Treble Booster

    I finally found something I don't like about the KPA - the Treble Booster stomps don't work like "real" Treble Booster stomps... these appreciably boost the treble - which sounds like what they should do... but the sweet Germanium boosters actually helped an amp to distort more in the treble register than in the low-end - on an overdriven amp they don't sound like more treble, but like clearer and less muddy distortion.


    Trying to conjure up a Brian May tone - an AC30 TopBoost with a treble booster in front just sounds harsh and piercingly biting.


    Please consider making a "Germanium Treble Booster" stomp that actually increases the treble-end distortion / reduces the bass-end distortion and doesn't appreciably make the output tone stinging-bright.


    Maybe you could do a "crossover distortion" or "band distortion" stomp -- the user could set an overdrive on the mid and a fuzz on the high end leaving a little plain amp overdrive for the low end. Bonus if you could add an attack-delay on these.

    I also have a feel that bright stompboxes placed in front of the amp block make the overall tone brighter instead of creamier, which is what should happen if they behaved like their real life counterparts. I have to dial the tone control in the Green Screamer to -2.5 in order to control some of that brightness. Does it sound bad? No. Could it sound better? I think so.

    Quote from burningyen

    I love what it does.


    me too.
    If you put a treble booster in front of a already bright amp, well you'll be getting a lot of highs, unsurprisingly.


    about the Brian May sound, I'd like to point out that many of his sounds are the Deacy amp and a sixpence as pick, or in case of the AC30, he's using the normal channel (and a treble boost)


    the Top Boost channel of a AC30 is as you can tell from it's name already treble boosted.
    so a AC30 Top Boost with a treble booster equals two treble boosters in a row.


    user discretion is advised.

    Quote from burningyen

    I don't have experience with real treble boosters, but the one in the KPA is 1 of the 2 OD/distortion stomps that I use the most. I love what it does.


    Huge +1. Please do not change the treble booster. And to the OP, very easy to get a Brian May tone on the KPA, there are actually a couple factory presets emulating it and a couple very good factory AC30 (regular channel) profiles in the factory pack as well.

    Quote from DonPetersen

    the Top Boost channel of a AC30 is as you can tell from it's name already treble boosted.
    so a AC30 Top Boost with a treble booster equals two treble boosters in a row.


    I was about to say that ;) The BM sound works well with practically any treble-booster in front of the normal-channel of a Vox and so does the KPA emulation of that chain.


    Having said that, though I like the TB of the Kemper, I still prefer my BSM RM pedal because of the different flavour.


    I think we once swapped mails and you sent me a testfile that I put through that thing and sent back the result. Any chance of seeing the outcome of that in the KPA? :love:

    Quote from Garrincha

    I was about to say that ;) The BM sound works well with practically any treble-booster in front of the normal-channel of a Vox and so does the KPA emulation of that chain.


    Having said that, though I like the TB of the Kemper, I still prefer my BSM RM pedal because of the different flavour.


    I think we once swapped mails and you sent me a testfile that I put through that thing and sent back the result. Any chance of seeing the outcome of that in the KPA? :love:


    I just wanted to take a look what it does frequency-wise. at best it could become a eq preset. ;)

    I play in a Queen tribute show and use a hand wired Fryer Treble Booster in front of the Kemper to get my Brian May tones.
    Unfortunately, the Treble Booster in the Kemper doesn't clean up when I roll back the volume knob on the guitar the way the analog one does.
    I'm going to hire an older AC30 and do a profiling session with the Treble Booster in front of it next week.
    I hope it profiles well. I might try profiling the Treble Booster it in combination with another amp first to see if it captures the volume knob roll off thing.

    In response to the OP, boosting high-end distortion is what the treble booster is designed to do... by filtering bass and boosting the signal. In other words, there's no way for a treble booster to affect amp distortion tone without EQ'ing the signal.


    So really what you seem to be asking is for it to boost treble a bit differently than the "Treble Booster" does. I find that tones can get really harsh on some amps when the extreme high end is boosted - > 3 or 4 kHZ. Also, the frequency where the boost starts and the width of the slope is important too.


    My advice for now is to play with the Studio EQ - you will have more control over what exactly is being boosted and thus how your distortion will sound. I would use the high shelf with frequency around 1-2 kHZ and gain at 2-6 db. Then boost mids around 1 kHZ with the default Q and just a bit - around 1-4 db, just to get a bit more mids in there than the highs. And then use the other mid-peak to cut extreme high end. Set gain to about -6 db and move backwards from 10 kHZ to around 3 kHZ until you find the spot where the distortion is less harsh, then play with Q and gain.

    Quote from prickstein

    I play in a Queen tribute show and use a hand wired Fryer Treble Booster in front of the Kemper to get my Brian May tones.
    Unfortunately, the Treble Booster in the Kemper doesn't clean up when I roll back the volume knob on the guitar the way the analog one does.
    I'm going to hire an older AC30 and do a profiling session with the Treble Booster in front of it next week.
    I hope it profiles well. I might try profiling the Treble Booster it in combination with another amp first to see if it captures the volume knob roll off thing.


    Make a profile of just your treble booster and send it to us.
    Would be interesting to see the data.

    He sent me the profile and I was able to recreate that sound. However, I tested it only with a clean sound, since the treble booster was the profile itself.


    It was easy to setup just by listening: I turned the Tone control of the Profilers Treble Booster to 1.5. That's it.

    Quote from ckemper

    He sent me the profile and I was able to recreate that sound. However, I tested it only with a clean sound, since the treble booster was the profile itself.


    It was easy to setup just by listening: I turned the Tone control of the Profilers Treble Booster to 1.5. That's it.


    Hey Chris, I just got back from a tour and forgot about this.
    Did I send the profile of the Treble Booster to you or someone else? I don't recall doing it. The last month has been a blur of planes and hotel rooms so I may have.