considering a kemper - live rig questions

    Hi all - brand new to this board. I play around 80 shows a year in a cover band - and am considering the kemper to simplify my rig, but give me much more flexibility to cover all of the various tunes we do - old and new country, classic rock, hair band, R&B, alternative, oldies. Right now, I play through a 3rd power amp clean and run a bunch of pedals to try and get a decent sound. It works ok, but stage volume has always been a problem. I figured that a kemper could solve my stage volume issues and also get me where I want to go with specific tones for specific tunes.



    so here are my questions that I can't find a clear answer to on these boards after an hour or so of looking around (also note that I am a complete newbie to midi):


    1) If I get the uno4kemper midi setup, is there a noticeable lag time between switching rigs? I figure I'd be using about 20 foot midi cables if that matters.


    2) I also want to have various clean and dirty rhythm and lead tones and have the ability to switch on various effects with each (mainly different delays, wah, overdrives, comp) -- is it possible to use one row of the midi for different rigs and then the other row to switch on and off various effects. Also, if I switch a rig can I also switch the effects for that rig - i.e. certain effects for certain rigs that I can switch on and off.


    3) our sets change often, so I'm wondering how much time it takes to program the footcontroller so that I can change which rig set up is in #1, #2, #3, etc... (and bank #1, #2, #3, etc.)... depending on the various set lists we have.


    4) does the wah effect take up one of the foot switches on the foot controller (and also in one of the available effects banks on the kemper) or can it be placed only on one of the foot pedals of the foot controller?


    Thanks for any input.

    Welcome!
    1.) the switching lag time is very short and absolutely acceptable.
    2.) yes you can.
    3.) when you use performance mode you can program one performance per song. Arranging the performances according to the set list is very easy and fast.
    4. the wah takes up a slot in the Kemper but not in the FCB. It can be assigned to a pedal and start stop when moving the pedal.

    Thanks for the quick reply! Just a quick follow up to make sure I undertand. If I'm in performance mode, can I still switch effects on and off? If I'm in browser mode, is it still easy to reassign rigs depending on a particular set list? Also, is this something that can be done drag and drop through the rig manage software, or will I have to learn at least the basic of how midi works to get going?



    Thanks again for the quick reply!

    In PM you can of course switch FX.
    In browser mode you can assign any midi #PC to any rig.
    So if you wish to switch rigs instantly in browser mode you are free to select 128 (PC assigned) rigs directly.
    Personally I prefer to work in performance mode for gigs by far.

    While i respect Ingolf's opinion (and Raoul's), you should check the switching latency before you buy.
    It is acceptable, but i've heard many complaints about it and you should try for yourself.
    You *will* need to learn to press the button "prematurely" for it to switch on beat.

    "But dignity is difficult to maintain
    stamina requires constant upkeep
    repetition is boring
    and you pay for grace."

    My buddies been gigging tube amps and pedalboards for 25 years...he swore he would NEVER use a digital solution.


    Well, now he says he'll never gig a tube amp and pedalboard again, he's completely blown away by the Kemper and FCB1010.
    Not only does he think it's as good a sounding rig as his tube amp rigs, he actually thinks it sounds better, he's a huge fan of the Kemper Compressor Stomp for live playing.


    Check the photos, he's at least 20 feet away from his Kemper, the midi cables run along the edge of the stage round the back...switching with the FCB is instantaneous.
    He's using a Kemper Power Head into a Marshall 2x12 JVM cab with AC30 clean and Top Boost Profiles.



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    The length of the MIDI cable will not be the problem. The problem, at this point, is the speed at which the profiler interprets MIDI commands and switches patches.
    It's about a third of a second, which can be very noticeable if you switch between two distinct sounds.

    "But dignity is difficult to maintain
    stamina requires constant upkeep
    repetition is boring
    and you pay for grace."

    Hi,


    i am also new to the KPA... and thinking about getting one :)


    to Question Nr. 2:
    Can you really switch to a different delay-setting without changing the rest of the rig? and on the other side: can you switch to a different amp-Type without changing the delay-setting?


    For example:
    You play in a Rig with an AC30 profile and a Delay which has 4/16 delay-time (for tap-tempo).
    Can you then switch to a Delay which has 3/16 delay-time WITHOUT changing the AC30-Profile?


