Harmonica

Update.

Did a bunch of gigs with the Kemper and this thing is a dream!:

- Sound-engineers who know these strange blinking boxes smile when I take it out (the Kemper that is...), the other ones smile afterwards.
- Got rid of my two Camper 112's FRFR. They sound amazing but I decided to settle for a bit less in sound quality and save room in the trunk of my car and on stage with a single Yamaha DXR10.

- To make the very most of high-Z mic's you got to increase the input impedance of the Kemper. I use a 10 Meg buffer (Lone Wolf Terminator) but a Lehle Sunday driver or any (DIY) FET-buffer with a 5M+ impedance will work. The "standard" 1 Meg on the Kemper is ok but an increase will get you a lot more "Umph", especially with cristal/bullit mics.
- When profiling: Ribbon Mics! Dead Centre. My experience mic'ing for harp the centre of the speaker is where the interesting stuff happens harmonics-wise. A ribbon mic seems to captures them and smooth them out in a sexy way, where a dynamic mic (Sennheiser e906) captures them in a nasty way, EQ'ing doesn't make it better.

Almost forgot to mention:

- For all you tube-extremists out there (which I still consider myself to be): I own more tube-amps now, then I ever did before I owned a Kemper. Sold my big amps and got a bunch of small bargain-bin vintage tube screamers with money to spare. Pure tone over stage-volume compromise....

@MascoSoundSystem that sounds great! Thanks for sharing.
I agree with the "ribbon mic - dead center" approach, it's a great starting point I use all the time.
I'm sure there are other harp players out there that would appreciate a few rigs created especially with their instrument in mind - I would like to see a few of them in the Rig Exchange, but that is entirely your decision of course.

Quote from DonPetersen

I'm sure there are other harp players out there that would appreciate a few rigs created especially with their instrument in mind - I would like to see a few of them in the Rig Exchange, but that is entirely your decision of course.

I will. Just have some minor stuff I want to sort out and I got a Reslo CR in the mail.

Ok, as promised: my first Harp-profiles uploaded on Rig Exchange:

- K'Zoo Two Slight Push
- K'Zoo Two Pushed
- K'Zoo Two Nasty Push

Three profiles of a Gibson made Kalamazoo Model Two. Completely original, including speaker, except for electrolytic caps.

Profiled close with a Sennheiser e906 aimed at centre of cone and a Shure 545 about one foot away to capture the lower frequencies.

Only difference in the proces was dailing up the volume control for more distortion and compression.

To be played with a high Z unbalanced microphone (for optimum mic performance use a 5-10 Meg buffer)

Let me know what you think of them. More to come: Premier Twin 8, Gibson GA-5T, Masco MU-5

Thank you!

Hi guys ! I'm ressurecting this thread to ask if you had any more luck using the Kemper for blues harp?

As a harp + guitar player this could be the all-in-one solution for me. I actually bought a modified Bassman to rock the harp, unfortunately it is way too loud for me to practice on it on a daily basis. So I thought about profiling it.

I was wondering how usable would be the regular profiles that have been made for guitar? We usually have to modify the guitar amps to avoid feedback nightmare. I happen to gig with a Zoom G3X and use its amp émulations, but for the harp it is very problematic. Do anyone have recent experience with that?

Also, I was thinking that the Axe FX would be a better choice since I could modify the amps models on it just like an irl amp customizer would change tubes on a tube amp to make it more harp-friendly. BUT I don't want to loose so much time fiddling with the device, that's why I considered the Kemper first.

Thanks for any input