Kernom Ridge - analog pedal to emulate every drive style?

allen · October 2022

Another pedal that supposedly replicates everything else. Although if you look at this from the point of view of the recent Jim Lill video on amp tone maybe they have something.

Paul Davids:

Andertons:

Sporky · October 2022

So a rehoused MetalZone.

RaymondLin · October 2022

At first glance I always think these are great. I always want to order them but after sleeping on it I always go back to simpler solutions. Get the pedals that these are based on.

It's just a better visualisation on the board for me. If you need to maximise the space and lower cost these make sense but for a hobby, I just want a pedal.

Also...without Midi, it is going to be really hard to get back to the previous setting with that mood knob.

EricTheWeary · October 2022

I did watch most of the Andertons video. Great pedal for tweakers and with MIDI there are a lot of possibilities.
So the opposite also applies - small turns of the knobs make big changes, hard to dial in without the manual/familiarity.

Conceivably the only overdrive you’ll ever need ( oh unless you want to stack overdrives)but probably a pain in the arse to use unless you have a proper use case for it.

stickyfiddle · October 2022

I actually really like individual pedals and trying new things. I can't get onboard with this sort of multi unit, though it looks v capable.

Sporky · October 2022

RaymondLin said:

Also...without Midi, it is going to be really hard to get back to the previous setting with that mood knob.

It's got MIDI. And on board preset recall. And expression control, which you can use to flip between two sets of settings.

Winny_Pooh · October 2022

Not the first

Elektron Analog Drive
& Subdecay Vector (no midi)

TheBigDipper · October 2022

Winny_Pooh said:

Not the first

Elektron Analog Drive
& Subdecay Vector (no midi)

And the TC Nova Drive.

RaymondLin · October 2022

Sporky said:

RaymondLin said:

Also...without Midi, it is going to be really hard to get back to the previous setting with that mood knob.

It's got MIDI. And on board preset recall. And expression control, which you can use to flip between two sets of settings.

I know it does have it...what i meant was that without using Midi.

Sporky · October 2022

Ah.

Don't you use the preset button for that?

monquixote · October 2022

These types of pedals are inevitably a bit of a disappointment.

It's like the futuristic drinks machine from Hitchhiker's guide that can theoretically make anything but ends up always making a drink that tastes almost but not quite like tea.

allen · February 2023

I just went to Andertons and tried this pedal (again).

I really wanted to like it, and went there with the intention of buying it - but it just didn't sound that good to me. I tried it up against a protein and the protein was instantly better.

So left without buying anything - I love the concept, but it needs to sound good.

abw1989 · February 2023

I met these guys at the Guitar Show over the weekend. They were really helpful and knowledgeable but more importantly, I really liked the pedal and was all set to buy one once I got home. I use midi a lot in my set up and this would slot in very nicely...

...or so I thought. I did a bit of last minute reading once I got back and it turns out there is no way to edit the midi presets on the fly without essentially recreating the entire preset. The nifty little light up sequence to tell you when the knob is in the correct place only works for the dedicated 'favourite preset' which is stored to the footswitch.

This seems like a really big oversight. You can edit it via midi cc commands but that's not really helpful as you'd need to dedicate a whole bank at least on a midi device to the knobs of the Kernom on the off chance you want a little more volume, bit less gain, more treble etc.

I'm really hoping there can be a software patch for this as I can definitely see one having a place on my board.

The Kernom guys also said to keep an eye on NAMM news, they have more pedals coming (and hopefully a patch fix for midi....!)

merlin · February 2023

I would have options paralysis

professorben · April 2023

Just popped into Andertons on Sunday, first visit for me, I’m down that way for a course.

My buddy has been waxing lyrical about the Ridge and I have to say it’s absolutely incredible, firstly I tried to replicate my BE:OD, tick, then my Timmy clone, tick, then a mid hump type boost, tick, then I kinda ran out of types of drive, because after High Gain, slightly transparent, and mid humpy there are no more types right?

Anyway, it nailed all those, sounded great on other settings, sounds lovely as a clean always on type thing and well, now I own one.

I’m going to run it with my ES-5 and switch it via M1D1 and now I’ve freed up 2 loops on my switcher for more modulations and nonsense noise makers.

An absolutely brilliant pedal.

keir · April 2023

professorben said:

Just popped into Andertons on Sunday, first visit for me, I’m down that way for a course.

My buddy has been waxing lyrical about the Ridge and I have to say it’s absolutely incredible, firstly I tried to replicate my BE:OD, tick, then my Timmy clone, tick, then a mid hump type boost, tick, then I kinda ran out of types of drive, because after High Gain, slightly transparent, and mid humpy there are no more types right?

Anyway, it nailed all those, sounded great on other settings, sounds lovely as a clean always on type thing and well, now I own one.

I’m going to run it with my ES-5 and switch it via M1D1 and now I’ve freed up 2 loops on my switcher for more modulations and nonsense noise makers.

