Posts by MKB

Never used the Eureka, but am using an older Uno4Kemper and like it a lot. Wish I had a newer one though as AFAIK there is no way to get one of the pedals set for morphing.

I have played a bit with the original Uno chip, I think it has some advantages over the Uno4Kemper. One is you can program either pedal for morphing, and it will do the majority of the Uno4Kemper functions as well. But the Uno does have the disadvantage of not displaying tuner or the actual state of a function on the Kemper; if you have switch bounce on your FCB1010, the Kemper might not pick up the switch transition and the FCB will think a function is in a different state. Also you have to do a bunch of programming with the Uno to get it to work like a Uno4Kemper.

We have a bunch of the Line 6 2.4gHz gear at our church, mostly mics. We had maybe 12 devices running simultaneously. The only real issue we had was the Line 6 gear wiped out any computer wifi at 2.4gHz, we could not get a single iPad to connect to our Behringer X32 through standard wifi. But we switched our wireless to 5gHz, and everything worked perfectly after that.

However recently they switched to a new Shure system. I'm not at all sure why, will need to ask why they changed. I originally specified the Line 6 gear upon a recommendation from our sales guy at Sweetwater, and we were happy with them AFAIK.

If and when I purchase a new guitar wireless, it will be a Line 6. However, if you purchase a wireless of any type, you need to do some research on if the FCC is planning on making its wireless frequency band unable for use. I have a box of Samson Airline wirelesses that were made illegal as their frequency band was made unavailable by the FCC. One of them I bought on a closeout sale about six months before they became unusable. Thanks to Musicians Friend and Samson for that ripoff. It's still legal to use them in Canada though...

Lately I've been using three profiles in our services: a Top Jimi AC30SRT, Top Jimi Vibrolux, and a MBritt profile I can't remember the name of that is tweaked to the gills. These cover all the bases.

If you're looking for a great AC30 profile set, you might want to check out the Top Jimi AC30SRT set. They are the only AC30 profiles I've heard so far that I've really liked, and I like them a lot.

I'm using the Kemper bag, and it is on the spendy side. Two things concern me about it; most importantly the shoulder strap looks entirely too small/weak for the weight of the bag and Kemper. I have other rack bags of smaller size that have more substantial webbing in the strap. With mine, the shoulder pad often tries to rotate when I place it on my shoulder. I'm actually looking for a replacement strap that is a bit more beefy, but it will also need a metal fitting that is compatible with the curve in the strap fittings on the bag itself.

The other concern is the use of velcro on the side pockets in place of latches. That has proven to not work well as the velcro can easily come loose and allow items to fall out. Most other expensive bags have latches, and they won't open unless you want them to.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed in the Kemper bag. I have an old Dell bag for a 14" screen laptop that is far more ruggedly made; the strap is 3X beefier in every way than anything on the Kemper bag. The Kemper bag is the only disappointment I have had with anything Kemper related. If there was another compatible bag I'd use it; I only take it out of the house twice a week so a rack case might be a bit of overkill.

This video was posted on TGP, BABYMETAL with special guest Rob Halford, doing a few Priest tunes. Awesome video if you are into that brand of cheese. Anyway, it could almost be a Kemper ad, each guitarist seems to have a toaster and rack Kemper on top of Marshall cabs. Significant sightings at 1:56, 2:51, and be sure to check out 5:17. Kempers front and center.

I have to say, after using multiple modelers for over a decade, the knowledge that there is a modeler that will not go obsolete in its tones is a huge incentive to purchase. All other modelers have become obsolete as the companies use new technology to find new customers with "improvements". It's so cool that a purchase of a Kemper gets you off that train. Just think of the money you will save (those that bought a new Line 6 XT Live, then upgraded to an X3, then upgraded to a HD500, then to a Helix for example).

Kemper obviously is thinking in different ways than the other manufacturers, and it is amazing that they allow us as part of the process.

BTW, in a perhaps unrelated note, there is talk around the campfire that the absurdly high cost TigerSHARC DSP ICs used in the Fractal equipment has gone end of life, meaning the users have been told they have to make lifetime buys now. This means that perhaps the AxeFX will either need to be redesigned, a compatible part selected (might be difficult with a >$600 DSP IC), or the product will be dropped. Maybe new Kemper customers??

Quote from Pre-Amp

Thanks for your reply again!
Have you ever linked the HD500 to the Kemper via SPDIF connection. I read another thread where another Kemper user was doing this. He said he thought it gave the models a little more clarity and slightly less latency as the Variax signal remained in the digital domain right up to the first block in the signal chain. This would reduce the number of digital to analogue and then back to
digital conversions going on. In theory, I suppose there is only the final digital to analogue conversion at the output section, but I'm not 100% sure about that!
What do you think?
Kind regards
Pre-Amp

Hi Pre-Amp, I mentioned in the OP trying the SPDIF connection between the Kemper and HD500, and it did work well and IMHO helped the tone. But I did not notice any change in latency, not that I have ever noticed latency in the Variax or HD500 or Kemper. I suppose there must be a difference, but I couldn't notice it at all in tone or feel.

