I've just bought a Strymon Iridium (waiting for it to arrive) as an alternative to my Kemper which I've had since 2012. Just fancied a change/second rig to use in another room, and as I've also got a couple of origin effects pedals (Revival drive and Revival Trem), fancy running them as preamps before the Iridium (just using the Iridium for the IR/Cab sim), but also having the option to use the amp sims in the Iridium too.
As a possible bonus, I thought I could maybe take advantage of using the Kemper time-based effects (delay/reverb) after the Iridium, essentially only using the Kemper to provide these and nothing else.
What would be the best way to connect this up if possible?
This might sound strange but I use the Strymon Iridium in the FX loop of the Kemper, and use the Kemper for drives Fx and so on, and I have the remote as well.
It runs perfectly but I have a problem in sending the initial program change to the Strymon to save a setting
I used the Strymon with the JOYO PXL-8 midi/looper controller, and I could setup up the Iridium, by holding the FAV button till it flashes blue, and then choose a PC change number on the JOYO, and click a switch that sends it to the iridium, it stops flashing, which means the setting as successfully saved on the iridium under that number, as it has a capacity for 300 presets, and this is the way to select a number and save it... and can be recalled once a PC message is sent again, and I saved those various PCs on the various banks of the Joyo, worked perfectly
On Performance mode, I managed to recall these already saved presets, I have like 28, so when I enter PC # 21 on the Kemper performance rig, it choses that that I already saved using the JOYO
My problem is I can not send PC messages to the iridium to save a new preset, or even tweak an existing preset on an existing number and save it
I want to make another set of presets for the Kemper, for example #30-50, using the Kemper, and later tweak them on the Kemper, I can not seem to find how to do that, I don't want to keep going back and forth to the joy and programming it and then come back to the Kemper and just recall.
I am failing to find how I can do that, the there is no button that initiates the PC command to be sent Iridium, I even tried to do it thru "assign" in browser mode, but nothing is happening. Am.i missing something?
The iridium is pretty straight forward, attached the portion of the manual which says how it works.
Appreciate any help or tips.
Sorry if I took too long to describe the issue or if it is still vague
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Hi Majmunx (and anyone else),
I'm thinking of picking up a Strymon Iridium as an alternative to my Kemper which I've had since 2012. Just fancied a change/second rig to use in another room, and as I've also got a couple of origin effects pedals (Revival drive and Rivival trem), fancy running them as preamps before the Iridium (just using the Iridium for the IR/Cab sim), but also having the option to use the amp & cab sims in the Iridium too.
I saw you post re using your Iridium in the FX loop of the Kemper and it got me thinking re other approaches. I could maybe take advantage of using the Kemper time-based effects (delay/reverb) after the Iridium, essentially only using the Kemper to provide these and nothing else.
Would this therefore work?:
Guitar into preamp/'amp in a box' pedals --> Kemper return (then set loop slot in Kemper then delay/reverb slots) --> Kemper send --> Iridium --> FRFR.
I use an Analogman Sunface into my Kemper and it cleans up beautifully giving glassy cleans just as it does with my tube amps, and like with tube amps, best to have a profile on the verge of/at breakup.
The price is a bit steep. Essentially you are buying buttons to tell the Kemper, yes, no, on and off. Functionality is already in the Kemper. This is just a glorified switch box with a small display screen, which are a dime a dozen. Granted it works just for the Kemper (proprietary). Thats where the "We can charge what we want" comes in. Don't get me wrong, I love the Kemper. It is about the best piece of guitar equipment I have ever bought and would not get rid of it for the world unless I lost the wrong fingers where I couldn't play any more.
I have to agree with some about the looper. I cant help but to think it is a bit underhanded. Since it is already in the Kemper, it just needs a couple simple commands from a $2 switch and an led to show state. I am no engineer but as far as enabling the looper with no pedal at all directly on the Kemper seems a simple deal with software. Hell, there are a hundred LEDs on the Kemper to show state. They could make a simple switch pedal or use an existing button on the Kemper just for the looper instead of forcing people to buy the KPR for the functionality it already possesses. The poster that pointed out the secretive stance Kemper had on reporting how the looper would be implemented had a valid point.
It seams that "they" did not want to let on that your Kemper has had this functionality from the day you bought it. They wait until the release statement for the KPR to let us know. I believe it would have been a bit messy on here for some during the buildup of the Pedalboard threads if we knew the facts. The reason I am going on about this is because they dont seam to have given owners an option to at least use it directly on the Kemper. You cant tell me it would not be easy to implement.
