Not getting a good sound.... On the verge of returning

  • I hope you get to where you want to be.... The convenience means it's a no-brainer if you get the sound you want and I wouldn't want to be without it now.


    I love the rich harmonics that valves give and didn't think the Kemper would be 'there' but (for me) it is. I bought in August last year and the real amps haven't been on since.


    The one difficulty I had was actually *finding* the rigs that please my ears but Rig Manager has fixed that. It was the one 'big thing' that needed addressing IMO and it's done. Yes, there are a few more little features I'd like but none are deal breakers and the fundamental tones (IMO) are great.


    As well as many, many excellent free things, there are a few commercial rigs that are 'must tries'. You'll get a wide variety of opinions on what these are and it'll depend on your taste. Armin, Andy at Amp Factory and the new TopJimi profiles are all well worth a look.


    The only thing I've managed to do which makes my profiler really not sound good was to use a boutique plectrum. Seriously! For years, I've used either Hercos or whatever .7m Dunlop etc I could find. A month back I thought I'd try a Diamond V-Pick. I've no idea what it sounds like through a real amp (the hype would suggest it's great) because I've not got my amps set up at the moment. Whatever, it makes my Kemper (which I love with regular plectrums) sound like a Korg pandora through a blown speaker.


    Reason I'm telling you is 'just in case you're using an unusually thick plectrum'. I really don't know why it makes a profile that sounds great with fingers or a regular plectrum sound bad. But it does IMO!


    I hope you get where you want to be :)

  • Hi!


    I use V-PICK Screamers (2.75 mm) and my KPA sounds as good as my amp with them and the same profiles sound good playing with fingers. I change between pick and fingers all the time.


    IMO, the KPA reacts to the pick just like every amp I've had.


    Saludos!

  • try a real tubescreamer in front to tighten up the low end instead of the "green screamer". if using the green screamer, put the tone tone control at around -1 to get in similar ballbark as a real OD808 or TS808 with the tone at noon. The green scream will still have less bass and a slightly more platic pick attack.


    still, i agree that the kemper has a somewhat plastic pick attack, which is most noticeable to us metal players since we care A LOT about palm mutes ;)


    I have been using my kemper since it came out, and have found that with hi-gain profiles that have a lower default definition parameter (about 7-8) this 'plastic' pick attack is less prominent.

  • recommendation - based on the type of sound you want let's choose one profile. Let everyone know what you are connecting with (you've already said what guitar) and to. Let different people provide any changes they have made or recommend to that profile. You make the change and see what you think. If you have no time then providing too many variables will not assist that situation. You may have already stated what you are connecting to the KPA for output sound...but please inform again. Once you have an amp sound you like let's choose a profile and collectively assist in changes to hit what you want and see if it is already there or how long it will take to get there. Just a thought...

    "More Guitar in the Monitors" :thumbup:

    Edited once, last by bshaw92 ().

  • could you get a rig from the RigExchange that is considered to be very good from a majority of users here, like the
    Boogie MarkIIC+ (new) by Djemass for example,
    disable the delay, record a few riffs with it, post it and let us know what exactly it is you don't like?


    yeah with the delay off that is a killer profile ...what type of tones are you looking for OP? I've had great results with the lasse/sinmix profiles for metal (also another guy I cannot recaLl) as well as user profiles & my own

    Edited once, last by caveman1 ().

  • Ok so you mentioned SRV as well. Use Tube Train Snarl from Kemper and the aforementioned MarkIIC+ profile (Low gain and high gain profiles). Remove/disengage all effects and run into your monitor first then cabinet with cab off. Everyone has those profiles. Describe what you do or do not have that you want and see how quickly everyone can chime in and get you there. Record if you can the base and then the change that got you there.

    "More Guitar in the Monitors" :thumbup:

  • SRV tone with a Kemper and a Guild S-100 would require using the Kemper FX EQ (maybe more than one instance of it) to make those humbuckers sound more like single coil pickups.


    Hendrix with a Flying V tone is much more attainable without FX EQ - the Gibson and the Guild both are mahogany guitars with humbuckers.


