KPA and FCB/Uno Live Use Questions

    I think I'm ready to buy the KPA. I expect that it will excel in terms of tone quality, ease of use, and versatility. I've been reading the manuals and forums for months, but I still have a few concerns, mostly about using it live with the FCB1010 controller with the Uno chip. I've been researching all day and my brain is numb and confused, so I hope this makes sense. If anyone has the patience to answer, I'd be grateful!


    REVERB & DELAY

    The FCB1010 controller with the Uno chip only has switches for slots A, B, C, D, and Mod. I’m confused as to whether Reverb and Delay need to use slots or if they’re separate from the stomps and included for every preset, so all the stomp slots are available for other effects. And if they don't reside in slots, can you not turn the delay on and off with the FCB?


    PUTTING RIGS IN ORDER ON FCB

    With the Axe-Fx and MFC, I’m used to swapping the numbers of presets to put them in the order I want them on the MFC pedalboard. For the Kemper, to assign your favorite presets to the first 2 banks of the FCB1010 (with Uno), would you assign a PrgChg number to each preset in the order you want them on the pedals, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10?

    And then would you need to find the presets that previously had those numbers and assign them the old numbers of your favorites? Sort of manually swapping them?


    ACCESSING LEAD PRESET IN EVERY BANK

    I usually use one rig for my leads, with multiple rigs for rhythm. With the Axe-Fx, I have the MFC foot controller set for the bottom 10 switches to be “rigs” and the 5 above them to be stomp boxes. So I can use any rhythm rig between 1 to 10, and easily switch to #5, my JCM800 Lead Preset.

    But with the FCB, I can only access 5 rigs at a time. So say I have the lead rig assigned to 5; but if I go up to the next bank for a different rhythm rig, I still need to access that lead rig without changing banks in the middle of a song. And I’d guess you cannot assign the same preset to 2 footswitches. So this strategy just won’t work?

    Or could I some how copy or create an identical lead preset for each bank?

    Thanks for your insights!

    Hey! ;)


    Quote from ClassicMetal

    REVERB & DELAY

    The FCB1010 controller with the Uno chip only has switches for slots A, B, C, D, and Mod. I’m confused as to whether Reverb and Delay need to use slots or if they’re separate from the stomps and included for every preset, so all the stomp slots are available for other effects. And if they don't reside in slots, can you not turn the delay on and off with the FCB?


    Of course, you can choose to program the FCB with UnO4Kemper chip so that it also switches delay or/and reverb.
    You're right though that there are not enough switches to switch all available slots. So you have to prioritize. Personally I never switch reverb, it's always on (only a tad), and I also always have delay on, with different mixing levels per patch. Which brings me to your next question. ;)

    Quote from ClassicMetal

    PUTTING RIGS IN ORDER ON FCB

    With the Axe-Fx and MFC, I’m used to swapping the numbers of presets to put them in the order I want them on the MFC pedalboard. For the Kemper, to assign your favorite presets to the first 2 banks of the FCB1010 (with Uno), would you assign a PrgChg number to each preset in the order you want them on the pedals, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10?

    And then would you need to find the presets that previously had those numbers and assign them the old numbers of your favorites? Sort of manually swapping them?

    Make yourself familiar with the performance mode in the profiler. In short, you can decide to use a certain rig in a performance. A performance could be a song for example. A performance contains 5 slots so this could refer to intro, verse, chorus, solo, etc.
    The great thing is that the rigs in the slots are copies of the referred rig and can use different amp or FX settings.
    Ordering performances in the profiler is an easy and convenient thing.
    Performances are automatically assigned PC numbers from 001 upwards.


    Quote from ClassicMetal

    ACCESSING LEAD PRESET IN EVERY BANK

    I usually use one rig for my leads, with multiple rigs for rhythm. With the Axe-Fx, I have the MFC foot controller set for the bottom 10 switches to be “rigs” and the 5 above them to be stomp boxes. So I can use any rhythm rig between 1 to 10, and easily switch to #5, my JCM800 Lead Preset.

    But with the FCB, I can only access 5 rigs at a time. So say I have the lead rig assigned to 5; but if I go up to the next bank for a different rhythm rig, I still need to access that lead rig without changing banks in the middle of a song. And I’d guess you cannot assign the same preset to 2 footswitches. So this strategy just won’t work?

    Or could I some how copy or create an identical lead preset for each bank?

    Thanks for your insights!

    See my answer above. I have a lead patch in every slot 5 of every performance. ;)

    Thanks, Ingolf! Come to think of it, I usually don't turn the delay on and off, I just have it set differently for lead and rhythm presets, and never turn reverb off, so I guess that's really a non-issue.


    In Performance mode, can you move both forward and backward, and not be locked into progressing in order through the slots? So you could stomp on the lead switch at will?

    I wouldn't want to have to select a different performance for each song, so I kind of ruled Performance Mode out, but I may have to adapt my process for the new system. You're right, having a copy of the lead preset in every Performance would be convenient.

    I currently use 5 rhythm presets and 2 lead ones. I guess worst case scenario is I could create Bank 1 with the 4 most used rhythm rigs and 1 lead.

    Can you have two rigs that are exactly the same amp and cab, but with different settings, or is Performance Mode the only way to do that?

    With the Axe-Fx, I copied a JCM 800 preset, and use one for rhythm, with volume at about - 4 db, and the other for lead, with the volume at 0 db, plus a distortion pedal on. You can also create different "scenes" for each preset, and the foot controller lets you switch between scenes for each preset, so I have a lead and rhythm scene for every preset.

    I know that I will need to answer many of my questions myself with the actual Kemper in front of me, I just wanted to avoid buying it and immediately running into a deal-breaker, so I appreciate your wise advice. Probably soon I will be experimenting with it and shut up for a while! :)

    Quote from ClassicMetal

    In Performance mode, can you move both forward and backward, and not be locked into progressing in order through the slots? So you could stomp on the lead switch at will?


    Yes, of course.

    Quote from ClassicMetal


    I wouldn't want to have to select a different performance for each song, so I kind of ruled Performance Mode out, but I may have to adapt my process for the new system. You're right, having a copy of the lead preset in every Performance would be convenient.

    I currently use 5 rhythm presets and 2 lead ones. I guess worst case scenario is I could create Bank 1 with the 4 most used rhythm rigs and 1 lead.

    In performance mode of course you don't have to follow a song concept.
    You can also group rigs after favourite Marshalls, Voxes, 80’s sounds, whatever. You get the possibility to do 125 performances x 5 slots.

    Quote from ClassicMetal


    Can you have two rigs that are exactly the same amp and cab, but with different settings, or is Performance Mode the only way to do that?
    With the Axe-Fx, I copied a JCM 800 preset, and use one for rhythm, with volume at about - 4 db, and the other for lead, with the volume at 0 db, plus a distortion pedal on. You can also create different "scenes" for each preset, and the foot controller lets you switch between scenes for each preset, so I have a lead and rhythm scene for every preset..

    Of course you can do this with the profiler as well, and you can do it with browse mode, too. You only need to do a copy of your original rig with different amp/FX settings. The profiler does not have the scenes concept, though.
    For further questions ask away! ;)