    I need 4 basic sounds (amps) ... and i´m using about 4 different delay types (the only difference is the tap-time-setting... 3/16, 4/16, 2 different ping-pongs). I want to use these 4 basic sounds with the 4 delay-types in any combination.


    do i have to store 4x4 = 16 rigs .. .and call up the needed combination (amp- and delay-type) out of the 16?
    this would be complex!! I could not go with that..


    greetings
    Martin

    Martin, welcome! ;)


    1. You can lock the stack: this way cou can switch to different FX without actually changing the amp. You would need to use different rigs though with different FX settings.
    2. when you lock the delay you can switch to another amp without changing the delay. You'd also use different rigs for that.


    The way you do it depends on your personal preference.
    I haven't mentioned performance mode yet.


    I normally use only one or two amps with 2 different rain settings.
    And I use different kinds od delay for different songs, not only different in tempo and musical context (8th, dotted 8th, etc.) but also in mix and repeat.
    The solution for me is to pre- program these different scenarios in performance mode.
    In performance mode you can easily manage 125 performances with 5 different sound = potentially 625 different sounds.
    This is not complex but very easy and convenient to handle. It's definitely no programming nightmare. You should definitely try it.

    Hi Ingolf, thanks for the reply,


    for that kind of music, that i play, I need to be that flexible in choosing amp and delay types... no way programming a performance before playing. We often play very spontaneous.


    Sometimes i need to switch from dotted 8th delays to 4th.. without changing the amp ... then in the same song maby i want to change the amp with keeping delay on 4ths... with that selected amp-sound, i want to switch to ping pong (left dotted 8th, right 4th)..
    Not mentioning the stomp-boxes in front of the amp (booster, tubescreamer, compressor, wha). I know that the kemper can do all of them, but again, they should be on or off and do not change that state when i switch to another rig. - but .. I think that would be possible by locking them, am i right?


    Now I use a midi-Switcher for my amp (3 sounds) on midi channel 1 and a g-major 2 on midi channel 2. A little 4-button midi-foot-controller that sends programm-changes on channel 1 to switch the amp.. and a rocktron midi-mate with an extra tap-footswitch and an expression pedal on channel 2 for the g-major which sends programm-changes to change the delay-type (g-major presets), control-changes (buttons) to switch on and off the fx-blocks in the g-major like stomp-boxes (delay, reverb, tremolo, compression) and a control-change (expression pedal) to control the delay-level (in some presets sth. other like speed of the tremolo..).


    I think i can´t get that out of the kemper on its own. Maby its worth trying it to replace my amp .. and keep the g-major for the fx...


    With the Kemper: Can I set the range of the expression pedal: I want to control the delay-level with it. Can I set it like 50%mix in the toe-position and like 20% in the heel-position?


    Martin

    There's one thing to keep in mind regarding the locking function: If a section on the KPA is locked, it is locked no matter what you choose next. For example: If you lock the delay it will stay like dialed in, no matter what amp you choose. That's why the locking function is imho no solution for your personal needs as you discribe them.

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    So despite all my searching, I still have a couple additional questions regarding the Uno4kemper floorboard. I appreciate everyone's feedback:


    1) In performance mode, my understanding is that I can assign different effects for each performance slot. So, for example, performance 1, slot 1 I can have a tube screamer and delay, and then if I switch to performance 1, slot 2, it will pull up a rotary and reverb instead. Is that right/possible?
    2) Also in performance mode, if, for example, I turn on performance 1, slot 1 which has a delay assigned to it -- my understanding is that I can turn the delay on and off (if it is assigned to one of the foot switches). If it is "on" when I press performance 1, slot 1 -- then I turn the effect off using the footswitch - then go to performance 1, slot 2 - then go back to performance 1, slot 1, is the effect automatically back on? or will it be off because that's how I left it when I switched out of that performance slot? I hope that isn't too confusing of a question...
    3) Finally, (I think I know this answer but would like confirmation please), in performance mode, if I have a wah in the second slot on the kemper, is it possible not to assign it to a footswitch, but instead ONLY to the wah pedal? Likewise, i'd like to not waste a footswitch on the tuner, but rather only have it assigned to the volume pedal in the heel position. That way, I can free up two footswitches for other effects. Is this possible?


    Again, i'm ready to pull the trigger on a kemper, but just haven't quite figured out the best floorboard solution for gigs. so I very much appreciate you all helping me understand how the floorboards work with the Kemper.