What's your opinion about merged profiles?

I think it's because there is still a lot of confusion about the process. Merging should only be done at the profiling stage, but there are still some that try to merge a DA profile with the cab of their choice, not realising that it shouldn't and doesn't have to be merged. Not to mention that there was a bug in the early merging algorithm. It's been a while since I did any profiling to test the differences between a Studio and properly Merged profile, so I don't have any first hand experience, but there are a few users on here who say that they don't sound the same (MBritt being one of them).

Also, it seems like the choice of DI box can potentially make a big difference.

And I would imagine that some DI boxes don't take louder signals too well.

Quote from mattt67

So Merged profiles was the big step forward with 3.0 FW, but these don't seem to get much love around here.
Many of the commercial vendors don't sell them and say studio profiles sound better. I haven't tried making any merged profile yet, but from my understanding, a studio and a merged profile are supposed to sound the same when played through monitors; is this not the case?
I've been using a real guitar cab with my kpa for a few weeks only, but at the moment, I mostly use studio profiles with monitor cab off (maybe because of the limited offer of merged profiles)

What's your opinion?
Have you found merged profiles which sound great through monitors and guitar cab?
Do you think the merging process needs to be improved?

Thanks

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I like merged profiles, they make switching cabinets with other merged profiles more authentic. Also they open up the door much better to Impulse responses. I have some RedWires impulses and they sound better with merged profiles than studio profiles because studio profiles have approximation for both amp and cab.
I don't know if it possibly can be improved but based on my understanding (could be wrong so someone correct me if it's wrong), when a merged profile is split into cab and amp, the amp has speaker response included in its behavior, but when you switch cabinet, it will not know and it will still have the same speaker interaction to the original speaker it was profiled with. This might effect the authenticity of the sound even if it sounded good.

Speaker interaction is supposed to have significant effect on the sound, For instance in the real world if a tube amp has a 16ohm cabinet and you decide to experiment with safe mismatch and change you amp setting to 8 ohms, the sound will become very different (high frequency roll off etc because the impedance curve has changed and the amp reacts differently). If you swap speaker all together, the sound will clearly change and part of what contributes to that is the impedance. Some manufacturers don't even publish that information. In either case I think the kemper is approximating all of that speaker interaction information using the original speaker that was profiled.

My short answer: merged profiles expand the possibilities enormously. I did get some very good sounds using Impulse responses with profiling one of my amps direct and with merged profiles but I still consider the studio profile (without swapping the cab) to be the most authentic. I'm still open to using the merged and in some merged profiles the red wires impulse responses yielded better (more suitable) sounds for varied applications, so authenticity here is not crucial because you already know that you have an authentic amp or Preamp (if you're using profiled Preamp). If you download the free Redwires Big Box Marshall and convert the 24bit 44 to use with kemper, you would be pleasantly surprised. Start with R121 zero inches form the cab and you might be set with just that one free impulse.

I think, perhaps, that Kemper could have made a better explanation, and clearer argument as to the purpose and advantage/benefits of "Merged" profiles.

If you read the official published information on the Merging Process (e.g., updated Manuals, revision notes, etc.), the info. is in there, but it is a bit muddled.

As Sambrox mentioned in above post, Kemper should have really emphasized the fact that the Merging Process is intended to be performed exclusively by the original profile maker/author. A Merged Profile is the result of a binary process, which involves making both a Studio Profile, and a Direct Amp profile (with DI box and reference amp connected to reference speaker cab), while keeping all amp settings and physical parameters constant. The author of the profile then pairs the unique Studio Profile with the corresponding Direct Amp profile, and initiates the Merging Process. It is a one-to-one correspondence. Yes, one can take a dedicated Direct Amp profile (produced by some other author), and merge it with a "Cabinet X". However, in this case, it is not truly a Merged Profile. In this case, I think a better term would be a "Blended Profile."

The result of the Merging process is to create a profile which allows the KPA to accurately separate the Direct Amp portion of the profile, from the full Studio Profile, for the primary purpose of sending the Direct Amp portion (no Cabinet) to a traditional guitar cabinet. In a live situation, the full Studio Profile is still available to be sent to the FOH.

IMHO, it is an ancillary, secondary benefit of a Merged Profile which allows users to more authentically experiment with swapping between virtual cabinets, or importing and using IRs...due to accurate Amp/Cab separation. In other words, KPA owners who use FRFR monitors still benefit from the Merged Profile capability, even though this wasn't it's primary purpose.

However, since there are so few Merged Profiles out in the wild (even among the Commercial profile vendors)...this secondary benefit has not been fully realized by the Kemper community, IMHO.

I've never liked the sound through studio monitors and have recently switched to using an open back single 12" guitar cabinet. The difference is amazing !
Ive now updated my firmware and downloaded all the merged profiles from Kemper, TAF and MBritt.
The sound and feel I'm now getting is light years ahead of where I was.
I highly recommend merged cabinets for any of you who use a real guitar cabinet.

Merged are great for live with a real guitar cab, you can get a much better response through thte cab than with a studio profile and still send something that sounds decent to FOH. But on the flipside they don't sound 100% the same as their studio counterparts in my experience, and as the point of the Kemper is capturing the sound of the amp as accurately as possible then for me I feel they're not as useful, they're less close to the source than the studio profile. They can still be great though when just used creatively as you would with any other amp sim, they still have all the awesome touch dynamics and feel that the Kemper is so great at.

The above comments are spot on about authenticity for swapping cabs. For "dual output" with no cab/mic to a neutral ss power amp and real cab while sinultaneously running cab/mic simulation to foh, it works perfectly.

Another good thing that hasnt been mentioned is if youre making a lot of profiles with the same cab but a few different mic'ing options, you can shoot the studio profiles for the different micing options, then just make direct amp profiles for the rest. As long as the DA profiles have the same cab hooked up, applying the cab from any of the studio profiles to any of the DA profiles will be authentic. You could even return days later with no mics and shoot new DA profiles, so long as you use the same cab. Or do it on the road where you dont have a good room/studio.

Quote from Tritium

, Kemper should have really emphasized the fact that the Merging Process is intended to be performed exclusively by the original profile maker/author. A Merged Profile is the result of a binary process, which involves making both a Studio Profile, and a Direct Amp profile (with DI box and reference amp connected to reference speaker cab), while keeping all amp settings and physical parameters constant......

If I might add to this also, is that the maker/the author shouldn't even wait too long between making the profiles (Direct and studio). When I profiled an amp, I had to stop and come back about an hour later and left the amp on. When I came back it sounded much hotter and different even though the setting weren't touched.

this is something very important that should have its own thread...I wonder how many profiles were done with " cold" amps and how much better they would sound with nicely warmed up gear.