Posts by absrec

  • DI profile not even close

    I wanted to report back after finally trying the Kemper DI. I had some issues obtaining it in through the US online store but eventually was able to make the purchase.


    Sadly, the DI did not solve the problem. I was really hoping it would but the result is identical to the Countryman 85 and the cheap, passive Livewire DI. I thought briefly that since the Kemper is transformerless, it might yield a different result.


    So... I'm still open to ideas but it seems like most of them have been presented here and haven't solved the problem. The Kemper DI was one of the most mentioned solutions and it hasn't made any difference. This supports the people that claim to have tried multiple DIs, including the Kemper, and feel that the Countryman sounded the best out of all.


    Just to reiterate... the issue I'm having is not subtle or something that could be chalked up to a matter of opinion. The title of this thread (of which I am the OP) is "DI profile not even close". This is the best way to say it.


    Is it possible something is wrong with my KPA? Everything else seems to work as described. Being that the profiling process is largely the same for DI as it is for Studio profiles, the only thing I can think is that maybe the "No Cabinet" process is not functioning correctly? In this case, it would be something that could be fixed with a software update. That would be best case scenario. Much better than going through the process of replacement. I'd rather send the amp I'm trying to profile to Kemper and see if they have better luck. :P


    I guess I'm just at a loss.

  • DI profile not even close

    Thanks. That’s the Canadian store. I’m in the US. You would think that being on the same continent, it wouldn’t be a problem... I tried to purchase it but when setting up the address, it only gives me the option of selecting Canadian Provences. I’m at a loss. Maybe I can get an answer through product support.

  • DI profile not even close

    Quote from ckemper

    Our DI Box is a special item, only usable in combination with the Profiler.
    Therefore we donˋt expect local dealers to stock it.
    But the DI Box is available in our online store.


    That´s the reason why it can be sent back if you are not satified.


    It seems that the DI box is available in other stores, just not the US store. I’ve checked online “big box” suppliers as well but to no avail.


    Any idea when it will be available again?

  • DI profile not even close

    Quote from ckemper

    Our DI Box is a special item, only usable in combination with the Profiler.
    Therefore we donˋt expect local dealers to stock it.
    But the DI Box is available in our online store.


    That´s the reason why it can be sent back if you are not satified.

    I just checked and it says out of stock. When will it be available again?

  • DI profile not even close

    Quote from ckemper

    I would strongly suggest that you try our DI Box. It does not contain any active components and no transformer.Since the difference between the Studio Profile and the Direct Profile is the DI Box, I suspect it to add distortion.
    If it does not work, you can just send it back to us.

    I appreciate that. However, I tried both of my Countryman Type 85 DIs and a Livewire passive DI. Both of which are reported by other KPA users to work fine.

  • DI profile not even close

    Quote from ElDoca

    How does it sound when you make a studio profile and turn off the cab section or run monitor cab off? It won't be exact but you can adjust, reprofile and test until you hit the sound you're looking for.

    I haven’t done a lot of experimentation with that but the little but I’ve done tells me it’s probably a usable option. I’m just trying to figure out why it’s doing what it’s doing. More specifically why just this one amp? It seems like I should be able to get it to work.

  • DI profile not even close

    Thanks, gtrgriff3. It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one that has this problem. It’s just a bummer that I happen to own one of the select few amps that present this challenge.

  • DI profile not even close

    Quote from ckemper

    The studio profile is fully clean.


    The sound that you were attempting to profile was quite gritty.
    Correct

    The amp has some gritty-ness. It has a lot of clarity though. I normally run it with the presence knob up a good bit. This really brings the sound forwards and helps it cut through a band. The person in the front row usually doesn’t care much for it though.


    With the amp set to the setting, the studio profile is representing the mic’ed sound very well. Without touching the amp, taking a DI profile yeilds a sound that is nothing like the sound coming from the DI box. It’s very easy to tell with the Kemper’s ability to hear the A/B comparison by switching between Kemper amp & Reference Amp.


    Like I said the amp has some grit but it’s the kind that sits nicely in a band. When playing with other instruments or on a recording, it sound pretty clean. But with definition that cuts through. The amp doesn’t have multiple gain stages, per se but.... as we all know, the distortion is a product of the preamp, the power amp, the speaker, etc. Not just one thing. There’s a section in the Kemper manual where it is stated that chains with too many gain stages will cause issues when taking profiles. It makes me wonder if this is one of those situations. If there is something complex about this amp that is making it tough to profile. I don’t know. Just thinking out loud, really.

