Posts by V8guitar

Quote from ronsws6

V8 - Great perspective. I will absorb all of this before making my decision. I am gonna try to wait until March to make my final decision. (Work Bonus).

Its nice to be excited by new gear so you must be chomping at the bit.

Couple of other things I thought about ( as my mate is int he same position as you and thinking of getting one, hence I keep thinking about what you need to know)

1) Your biggest issue is choice - eventually with profiles but initial with how you want to monitor (FRFR etc). for me that's another reason to go powered toaster or rack. I prefer rack because I think the toaster is better suited to studio as the rack is designed to be rack mounted.

2) The Quad cortex - its not even released yet and its probably going to be a great unit but the Kemper is an established product, road tested etc. There is a lot to be said for that

3) When you get it, think about what you need first - so many people set theirs up in different ways, some have 1 amp per song, I tend to use 1 performance ( same as a "bank" on an effects unit) per band. Once you how you wan it to work, setting up is relatively easy and intuitive.

4) Strongest part of the Kemper is the amp sound and feel. Weakest part ( although improved greatly recently) is the computer interface. As I only use this for setting up ( for which it works very well) Its not a problem for me.

5) If you go for the Rack or toaster, don't forget to budget for the remote. Its essential for live and whilst there are other options, for me, its the easiest and most effective solution ( its plug and play as well!).

If for some bizarre reason you can't get on with the Kemper, the second hand market remains strong - as my mate is finding out when trying to buy one. So you risks are really low.

Roll on March

Quote from JHERCULEES1

I hope this thing actually lives up to the hype ... My band does alot of casino gigs and they like quiet stages and plugging direct in .... I would love to just bring just a small pedal board with this on it to drag through the mile long walk , across the casino and hotel areas to make it to the event rooms . instead of tons of other gear amps and cabs etc.

After covid is over if music ever returns i mean ...

If only it sounds great direct and can capture like they claim....

Although obviously the stage can do this

Quote from JC MUSCLE SHOALS

Correct, I understand I can have a slot where delay is on or off but I can’t figure out a way, when I turn delay on to have it STAY on when I got to the next slot, without locking it. I have four of the slots with levels of drive- clean, drive, more drive and lead and a 5th with some special effect. Anyway, I don’t want the delay ON until I want it ON but when it is engaged, I’d like to step from clean to drive with delay still ON. I don’t want to turn it in ON when using the clean slot, then when I change to a drive slot have to turn it on again. The only way I know to accomplish this is with the lock feature on.

Yep that's the only way because the effects are not separate but linked to the slot. In practice this is way better because of the options you can save but in exactly what you want to do you only have those 3 options

1) Locked

2) external effects

3) dedicated slots for those song parts.

I have come from a similar background and I play majority live with some very occasional home studio work.

The difference between the units is:

• The only advantage of the stage is form factor all have the same functionality. However the Rack and Toaster are way lighter and more convenient than a regular amp so you are winning already over a conventional set up.
• The only advantage of a separate power amp is stereo.

For me a powered rack and remote is perfect. I turn up to a gig, I have 3 leads...power, speaker cable and remote cable. No faff with power at the front of the stage because I don;t run outboard effects. I replaced my heavy ENGL head and massive pedal board with a rack with my wireless inside plus the remote and couple of expression pedals.

Because its powered I can use the in house/festival 4x12 if needed or take my Kabinet/s. I like it at amp height as well for any last minutes changes.

So with a powered rack I can run anything - powered monitors, unpowered, FRFR, guitar cabs, Kabinet all straight out of the box in one unit. Perfect!!!! Its just not as compact as the stage.

However you can't go wrong....all of them can do the same thing its just what you personally prefer. As I like to have my cab behind me on stage, running xlr's from the stage back to an amp and cab seems odd to me BUT very doable.

Couple of other comments:

1) I don't tweak at gigs. No need, the sound is consistent ( no mike placement variation or valve inconsistencies - yes room variance but I let the sound engineer manage that). The only change I make is on stage volume at sound check then done. Also sound engineers will love you because the monitor sound is not linked to the FOH signal ( unless for some bizarre reason you want it to). So, plug mike lead into Kemper, hit a chord, sound engineers goes " yep got it" and done for level check. Easy!

2) Does it sound any good? In my 30+ years of playing I have always been looking at the latest gear etc. I've had my Kemper 6 years and not looked at another amp since.

3) It is massively flexible and programmable with so many 1 touch features e.g. turn volume pedal to zero and auto switches to a silent tuner. Wah can be set to touch sensitivity so no clicking on and off.... morph is an additional feature where you can set another set of values to switch between without a separate "patch" e.g. I use it to boost for riffs, whilst I have a totally different setting/patch for solo's...

