Posts by BadBadger

My mistake, the profile from Tone Junkie I referred to is of a 71 Super Lead.

After using a Kemper for a few years now, but with other people’s profiles, I’ve decided I want to create my own profiles. One of my favourite profiles is a Tone Junkie profile of a 1973 Marshall Super Lead, it’s wonderful. Yes, I could just continue to use that, but there would be something very satisfying about creating my own profiles.

I have the recording facilities anyway, and some great mics for guitar cabs (Royer R121, Neumann U87, Sennheiser MD421, Shure SM57).

So I’m thinking of buying a Super Lead, but original or reissue?

The 1959 HW is hand wired, does that mean it’s really made to the same spec as an early 70s?

Possible disadvantage of buying a genuine early 70s model is that it may need a service and/or new valves. I don’t know any suitable amp tech guys near me.

Possible disadvantage of buying a brand new 1959 HW is that it might not be sonically as good as a real early 70s model (if they’re not made with the same components despite being hand wired).

So does anyone have experience of both the original early 70s Super Lead and the 1959 HW reissue? If so, what do you think of the 1959 HW reissue compared to the original?

Quote from BillyNoSocks

…you don't need to remove the original finish…

You do if you don’t like polyurethane and want a waxed neck.

Quote from BayouTexan

I wouldn't use a scraper or any metal on it. 1500 grit sandpaper using a perpendicular (crosscut) hand sanding pattern should be enough.

I didn’t use a scraper, unlike the guy in that video, instead I started with 80 grit to remove the original finish, as mentioned. As I moved up through the grits it was getting smoother each time, which is why I kept going and took it to 10,000 grit which feels amazing and is super shiny.

Last year I stripped the finish from the back of a Strat neck and followed the process suggested by this video

It turned out great, and I’ve recently done the same thing with another Strat. I started with 80 grit to remove all of the original finish, then worked my way up through the grits, finishing on 10,000 grit. Wow it’s turned out amazing after applying the relic wax and instrument feed (which I think is basically a beeswax compound).

Just stumbled upon some recent live footage of Go West. Don’t know who their lead guitarist is these days but he had a nice sound for the solo. Note the KEMPER Toaster sitting on a Marshall 4x12. I remember when they had the late great Alan Murphy on lead guitar, back in the 80s. He was excellent.

Not sure what to suggest, a lot of the gear you mentioned using I haven't used (apart from the Kemper of course). But from your description of the sound you are getting I am wondering if it is a phase / latency related issue.

When I first tried using external effects loops with the Kemper, I quickly realised that I needed to kill the dry sound passing through the loop, leaving 100% wet only coming back. Otherwise, the dry sound finally output by the Kemper at the master outputs would be a blend of the dry sound bypassing the loop and the dry sound going through the loop and coming back again. And because the sound going out through the looop inevitably goes through a digital to analog converter, there is a small delay involved. Blending the two dry sounds was not nice, weird phase and eq resulted, because in effect the dry sound was being mixed with a copy of it that was delayed by maybe 5-7 milliseconds. Your description of 'yelling into a coffee tin can' reminded me of what I was hearing.

So is there something about your signal path that is causing you to either record and/or monitor your guitar sound from two sources, one slightly delayed from the other by a few milliseconds?

Well after many hours experimenting with the Stage, and searching online too, I think I know what's happening, so I thought I'd post here in case anyone else wonders.

I reckon the rig spillover issues are due to the Kemper's processor just maxing out and not being able to provide rig spillover, due to the demands being placed upon it by complex reverb and delays.

I suspected cpu load might be to blame following much Googling of this issue, so I decided to test the theory. I initialized a Perfomance, so only the 'Crunch' default rig in slot 1, slots 2-5 blank/disabled.

I started recreating my rig with a profile in slot 2. I added the following:

A = Compressor

B = empty

C = empty

D = empty

X = Micro Pitch

MOD = empty

DLY = Quad Delay

REV = Ionosphere Reverb

All this is with Kemper Kone on.

