Why aren't merged profiles more popular?

  • The Top Jimi ones are great. They are some of the only merged profiles I have but they are hit or miss for me personally. Some of them, like the VH ones, the merged sounds are just as full as the studio but with a touch more clarity. Others, like the Caswell AFD, sound thin thru my cab compared to the studio. I noticed that on some of them the merged profile comes with the gain higher than the studio. Not sure why that is. I could definitely see my self going down the rabbit hole with this. Ha.

    Music is my religion.

  • The Top Jimi ones are great. They are some of the only merged profiles I have but they are hit or miss for me personally. Some of them, like the VH ones, the merged sounds are just as full as the studio but with a touch more clarity. Others, like the Caswell AFD, sound thin thru my cab compared to the studio. I noticed that on some of them the merged profile comes with the gain higher than the studio. Not sure why that is. I could definitely see my self going down the rabbit hole with this. Ha.

    I use the AFD #34 and it kills through my cab. To me, the profiles (merged/studio) sound exactly the same through headphones. Through a cab, the studio version does sound a bit more gainy, but I think its perceived due to the extra high end the cab section misses on the studio profiles. At first I thought I liked the studio better, but at band practice at high volumes, the merged version is face melting. The first two shows using those profiles I have had more feedback from other bands than ever before.


    Its funny seeing people coming up and looking at the remote, thinking its some amazing multi effects...

  • "
    nakedzen wrote:
    People, DO NOT put a DI box between your amp and cab before checking it can handle the voltage.


    You need to buy a DI box or dummy load that can handle the wattage which is a $200 investment by minimum. You can't use just any $10 di box off the shelf, it's likely you'll destroy the box and your amp. Most DI boxes have been built to handle signal levels (0.1V-1V), not 100W power amps. Want to be safe? Get a load box with line out, like a Hot Plate, and put that between your amp and cab."


    Not necessarily true for all DI boxes nakedzen. Understanding how specific models are built is the caveat


    My post link below tested a passive type LIVE WIRE SOLUTIOS Model SPDI, and shows that you can use this particular passive DI box in between a tube amp and speaker, IF you understand how your particular DI is made. I have not only profiled a 100W amp, but tested the DI box configuration using a dummy load and a variable power supply up to 40 VDC. This simulates the voltage output of 1) a 200W amp maxed out into an 8 Ohm load, or 2) a 400W amp maxed out into a 4 Ohm load. Another caveat of this testing is that you must be aware of the attenuator setting on this DI box before attempting any testing based on the spreadsheet. This test only applies to this particular DI model, but some other models may work. Understand how it's made is the decision maker.


    DI-boxes suitable to create Direct Amplifier Profiles


    I doubt very few, if any are profiling 100W or 200W amps maxed out, but what do I know. HTH

  • Personally, I prefer the sound of studio profiles than their "merged brothers" through my 2x12 Marshall 1922 cab. I use mostly Top Jimi, Reampzone and Michael Wagener profiles (also tried other popular commercial profiles but didn't like them) and I'm after Mid-High gain Marshall and Boogie sounds. I don't care if a profile is studio or merged, only what sounds best to my ears, and at least for now, the studio ones seem to get the job done for me.

  • I much prefer merged profiles through a guitar speaker cabinet because I can unlock the cabinet from the profile and I get a much MUCH more realistic amplifier/guitar/cabinet tone.
    When I am at home, i use a number of different 4×12 cabinets, the Bogner is my favourite and I only ever use Merged profiles,
    Now, live, that’s a whole different story, using in ear monitors and such… then Studio profiles are amazing!

  • Plenty of profilers (including commercial) have commented that there is no tonal difference between a studio & merged profile. The only benefit is the merged gives you a more true separation if you disable the cab sim. Given, you may like the way the studio sounds with the cab sim off, even if the separation isn't perfect, that's just subjective. Many profiles mostly do studio profiles because merged merely makes for more work to achieve the same ends and they'd much rather you use their mic'd cab than a different IR which dramatically changes the resulting tone.

  • Biggest issue for me when making a merged is that it takes twice as long to make a single profile as I'll capture the direct then I'll capture the studio and overlay that for each profile. Doing that for 100+ = 2x the time where as other people will just use numerous DIRECTS with a single studio profile , argh.. I'm lazy.

  • Time is money. I'd imagine most commercial sellers don't see the point of making everything merged to spend twice as long making everything sound the same as a studio profile. Most guys offer studio profiles and the DI's for those settings so you can use your own cab if that's the route you're going down anyway. Honestly probably makes more sense than taking the time to make merged profiles when you know they're going to ditch your cab and only use your DI anyway.

  • Time is money. I'd imagine most commercial sellers don't see the point of making everything merged to spend twice as long making everything sound the same as a studio profile. Most guys offer studio profiles and the DI's for those settings so you can use your own cab if that's the route you're going down anyway. Honestly probably makes more sense than taking the time to make merged profiles when you know they're going to ditch your cab and only use your DI anyway.

    I wish that were the case... I think when most of us (I'm speaking for myself, anyway) say "Merged," we mean "DI" (and probably vice versa.)


    In other words, I'm happy with a studio version and a DI version of the rig - I don't need a merged version as I've got my own IRs that are going to serve that purpose.


    So yes, it might take a little more time (as was mentioned above) to take a DI profile while you're doing a studio profile. But I don't think most of us (again, speaking for myself and making a guess) need DI profiles to be somehow different from their studio counterparts.


    For me, it's no big deal and no loss. I bought the Kemper to profile my own amps, and that's what I do. I don't use any commercial profiles (though I own many of them) because they generally aren't how I would dial those amps. That took me a couple of years to learn the hard way. Now, I couldn't be happier with the Kemper because I've found a workflow that works for me and I think that for everyone that's the biggest thing.

  • I wish that were the case... I think when most of us (I'm speaking for myself, anyway) say "Merged," we mean "DI" (and probably vice versa.)
    In other words, I'm happy with a studio version and a DI version of the rig - I don't need a merged version as I've got my own IRs that are going to serve that purpose.


    So yes, it might take a little more time (as was mentioned above) to take a DI profile while you're doing a studio profile. But I don't think most of us (again, speaking for myself and making a guess) need DI profiles to be somehow different from their studio counterparts.


    For me, it's no big deal and no loss. I bought the Kemper to profile my own amps, and that's what I do. I don't use any commercial profiles (though I own many of them) because they generally aren't how I would dial those amps. That took me a couple of years to learn the hard way. Now, I couldn't be happier with the Kemper because I've found a workflow that works for me and I think that for everyone that's the biggest thing.


    Just a small correction. In Kemper terminology, the Merged Profile is the outcome of making a "Direct Amp" profile (not "DI") and a "Studio" Profile, and then Merging them, which has to be done by the original author. A "DI" profile would be just a line out signal from an amp's preamp section (prior to hitting the power output stage). A "Direct Amp" profile, is the full profile of the amp (preamp + power amp and output section) including the interaction of the amp's output section with a connected speaker load. So, although the terms may sound similar, they are actually quite different.


    Cheers,
    John

  • If people producing profiles just made direct and studio sounds that matched, we could choose to make the merged patches ourselves. Also, making a 100 profiles of one amp is way more than needed in most cases.


    I love merged profiles for live, because studio can often sound abrasive when I disable the cab through a power amp.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7