    The Kemper is VERY sensitive to differences in individual guitars, if the profiled amp was. The Vibrolux profiles sound different from strat to strat (you can even hear a big difference from adjusting a strat's pickups). So, without some FX EQ, your Guild won't sound like a strat, and would not sound exactly like another S-100.


    TRY THIS:


    Cut some mids, probably some low end, and pull back the input level, so the guitar sounds more like single coils with a perfectly clean profile. If you get an EQ setting that works, SAVE it as an FX preset, and you can use it whenever you want that Guild to sound more like a Fender, with any profile.

  • Personally, I think if you're looking for maximum tweakability and extreme creativity in terms of building presets the Axe II may be more up your alley. The Kemper offers plenty of tweakability, but doesn't offer nearly as many advanced parameters.


    The Axe is more of a "build your tone from the ground up" type of thing. The Kemper is completely different. It's more like "capture the tone of your existing real-life rig or someone else's" .


    Some people see the smaller amount of tweakable parameters within the KPA as a negative. I disagree. I find that the KPA is immensely easier to use and it's much faster to dial in a usable tone. There's so many advanced editing options available with the Axe that creating your tones becomes a hobby in itself. I've spent way more time playing and recording since I've gotten the Kemper (I owned the Axe II for about 18 months). IMO, all those parameters just aren't necessary with the Kemper. If a profile doesn't work for you, maybe tweak a little (some EQ adjustments), but other than that I say just move on to another one that may suit your needs better. There are thousands of profiles available covering hundreds of different amps.


    I fully understand when people say they prefer the Axe because they need tons of effects, advanced routing options, like the idea of building their own tone from the ground up, etc.
    When people say that they prefer the Axe's raw amp/cab tone, I find myself scratching my head. I just don't get it (unless I know they're aiming for a tone that's not really possible in real life- an artificial tone). 99% of the time, the KPA sounds just like the original amp and cab miced up. With the Kemper, the sound coming through my monitors sounds like it's coming directly from a miced up amp/cab in an isolation room. The Axe just sounds like a really good digital model of a real amp.

  • Of course, as time passes and younger generations grow up with the sounds of modelers, it is entirely possible that some will actually prefer some of the modeler characteristics. It is no question, to me, that the Kemper does the most pleasant and tube like modeling out there, but I grew up with tube amps/sounds. It is not perfect, but it is the only one that has a pleasant, non-fatiguing distortion character to my ears :thumbup:

  • Paults hit it right on the money, the Kemper is very sensitive to the kind of guitar you're playing, it picks up all the nuances of the specific guitar you're playing. Also have been searching for the best cabinet solution for the Kemper without wasting money. Checked out a vid with FastRedPony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7blIHLN0U This is a real cheap setup and sounded spot on to a true guitar tone that most would be quite happy with. The other vids I checked were the axe-fx with all kind of frfr solutions. The only axe-fx videos that rocked were the ones powered by the Matrix Gt series, and that's it..The Kemper was singing, a true guitar sound..The Ingolf video with the Clr compared to the Dxr was a good example of sweet tones with the Clr having the slight edge, but I still have to go back to FastRedPony video, the Kemper sounded real good and trust me it was a bare bones experiment with components that he had on hand. Kemper needs more vids of speaker test comparisons. My point is that the originator of this post is of somewhat suspicious kind of nature. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

  • I would definitely check out some of Lasse's profiles if you're looking for a decent metal sound. I would also recommend letting your ears guide you, try not to take too much notice of the profile description. All profiles are originally created for a certain scenario which may not fit yours. For example, I play heavy music and think Gojira's latest record sounds great, but the tone matched profile available on the Kemper is not to my taste at all.

  • Wow, brother! Sounds like you got a good tone with the AxeFX, but on the other hand, it doesn't sound like you have played with the Kemper much yet. I'm going by that L'Enfant sample you put up. Was there another one? It almost sounds like there's no cab in there, but I suppose there is. I enjoyed your riffing, by the way.


