Posts by jpoelmans

Quote from fourstrk

No fancy solutions out there? Road cases with any sophisticated interior?

Well, most rental companies in my neighbourhood use a standardcase on wheels, measuring 60x80, with dividers inside. But they have a lot more cables than a local coverband + they have a hydrolic cantilever tail lift mounted on the back of their truck which makes that such road cases are never to be lifted. And If they should be lifted, they allways travel with 2 techs anyway...

I myself on the other hand have to lift every piece of equipment over the bumper of my Opel Vivaro van, or if its a bigger event ill loan a Opel Movano from Work, which still needs lifting. Often Im the first to arrive at the venue. So I keep my cables in Euronorm crates, which can easily be lifted by one person. Also my small PA equipment is stored in such crates, I have a wheel plates for those crates too, so I can roll the whole stack around..

Quote from V8guitar

In all seriousness, I don;t think the Kemper is more susceptible than any other electronic equipment, so even using another amp will not solve the possibility of a failure ( although if its a cheaper amp its a lower risk).

even a stupid logo projector: On a certain occasion were I DJ-ed at an event, I show up 25 minutes before my set starts, with a “logo projector”, icecold from sitting in the car, to project my logo against the wall. I start to play my set, turn on the projector, and boom, all power was gone... Crowd laughing its ass off....

Yep, be especially carefull when your equipment sits in a cold car or van, when you bring it into a warmer space, the relative humidity will rise when it toucher the cold surface of your equipment and condensate (remember cold air will hold less absolute humidity than warm air, so when warm air is cooled, humidity will rise, and all humidity in excess of 100% will have to condensate).

If this should happen: let your device warm up and the humidity evaporate. Only when that has happened: switch on power.

And you don't need special humid climates for this to happen. Even in western europe, performing on a cold winter night, and unpacking your gear in a packed, warm, humid venue will cause havoc. Never leave your gear in a cold car! Guitars crack, Kempers fry themselves...

Velcro on all cables, and each cable is color coded with a piece of colored electrical tape, protected by transparant shrinkwrap to show its length.

Also the way MauritzSA suggests is the correct way to roll a cable, as it defeats the possible forming of "8" figures: just rolling a cable over your forearm and elbow gives a twist in each loop, which makes cables want to go straight again. There is a flaw however in Mauritz' method, and that is that when unrolling your cable, your cable has the tendency to tie itself into knots. There is another method, which doesn't do 'under', but you'll have to be carefull to twist the cable between your thumb and finger, so the loop is complety twist-free. And offcourse this can't be used with lengths over 10m, as every twist you do has to relief itself over the length of the unrolled cable. Which in turn does stress the conductors. But it's still beter than going over your elbow

All this talk about Kemper 2. Makes me wonder, what exactly should a Kemper 2 be? Why do we need new hardware? And if there's new FX or other stuff int there: can it's features be implemented in the original Kemper by updates? I don't think that there is any consensus about this...

Off course, there'll come a time the Kempers DSP platform is obsolete, and yes, some users prefer a different package. But on the other hand, There are so many brands out there that keep coming out with new hardware, just to purposely make updating users' existing hardware obsolete, and earn money on new hardware. Fractal to name one... Or Native Instruments with their Kontrol S4 mk1 which suddenly isn't supported anymore and is worth shit now on the second hand market...

So to be the owner of a device, made by the same guy who kept supporting all of its synthesizer line, even when the last one in vastly more powerfull than the first, well, that's kind of reassuring, and actually makes me happy with what I have. I don't need a Kemper 2, but I do like updates!

BUT: Ultimatly, when a Kemper 2 comes, it'll probably have to be reprogrammed in C or something else, as the DSP is nearing end of life. Which makes me wish that there will never be a Kemper 2: Even for someone like CK, maintaining 2 codebases is a gigantic task, so I'm doubting we will see updates for a Kemper 2 platform backported on the original Kemper platform... Which means the original Kemper will be worth shit second hand, and if I want the new shiney updates I'll have to put down some $$$.... In other words: wishing for a Kemper 2 is wishing for a serious loss in value of your original Kemper...

https://synthmorph.com/blogs/n…ture-kemper-amp-virus-ti3

I think there is more to it than just making a Kemper 2 with a few new hardware features. Common sense would be that Kemper has to rewrite its code to a totally different (newer and longer supported) platform for a Kemper 2 to ever happen, just to make sure they can support it for a longer time. That's one hell of a task and I am very curious how that turns out, If and only if Kemper decides to bite the bullet and completely rewrite its technology... But don't expect any new Kemper hardware based on the current platform which ceases production in 2023...

But hey, we can't complain, we have free updates! I'm just very curious if Kemper would go through the hassle of maintaining 2 codebases if a Kemper 2 would happen. Sure that's a lot of work, and it would emphase their vision about updates.... But still, that's a lot of work, which only has marketing value by then...