The Variax I have (new JTV69S with HD firmware) has a high ringing tone on some models in high gain profiles, mostly caused by my right hand grazing the high E string while picking/muting. It's not too objectionable in any case, but the SPDIF connection seems to reduce this somewhat. I put this down to the Kemper being a bit unforgiving of the Variax modeling's quirks.

I temporarily quit work on this project as I have been sorely distracted by a new guitar (Gibson 2016 Firebird T) that I have not been able to put down since getting it. Haven't touched anything else since. I'm a stone cold sucker for Gibsons, and have wanted a Firebird for over 30 years now. It's sweeeeet. What Variax??

Hi all, have recently become the happy user of a Variax JTV69S, very versatile and sounds great. I also still have a Line 6 HD500 that has sat dormant for a year since I got the Kemper. But lately I wondered; since the HD500 is such a good midi controller, and has a great Variax interface, would it be worth replacing my FCB1010/Uno4Kemper with the HD500 and gain some features to work with the Variax?

First of all, the HD500 can provide power and signal interfaces to the Variax through its VDI interface.

Also the HD500 is a fairly good midi controller, versatile and programmable, and should work well with the Kemper.

Whenever a button is selected on the HD500, it can automatically select the Variax model and tuning as well as sending patch change information to the Kemper. So this gives the immediate coordination inherent in the Line 6 "dream rig" between the amp sims and Variax.

Here's the final icing on the cake: if you connect the SPDIF out from the HD500 into the digital coax in to the Kemper, and set up the Kemper input for digital reamping, the signal from the Variax stays in the digital domain all the way to the Kemper profiles. In initial experiments I did, this significantly improves the tone of the Variax into the Kemper, giving the Variax more life and detail to its tones, as well as lower noise. This is the best the Variax has ever sounded IMHO, better than into the Kemper front panel input with a 1/4" cable.

The reamp digital input loses a few Kemper features such as Clean Sens, but if you don't use those, it might be an approach to experiment with.

Finally, using the HD500 in this way allows a user to add many effects in the HD500 before the profiles; you can add 8 pre-profile effecs to the 4 in the Kemper. The HD500 should have plenty of DSP for such things since no amp sims would be used. And you would have another looper available in the HD500 if you are into multiple loopers.

Since a used HD500 goes for around $200 or so, that is a LOT of added functionality to the Kemper and Variax, basically integrating the Kemper into the dream rig concept.

The Toaster will fit in the bag horizontally?? Never thought of that, will have to try it. I've always put it in vertically and piled stuff on top as well as selected padded stuff between the front of the toaster and the case (there is a bit of a gap in there as well).

Another worship guitarist here (have been playing worship music for almost 30 years now), and find the Kemper covers all the bases I need. I never really got into the huge pedalboards, but find that the Kemper and a FCB1010 will do most everything I need. One huge addition was morphing, that has turned out to be indispensable as it allows so many shades of effects and gain to be available. I don't really feel I need any external delays, the ones in the Kemper are fine. The only outboard effect I feel I need is a "shimmer" reverb for swells, which is easily added through the Kemper's effects loop.

The guitar I have been greatly digging lately is a Line 6 JTV69S Variax; it allows Gretsch like tones without being a Gretsch. Although I think that Gretsches are the perfect electrics for worship as their tonal curve fits in so well with keys and voices, I don't really like their feel that much, and everybody seems to play a Gretsch in worship. The only issue is the Kemper points out the tonal shortcomings in a Variax. You plug a Variax into a Line 6 X3 or HD500 and it sounds really good, but the Kemper tends to make the Variax's warts stick out. But does the Kemper ever sound great with a great guitar....

The profiles I use the most are of my homemade Robben Ford #102 Dumble clone, as well as my 100W Marshall Vintage Modern. I also have a Top Jimi EVH 5150 profile for the high gain (TSO) tones.

From a brief look at the RC300 manual, you might be able to have some sort of control of the Kemper via midi, but it looks like at best the RC can output CC from the rocker pedal and a CC per stored patch. But that is from a very brief look, perhaps others here would know if the RC will make a good controller.

The best choice for controller is the Kemper remote. If that is out of the budget range, another good solution is a Behringer FCB1010 with a Uno4Kemper chip (that's what I use). The FCB/Uno combination requires very little if any programming. The Kemper remote is the best solution if you want to access the Kemper looper functions.