By the way, apparently if a module is occupied by an effect, that will add to cpu load even if the effect is switched off, so if an effect is not going to be used it's best (apparently) to empty any unused effect modules.

I use an expression pedal as a volume pedal with the above.

I also set up morphing: with base sound, the Ionosphere Reverb was 60% mix, when morphed, this changes to 100% wet, 0% dry.

When I play on slot 2, then switch back to slot 1 ('Crunch' default), rig spillover works fine.

Then I duplicated the slot 2 rig to slot 1, but making a change I wanted (Ionosphere reverb parameter 'Pitch 1' from -12 to 24). Slots 3-5 still empty.

Now when I changed from slot 1 to 2, or vice versa, rig spillover will not work at all, although if I turn off 'Kemper Kone' then it works fine again.

So that appears to be the limit of what the cpu can do.

Ionosphere is a gorgeous sounding big ambient reverb, I imagine it is very greedy for processor power.

With the Micro Pitch modulation, Quad delays, and volume pedal swells with some unusual chord voicings, it sounds wonderful.

Rig spillover works fine on my more basic rigs, with standard hall or room reverbs.

My original Performance, with the above 2 rigs, and 3 others as well, all works great and sounds great, as long as I stay within a slot. It's only the rig spillover that doesn't work when I change slots.

I do have a few Strymon delays/reverbs, I will experiment with using external effects loops to ease the load on the Kemper CPU. I imagine that if two slots both have a stereo return from external reverb, but only one of them is actually sending any signal to the loop, then when I switch from one slot to another, that will in effect give me a rig spillover, in fact better than rig spillover as the external delays/reverbs will continue until they naturally fade, however long that is, instead of a forced fade in a second or two as with rig spillover.

The other possibility I'm considering now is buying another Kemper Stage, and using an A/B switch to switch between the two Stages. That could be really interesting for big, ambient sounds that I can play over with all of the profile and effects options of a Kemper available on the second Stage. Better than 'freeze' on its own.

It's great being able to use tap tempo to adjust delay times.

But for my phaser settings, I like this fixed at around 0.7 seconds for the rate.

In, e.g. Quad Delay, there is an option to tick (or not) 'To Tap Tempo'.

There doesn't appear to be any such option in the Phaser.

If I switch on Tap Tempo for the delay, the phaser automatically has its rate set by tap tempo, instead of staying at the rate of 0.7s that I wanted.

Is there a way to use Tap Tempo for delays, but NOT have these tap tempo changes alter the phaser's rate?

Is no-one else having problems with rig spillover?

I am using delay in the DLY module, and reverb in the REV module.

Rig spillover off is NOT selected.

Yet when changing from one slot to another in performance mode, sometimes rig spillover works, sometimes not.

Any ideas?

Something weird I have discovered is that if I switch off Kone Kabinet in Output, spillover works. Is this a bug of some kind?

Any solutions?

I have a Kemper Stage and love it, but I'm experiencing a problem with rig spillover. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

Rig spillover generally works fine for me, e.g. using reverb and delay in one rig/performance slot, I select another performance slot which doesn't have reverb etc, and the delay and reverb tails smoothly die away.

But I created a rig and slot in a different performance and set up with an Ionosphere reverb and Quad delays, when I switch to a different slot in the same performance, the reverb and delays are killed instantly.

I'm not sure why, on the Rig section, page 1, I have 'Rig Spillover Off' not ticked, just as it isn't ticked in the other slots where spillover works fine.

I've been trying to sort this out, and one quirk I've found is that if, in the Output Section, I switch off Kemper Kone, then the spillover works fine on all slots, but switching off Kemper Kone doesn't give me the tone I want, so I don't want to switch off Kemper Kone.

Here are my settings (are there some I haven't thought of that I need to change?)

Output Section page 6> Pure Cabinet ticked

Output Section page 9> Kemper Kone ticked, Monitor Cab Off not ticked (I'm not using any of the Kone imprints, happy with profiles' cab sounds)

Is there something I've overlooked re rig spillover? Are there some processor intensive reverbs it can't do this with? But isn't it odd that turning off Kemper Kone makes it work fine?

