KSR Ceres Preamp Pedal

grrr_me_scary

Active member
I had just posted this over at the sevenstring.org site but I thought it would be more appropriate to post it here:

I have known Kyle for around 5 or 6 years now and I have owned most of his amps at one time or I was able to play through them long enough at home to have a good feel for them and all of their cool tweaking options.

This year I had heard the Ceres at NAMM but I really couldn't hear it very well since that place just gets too loud and drowns most things out (I try to get there early on Thursdays and Sundays to hear things properly).

I did get to try it and I thought it sounded good, but again, with the NAMM noise I really couldn't say if I would want one since I am not a pedal person and I currently had his Artemis II amp.

This situation just changed for me.

Last week, I sold my KSR Artemis II in order to get a custom "stereo" version made of the Artemis with "extras" on it.

However, right after I sold it then Kyle said a custom amp probably wouldn't happen for a long time since he is focusing on the pedals right now and his current amp line up.

This changed things for me.

I decided to give the Ceres a try based upon Fluff's videos and a need to lay some guitar tracks in the studio with something different than my JMP-1 and Mesa amp.

I took a BIG chance on the Ceres because I am NOT a pedal person and I love tube amps and preamps.

I received the Ceres pedal on Saturday (shipping was quick from Kyle's to California, like 2 days), opened it on Sunday night, and tried it out.

Holy Smokes Batman!!!

It sounded great going guitar > Mesa 2:90 power amp > two Mesa V30 1x12 cabs

It sounded amazing going guitar > Marshall EL34 50/50 power amp > two Mesa V30 1x12 cabs

It sounded even better going guitar > Axe FX XL + (for effects) with the Ceres in the XL + effects loop > Marshall EL34 50/50 > two Mesa V30 1x12 cabs

And my favorite way is guitar > XL+ with Ceres in effects loop with the cab simulator "on" AND an OwnHammer Mesa IR 4x12 cab using my headphones :)

It sounded BRUTAL when the gain was turned up and it didn't sound harsh at all to my ears like when you turn the gain up on some/most high gain amps, and I didn't feel I needed a noise gate in any of the set ups mentioned above, and I definitely didn't feel I needed a boost.

I like to play clean to low gain through medium/heavy gain (depending upon the song/style) and the Ceres didn't disappoint at any gain level or not work for any of the many styles that my band plays these days.

You can hear all of your guitar notes very clearly :)

I was able to really dial in the clean to my specific tastes with a graphic equalizer on the XL+ (I feel it helps just like it did with any of my tube amps or preamps).

Honestly, I fell in love with the Ceres, definitely no regrets, and I decided NOT to get the custom "stereo" version of the Artemis since I can use the Ceres and another preamp like my JMP-1 and get a dry/wet/blending thing going with my Axe FX XL+ and my Marshall EL34 50/50 and any of my Mesa cabs (the 1x12's or the 4x12's).

I purchased this for my birthday present to myself and I feel it was the BEST birthday present I ever received and I look forward to coming home from work and playing on it :)

In any of my setups stated above, I found this to be something I will definitely keep as part of my live and recording setup, and as I said above, I am NOT a pedal person.

Also, this was me on Sunday night after I stopped playing on the Ceres:
 

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That's cool man!
I've been eyeballing the Ceres since it was announced and I'm having a hard time to not just order one.
But I have some questions since you're familiar with the other KSR's.
How does the pedal compare sound and feel-wise to the amps?
How many channels are accessible in a live setting?
Are the modes very different, so you both hear and feel that difference?

Cheers!
 
I got one too,but have not tried it yet.

Juggernaut Mike has it plugged into the return of my ultralead,and says it kicks all sorts of ass. Can't wait to get over there and try it out. We are also gonna try banging it with the new Gary Holt paranormal eq pedal.
 
Slightly off topic, but I played an ares yesterday say. Dayumnnn it is wicked. I only spent about 10 minutes on it and got lost in the switches, but wow, that is an amp. First KSR I have ever tried.
 