An absolutely brilliant pedal.

Looks interesting this. How’s the midi switching for presets via the ES-5, do they change instantly?

roberty · April 2023

Real tweakers use solder :-p

professorben · May 2023

keir said:

professorben said:

Just popped into Andertons on Sunday, first visit for me, I’m down that way for a course.

My buddy has been waxing lyrical about the Ridge and I have to say it’s absolutely incredible, firstly I tried to replicate my BE:OD, tick, then my Timmy clone, tick, then a mid hump type boost, tick, then I kinda ran out of types of drive, because after High Gain, slightly transparent, and mid humpy there are no more types right?

Anyway, it nailed all those, sounded great on other settings, sounds lovely as a clean always on type thing and well, now I own one.

I’m going to run it with my ES-5 and switch it via M1D1 and now I’ve freed up 2 loops on my switcher for more modulations and nonsense noise makers.

An absolutely brilliant pedal.

Looks interesting this. How’s the midi switching for presets via the ES-5, do they change instantly?

Heya sorry didn’t reply earlier as I hadn’t got the midi to 3.5mm cable.

I can report it’s about as instant as I can detect.

sweepy · May 2023

Got one hooked up to my G3, mightily impressed tbh, it won’t do full shred face melting distortion like a Revv G3 etc but low to mid gain is absolutely superb , highly recommended

allen · June 2023

I've cracked and ordered one.

abw1989 · July 2023

The patch for the midi preset editing is now available. That put me off ordering one for a very long time but it's back to the top of my list again. There is a bit of an asterisk though...

...if you currently own one I think you have to send it back to France to get it flashed, or if you don't you need to buy direct from Kernom to ensure it comes with the latest patch. The good thing is with the current exchange range, buying direct is cheaper than from Andertons with free shipping too (not sure on customs fees though, cheers Brexshit)

stickyfiddle · July 2023

stickyfiddle said:

I actually really like individual pedals and trying new things. I can't get onboard with this sort of multi unit, though it looks v capable.

I just saw this thread pop back up and hadn't remembered posting this, but I stand by it, for my own purposes at least.

Funny enough I got a good price on a Chase Bliss mk2 and it's a similar story. It sounds utterly brilliant and it has loads of different options to make it sound exactly however you need on any given day, but the preset switching isn't gig friendly without MIDI, and in any case you can't stack it with itself, so I'd still rather just have 2 or 3 different gain stages on a board and get all the combinations that allows as well.

Fantastic pedals done really well, just not for me

TheBigDipper · July 2023

I've got one on my board right now. It's been there for a few weeks and I don't have anything else on there for overdrive/distortion. I'm using an ES-5 to send the CC comands for loading presets in performance. I'm running a clean, high headroom pedal platform amp with this and getting my sounds from pedals. I'm generally a clean-to edge-of-breakup player, so this seems to be the best way forwards for me. As I'm doing a lot of singing, I don't have time to tapdance on the pedalboard very often.

The sounds I'm using are good. I've no idea if I'm covering off any other pedals, I just like what I'm getting out of it, like the fact it's just one pedal and like the fact I can have analogue overdrive but MIDI loaded presets. But.... that comes with a price.

I've found a couple of workflow issues.

First, the knobs on the unit don't represent the settings in your preset. There's a method for finding what they are, but you can't tell what the loaded preset is just by looking at it - there are no display screens. The only exception to this is the "pedal" preset. When that is loaded, the preset LED is white. When one of the other 126 MIDI presets are loaded, the LED is blue (but you have no idea which one).

Second, there is a deficiency with the way you edit MIDI-loaded presets. First, you have to save it as the Pedal preset. Then you go through the process of finding out where the knobs have been placed. Then you leave Preset mode and move the knobs where you want them now. Finally, you go into MIDI Save mode and send it the PC command you want to use to recall that preset in future. It's a bit of a faff, TBH. Doing this at band practice with your bandmates watching is not a pleasant experience! I'd improve it in two ways...

1) Make it possible to find the knob settings without needing to save it as the Pedal Preset first. I think the updated firmware will do that.
2) Once you have the parameters you want, to be able to save it using the same PC command you loaded it with without needing to use a MIDI controller to send the PC command again. So you can either update in place OR make a new preset. I don't believe the firmware update will do either of those.

Basically, if you like the preset loaded by PC005 but it's a bit quiet in the band mix, you really don't want to go through the whole process just to fix that. You want to quickly adjust something and save it.

I have no idea why Kernom cannot let their users apply a firmware update via MIDI in their own homes just like Strymon does. I'm not asking for an editor, just a firmware update program.

Still a good pedal, though. All six knobs can be "set" using CC commands (0=off, 127=fully on and also everything else in between). I've read a couple of people avoid the preset problem by sending 6 CC commands every time they load a sound to use software to twiddle the knobs for them, if you follow...