  • MIDI Slot request in Performance Mode

    The KPA sends a messsge sometimes after a slot selection. But, as far as I can tell it contains no useful data. I think it’s -


    F0 00 20 33 00 00 01 00 00 00 32 00 F7


    At first, I thought that it was indicating 32 (CC#50 = Slot#1) was the selection but it sent same the message regardless of what Slot# I chose. And it seems inconsistent. Sometimes it spits out the message, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it not a Sysex array, but a Bank# & a Slot selection in PC# format. This would be useful is there were any way to extract that info other than simply reading on the MIDI Monitor program display.

  • MIDI Slot request in Performance Mode

    Thanks. I see what you mean. It spits out the MIDI Prg# which is the first time I’ve seen that. If only I could find the command to get just that and assign it to a variable, some simple math would return a value between 0 & 4 allowing me (us) to light up some proper indicators.

  • MIDI Slot request in Performance Mode

    Quote from Gizmo

    I searched for a simple method to get slot or program number from the KPA. Asked here a couple of times too.
    I came to the conclusion that it was not possible to do it simply.
    The only way I found was to continually poll the KPA with a request that sends pretty much everything. It returns way more than you will need and you have to do it continually to keep the KPA connected.
    Too much overhead and I decided that I can live without it.


    If you are really interested in digging in that deeply I can post the commends.

    Would you? I believe what you are saying but I'd still like to see what I'm missing. My hope is that it will be overwhelming enough to make me move onto to other, more obtainable, challenges. :D

  • MIDI Slot request in Performance Mode

    Quote from slateboy

    Can you not just calculate the performance and slot number from the midi program change you send out?,
    Ie, prog 0-4= perf1,slot1-5 prog5-9= perf2,slot1-5, etc...


    I know its not actually "requesting" the info. But if you change slot/performance on the kpa it can send a midi program change from which you could establish the performance and slot numbers.

    That's fine. I just can't seem to figure out how to access that info. If the message is sent from Bandhelper, my arudino won't do anything until I step on one of the buttons. No? I think it will need to be made aware when a new slot is selected, regardless of whether or not it was the device that made the selection. I hope I'm not misunderstanding your reply.

  • MIDI Slot request in Performance Mode

    Has anyone figured this out yet? I'm going to buy a remote eventually but I just bought the KPA not too long ago so I'll have to save up some more cash. As it stands I can probably deal with what I have but I'd like to make it better if I can. I have an Arduino UNO with a routine loaded into it to change slots 1-5. It works great but I have to either keep the KPA in front of me or turn around to verify which slot I am on if unsure. Especially when changing performances. My goal is to set it up to where an LED will light up that corresponds to whatever the currently loaded performance is. I normally call up performances/slots from my Bandhelper app. This will allow me to load the slots with sounds for the Intro/Verse, Chorus, Solo, "Spacey Breakdown" :D You get the picture.


    I've been firing off sysex messages from Bandhelper and watching the results on a MIDI monitor program on my computer. I can get the rig names for each of the 5 slots returned in Hex format, I can get just about any parameter from any effect, turn things on and off, etc. The only thing that I can't seem to do is get a Slot# / ID. I can call one up with MIDI CC#50-54. The MIDI documentation claims that the MIDI parameters carry multiple types of info like numbers and text depending on what is requested. I've tried requesting a numeric value from CC#50-54 ($32 - $37) but all I get back is $00 no matter whether or not it's the current rig. All I want to do is write a routine that cycles through the slots to see which one is on and send a HIGH value to the corresponding LED. Seems simple. What am I missing? I've seen quite a few pretty elaborate controllers made by people much smarter than myself come up in various searches. I also found a few people that (I think) were asking the same question on this and other forums. It seems like nobody has gotten a definitive answer though. The threads just kinda fizzle out. I would love some insight if some of the MIDI-savvy folks wouldn't mind sharing.


    Thanks,
    -Aaron

  • DI profile not even close

    The amp isn't anything you would be familiar with. It's a custom build I bought here in Atlanta. The builder made probably less than 10 of them. It's called the "Bakos Amp Works Plus45". I know that doesn't help. The topology of it is similar to a JTM45 except it has EL34s and the tone stack is changed a little from the early Marshalls. He also went through a few output transformers before found one that was to his liking.


    I'm not sure why I haven't been getting your emails. I received the initial auto-response email when I first contacted Kemper. The email associated with my account should be - [email protected]

  • DI profile not even close

    Quote from dickjonesify

    I tried two. One (a Bad Cat Cub with EL84’s) did it much more than the other (locally built 40 watt amp with 6L6’).
    Never came up with a reason why. I also tried a couple different DI boxes. Obviously though, if you have an amp you want to profile, “try a different amp” is not a satisfactory solution haha. It was frustrating.

    Exactly... I sent an email to Kemper support to hopefully begin a discussion about why certain amps are tricky and if they can offer some suggestions. Maybe a tweak or two in their software could solve the problem. Who knows?