the volume down on the pickup, the signal from the Kemper is clean.


    It is not a cable or contact issue as the guitar sounds fine in every other amp, mixer, and audio interface I've tested it in this week (at all volume levels).

  • New Ibanez GSR200 Bass works with Helix but Not Kemper

    It sounds like I'm having this same issue with my acoustic. It doesn't happen all the time, however. In fact, I've been using my Kemper Stage for two years now and the issue has only happened twice. Both times in the middle of a show for no reason. Changing the 9v did not fix it. It magically fixed itself the next day the first time it happened. It happened again this past weekend and is still an issue today.


    I'm having the issue with a Bourgeois acoustic that has a LR Baggs Lyric pickup installed. It's a $4,000+ guitar and the pickup isn't exactly "cheap" so I'd have a hard time blaming the pickup... The only fix I've found so far is to keep the volume knob on the pickup down about halfway. Then I have level issues within the Kemper to deal with, but at least it "works".


    Any suggestions on how to work around this?

  • Kemper Stage - Gating/Distortion Issue

    Thanks Don and hubzim.


    I’m not sure how the issue would just happen out of nowhere after the battery has been in the guitar for months. And then continue after changing the battery. I’ve changed the battery twice in the past few days with no improvement.


    If I pick up a voltage meter, what exactly should I be looking for to know that the 9v or pickup is causing the issue? And then how would I go about fixing it?

  • Kemper Stage - Gating/Distortion Issue

    Acoustic guitar with LR Baggs Lyric pickup into Kemper Stage.


    About 9 months ago in the middle of a gig, the output became gated and distorted. It sounded like the 9 volt for my pickup was dying so we took a break and I dropped a new one in. It didn't fix the issue so I slapped a vocal mic in front of the guitar and continued on with the gig. The next morning I plugged everything in and it all sounded fine. I never figured it out and it never happened again until this past weekend. Except this time, the issue is still happening today so I've been troubleshooting...


    My pickup has a volume knob and no other controls. If the knob is all the way up (where I normally keep it) the signal into the Kemper is gated and distorted. I have to play hard for it to come through and when I do, it's distorted. If I turn the volume down on the guitar I eventually hit a sweet spot where everything sounds fine (except weaker than normal since the volume is lower). So it sounds like the Kemper is gating the signal - almost like an overload protection feature.


    The problem is that this never happened outside of these two instances and as I said, the first time it happened, it went away the next day without me changing anything. I've been using the same guitar (at full volume) and the Kemper Stage for several years almost every weekend.


    Additional information:

    • I've played with this setup having the pickup at full volume for years and it's sounded great, with no gating or distortion, until now.
    • I tested the guitar in other devices to rule out the issue being with the pickup rather than the Kemper. No issues in other amps/processors at full volume.
    • Noise Gate feature under the Input section is at 0.0 as are Clean and Distortion Sens.
    • This happens with any Rig loaded
    • This happens even with no stomp effects applied to the Rig
    • The master volume on the Kemper Stage has no effect on the issue
    • I've never had this issue with any other guitar (acoustic or electric)
    • I've compared the output signal level from my acoustic guitar with several of my electric guitars. The signal from the acoustic guitar is not any stronger than the signal from any of my other guitars.


    Thoughts?


    Thanks,

    Jon

  • Rig Manager V 3.x Beta Suggestions

    I'm sure the focus for now will be sorting out the beta bugs but I'll go ahead and chip in with a few suggestions for future releases.

    • Add Browser/Perform toggle
    • Add morph toggle
    • Show numeric values when adjusting morph parameters
    • Allow precise numeric values to be typed in
    • Assign Stage stomp buttons to effects from within editor