Richie Sambora's tone from KPA?

    Quote from paults

    You risk horrible feedback if you try to run a mic into your guitar cab. Danelectro made one at one point with little mics on the tube - that idea never caught on, because it will squeal. Either use just a tube, or, use a vocal mic on a stand :)

    I'm very close to getting myself a Rocktron Banshee, but I really need to know if I will be able to use it the way I'm planning to. I'll try to describe my intended use with the KPA below, maybe you guys can give me a hand trying this yourselves and telling me if it works:


    Guitar
    __|__
    -(KPA Input)-
    __|__
    [KPA Green Screamer]
    __|__
    [KPA Amp Block]
    __|__
    -(KPA FX Loop Send)-
    __|__
    ** Rocktron Banshee **
    __|__
    ** Banshee tube **
    __|__
    ** Shure SM57 **
    __|__
    -(KPA FX Return XLR, from Shure SM57)-
    __|__
    [KPA Delay / Reverb]
    __|__
    -(KPA Monitor Out)-
    __|__
    ** FRFR Speaker **


    Note: I'm planning on placing the FX Loop in the "X" slot after the amp block in the KPA.

    Try a web search, to see if anyone has had any success with a banshee that way. The Danelectro stomp used two little mics to send the signal into an amp - look for reviews if how well that worked.


    IMO, If you sing, this is unneccesarily complicated. And, the risk of feedback is huge.


    If you don't sing, if there is an available channel on the mixer for that mic, use it.


    That XLR is active for profiling - if it is not active all the time, you would also need a mic preamp or small mixer to get the sm58 signal at line level.


    The banshee has plenty of gain. No dirt box needed.


    Where is the monitor physically placed, compared to the mic? How loud do you play? If the monitor is not in front of you on the floor, and you play as loud as a drummer, it will be squeal city.


    ------
    Is your Kemper in the PA? Use a cheap sub mixer - Kemper in channels 1 and 2, the mic in channel 3. The output of the mixer goes to the PA.

    Paul, I think you didn't notice that after the Banshee what happens is the same as connecting a SM57 to a FRFR speaker, which is basically a portable PA. No additional gain whatsoever from that point on, remember it will be SM57 -> KPA FX Return -> Delay/Reverb -> Speaker. Do you still think it will squeal? Because if it does squeal when used that way I can't see how it wouldn't squeal using stage monitors as well. BTW I didn't know the Banshee had built in distortion, thanks for clarifying on that :)


    I was also planning on EQing the signal using the KPA Studio EQ in order to bump up the lows a bit and tone down the highs, my question now is if the XLR input is active when the FX loop is used and how it would handle a microphone signal. I'm away from the KPA right now but if someone could give that a try I'd probably pull the trigger on the Banshee right away.


    See, the advantage of using the Banshee that way would be being able to set up rig volumes correctly so I'll be 100% certain that they'll sound right through the PA because it will get the exact same signal I'll be feeding my personal monitor from the KPA.

    I think the chance of feedback depends on how loud the band is onstage, and where your guitar speaker is.


    A floor vocal monitor is pointed at the singer's head, and the microphone is pointed away from the monitor. With the monitor pointed at the back of the microphone, feedback is minimized.


    If you play loud, and there is a direct path from your cabinet to the microphone at an angle where the microphone is sensitive, it may feedback.


    Test it at stage volume, before you use it at a rehearsal. - your bandmates would never stop teasing you if you fill the practice room with horrible noises. :)

    Well pulled the trigger on the Banshee and will give it a try myself, I also play in a Motley Crue tribute band and we have a gig tomorrow so I'll test that configuration playing "Kickstart my heart" and let you guys know how that goes. I usually have my FRFR monitor on a stand by my left side a few feet away so it's off axis from the mic isn't it? I'm gonna use an old Beta 57 for the Banshee BTW. And yes, we're loud :D

    Quote from ibanez270

    Deny, Did you get the Alto yet? I got the TS112a I like it better than the QSCK10.