Other solutions with standard midi foot pedals can be very difficult at best to program, even if you understand midi. The FCB1010 with its stock eprom is very difficult to deal with, but the Uno4Kemper eprom completely solves all of that.

It has been interesting reading how the Fractal owners can be so defensive about their product and how much better it is than anything else out there. Perhaps part of it is the thought that they had the best modeler on the planet, and then Kemper comes along and gives them a serious challenge in the eyes of the industry. All of a sudden big touring acts as well as name studios have Kempers in widespread use, obviously displacing the Fractal that might have been in its place. They no longer have to constantly tweak the Fractal to get it to sound like the real amps, they just take a profile and they are there. And the ability to take profiles made during recording on stage is amazing.

Part of the Fractal response seems to be some sort of nervousness. This is hard to figure out as the Fractal and Kemper are two different world class products with different uses, and can even be complimentary. I wonder if Fractal is nervous because Line 6 just seriously upstaged the AX8 with the Helix. It has the same approximate price point, similar effects versatility, and a UI to die for. It frankly made the AX8 look like an old school piece of machinery. I'm sure the AX8 is better than the Helix in amp tones, but since you can go into most any GC and try out a Helix, probably only those in the know will spring for the AX8.

Some of what Fractal does seems to be playing catch-up with Kemper (their version of tone matching and their take on PureCab) as well. But I find it immensely cool that CK and the folks at Kemper keep going along to "follow their own funky path" (to quote Undercover Brother), constantly rethinking the modeler and effects and giving us new tones and features.

I pondered the rack vs. toaster question quite a bit, but ended up with the toaster for several reasons. First, having used rack preamps a lot in the past and having to put them in cramped spaces, I did not like the depth of most rack gear, especially when in a rack case. It was just too clumsy. The toaster is more like an amp head, tall and wide without much depth and it works better in some cramped situations.

Another reason is if you calculate internal volume, the toaster takes up less space than the rack. IIRC it weighs less as well. It's very easy to carry around in the Kemper bag, not bulky or clumsy at all.

I've been using a toaster for almost a year now and have not regretted it for a second.

Such results are not exclusive to UPS. My friend had a beautiful Santa Cruz Brazilian rosewood acoustic guitar (probably would cost around $8k or more today and was the single best guitar I have ever played) returned from Santa Cruz after a repair. It was in the Santa Cruz HSC and their packing, packed by them after the repair. My friend just happened to step onto the loading dock at work when he saw the FedEx delivery guy throw it out of the back of the truck onto the concrete dock. The throw crushed the box, case and guitar (which was a total loss). It did end well because he was going to sell the guitar, Santa Cruz has their own third party shipping insurance, so he ended up getting a settlement greater than what he paid for the guitar or expected to get from selling it. But it still hurts to see such a great guitar be killed by incompetence.

One way a buyer can help avoid shipping damage is to insist every item be double boxed. But looking at the OP's pics, it was double boxed, and if there is about 1" or more foam between the first and second box, you can't get much better packing than that. Someone must have severely mistreated that package in transit.

Quote from DaanJM

I honestly don't think buying the FS3X will save you much time. You still have to drill holes for the MIDI connector and power connector. Furthermore, you also still have to do all connections from the momentary switches to the Arduino and from the power plug and MIDI jack to the arduino. The only thing it saves you is drilling of the holes for the switches. I agree that you can omit the Trigger switch, as it is not of much use to me.

It might be a cool feature to include regular jack outputs that connect to the momentary switches, so you can also choose to connect the pedal to the pedal inputs (with TRS) on the Kemper, omitting the MIDI capability.

It might be worth consideration to find and buy an old used midi footswitch, some of the older ones only issue fixed PC's and are of limited use these days. If you could get something like the old Peavey PFC10, you could get your switches already mounted and an almost complete case for far less than buying new. You would just need to junk the existing PCB and wire in your Arduino, and you'd be ready to go. This would save tons of time and effort as well. You would have to be careful though, many footswitches have the actual switch elements and LEDs on a PCB, so you might have to cut and jumper tracks to get to the contacts.

If your drummer sometimes can't keep steady time, the Trigger switch is useful as it will restart a loop. So if his time drifts, you can hit Trigger to resync everything,

I have been meaning to upload the code and details from my pedal (it has 8 buttons for 6 looper functions plus delay on/off and tap tempo). It's not very complicated and hasn't been completed yet (haven't figured out a state machine for the looper Play LED, and as of now the code does not read the Kemper's confirmation of a command like most other pedals do), but it works well. I just haven't had the time to archive it yet, 2 busy jobs. I'll send a link as soon as I can get it zipped up.