TheBigDipper · July 2023

Sorry - duplicate post

abw1989 · July 2023

@TheBigDipper ;

I believe the update solves both of your improvement suggestions. The midi presets are now edited in exactly the same manner as you would edit the favourite preset and saving it is done by holding down the on/off footswitch.

This video shows the new process -

Whether or not that is worth the cost of sending it back to France is the big question. I'm guessing that it might need a new chip or something rather than just a firmware flash. If not, I agree it should be something that final users can do at home.

TheBigDipper · July 2023

abw1989 said:

@TheBigDipper ;

I believe the update solves both of your improvement suggestions. The midi presets are now edited in exactly the same manner as you would edit the favourite preset and saving it is done by holding down the on/off footswitch.

This video shows the new process -

Whether or not that is worth the cost of sending it back to France is the big question. I'm guessing that it might need a new chip or something rather than just a firmware flash. If not, I agree it should be something that final users can do at home.

Oh, that's very encouraging. Thanks for posting. Kernom are being a little cagey about what they actually do when the pedal is with them - but I'm tempted to get things turned around with them now. It would make adjustments in the real world a lot easier.

keir · July 2023

This is now my only drive pedal and I’m not really looking for anything else. It’s dislodged the mighty preamp mk2 (which was quite touchy with my AC30) and I haven’t missed it.

I’ve got a week off rehearsals next week so it’s off to France to get the midi update tomorrow.

I’m missing a fuzz, even though I don’t need one really. Not sure whether to go for a Benson Stonk Box or wait for the new Kernom Moho which is due in September….

TheBigDipper · July 2023

keir said:

This is now my only drive pedal and I’m not really looking for anything else. It’s dislodged the mighty preamp mk2 (which was quite touchy with my AC30) and I haven’t missed it.

I’ve got a week off rehearsals next week so it’s off to France to get the midi update tomorrow.

I’m missing a fuzz, even though I don’t need one really. Not sure whether to go for a Benson Stonk Box or wait for the new Kernom Moho which is due in September….

I dropped mine off with Royal Mail this morning...

Wazmeister · August 2023

So, any current users ?

@TheBigDipper - did yours get sorted a la France ?

TheBigDipper · August 2023

Yep. It's back on my board and working fine. It's the only OD I'm using and I've developed a workflow that makes sense to me.

I set up a sound on the Ridge that is almost transparent and programmed all 128 PC commands to recall it. That meant I could just pick a PC command for a song that used the Ridge and I program my ES-5 switcher to send that PC number when I selected that sound on the ES-5. Once the song is programmed in the ES-5 I don't even need to remember what PC command I used (which is good, as there's no screen on the Ridge to tell you which preset is loaded, just a blue light to tell you that there is one).

So, playing the song but don't like the sound I'm using? Not cutting through or too quiet? It's become easy. Twiddle the knobs on the Ridge until I like it better (get the band to play along so I can hear it with their racket as well). Press and hold the on/off button for 2 secs until the preset indicator light changes. That tells me the preset has been stored. No extra programming, just twiddle knobs and store it back using the same PC number to recall it next time.

My setup is based on the idea that I'll have to go direct for some gigs, and share backline at others, so I'm working on the basis of using a clean pedal platform and pedals for everything. My "go direct" amp is a Simplifier MK II. I've never been a big user of stacking overdrives, and I don't like using fuzz, so the Ridge is hopefully what I need to get that job done. Until the next thing... :-)

Wazmeister · August 2023

TheBigDipper said:

Yep. It's back on my board and working fine. It's the only OD I'm using and I've developed a workflow that makes sense to me.

I set up a sound on the Ridge that is almost transparent and programmed all 128 PC commands to recall it. That meant I could just pick a PC command for a song that used the Ridge and I program my ES-5 switcher to send that PC number when I selected that sound on the ES-5. Once the song is programmed in the ES-5 I don't even need to remember what PC command I used (which is good, as there's no screen on the Ridge to tell you which preset is loaded, just a blue light to tell you that there is one).

So, playing the song but don't like the sound I'm using? Not cutting through or too quiet? It's become easy. Twiddle the knobs on the Ridge until I like it better (get the band to play along so I can hear it with their racket as well). Press and hold the on/off button for 2 secs until the preset indicator light changes. That tells me the preset has been stored. No extra programming, just twiddle knobs and store it back using the same PC number to recall it next time.

My setup is based on the idea that I'll have to go direct for some gigs, and share backline at others, so I'm working on the basis of using a clean pedal platform and pedals for everything. My "go direct" amp is a Simplifier MK II. I've never been a big user of stacking overdrives, and I don't like using fuzz, so the Ridge is hopefully what I need to get that job done. Until the next thing... :-)

Thanks mate that’s brilliant info !

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Kernom Ridge - analog pedal to emulate every drive style?

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