    Anyway, I'm getting started with some preliminary recording-of-demos and I put a few minor EQ tweaks on the Holdsworthy preset, recorded two separate tracks, panned them, and recorded them as is on 'Pinned' and did the same with Engl Invader 150W on 'Wake.' With Superior Drummer and some bass, rough not-so-mixed stuff I put up for someone last month so he could get an idea. Lined into Pro Tools through a Focusrite Scarlett. This was with Jackson's J80 (no mid-boost) from the Randy Rhoads USA V.


    http://vesuviandestruction.bandcamp.com/


    I'm just beside myself having fun playing through all of these amps, and it is detrimental to my songwriting, because I spend entire evenings after work going, "Aw, man! That's the 'Puppets' sound! That's Origin's sound on Entity! That's Lightning Swords of Death's sound! or segwaying into hours of Manowar and Fastway and ZZ Top... I'm just starting to dig through this stuff. I'm moving into a rehearsal space next week, and I'm very much looking forward to getting a good poweramp/speaker combination for this beast.


    I think you should try profiling some of those killer sounds you got, dude, if you can. That way you can always go to them when you want.

  • Even if the guitar/strings/pickups are not involved in the profiling operation itself, you have to keep in mind that this profiling operation "copies" a sound chain (amp/cab/mic) with its settings. So far before profiling, you set up your chain with your guitar. Put another guitar/strings.pickups, fingers, players on this real thing adn the settings won't suit all the time. You will be the same thing after profiling. Some profiles makers have understiid that, and provide profiles according to guitars (mainly strat/single coil and LP/humbucker).


    I've never be fond of "tone matching" profiles because if they often fit well in a mix, they do not often sound well for live/gig.

  • If true, this seems to defeat the point of the Kemper?


    Here is me using the L'ENFANT preset off of Rig Exchange:
    https://soundcloud.com/layne81/kempertest-mushy


    I'm guessing that is the profile I made? For one, that is a Sansamp PSA-1 (a solid state preamp) direct into the soundcard plus match eq that I made for fun, not a good profile for testing what the Kemper can do. Plus the guitar tone on the album is like that, very harsh and nasal. :)

  • Did you try to profile your AxeFx?


    The result should sound about the same as your AxeFx then.


    The KPA sounds digital ?(


    IMHO does it sound EXACTLY as the recording chain.



    You wrote it sounded good a couple of month - what is different now?

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  • This is EXACTLY what I was thinking yesterday when I read this. ;)
    Sometimes you simply have to use a facepalm.
    I would use it very sparsely but in this case it would be more than justified.
    So: FACEPALM, please, and, while we're at it, double facepalm.

  • layne81,


    You have key and valid questions, have been quite civil, and anyone calling you a "troll" IS an asshole, I'm sorry you've run into that on this forum.


    I think you need to sell the KPA and stick to the FXII for you. Here is why:


    One guitar will NOT get all the sounds of the great players you want through the Kemper. The Kemper is such an accurate amp profiler that for an amp's specific settings, Kemper Profiles respond to various guitars just like they would in the real Amp. So the differences in guitar types (wood/pickups) make a HUGE difference. Tele, Strat (differences between 50's vs 60's pickups), LP, Gretsch, etc all sound entirely different through the same profile.


    The FXII has extensive tweaking options to sonically carve it's tones. I suspect it has this capability as a compensatory factor, which the KPA does not require.


    So if with ONE guitar, the FXII can dial in all your favorite great guitarists tones? It's a no-brainer, the FXII wins hands down for you.


    If a Kemper Profile says SRV, it presupposes you are using a similar guitar to his. The Kemper can't force an SRV tone onto various inappropriate guitars, and dosn't have such extensive tone carving that it can compensate to also accomplish this task.


    I have 10 guitars, all different and I can research the Guitar->Amp pairing of a famous recording and most times can nail the exact tone. But I can't make a 50's California pickup on a Strat sound like a 60's Fender Single Coil on a Kemper any more than I can do it on a real amp.

    Edited once, last by db9091 ().