Well, in the case a rider gets ignored, the sound guy is definitely to blame. Or the promotor which didn't forward the rider... Been there done that... Just be careful not to be a dick about it yourself (I always have to be carefull for this myself! Probably cost me a few gigs in the past...). Boy you have to be careful not to step on each others toes...

But yes, to be clear, in normal circumstances the Kemper's direct out IS easier to mix, less mic spillover etc.

Oh, last technical one: Im always cautious about using amps DI outs. Usually we would put our own DI in between, with ground lift features we trusted, padding switches, and no chance accidental Phantom power would destroy the bands equipment. You simply don't know what you are connecting to, and you want to be on top of things when troubleshooting... If you would have asked me before I knew and used the Kemper myself, I would have said no to direct out if my DI's were all occupied for other things... Now, seems the Kemper's output can handle phantom power, but I know a fellow guitarist with an axe FX with it's main outputs dead. We have no clue why, but I do suspect it died of phantom power... Also the Helix manual strongly advises against it. So there is something to say about just yanking the XLR out of an SM57 and plugging it into a balanced out, not knowing what's happening on either end of the cable...

But hey, you're a guitar player, you are not expected to know this: In the end you should have to know why the engineer doesn't want to connect that way, and try to talk it over. But indeed, more often than not people get defensive when you question their methods... I think thats the bigger problem, which is sad for the people who do this...

I keep wondering guys, If so many soundguys are too stubborn to use the kempers main outputs, or are just plain surprised to see a Kemper on their stage, or didn't provide mics for bass amps, etc etc, did they ignore the rider, or just didnt get one? Or wasn't the rider not detailed enough?

I mean, standard practice is to tap from the bass amps DI out, and to mic a guitar cab. If for some reason, you as a band want it to be done differently, it should be on your tech-rider. The stock of mikes a venue or rental firm hads is not unlimited! A soundguy which does it's job correct reads that stuff, and prepares his kit for the show. Maybe they do 2 events at the same time and have to be carefull with which mikes go to which venue, do they stock enough monitors, or do they have to rent in, all sort of practical stuff..

If there should be any reason why he cant strictly follow your rider (a busy festival patch could be one), he should call you in advance to have a chat over the problem and find a solution, in advance!

That's how I've dealt with things in my days as the rental company's tech. I ok, I was kind of stressy when I was on duty, and I can imagine that this didn't always leave friendly first impressions. But I always felt it was my duty to make shure that the band was amplified in a proper way, could hear themselves so they didn't play mistakes (at least couldnt blame the sound :p), etc. If I failed, the whole show would fail! I would make sure every listed instrument was mic'd the way the rider said, all my stands where prepared, etc. By the time the drummer was set-up, the whole stage was mic'd up, and soundcheck would start. And under time-pressure I would get stressy about this. I can assure you, outdated or absent riders DID NOT HELP.

Ofcourse, we are all people, everyone makes mistakes, both musicians and soundguys, and that should never be a reason for the other party to get bitchy about it. If they do, that's their problem. If they get bitchy about their own mistake, that's even more their problem. But I believe techriders are there just to make good agreements in advance.

A good techrider provides (not limitative):
* contact info of at least the most technical bandmembers or the bands tech
* some general terms like stage dimensions, who will bring the soundguy (band or venue), soundsystem requirements, minimum sound level requirements, who brings what equipment (some bands tour with their own mixer + in ears) etc
* A stage plan: who will stand where. Also power outlets, amps and monitors are marked on the stageplan
* A list of inputs, with for each input suggestions for mics (eg SM57 for guitar cab, SM58 for singers, ...). Also if a mic must not be swapped with a comparable mic, comment on the why: eg. a e906 defeats the need of a stand in front of your amp, you bring a Kemper Profiler without a cab, so you insist in it being tapped from the main out, the singer insists on wireless kit, the bass player likes his amp miked and not DI's. You can also comment on compression/gate or other insert effects, eg 2 lead singers need compression, kickdrum gated, ....
* On that input list you also list a CD player should you need you
* A list of aux outputs: You need Reverb, delay, but also your monitor outs: aux 1 is the drummers cab, aux 2 is the bassplayers in-ears which he'll provide himself, aux 3 and 4 are a stereo pair for the in-ears of the singer which much be provided by the venue. And so on...

You don't have to be a big band to provide a rider, even a beginning punk band of 14 year old youngsters should have this (just dont put hospitality demands on it), just so the soundguy knowns who is coming in with what equipment. He'll thank you for making his life easier... If you haven't, there will be a day that there isn't a mic left, or worse, no wedge left, and that the soundguy is not just pretending!

Just going to share my own techrider as an example...

Yeah, one of my darkest moments...