4) The workflow is closer to an amp than other platforms ( e.g. Helix and Ax) IMO. Its not a technically scary.

5) need you live sound recorded in a studio? Plug an XLR in and boom...there is it!

Hope that helps...

BTW the Johnson Millenium JM150 Digital amplifier was cutting edge and sounded good! I remember wishing I could afford one when they came out.

...or alternatively rethink your workflow.

Certain songs will require delay on and others with it off but want to put it on during the song. I can;t believe you have that many variations that mean you can have a slot dedicated to these options.

Just to be clear, you can have a slot that comes on with delay on or off with your choice. I don;t use lock at all, its just one option here.

To me either of these options are way easier than an external delay pedal that ( in most cases) will have 1 delay setting and tempo.

Quote from KnoxHarrington

I just pre-order the QC. Thinks I'm looking forward to testing:

- How does it compare to the KPA when profiling / capturing a rig which includes multiple (stacked) OD pedals?

- How will the different operating modes of the KPA (browsing vs performing) compare to the modes of the QC (presets, scenes, stomps)?

- How does the UI experience compare to the KPA, including the computer editor?

Excited to hear your views.

I would expect:

Capturing a rig will be more of a tone match than profiling as we know it

Operating modes will be similar, perhaps slightly more limited purely due to the form factor

UI experience better

...but who knows

Quote from MadMike

It won't be possible (if I ever want,) to create a whole new performance without those effects/pedalboard taking those 4 post-effect slots, right?

Because I need to unlock them first? Seems like they act 'global' when I'm changing them on a new performance into something else, (or delete them) they automatically get the same treatment on my 'old' performance. (The one I'm using right now)

Yes unfortunately. Lock is global. The KPA obviously can;t "know" what and when you want lock, you can only tell it. You can of course lock, create your performances and save them, then unlock. any new performances then would not include these settings but I suspect that isn't what you want.

Someone else might have other thoughts as I don;t use lock at all. I save my performances with the settings I want and that covers my needs as I rarely want to do anything "unplanned". I know the set list ( or list of possible songs) and build my performance/s around that. For example in one band we also play some EVH and I have a separate performance for that as some solos have flanger and phaser and some don;t. I prefer a 1 switch approach to avoid tap dancing.

Another option is potentially to use Morph - not sure if it helps but you could have all effects in the slot but mix at 0, then morph the effects in. Advantage is you can bring multiple in and other parameters...

I actually find it way more flexible than a separate pedal board and I haven't used outboard effects for 6 years.

Quote from Nikos

Pentatonics,major,minor..same stereotype clean and overdriven sounds..all nice if you're a young lad..but..you know....at some point you get just tired.I don't know if you like Zappa but for me his stuff is "medicine" for tired ears.This mix of acoustical instruments and electric stuff.Fat nice contrast for the ears.Ofcourse the mix of crazy styles,modes and unusual grooves do not harm either.Also ethno stuff,old school jazz/fusion and ofcourse classical music..food for our ears..

I'm not young, although I look amazing for my age :). Its not diversity for my ears, its just I cannot objectively hear a sound. Its more related to how I feel, what I fancy playing and how inspiring the sound is, but most importantly, context.

Hence one day my main sound comes across flat and I think I need to change that. I find something else and really like it. I go back to my original and fall back in love with it. Listen again to the new sound and don;t like it. That's all in the space of 30 mins...

Feel is going to be the biggest tester for the Quad.

I'm still not sure what you are asking, so for clarity:

• When you select a rig, you can pre-programme this to have whatever effects on by default and whatever state you want
• You can have effects locked so that regardless of what slot you select they stay on - I don't use lock at all but that would replicate the "fixed" status I think you might be looking for.

A pedal board is totally independent of the amp and therefore the KPA doesn't work this way - which is a good thing because you can pre programme what you need plus use the effects like stomp boxes. This has the advantage that you can customise the effects for each slot which is way more flexible rather than have, say, one delay setting for every song.

So you can acheive I think what you want but you might need to plan a little on how you use the slots rather than think in the tradtional pedal board and Amp set up.

I only use 1 performance to cover 30+ songs as I have a clean, crunch heavy rhythm and solo sound plus a specialist slot ( talkbox for living on a prayer) for example. I use morph to boost volume and gain for riffs and I have my wah set up on every slot. I have 2 delays on my main rhythm, one for one for a bit of ambient delay and that is on all the time and 1 delay I select for 1 song ( Intro Welcome to the Jungle).

Not sure if any of that helps...

...and you are not a difficult person

Simple answer is yes.