I ordered a KSR 2x12 a couple weeks ago and mentioned on the facebook ksr group about thinking about a Ceres. A few guys chimed in and said I need to pull the trigger before the waitlist gets crazy long. So needless to say I put down a deposit. I have faith in their products so Im sure I will enjoy it. Kyle is one of the most accomodating guys I've ever ordered from. Hands down the best customer service I've dealt with in any industry.
 
Whatamada":im43ss1z said:
That's cool man!
I've been eyeballing the Ceres since it was announced and I'm having a hard time to not just order one.
But I have some questions since you're familiar with the other KSR's.
How does the pedal compare sound and feel-wise to the amps?
How many channels are accessible in a live setting?
Are the modes very different, so you both hear and feel that difference?

Cheers!

It really does get that KSR amp sound/tone/response and I think I might actually like it a little more than my Artemis II that I just sold but it might be in part to playing it through my Marshall EL34 50/50 that I had modded to take different power tubes (I have EL34's on the left side and 6L6's on the right side).

This gives me the best of both power tube worlds :)

There are two switches on the pedal, one for bypass, and the other for switching between the two gain channels (I don't like to call them rhythm and lead since either one can be dialed in to accommodate rhythm or lead).

The bypass can be set to switch you between the clean or one of the other two gain channels (you use the other one to switch between the two gain channels (you can switch between them before switching out of the clean channel)).

There is another switching option on the pedal that allows you to connect it up to a device that will switch everything for you (I don't know much about that option yet but it is on my To-Do list once I have decided where I will place the pedal on my rack setup).

I really do look forward to coming home and playing on the Ceres :)
 
rottingcorpse":3p14bcgo said:
I got one too,but have not tried it yet.

Juggernaut Mike has it plugged into the return of my ultralead,and says it kicks all sorts of ass. Can't wait to get over there and try it out. We are also gonna try banging it with the new Gary Holt paranormal eq pedal.

I didn't feel it needed an eq for the gain channels but it definitely helped me to tailor the clean channel to my own personal tastes :)

I think it could help though to tailor the gain channels to your specific guitar and amp, it's not needed, but it does help to add another dynamic/dimension to this amazing pedal and tone :)
 
swamptrashstompboxes":2iuxc8jf said:
Slightly off topic, but I played an ares yesterday say. Dayumnnn it is wicked. I only spent about 10 minutes on it and got lost in the switches, but wow, that is an amp. First KSR I have ever tried.

I had considered getting an Ares because it has a different crunch channel from my Artemis II (not better but different), so I was pretty stoked to find that the Ceres can get that Ares crunch and I am really digging it :)
 
ClintN667":353578qw said:
I ordered a KSR 2x12 a couple weeks ago and mentioned on the facebook ksr group about thinking about a Ceres. A few guys chimed in and said I need to pull the trigger before the waitlist gets crazy long. So needless to say I put down a deposit. I have faith in their products so Im sure I will enjoy it. Kyle is one of the most accomodating guys I've ever ordered from. Hands down the best customer service I've dealt with in any industry.

You are quite right, he really does provide the best customer service AND he will provide you with a LOT of details/advice/help/suggestions about his products, but I think he needs to provide less of it since the man barely sleeps and when he does sleep then he sleeps at random intervals, lol.

I know he has responded to things I have sent him at hours that he should be sleeping :)

And he spends a good amount of time working on his stuff every day, so I am sure he will be completing a good number of those Ceres pedals this weekend.
 
grrr_me_scary":3phe9w6z said:
ClintN667":3phe9w6z said:
I ordered a KSR 2x12 a couple weeks ago and mentioned on the facebook ksr group about thinking about a Ceres. A few guys chimed in and said I need to pull the trigger before the waitlist gets crazy long. So needless to say I put down a deposit. I have faith in their products so Im sure I will enjoy it. Kyle is one of the most accomodating guys I've ever ordered from. Hands down the best customer service I've dealt with in any industry.

