Kurzweil KS 40A Problems

[theunknown]

Hi guy thought I'd post here instead of sound cos this involves guitar and podhd 300 mfx.

I recently bought the kurweil speakers from city music and encountered some problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umFFdBKWDuI&feature=youtu.be

As you may here those are chugging. And there is a boomy after-effect that only falls on the B to D notes on string A and open D string. Other notes are fine. Tried rolling back the bass to nil with no success. This is getting irritating and I may have made a wrong purchase.

Any suggestions? Or its just the speaker?

 

[mightyboy88]

Hmm ive got the same speaker, i think you bought the wrong speaker for your multieffects

This speaker is meant to be a keyboard practice amplifier or a sound monitor for recording purposes

I purchased this speaker too for the same purpose as you and i found that it was awful, even my sonicgear tattoo duo 3 worked better as a multieffect monitor than this hahah

I think in order to remove the boomy effect you get you need to play this amplifier at lower volumes. You also probably need to output your sound from the pod hd into something like a line-out mode or recording mode so that it sounds better on a keyboard amplifier

Good luck

 

[mightyboy88]

Instead of using this speaker as a multieffects amp i found better use for it as a recording monitor as well as a small home theatre sound system.

If you wish to have an amplifier that doesnt "colour" the tone of your pod hd maybe you should look into acquiring small & clean sounding solid state amps like the vox pathfinder

If you wish to have something that can reproduce your multieffect signal with precise accuracy maybe you can look into getting multi-instru monitors like http://www.laney.co.uk/show_type.php?tid=4

or active monitors like http://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=cxp-110

 

[theunknown]

thanks for the reply brother.

strangely, i received alot of recommendations on getting studio monitors so that they don't colour the tone of the pod. never
heard/seen people saying of getting multi-instru monitors u recommended. thats something new to me. have you tried those ways?
if so, good results?

 

[J.custom]

I've used this with the pod HD300 before and had no problems whatsoever.

Yeah do check that you're plugging the cable into the studio out of your POD. Make sure bass response is flat on the speakers.

 

[theunknown]

j.custom: yes i did put it to studio out. it still has that effect. i tried everything, different guitars, bass knob 0 to full, bass on pod.
strangely its just that four notes! those FOUR NOTES! haha.

mightyboy88: have you tried those multi instru amps? im quite considering one! please tell me what you think. i saw one on sale at novelty for $300. havent tried sweelee though. they seem more appealing to me than studio monitors. bigger speakers = more inyourface.

 

[asdf]

the pod hd's amps are rather bass heavy. the 'boom' after effect could also be caused by the room's (furniture etc.) resonance frequency. i have the same speakers and i experience the same with the pod hd. it's not the speakers' fault.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

does this happen when you play music through it? it might be faulty speakers. haha try finding some metal songs with chugs in those frequencies and see if the speakers reproduce the same problems. or you can find those gear demo videos where there are just recorded guitars, and people doing mindless chuggs.

i have tried my pod hd into a similar multi instrument speaker by roland. (more of a keyboard amp actually) http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=555&ParentId=33

they sound good, but that is beacuse they colour the sound and it isn't exactly the same sound that the audience hear from the main FOH. that's a good thing when performing on stage, using it as a monitor so you feel good playing. but it's terrible for creating patches since it colours tone.

for your kurzweil, that shouldn't happen. the easiest way to find out is either by the quick troubleshooting method up there, or bring your gear down to citymusic, tell them of your problem, test their display unit there, test your unit there. if there is a difference then your unit is faulty.

i've been creating my patches through the kurzweil and triplefi 10 iems, it's good because they do not enhance your tone in any way, and they give you an accurate picture of what your tone sounds like. good frequencies are not boosted and bad frequencies are not hidden.

idea being,
tones that don't sound too good on them may sound acceptable on a system that enhances tone.
tones that sound good on these monitors will sound terrific on the said systems as well.

let me know your progress in solving the problem

 

[theunknown]

ok. seems like i found out, ITS NOT THE SPEAKERS! its the pod!!

i've never heard my pod sound so bad before. i WAS using a 12" driven tube amp.
Now that i sold it away (lol my sig), i used the monitors and my headphones. i just only tried with
my headphone (didnt have the connector before). the tone is too boomy too muddy.
the palm muted boom after effect and like there's a blanket cover the sound.

im beginning to hate this pod. i tried eq-ing changing cabs changing settings tried taking all the bass
and mids and up the highs. . the boom and blanket's still there.

ps: is this analog calling me back?

