So I finally had a chance to spend some significant time with the Kemper's transpose feature today. It responded really well when I had it set to 1/2 step and 1 full step down. I didn't test anything below that because I'd never need to detune to anything below a full step. But, it has pros and cons from what I can see.
- PROS: When using a distorted tone/rig, the tracking was great. I didn't hear ANY digital artifacts at all. The latency was VERY minimal. To the point that whatever delay there was, wasn't anything that would throw me off in a live situation and certainly be noticeable to the audience after running through a PA.
- CONS: Just when I thought I had found my answer to not having to bring a 2nd guitar to gigs or detune my entire guitar for certain songs, I tried using the transpose feature on a clean tone. I was only down 1/2 step, but it was AWFUL. I played the jangly part to "Play That Funky Music" and it response was REALLY bad. It felt as if I had a noise gate CRANKED and it was almost as if the initial piece of the chords were fading in. It felt really soft. So bad that this one thing would prevent me from being able to use it live.
So why would that happen? I confirmed there was no noise gate set. I have the transpose set in Stomp A. Volume on the guitar was up at full. I'm just wondering why it would be able to track so well with distortion but be so spongy and unusable for clean tones. Really disappointed. I thought this was going to be a savior for me.