M Britt Kemper Profiles

  • I don't consider the KPA (which DOES sound as good as a tube amp) modeling.


    But it *is* modelling. The Kemper is not a tube amp but sounds like a tube amp therefore it is a digital device modelling an analog one - after all it's not playing a tape of the recorded amp or something. This is and has always been a distinction without a difference. While clearly (in my opinion) the Kemper sounds better than any other modeler I have heard and it derives it's model in a different way than say and Eleven rack or an Axe it is nonetheless still a modeling amp.

  • Thanks ucnick! I appreciate the kind words. Regarding the Kemper vs. real amps. I love real tube amps and think they do have more immediacy and nuance, etc. than any computer modeler-type product, but what doesn't get mentioned often enough are the inherent drawbacks of tube amps:


    -I have some great tube amps, but honestly, they are too loud to use in many situations. I would have a soundman wanting to kill me if I ran it at a volume I think it sounds great just to get the right breakup, etc. A lot of people with tube amps in those situations have to turn down and they're only using a fraction of the tone that amp is putting out because the power tubes are barely working.
    -And now that I bring up tubes, getting good quality tubes is getting harder and harder. NOS tubes are getting either really overpriced or kind of sketchy, not really New Old Stock, but Used Old Stock. Many of the newer manufacturers are hit and miss on quality, so keeping a tube amp up and running can be a chore when tubes start failing, which happens more when the amp is getting bounced around in a trailer on the road.
    -Not to mention the fact that they're big and heavy. As I've gotten older and as travel needs have changed to include more and more "fly dates," weight becomes an issue when you're trying to travel light. Tube amps are generally too heavy and fragile to check as baggage for fear of total annihilation or big hits to your credit card. I can get my Kemper rig under 50 pounds and not have to rely on tired, beat up backline rental amps.
    -Tube amp rigs are only as consistent as all of the variables combined: AC voltage at any given venue, the care with which your speakers are mic'd, and the miles of cabling it takes to run a traditional pedalboard and loom, not to mention knob placement on a dozen pedals. I've seen everything from an iso box (which kills any real air movement and tone imo) to a casually draped 57 right smack in the middle of the voice coil. It may sound great onstage, but the crowd is getting brain darts launched at them from 2" drivers.


    These are just some of the downsides of tube amps that need to be factored in when comparing the KPA or even other modelers fairly. As much as I love plugging straight into a real, nice amp, all of the above issues just make the KPA way more appealing to take on the road and I worry less about my sound now than I did in the years I used "real" amps. <stepping off morning soap box now>

  • Well said Mike, and as educated in delivering such explanations or thoughts I think there is a book you must sit down and write someday.
    By the way the Colonial have found there way into my set list, I find juice in there to squeeze on the cleanish side which can be a rare thing. They rival your earlier CAA and Princeton profiles, which stay in my board and are two of my go too's!!

  • Couldn't agree more with Mike's points and they are exactly why I looked for a non-tube solution about 3 years ago and got the Kemper. Add some awesome profiles and I'm a happy man. I have the Dumble pack and 3 of the mini packs and they are very good.

  • So we're (Lonestar) up near Boston today for an acoustic show for a radio station today and this is the first time I've gotten to actually try out the new acoustic preamp profiles from the BoC pack in a live environment since I made them. In the past, I've used an Avalon preamp profile I got from the RE and it still works, but today I tried the ADA MP1 and the Taylor K4 profiles and let our foh soundman a/b/c them and he picked the Taylor K4 and I have to say, it sounded good in the JBL powered speaker I was using to monitor the Kemper. It had a bit more warmth than the Avalon and with a few eq tweaks I feel like I got my Anderson Crowdster acoustic sounding better than ever. I was just wondering if anyone else who got the BoC pack was using any of the acoustic pre's yet?

  • So we're (Lonestar) up near Boston today for an acoustic show for a radio station today and this is the first time I've gotten to actually try out the new acoustic preamp profiles from the BoC pack in a live environment since I made them. In the past, I've used an Avalon preamp profile I got from the RE and it still works, but today I tried the ADA MP1 and the Taylor K4 profiles and let our foh soundman a/b/c them and he picked the Taylor K4 and I have to say, it sounded good in the JBL powered speaker I was using to monitor the Kemper. It had a bit more warmth than the Avalon and with a few eq tweaks I feel like I got my Anderson Crowdster acoustic sounding better than ever. I was just wondering if anyone else who got the BoC pack was using any of the acoustic pre's yet?


    I guess I should have bought the BoC. I could really use a good acoustic preamp profile.


    Could you offer a separate acoustic pack?
    Just a thought.