Since then my #1 rule is: small instruments (guitars, saxophones, violins, etc) are the last to be put on the stage, and the first to be removed. Do not pull cables or other bulky items from the stage with a Gibson Les Paul in its stand, even if Slash says a broken headstock sounds better...

Oh and the saxophone got straightened and worked again. Though I don't know if that influences playability....

Funny thing, I should suspect every soundguy does a little dance once for every sound-producing item left at home: floormonitors, acoustic pianos, hammonds, real drums, guitar amps. Makes life a lot less complicated.

But I suspect you got off on the wrong foot with that guy if I read the first response he made. And honestly, the thing that would get me angry the most is bands not sticking to their rider, and asking for extra mikes during soundcheck. Offcourse, I wasn't there, but let me share some of my experiences:

Once I mixed a latin band. A rider was provided, and all microphones were put ready on the side of the stage. Instruments are set up, and in no time I begin placing microphones. I soundcheck, and suddenly there seem to be some musicians running late (the fact that they all spoke spanish didn't help with me getting notified about that). And I get asked: can you provide a mic for this guy. I place the mic, soundcheck, and in the middle of that, I get asked for another mic. And another. At one time I looked into the microphone case and had to say: sorry guys, this is all I have, can't provide extra mics. And then those guys start to look angry at me? Well, maybe provide a good rider...

Another time I mixed a band, and a talkshow before the band. I don't know why, but in the middle of the soundcheck I had to be at the stageblock. Found that the drummer piled his drums bags on top of it. And to makes matters worse: one of the talkshow members, which was a local celebrity, starts to get a big mouth about the soundcheck being lengty... I get stressed, start to take away those bags so a can do my work, and then: BANG: a strap was caught in the saxophone, and that saxophone went down, straight on its mouthpiece.... My insurance luckily took care of this, and my apologies couldnt be more sincere, but the saxophone player could pack up its things. Why? Because of time-stress-factors whichs weren't necessary...

Last but not least: especially on festivals, were you as a soundtech strongly advise to have 45 minutes between bands for teardown, buildup, and soundcheck, the promotor allways find it necessary to reduce this to 15 minutes. Then you'll have to make sure you can reuse as much of your patch as possible. Thatll probably mean 2 or 3 SM57 mics for guitars, that get reused, without touching the settings on the board, EQ, monitor sends, etc. If suddenly someone asks for a DI out on his kemper, there can be a chance that I'll start to ask previous or following bands to lend out a cab to play through, just to keep my soundcheck shorter.

Again: I wasn't there, just trying to sketch some of the factors that keep soundguys busy

Hmm, one for practicing at home, and one in the rehearsal space for weekly rehearsals? You'll only have to carry your guitar then, which is still more than that drummer who has 2 electronic drumsets, or that keyboard player who just plays his acoustic at home...

Whatever floats your boat, as long as you can pay for it...

Quote from BlindGuitarist

Great about the Remote.
Question: can I sort rigs into performances using the Rig Manager?

You can, but I do remember that the time I tried it, it was a bit buggy... Could have been me or my computer, and in the mean time many updates have been released. I suggest you try it: performance mode also works without the remote The folder with the list of performances found in your kemper is all the way down in the left panel.

Oh, and if budget would matter: some people use a Behringer FCB1010 fitted with a Uno4Kemper, which is a custom firmware for the FCB so it works with the kemper just like the remote. Only 2 downsides are that you don't have a display like you have on the remote, but more importantly, you run 2 MIDI cables + power to the FCB, instead of just an ethernet cable providing 2 way communication and power. Offcourse some people found a solution for this too, and use a 7-pin two-way MIDI cable with power for the FCB sent through the MIDI cable. On the upside, the FCB is fitted with 2 expression pedals, which are not standard on the Kemper Remote.

Quote from BlindGuitarist

light-dependent folks

4. I don't yet have the Kemper Remote, but am I right in thinking this will give me more physical control, and more immediate access to editing things on the hardware?

5. If I have this right, Up and Down buttons in the Rig Navigation Cross move in groups of eight rigs. So, I'm thinking that to simplify my life, I should come up with five categories of sounds, eight rigs per category, something like: clean/jazz, slight breakup/blues, classic rock, hard rock, and metal/high gain. That leads me to:

Display More

Hey there,

First of all, I love the mindset behind the 'light-dependend folks' thing, and how it turns the tables completely

As for question 4: the Remote serves to be used in 'Performance mode'. There you will have a number of performances, each consisting of 5 rigs (say clean/crunch/distortion/high-gain/and something else. On the remote you can scroll through these performances using up and down buttons, and choose the rig you use within that performance using 5 rig buttons. By pressing the corresponding rig button twice you also have access to the morph function. You then have 4 knobs which you can map to the FX slots (to switch these on or off), both before or after the amp module. You can access the tuner (although I suspect you are doing this by ear), and you can turn the rig buttons into a looper using an extra button. And you can connect expression pedals for volume, pitch, wah, morph. You obviously can't edit parameters like the amount of gain or reverb from the remote. The remote is designed to quickly switch settings in a live setting, which usually consist of a carefully prepared collection of presets, which must be switched on a dark stage. From the dark stage to your condition is not very far...