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

don't be disheartened. many people are happy with the pod hd300, so it might not be the product but user error.

first of all, be sure to update your pod hd to the lastest patch through line 6 monkey. once you have done that, maybe you could download some patches online so you can see what others are doing with their pods

one guy that i've learnt a lot from in pod tweaking is glenn delaune. you can visit his site here, i think the hd400 patch would work directly with your hd300, and the hd500 patches need some renaming in the file type to work with hd300.
http://www.glenndelaune.com/Patch Download Area.htm

i'm only familiar with the hd500 so i can't advise you much on the hd300, but so of the content from this text might be of help in understanding what the alglorithms in there are doing.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=989928
http://line6.com/support/thread/71651?tstart=0
(download the guys manual, Meambobbo's Pod HD Guide, from there)

and do hang out around http://www.thegearpage.net/board/forumdisplay.php?f=53 and go through the threads there. ignore all the lame arguments between pod hd vs 11r vs axefx and focus on how people are using these modellers to get those fantastic tones. the pod hd is no push over when it comes to these heavey weight amp modellers. so, user error my dear friend, don't give up on it before trying! haha

p.s. one more site that might be useful: http://www.grumpyrocker.co.uk/line6-pod-hd500-tips-aamp-tricks-part-1
p.p.s. slight possibility you might have a faulty unit. before you flash the latest rom, save your patches first, then do a complete flash, wiping out all the tones in there (don't save tones). try the stock patches with the default settings and see if the weird sounds is reproduced.

 

[J.custom]

maybe your pod's faulty? try backing it up, then doing a master reset, maybe that'll help hahah. I didn't have such problems last time leh

 

[theunknown]

did all that already. i tried other people's patches resets.

actually the pod worked well with my previous tube amp. no complains! very open big sounding. only the tones are not the true tones of the pod.
now its the monitoring speakers and headphones. true tones but the boooom(and its just 4 notes when i PALM MUTE! other notes work fine) and muddddblanket.
.

maybe i go back to my tube amp config. maybe the multi instrument amps recommended by mighty. i don't know.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

sorry for being harsh, but you need to know, whether it is faulty unit or user error. because your problem is not the norm amongst pod hd300 users.

flash your rom. full reset.
load a heavy glenn delaune's patch.
palm mute those 4 notes.

if you're still getting it, we're making a progress. if not, then problem solved. how difficult is that?

 

[mightyboy88]

Hi bro,

i havent used those multi instru amps before though.

My guitar teacher used to run his gt-10 into a laney active monitor and the sound was great though. Probably because of the bigger speakers. He said he used active monitors as he would be plugging in straight to PA systems at places he would gig and he would get exactly the same tones.

For me when i used the kurzweil as a monitor for my gt-10 i did manage to produce a somewhat true reproduction of my multieffect tones but the sound was still kind of sterile and plastic sounding if you know what i mean.

I would not rule out a faulty speaker as one of the reasons why you are getting the boomy effect on that 4 notes, i think you should try the reset method proposed by fellow softies. However, there may be other reasons such as a bad cable or bad connector etc

 

[xfigox]

Since you've already said that the fault lies in the POD, you're just avoiding the problem by changing your monitors to the whatever so called "multi-instrument amps". Even if you were to use your old tube amp or something, the problem is still there and you just won't hear it.

Check your settings, lower the bass, do some high pass or check the power amp section settings or something. Have no personal experience with the HD series but I've played my X3 live and AxeFX through the Kurzweils and there's no such farting bass even when I'm using a lot of bass on the amps.