The biggest pain IMHO of making a midi pedal with an Arduino is the hardware portion. The code is super easy in many cases with the excellent Arduino midi library. After spending a lot of time trying to program a stock FCB1010 to do some complicated midi stuff, it ended up being far simpler to code it into an Arduino, once you understand how midi works.

It would be great if someone like Sparkfun would make a pre-assembled 4 to 6 button footswitch with an integrated Arduino type uC PCA and a midi in, midi out, and USB for connecting to the Arduino IDE. Just 4 to 6 momentary push buttons with a low current LED above both. I'd think this would be very useful for many different midi projects, and would take the hardest part of making such a thing out of the equation. I'd certainly buy a few.

If you are using a FCB1010 with the Uno4Kemper chip, you will need a direct connection on midi send and receive for it to work properly with the Kemper, as the pedal and Kemper send and receive messages from each other. So even if the FCB1010 can merge midi, you couldn't use it as the FCB1010 does not have multiple inputs.

However, there is an easy and elegant solution if you are building an Arduino based pedal. In the Arduino midi library, there is a merge function available, but they call it mirroring. It is super easy to implement in your code as well. I found by adding the following commands:

MIDI.begin(); //initialize on startup, Defaults to midi mirroring, ch1
while (MIDI.read()) { } //Required in main code to start mirroring

...all data on the Arduino pedal midi input would be merged with its data and sent to the pedal's midi output. You can then place your Arduino pedal between the midi out from the FCB1010/Uno4Kemper and the Kemper midi in, and your pedal data will be merged with the FCB's output data, and both will work properly. I do this with my Arduino based looper pedal, and it works perfectly. However it does require you add a midi input as well as a midi output on your Arduino pedal.

As someone that has worked on microprocessor based equipment in the field for decades now, IMHO it is essential to have a power conditioning UPS on any equipment like the Kemper if you are using it on a stage. Many stages have notoriously bad power; I sometimes play on a stage that routinely has 99VAC at the outlets (we have a voltmeter in the monitor rack). If you end up having to plug into an outlet at the end of a 100' drop cord, and there are power amps plugged into the same outlet, you are going to drop some volts. And many outdoor stages use generators, and those can be notorious for noisy power.

None of this takes into account noise injected into the power lines by equipment in a building such as HVAC.

All that being said, my Kemper has been rock solid and I have had no issues with power, but I haven't used it in any unknown environments yet. Since the Kemper ends up being the totality of your tone, and it takes a significant amount of time to boot up, spending $60 or so on a small battery backup UPS is money well spent.

In my day job we often place equipment with a power supply similar to the Kemper's in the field for demonstrations, and without fail we always buy a new UPS the day prior to the installation and charge its batteries overnight. We then install it with the equipment. When the equipment is returned, we simply leave the UPS at the customer site as someone always wants a new UPS for free. $60 for a UPS is a lot cheaper than disappointing a customer and losing a sale or blowing up a $30K piece of equipment.

The use of morphing is not limited to the amp tones; you can leave the amp tones as they are but completely change multiple effect parameters with the sweep of the pedal. This is what is getting me excited about the feature; I've been wanting to transition some of the effects during a solo but leave the amp tone as it is. You could stack up multiple effects to make insane amounts of racket, but morph the mix on all of them to completely take them out of the tone. The possibilities are endless.

It's true you can do this using midi, but I guarantee you it will be far harder to implement via midi than using morphing. Setting up morphed tones seems to be so simple it is almost laughable, and that's a beautiful thing. I'm tired of the "midi headache".

I don't mean to be critical of Kemper at all, but from reading forums and from personal experience, the Kemper does seem to have a very slightly higher incidence of failure than other similar products I've seen. It's not really fair to compare Kemper reliability to tube amps, tube amps will always fail more as tubes are very fragile and amps are always taking a beating, plus new build tubes are not as rugged as the ones made in the 60s/70s.

Some of the Kemper failures I've read about are: the early LED issue, and distortion developing in the output circuitry, among a few other things. The first Kemper I had was a factory refurb model, and out of the box it had an intermittent distortion problem that required a return. But the replacement for that one (a new in box unit, not a refurb) has worked perfectly. From personal experience I have found Kemper's customer service to be outstanding in every way.

All that being said, the Kemper is a marvelously well engineered piece of gear, at least to my eyes (I have over 30 years of experience in engineering and manufacturing portable test equipment, so I work with this kind of thing daily). With all I've seen, I would not worry about field failures if the Kemper is treated with respect and its power is kept clean and well regulated. But you always need some sort of backup on a gig because any piece of gear can fail. And Kemper's excellent customer service and generous warranty should put your mind at ease, as much as it can being you are depending on a human built piece of equipment.