EDIT just to explain further, I'm using a couple of Powered Kone Kabinets

EDIT 2 to further clarify, I'm aware that spillover only works for the DLY and REV modules, and those are the ones I'm using

Thanks for the friendly welcome and quick replies 🙂

Thinking about it, I'm sure you're right. It would be the string's mass that determines tension, and whilst gauge could be a guide to mass, if different manufacturers use different alloys, or different cores, then the tension will differ even on the same gauge.

Cheers for helping me think this through.

Now I'm on a quest to find my preferred brand and type of string all over again, which will be fun.

The counterfeit string thing was something I heard about in a couple of YouTube videos, but the string manufacturers do acknowledge that fakes exist. I googled 'fake strings' after I saw the videos.

I'm sure it's fine to buy online from a reputable site, it's just the Chinese cheap sellers that might be a problem. But if anyone has found a supplier of cheap strings they're happy with, great. Strings are so much about personal preference anyway.

Hi all

I have a question about electric guitar strings and string tension. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Basically the question is whether guitar strings of the same gauge, tuned to the same pitch, on the same scale length of guitar, will have the same amount of slack in them, or will flap around as they vibrate by the same amount. I'd always assumed so, but apparently not.

I settled upon Ernie Ball 9-46 many years ago and haven't checked out anything else for a very long time.

I've noticed something weird going on with my strings...

I own two second hand PRS Customs, both Core, made a year apart, same neck, fretboard radius, scale length. Both recently bought.

I've just restrung one with my preferred Ernie Ball 9-46s. I don't know what make of strings are on the other PRS, which I haven't restrung yet.

I do know that both guitars have the same gauge of strings, 9-46. I've measured the string thickness with a Stewmac digital caliper.

The one with the unknown brand of strings has a great setup, low action, no buzz etc. I've carefully measured the neck relief, action at the 12th fret, height of the bridge above the body on its six screws, height of the string saddles.

I duplicated these settings on the other PRS, the one I put the Ernie Ball 9-46s on.

This is where it gets weird for me. The two guitars:

* are of identical scale length

* have the exact same gauge of strings

* are tuned to the same pitch

* have exactly the same amount of neck relief

* have exactly the same action at the 12th fret (4/64 inch on bottom E, 3/64 inch on top E)

* have near enough the same (very light) wear on the frets, neither need a fret dress

* have frets of the same height (between 1.14mm and 1.17mm, I measured with the Stewmac caliper)

Yet the Ernie Ball strung PRS, on the wound strings, is producing fret buzz with fretted notes which the unknown string brand PRS is not.

When I observed carefully the motion of the wound strings when played with a pick, the Ernie Ball wound strings flap around a lot whereas the unknown brand strings do not vibrate around anything like as much, even when both are played with the exact same picking force. When I am picking the strings (unamplified) both guitars produce the same amount of volume, although the tone of the unknown brand strings is slightly different.

Yet although the unknown string brand PRS sounds just as loud, acoustically, and is picked with the same force, it does not buzz - because the string is not flapping around anything like as much as on the Ernie Ball strung PRS.

I had always thought that if two strings are tuned to the same pitch, are on the same scale length guitar, and are of the same gauge, then they will have the same string tension, and will flap around exactly the same. Apparently not.

When I attempt to bend, say, the A at the 7th fret of the D string, I can just about raise it a minor third, on both guitars. So they both feel the same to me, in terms of string tension.

Yet the unknown string brand PRS seems to have greater string tension, as evidenced by the fact that the string seems to have less slack in it when played, it doesn't flap around as much - although I can bend notes up by the same amount on both with the same force. ???.

I don't get this. I had always thought that the only way to have less slack or flapping around when the string vibrates (at the same pitch and scale length) is to use a heavier gauge of string. Yet these are identical gauges.

To rule out some possibilities:

* I only buy my strings from dealers, not cheap from online auction sites, so they should not be counterfeits

* Both guitar's strings are roundwound for the wound strings

Anyone else noticed this? Any ideas?

Cheers