I believe they needed an extra functionality to push this price range. That being the "existing" looper. What else does it offer really? Change banks and remote viewing. Where is the money?
I insist on quality in just about everything I buy. Yes Germany is known for its great engineering. So you can hope to expect the Kemper products follow that and if they do then you can expect to pay a bit more but....I get that. But how much? Where are all of the electronics sourced from? Electronic components today are cheap. A heavy duty encasement is easy to do. It is the internals that really matter. I have no idea of the internals quality in my Kemper. I am guessing they are good. I get no unwanted noise. It has a beautiful sound quality, etc. The only way I will realize the true quality of something in this price range is longevity. We will see.
As far as the build quality of the Kemper from the outside view, I would give it a 7.5 out of 10. I like it and it is good but the knobs feel very cheap to me. They have a very easy lateral movement. (The stem flexes very easy). I never liked that and it has turned me away from buying other electronic devices in the past. If I looked at the Kemper in person and felt those knobs I would not have bought it. Now if I heard it AND felt the knobs.........well yes I would have bought it anyway. But if there were competition that does just what the Kemper does, I would have looked deeper into the quality of the build and used that as my deciding factor. Another thing I notice every time I sit down and play my Kemper is the gap between the face plate and the aluminum "hood". It is eye level and I can look right through it. Simple thing I know but a little odd for something in this price range.
I think when someone opens up the first pedalboard they may be a bit underwhelmed and wonder where the money went.
With all of this said, once again, I love my KPA and I really appreciate what this company has done. It is a beautiful thing indeed. But I will still call it as I see it.
----QUESTIONS----- How many of you would buy this if it didnt have the looper? How much would you be willing to pay then?
Now the big question. Will I buy it?
Probably. Why? Because I am a dumbass and I can afford it. Besides, I am on the list. But if I go to order it when it is time and I cant get it before too long I may just forget it and let it go though. I only play at home so I don't "need" it. But I want the looper dammit. I have a much more detailed one but it is a bit of a pain getting it to not mess up my sound in the chain with the Kemper.
Please dont flame me and my opinion. That is all it is.....an opinion. And if I am wrong or incorrect with anything technical I said, I apologize ahead of time.
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I couldn't agree more with this post. I love my Kemper profiler. I bought one of the first ones, with the dodgy LED's. About half of my LED's have died, but I just can't stand being without it for a few weeks while it's being fixed, so I'm still using it with the broken LED's! I really need to send this in for the fix sometime.
I especially agree with the comments on the knobs and have commented on this long ago. They feel incredible cheap and wobbly, embarrassingly so. I also probably would have walked away on feel of the knobs alone (but would still have bought it due to the tones).
The price of the Kemper remote is on the high side in my opinion, but as Inthrutheout said, I am a dumbass (although, being from Liverpool I would have said 'I am a gobshite') and I can afford it.
And to prove that, I've just ordered the remote as I was on the list. And remember, I am a gobshite.
The clean sense is an absolutely great tool, Even using the same guitar, I use different levels depending on the profile. It's generally much more apparent what it is doing on obviously clean tones, and low gain semi broken up tones. Cranking it wayyyy up can really bring a profile to life. Also, I am not a fan of touching the gain control really. If the profile I like is slightly too gainy for my tastes, I will actually drop the distortion sense before I would even consider dropping the gain. Same thing If I need alittle extra push in the overdrive department and don't feel like coloring it with a pedal. This to me sounds more transparent and doesn't take away from the tone, which can happen when you go too far outside of the initial profiled gain level. Try this sometime. For this reason, I do not lock my input settings, but rather have them set up for each specific profile I am using, this works well for me, but may not for everyone.
Couldn't have said it better myself. This is exactly what I do.
Correct, thanks for the price info. I should have read this thread from the beginning again to see for myself before posting. The more dealers the better for the consumer. Here are all the Kemper dealers listed, choose country first. (kemper home page, buy, dealer: (problem with links on the forum again...) http://www.kemper-amps.com/pag…ers_and_Distributors.html I can't see dv247 there in UK.
See that big button on the lower right hand side of the Kemper labelled 'VOLUME'? That knob adjusts the volume of the specific profile. You could therefore have one profile that has the volume knob set to say 12 O'clock (and saved), and on another profile it could be set to say 2 O'clock (and saved), to match the volume of the profile you have just set to 12 O'clock.
Onerous thing to have to do though. Be easier if they could be normalised in some way without having to set each individual profile volume separately, i.e. select a reference profile and get all other profiles set to that one in terms of volume output.
