I've had my KPA (Power rack) for almost a month. Played a show, got 3 more coming up quick. Sounds good!
I’m currently using a FCB 1010 with the UNO4Kemper chip – my MIDI needs are simple, yet specific. I have a hi gain rhythm “rig” and a version of the same rig with delay and an EQ bump for solos. I also over use a wah pedal (Bad Horsie II) For less than $200 USD the Berhinger w/ UNO4Kemper has been a good solution. I also tried to use the standard Uno chip…. More on that below. I’m currently gathering gear for my “perfect” controller set up (I hope).
FCB1010 w/ UNO 4 Kemper chip
The good: works great, easy to set up, supports 2 way MIDI w/ KPA so you see the tuner on the FCB display plus the stomp LED’s light up in sync. I’ve replaced both wah pedal and tuner so now only the FCB on the floor in front of me.
The not so good: Expression pedals only will control wah and volume; cannot be edited at all with desktop software (that I know of), so a lot of neat stuff you might think up or see others doing you can’t implement (like assigning the expression pedals to different functions); “Switch” function inactive. The overall size is a little large.
FCB1010 with standard UNO chip
My experiment with this was a fail – but probably due to mitigating circumstance: A cheap MIDI>USB cable didn’t seem to recognize the chip, Ed’s PC editor referred to it as “berhinger – unknown”. Might also have something to do with XP OS on my PC… but I could, kinda send programing to the UNO chip. The volume pedal function worked fine and I managed to assign the other pedal to delay mix, cc #68, on Kemper but it just seemed to turn the delay on – moving the pedal back to heel didn’t reduce the delay mix… A bunch of other stuff obviously wasn’t working, like the stomp box features, maybe due to cable issue so I decided to quit while I was behind. Broke a leg off the UNO chip removing it so this line of experimenting is finished for the meantime.
The good: A lot more flexible than UNO4Kemper (in theory – see above)
The not so good: Doesn’t support the 2 way MIDI so you don’t get tuner or stomp box light sync. A lot more work (and obviously) more chance for problems.
I popped the UNO4Kemper chip back in and quickly got back to square one.
I would, ultimately, like to have 3 expression pedals , Wah, Delay Mix, and volume – then I could just use them live and not need to jump around between presets – I find simpler better for me live.
Liquid Foot LF+ JR+ with 3 pedals
This is what I am now trying to put together … I got a Mission spring loaded so I can have the “touchless” feel of the Morley ( the FCB is OK but I really miss the spring action) and 2 Roland EV-5 pedals, mostly because the footprint; the JR+ and these 3 pedals should fit in a 24” pedal case.
I am already hitting road blocks – it looks like the JR (or any Liquidfoot controllers) only sweep expression pedals from 0-127, one can’t designate a min and max range…? If this is true I’m a bit taken aback since I presumed this would be basic functionality which I believe a lot of controllers have…
Also, just trying to order a Liquid Foot product has been a bit frustrating. The details of the communications are dreary so I won’t go into them here, but I’ve been trying for a week and it’s unclear to me whether I have successfully ordered and/or if I can expect one at any time soon.
That’s all I got folks! My eyes are bleeding from forum reading... I get a replacement KPA this week since the one I have has dead pixels in the display so I'll be busy restoring my sound to the new unit the day before the big show!! (opening for the Dickies at the Long Beach Zombie Walk)