Recording and cab choice

  • Evening folks.


    For the past 3 months I have been focusing on using my kemper powerhead live and setting up tones that work with my 1960a cab. But recently I have been using my kemper for home recording, mainly high gain tones using my gibson voodoo explorer using the 2 outputs on the kemper. I bought the focusrite 2i2 (bad choice due to low level clipping) and have been achieving mixed results, particularly compared to the sound clips i have heard from users here and in other places despite using the same profiles. I am mainly using reaper but have used other software to compare results and all the tones sound essentially the same so I know software isnt at fault.


    For example the LL Grease patch used in the recording here Tips on recording Kemper?? sounds fantastic. When I use the patch it sounds thin, scooped and lacking any character. Most of the high gain profiles I have been using produce similar results, i have managed a good recording tone on a rare occasion but I am thinking I need some advice to get the most out of the recording side as I am clearly doing something wrong. None of my high gain tones sound anything like the examples I have heard from sellers and users on this forum. Also, I am still a little unclear regarding the use and, more importantly, choice of cabinet to go with. I notice there are a few cabinets in the cab preset section and hundreds in the "from rigs" section. Should I be downloading cab profiles or mix and matching? I not clear on the best way to approach it as up to now I have had cab off to go straight into the 1960a. I plan on uploading some of the clips i have saved but would welcome any suggestions on setting on the kemper for recording and any advice on cabinet choice.


    Many thanks


    .

  • Well, different guitars produce a different sonic result, in general. This might well be the case, but also what you use for listening to your recordings makes a difference. Are you using the same medium for listening to the online clips you like?This is very important in order to get comparable results.


    I assume you kill the cab profile when you use your real cab: you should now switch it back on, since you're most probably using a more linear medium (monitors or HPs) for listening to your recordings.
    If you did not kill the cab when using the 1960, and tweaked from there in order to get the best tones with the real cab, the results on a linear medium will be sonically... unpredictable ;)


    Unless otherwise specified, the rigs you hear in the clips come with their own cab, so when you d/l them you should get the whole package, so to speak ;) No strict need to change cab.


    Apart from the above, I'd check two things:


    1. Have you tweaked the rigs in order to get a great sound with your cab? If you did this, and are using the same tweaked rigs for your recordings, most chances are you get a bad result. Start from the untweaked rigs, and tweak from there through your monitors\HPs.


    2. is the Output EQ flat? For recording you're using the Main outputs, which have a separate EQ from the Monitor Output, the one you use with your real cab. Check it's flat.


    HTH :)


  • Great info from Viabcroce. The type of cab you use can impact the sound quite alot. Also remember you probably have the cab louder than you do when you listen to a recording back so this can make a big difference to :)


  • Thanks, yes cabs are switched on when i am recording, it is only ever off when i am going into my 1960a. Output eq is flat. I use the same platform for listening back as i do with all things audio. I use a mixture of seinheiser headphones and an audio amp connected with stereo speakers. The examples i hear are also played back in the same way, so I can easily compare my results to the results of others. I would love to hear a clip from someone and use their profile to record a clip, to illustrate the differences i hear. I was convinced I had changed a setting somewhere but cannot find anything obvious.

  • You'd also need the same guitar tho.
    One thing you might want to do is to post a direct recording file, and then the reamped version with a factory rig. This way everyone willing to give you their version would not add anything to what you do but their own Profiler.


    HTH :)