 

[theunknown]

hahaha guys, i know i know i acted like such a kid.

madwerewolf: yes bro. i did make a FULL factory reset. and those patches you mentioned. the problem is still there. there on the monitors and the headphones. but no such problem on my previous tube amp. thats why the confusion.

mightyboy and xfigox: yes i've heard good stories from users of monitors. really. thats why i made the step to sell my tube amp for monitors. i've checked my settings. 0-100 bass. i did turn every knob. every switch. found that the more gain it has the bigger the "boom". yes maybe u're right. the problem has been there with my tube amp. just that i didn't hear it. the thought of multi intru amps was that both those and my tube amps have big speakers, perhaps better freq release.

Anyway, i found a guy with similar problem.

http://line6.com/support/message/229742

"Does anyone use real high gain and real high bass and find that palm mutes (mostly on the lowest A, Bb, and B) can cause a kind of feedback sound, almost like you're driving a cheap sub-woofer too hard?"
"Most of the time, it does kinda sound a little muffled, as if there was a blanket on top of the speakers"

but his sound terrific on monitors. ...

 

[cheesedaele]

How loud are you pushing them? If you're trying to churn out the volume you expect from your former physical 12" amp then you're probably overdriving the poor little 4" woofers. The Kurzweils are a small pair of monitors. They're not built to go that loud.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

ok, before we conclude that it is a faulty unit (possible) lets trouble shoot step by step.

since you're hearing the same defact on both desktop and headphones, the problem is with some settings in the pod.

are your headphones and desktop monitors connected to your pod through a 1/4" to 1/8" stereo adapter in the "phones" jack of the pod hd300?

p.s. oh and one more. problem might also be with your guitar. can you do the same B, C, Db, D chugs on the 6th and 5th string? do thay have the same buzz?

p.s.s and also, i'm interested to know how you got those glenn delaune patches into your pod hd300? does the hd300 editor take in hd400 patches normally?

 

[asdf]

it shouldn't be a faulty unit. the excessive 'bass-ness' on the pod hd is well known. playing through a guitar amp vs monitors are 2 different thing as a guitar amp's frequency response is much narrower than a monitor speaker thus we don't hear the 'boom' effect as compared to monitor speakers. try doing some eq-ing (not the amp's eq but parametric eq, studio eq etc.) on the pod to take away the offending frequencies. does the room sort of shake (yes i'm asking seriously) when it booms?

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

boominess of the podhd has got nothing to do with those farting sounds on the 4 notes. it seems like something else is the cause of it cause the farting sounds sound so different from the real tone.

@theunknown: side track, but what are those monitors in your video? they look rather different from my kurzweil. for mine, the diaphram isn't orange and the dust cap isn't shiny.

@mightyboy88: are you refering to these? http://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=cxp-112

in layman terms, these are called active PA speakers. for modeller geeks, they're called FRFRs (full range flat response). and we use that for stage monitoring for exact reason your teacher mentioned. and also, perhaps cause we're tone freaks and bedroom audio engineers so we do not trust house sound guys at different venues. we just want to plug in as if we're keybordist, with the house mixer all set to neutral EQ, get some volume, and we know we have the same wicked tone we tweaked in our bedrooms.

these FRFR range from entry level ones, between 200 to 300 watt rms, to high end ones between 700 to 1000 watt rms. entry level ones usually cost around $400 to $700, like the mackie thump 12a/15a, wharfedale titan 12/15 d and these barely have the output to keep up with a crazed rock drummer on stage. higher end ones usually costs $1k and more, such as the QSC 10/12k, or JBLs and the coaxial RCF nx 12s.

i am currently using a pair of mackie thump 12a in my studio when i jam, and take one out for gigs for stage monitoring purposes. intending to purchase a titan 12d when it's in stock at citymusic in feb.

though i use the thump for monitoring during jamming sessions, they're not 100% flat in frequency response, and so i use my kurzweil for tweaking. a more expensive pair of monitors like the krk rockit would most probably reveal more but.. no $$ haha

in summary, amp modellers are designed to be able to reproduce those polished tracks you hear in your favourite tunes through decent speakers. the audio you hear here in the 720p video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmCl71e-wCY&hd=1

you should hear that with the pod connected to your monitors too, less the dual track panned left and right. haha hope you guys get a clearer picture