So I would for that song use 2 performance slots with the chorus adjusted but on for both sounds. When you save a rig its whatever state youve left the effects. So all you ahve to do is set up the sound and effect you want ( switched on) and when you switch to that slot boom, there it is. If you want it selectable then before you save, switch the effect off.

I assume you use the remote?

BTW - your original question, why not move studio E.Q. to pre? because its not time based should be less of an issue moving to pre so that would free up at least 1 slot.

Also, try not to make one slot do everything.

Upgraded successfully, didn;t work first time via RM but disconnected and reconnected and done.

Quote from Nuno Conde

Hi there,

I am sorry if I did not understood your you said.. It is possible to send the imprints from the Kabinet to FOH/PA? my FOH sound is so different, and always worst compared with the Kabinet sound (This is driving me crazy).
Thank you so much

You are missing the point...

The sound from a guitar cab sounds different on stage compared to FOH. Why? Different signal change. That was always the case so why are you worried about it now? Because you are now consciously aware of it.

To get over this, most solutions ( Ax, helix as well a Kemper) suggest FRFR to get you closer. It will never be the same due to the desk, mike and different speakers. Monitor wedges get you even closer....

However everyone said " yes but I miss the amp in the room sound"...so Kemper introduced the Kabinet and imprints to try to bridge the gap. Sending imprints to the PA will be un-predictable and not what they were designed for. Its not a software limitation, its purposely not recomended as an output as part of the design.

So you cannot avoid this dichotomy but celebrate the options that help.

Finally, I believe everyone should tune to FOH first because that is what your audience hears. Then get a reasonable sound on stage, not stress about getting the 2 the same.

I don't think the E.Q. applied is to get it closer to the reference amp to make up for any profiling issues, I think its more to make it sound as good as it can - although it would be good to ask that from the commercial profilers.

I guess the question is what are they to do....get as close to the reference amp as possible or get the best sounding profile? Although that doesn't explain why not change the EQ on the amp.... hmmmm

Juts reminded me I need to do this. Never had any issues so far so not expecting any...

Quote from dB Cooper

I couldn't tell you the number of times I've sat down to profile an amp like, "why can't I hear anything?" Then I trace back my signal to realize I've plugged my guitar into the headphone jack.

Its like talking on mute in teams...I think everyone has done this

Quote from ReinoutV

I would really like a powered Kabinet. I thought they spoke about this product before, and said it was on the way?

1. This could be, but I don't now how much production they have at the moment. Maybe they are struggling to deliver enough Kones and passive Kabinets, that the production of an active Kabinet is delayed?
2. This confusion is already there, for example on the Stage through a power amp and Kone
3. This is quite the pricey Kombination (pun intended), I doubt if there is a market for this. Most of use (at least me) use the Kemper not only with a speaker, but a lot to record with. With a powered Kabinet attached, this would be quite the hassle.

There is clear demand for a powered Kabinet. As I assume they don;t produce themselves, it shouldn't interfere with product development...so why the delay? I like lightbox 's theory

Quote from lightbox

I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with a Kemper Kombo, although it might be a bit costly as an "all-in one" package (including Remote). Reasons for my wild guess:

1. If they were to come up just with an active Kabinet, they could have easily done it already. Just stick an ICEpower inside, add an IEC connector, a Line In jack and a volume pot.
2. It would likely add a bit of confusion because they would have to enable the Kone Imprints option for regular Line Outs (at least for the Monitor Out)
3. For a Kemper Kombo to be practical, it would require a set including the Kemper Remote. With the current price structure, I would expect this to happen in the 2400+ Euros range. Maybe they struggle to cut it down to just below 2000 Euros to make it feasible for the market?

Oohhhh I like your thinking

Quote from dielzubro

Cool thanks for the info, I will have the Kabinet this week just ordered, very excited to try it out, I have heard so many positives, do those cab imprints make a significant difference in the sound for heavy tones?

No, the difference is more subtle but you can definitely hear them!

Quote from dielzubro

Thanks for the info, interesting you bring up the circumstance of the Kabinet being rather small, I was actually thinking if I liked it enough to get two, also I can have both my Orange and then Kab hooked up at the same time, would the orange sound louder than the Kab since its only one 12 versus the four in the Orange?

Yeah you can get 2...I have gigged with 1 and it was absolutely fine, handled a loud band no issue, but 2 should give more spread. I'm buying another for that reason.

I wouldn;t mix cabs full stop. Reason being is the sound will be odd ( Kabinet is closer to FRFR than regular cab and you should't/cant use imprints) and also mixing impedances - you could fry your amp if you are not careful. If you want to use the Orange I would consider getting 4 kones for it. You'll get the best of all worlds then, plus its cheaper than 2 Kabinets, plus I love the colour Orange so will look cool!

Good news is....we have all these options. Kabinet for me.