  • Hey Mike,


    I've been nearly exclusively using your profiles since I bought the Kemper at the end of 2014.
    I tried many more commercial and free profiles, but always came back to yours.
    The first pack which I bought was #2 and I loved it, especially the Marshall, /13, Bogner ones.


    I already had bought the 800 pack and thought it was nice, but today I discovered the 69 pack and holy shit!


    These are some damn good profiles, I especially love the ones with the 25w Greenback, a speaker which I love!
    These could become my daily drivers for live playing, will check these out next week! But so far it looks very promising!


    So just wanted to thank you for your good work, and the smiles you delievered to me when playing these sounds :)


    I was wondering if you're going to do some sort of FX pack. Some of your profiles already have some cool and tasty FX in the slots but maybe you can come up with some cool presets and how you utilize your profiles for more special sounds, maybe like a performance pack or something.


    Greetings
    Andy

  • Michael...thanks for these new Colonial profiles. I honestly am at a point where I feel like I have all the profiles and tones I need. I have all of your sets and felt like I was done. I am so glad I picked these up. I have spent a couple of hours with them and they are my favorite rock profiles. They sound amazing with my Anderson Classic and Short T. I haven't tried them with mu humbucker equipped guitars but just wow! The T has that great twang that a tele should have. The Classic maintains that killer quack a strat style guitar has too. Thanks so much!!!!

  • Michael...thanks for these new Colonial profiles. I honestly am at a point where I feel like I have all the profiles and tones I need. I have all of your sets and felt like I was done. I am so glad I picked these up. I have spent a couple of hours with them and they are my favorite rock profiles. They sound amazing with my Anderson Classic and Short T. I haven't tried them with mu humbucker equipped guitars but just wow! The T has that great twang that a tele should have. The Classic maintains that killer quack a strat style guitar has too. Thanks so much!!!!


    Thanks so much and yeah, the Colonial profiles have really been working for me too. I, too, have more profiles than I'll ever "need" but I love stumbling on an amp that just works and gets the tone I hear in my head. I still have a few amps on my wish list, but I'm kind of running out of amps that I "need". #gottalovethekemper

  • Thanks so much and yeah, the Colonial profiles have really been working for me too. I, too, have more profiles than I'll ever "need" but I love stumbling on an amp that just works and gets the tone I hear in my head. I still have a few amps on my wish list, but I'm kind of running out of amps that I "need". #gottalovethekemper



    Gotta agree completely with this. I love my Kemper and you have made it infinitely more valuable to me. Thanks again! Loving these profiles!!!

  • I have a question for you guys.


    I tried the PT100 profile from Pack 2 at a livegig and realised that there was much low end going on there.


    Do you guys engage a lowcut in the EQ in the X slot for playing live?

  • Haven't used the Kemper live, but my only experience with Michael's profiles is whilst my brother played his LP, and I simply lowered the bass in the tone stack.


    Some profiles were perfect as-is, but many required just a tiny backing-down of the bass knob. It never took as much as one might expect 'cause the Kemper's stack EQ is so damned effective... and musical.


    Surely you've tried this before asking about additional EQ 'though... right?

  • I have a question for you guys.


    I tried the PT100 profile from Pack 2 at a livegig and realised that there was much low end going on there.


    Do you guys engage a lowcut in the EQ in the X slot for playing live?


    I've been using other of his various profiles without any changes to EQ with no problems, but I do think sometimes I should be tweaking things in my monitor to account for stage wash so I can hear myself better, but I let FOH worry about what the audience hears. So, I have been reading up on parametric eq and at some point may work some sort of eq into my set up. BUT, I plan on experimenting with different cabs (I have one of the Ownheimer or however you spell his name collections) and see if I find a cab I like better first. I don't know if that helps - I feel like Mike's profiles get my 80-90% of the way to what I want MY sound to be, but I am taking my time working through that last 10-20% to make sure I understand what I am doing to get there. Hope that makes sense.

  • I have a question for you guys.


    I tried the PT100 profile from Pack 2 at a livegig and realised that there was much low end going on there.


    Do you guys engage a lowcut in the EQ in the X slot for playing live?


    Before you touch the tonestack EQ try to increase your definition in the amp section.
    You can also try to work with the low shift parameter in the cabinet section to remove some high end as well if lowering the bass in the tonestack doesnt yield the required result.

  • I think the low end on those PT100 profiles is bigger than many of my other profiles. That's kind of what that amp sounds like to me. You can try rolling the definition up, which removes a little low end if the low eq knob doesn't get where you need to be. The biggest challenge in finding the "right" profile for me is finding the ones with the balance of tone that I like. When I find that, I tend to stick with those for live work and then when I'm noodling at home or recording, I'm more free to try all the other tones in the palette.


    Still working on 3P pack idea. Nothing final yet, but I'm talking to Jamie at 3P.