You are quite right, he really does provide the best customer service AND he will provide you with a LOT of details/advice/help/suggestions about his products, but I think he needs to provide less of it since the man barely sleeps and when he does sleep then he sleeps at random intervals, lol.

I know he has responded to things I have sent him at hours that he should be sleeping :)

And he spends a good amount of time working on his stuff every day, so I am sure he will be completing a good number of those Ceres pedals this weekend.


Haha I completely agree. He has answered my email at 2a.m. then I would reply when I woke up around 7-8 then get a response from him shortly there after. I was wondering when he sleeps myself. I emailed him about once a week waiting on my Orthos. I'm not going to do that while waiting on my cab and pedal. He is busy enough without my impatience being added.
 
From the clips it seems like the best preamp pedal on the market. Probably the most expensive as well. I would really love to try one but can't justify. i am using the Amptweaker TM Pro and that in itself is amazing and enough for what I do.

One thing I am curious about with the Ceres, how is the depth? That is the one thing the TM Pro is lacking and the reason they made the depthfinder.
 
If you watch the vids from NAMM on the Ceres watch the guitarist's facial expression when they hear it. A lot of gear savvy guys looked really shocked in a good way when they tried it.
 
put a deposit for the next batch. ive had an idea for a small stereo rig for awhile and this should do the trick.
 
mchn13":2ixouleg said:
put a deposit for the next batch. ive had an idea for a small stereo rig for awhile and this should do the trick.

I am putting a stereo rig together as well and I feel this will work perfectly with one of my other preamps :)
 
grrr_me_scary":3u5so1dg said:
mchn13":3u5so1dg said:
put a deposit for the next batch. ive had an idea for a small stereo rig for awhile and this should do the trick.

I am putting a stereo rig together as well and I feel this will work perfectly with one of my other preamps :)

what other preamp?
i'm gonna run it into a mimic or a stereo chorus, into a stereo poweramp I have in a small rack case. my regular rig is a pair of rm100 heads, split with a stereo chorus. its huge sounding, but moving it around a couple times has caused me to start putting together a more compact rig lol.
i didnt even think of two pre's. if this works well, i could always off the randalls and get another preamp.
 
mchn13":103ltujt said:
grrr_me_scary":103ltujt said:
mchn13":103ltujt said:
put a deposit for the next batch. ive had an idea for a small stereo rig for awhile and this should do the trick.

I am putting a stereo rig together as well and I feel this will work perfectly with one of my other preamps :)

what other preamp?
i'm gonna run it into a mimic or a stereo chorus, into a stereo poweramp I have in a small rack case. my regular rig is a pair of rm100 heads, split with a stereo chorus. its huge sounding, but moving it around a couple times has caused me to start putting together a more compact rig lol.
i didnt even think of two pre's. if this works well, i could always off the randalls and get another preamp.

I will either use my JMP-1 or my Triaxis preamp for one side of the stereo setup.
 
Good read all the way, not surprised it’s a great pedal. I have an Artemis II and it has been my desert island amp, it’s my benchmark tone and has made many a good amps go. I feel like it has all the KSR tones that there could possibly be in it and makes it really hard to try a pedal that I feel I already have covered in the flagship amp. Am I off base?
 
stratjacket":h1xcdhw2 said:
Good read all the way, not surprised it’s a great pedal. I have an Artemis II and it has been my desert island amp, it’s my benchmark tone and has made many a good amps go. I feel like it has all the KSR tones that there could possibly be in it and makes it really hard to try a pedal that I feel I already have covered in the flagship amp. Am I off base?

I wondered the same thing but people have enlightened me on it and I ended up putting a deposit on it. I have an Orthos mk2 but with I can use the preamp for a fly rig or I can go into the effects return of another amp to get my tone instead of hauling my Orthos around.
 
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