    Dude, the sales manager at my local Alto distributor isn't even answering my phone calls anymore because she can't stand me asking about the arrival of the TS110A every other week :D


    But still no luck, BTW Brazil is a terrible place to live as far as purchasing gear, things are often impossible to find and 3 times the price in the US :cursing:


    Anyway here's an interesting update on my tests with the KPA FX loop (my Banshee hasn't arrived yet) :


    I've connected a mic to the XLR FX return and it does work, but level is very low. Using a small Behringer mixer does the job but even though it's a compact mixer I still didn't want to take it to gigs, and then I remembered I have a Class A/B Joemeek preamp/compressor pedal (floorQ), and it did the trick very nicely. Without trying the Banshee through the mic all I can say is with the mic on I can crank the KPA volume pretty loud before any squealing, meaning so far it seems my little idea will work out ok :)

    Quick update, Banshee has arrived and it works well in the KPA FX Loop, with two minor quirks:


    1. The FX loop send output seems to be ALWAYS ON, no matter if it's in the chain, enabled or disabled. That kinda sucks because this means I need to select the patch with the FX Loop enabled AND step on the Banshee otherwise it will be on all the time which is pretty annoying.


    2. The FX Return seems to make the output clip at very low levels, if I don't use the FX Loop I can have much higher volume without clipping the output which I find very weird.


    Anyway I'll be off to my gig in a few, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

    And so the gig went full of pure KPA awesomeness, I could hear myself perfectly on stage during the talk box solo and people liked it.


    My final setup was:



    Guitar
    __|__
    -(KPA Input)-
    __|__
    [KPA Green Screamer] (low gain settings)
    __|__
    [KPA Amp Block] (clean profile)
    __|__
    -(KPA FX Loop Send)-
    __|__
    ** Rocktron Banshee ** (gain 9 o'clock, Tone 9 o'clock, volume set to max)
    __|__
    ** Banshee tube **
    __|__
    ** Shure SM57 **
    __|__
    ** JoeMeek FloorQ ** (all controls to noon. Note: I suspect any cheap EQ pedal would work just as well)
    __|__
    -(KPA FX Return)-
    __|__
    [KPA Delay / Reverb]
    __|__
    -(KPA Monitor Out)-
    __|__
    ** FRFR Speaker (QSC K10) **




    I'm obviously not as good looking as Richie, but with the right outfit, who knows?

    :D

    Edited once, last by Deny ().

    Glad it went well Deny - great stuff :thumbup:
    Any chance of a clip with the banshee in the loop of the KPA - be interested in hearing this combination!
    Did you go equipped with the full cowboy hat look? ;)

    Suhr Classic Pro, Fender deluxe Strat & Baja Tele, Gibson ES335, Ibanez S Prestige 2170FW, Eastman AR371CE, Variax JTV > KPA > Patch bay inc. Strymons (Mobius, Timeline, Blue Sky), H9 Max, TC Triple Delay, & POD HD500 > Adam A7Xs

    Actually to get a Vocoder emulation on the Kemper should be possible, just need a mic connected to the return. This could be a feature request....

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    Quote from Brattcave

    Glad it went well Deny - great stuff :thumbup:
    Any chance of a clip with the banshee in the loop of the KPA - be interested in hearing this combination!
    Did you go equipped with the full cowboy hat look? ;)

    You know what, that's an interesting idea... it's a perfect setup for recording talk box tones come to think of it, I'll see if I can record something and post it ;)


    I did go for the full outfit and hat but this one was a Motley Crue tribute gig, so it was actually a top hat with a skull and crossbones, and I only got to use the Banshee in one song ("Kisckstart my Heart"). The Bon Jovi gig will be in May, and in fact I already got the cowboy hat :)


    Quote from guitarnet70

    Actually to get a Vocoder emulation on the Kemper should be possible, just need a mic connected to the return. This could be a feature request....

    That's an interesting idea, and I'm guessing Mr. Kemper already has the algorithm ready from the Virus synth ;)

    Another quick update, just realized that the reason the talkbox was always receiving a signal was because the "Direct Out" in the Master section of the KPA was set to "Input" - DUH! Just set it to "Off" and now everything is perfect :thumbup:


    This is a really, *really* nice way of using the KPA with a Talk Box that allows for having a single signal path to deal with, which helps making sure that the talk box rigs have the correct level (vs mic into the mixing board, separate monitors, etc) because what you hear from the monitor connected to the KPA is the same thing that goes to FOH. And even though my QSC K10 was standing 5ft to my left there was no squealing at all, even though our stage volume is pretty high so I'm VERY happy with this solution

    :)