As for question 5: well, maybe the performance mode in combination with a remote gives you a more consistent way of sorting your rigs. You see, in browse mode, the screen indeed shows 8 rigs, but which rigs are shown together is just a result of the sorting of the list of rigs. You can sort rigs by name, author, show only favorites, and last but not least by gain. The sorting by gain may bring you close to what you wanted in your question. But then, when you would add a rig to the profiler, the list gets longer, and that rig is sorted in between the others, so your grouping by 8 will be offset. I can imagine what a pain that will be if you must navigate by touch...

In performance mode, you must go through the hassle of loading your favorite rigs into performances and thus sorting them manually, but once that is done you can use the remote to scroll through them, and adding an extra rig in browse mode wont mess up your sorting pattern.

Quote from Dean_R

From my experience split coils from any humbucker will never sound as good as the worst dedicated single coil pickup.

The man has a point... I once tried hot rails in my strat, humbucker sound was "meh". Ultimatly bought a Les Paul, with split wiring, but also, the split sound on a les paul is "meh"... But hey, there are no rules, in the end it's your sound, and if that sound is humbuckers with split coils, then it's not up to us to decide that this won't work for you! I also don't like the twangy character of a Tele, but there are whole tribes who will hunt me down, boil and eat me for saying this....

Are there any specific reasons you would like to avoid push pulls? They are a nice way to avoid drilling extra holes for switches in your pickguard...

I'm not superexperienced in guitar wiring, but I am a bit electrical experienced, and I don't think its possible.

The reason is that a standard 5 way switch does all the magic with the 3 coils for you: itll connect terminal 1 to out in neck position, 1 and 2 on the next position, 2 in the middle, 2 and 3 in the next and 3 in the bridge position. Ibanez (and probably others) then use the second set of switching blades to ground the single coil terminals.

But I would solve this using a push-pull pot. Use standard HSH wiring, found in Ibanez and others, but then solder the switch of a push-pull pot parallel to the single-coil tap wires, other side to the switch to ground.

So when the switch is closed, your neck humbucker will allways be single coil, regardless of 5-way switch position, when its open you only have single coil operation when paired with the middle pickup.

I quickly mocked up some modified schematic to illustrate. Hope you can read it

Ps: If you desolder the split wires from the 5-way switch you are completely free to decide wether you split coils or not, and could even have the full humbucker together with the middle pickup. And a second push pull for the neck puckup could give you full SSS operation... Thats how Gibson does it in it's les pauls, offcourse with 3 way switches

Depends on how durable you want your cable to be. I dont give a damn about low oxigen copper and other hifi grade stuff, but i do care about rolling and unrolling your cable nicely, not having to deal with broken connectors during setup and finding the right cable in no time.

I use tasker cable (meterware), with a neutrik connector, a shrinksleeve with my name and the colorcoded length, and a velcro strap

Quote from 0K1900

How do I do that? I have a multimeter but... never used it. thanks for the help

You usually have a function to measure out shorts (or diodes, that why that function is usually labelled with a diode). Its really easy: when you let the 2 probes touch each other, or you measure a short, the multimeter beeps.

So in practice, you choose that function, and start to measure all possible combinations: from jack1-ground to jack1 tip, jack 1 gound to jack 1 ring, jack 1 tip to jack 1 ring. Than jack 1 ground to jack 2 ring, 1 ground to 2 tip, and so on, 'till you have every possible shortcircuit ruled out. In this case there'll be 15 combinations... Quite good practice, not only to prevent equipment damage, but also to rule out headaches during soundcheck If you ever solder 40 channel multicores for FOH and monitordesk + Fx rack multis, with al sort of spiders, looms, breakoutboxes and multiconnectors, youll be glad you did this before you went to do a gig with it

On sight I can't see anything went wrong...

I don't think so, because all your switch does is connect signal to ground, so you could have some serieus shortcircuits in your switch before you do damage. Even connecting your 2 signals together wont so many harm, this will occur in an expression pedal on full. Well, maybe mixing up your 2 expression inputs could, but don't really think so...

If you would integrate with other things, involving battery or phantom power and so on that would be a different question... Then again, Ive seen things connected which shouldnt be connected, 48V on the wrong outputs, and so on and so on, things which don't even involve soldering.... Yes, sometimes that means an output will be fried, other times stuff just keeps working. Many things depend on how an input or output is designed...

But hey, if you want to be sure, use your multimeter to measure faults before you use it...

@Cederick, where did you find that cable?

Tie wraps and made to length cables!