Hi guys, the two mistakes I made at the first gig were really a bit silly.
1st mistake I made was not to keep the volume wheel at 100. It was around 90, just to get myself some wiggle room during the soundcheck. But when the soundcheck was over, I just dialed the wheel all the way back to zero in order not to get popping sound when I shut down QC. And when the show started I forgot if the volume wheel was at 80 or 90, so just to be safe I went with 80. My guitar level was way too quiet for the most part of the concert, as the tonmeister didn’t bother to pay attention. But it was mostly my fault.
2nd mistake was to shut down QC. I was already aware of the starting time of the unit, around 90 seconds. But I wasn’t expecting our singer to just step on the stage and immediately go “OK guys, one two three…”. I was like hey, hey…I still need half a minute…We laughed it off with the audience but again this is sth to be careful about.
One workaround for the volume oops; I unassigned the volume control from outputs 1 & 2, which feed the PA, then set the 1 & 2 output gain to a suitable level for the mixer. This way the volume control only adjusts my FRFR level but the mixer feed is at a constant (relative) level. Works for me anyway.
As far as the slow boot-up issue, maybe ask your lead singer to back off on the coffee?
Unless you have changed it, you can mute yourself by engaging the tuner. After one of the last couple of updates and you can also shut down from there, so mute, unplug, and then shutdown with no pops. I believe that change quietly happened with CorOS 2.0. I’m sure a lot of guys didn’t even know you couldn’t do that before, but I found it because that was my procedure with my Kemper Stage. I tried that when i first got the QC and you couldn’t get the shutdown screen to come up while the tuner was engaged.
The ability to assign your volume knob to different outputs was a more recent change. I’m only going direct with no FRFR, so I just unassign the volume for output 1/2, which puts it at 100. I turn it back on at home for practice and then often forget to turn if off at soundcheck. D’OH! The QC needs more output options, like being able to assign BOTH outputs 1/2 AND 3/4 to a line, rather than ALL or just one output to a line. On the Kemper, I left the main outputs unassigned to the volume, so it stayed at a set level and then I’d practice using the monitor out with the volume assigned.
I recommend just putting it in standby during breaks. This turns the screen off, uses less power, allows the unit to cool and best of all, will be ready to use as soon as you turn it back on.
And bypass the volume knob. Cables and feet can accidently turn it mid set. High risk that can be avoided.
I tried the volume wheel at 100% last time we played and found out the signal was too hot for the board. Our Sound guy was, “UM…could your turn that down, it’s blowing us up back here” lol. So that was a first. I run it about 3/4 of the way up normally.
As others have stated, tuner mode works well if you want to use that to keep things quiet between sets or for preshow. But the standby feature has become my go-to for such things.
what if I want to keep the wheel at 100 and lower the gain from IO settings so as not to get too hot for sound guys. Should I lower the input gain level or output gain level?
Sorry. But I must plead ignorance on that question. Apparently, there are some cats in here that run it at 100, but my sound guys bitches, lol Anyway, I do have my global input parameter in the IO settings optimized, so I’m not sure why he’s being so grumpy about it:)
That said, there is something to setting individual levels for each patch to keep the cursed digital clip at bay. Again, I learned that early on and have all my patches optimized to keep that from happening.
Hopefully, another kind soul can shed some light on this for both our sakes. Although, I didn’t really notice any substantive difference in tone or dynamism running at roughly 90 as opposed to the 100 that I’m told it should be running at.
Lowering the input gain will impact how every block in your presets responds and potentially change the preset’s tone. I would lower the output gain if anything, as that only affects the output volume. You have the global option of lowering the output from the I/O page (swipe-down) for selected outputs. There is also the output block(s) in each preset that can be lowered, if it is a particular preset causing the issue.
If the soundperson has a pad they can engage on the mixer channel, that might help attenuate the signal from the QC without requiring you to take any action.
Bypassing the volume control for the outputs feeding the PA and adjusting the output gain to a suitable level for the board means you will always have a good consistant signal to FOH.
