Please share with me any essential basic tips - Primarily a metal player

    A very fond hello to you all! Very excited new toaster owner here and I thank you all for your time. I hope I'm posting this in the appropriate place..


    The boring info about me: :sleeping:
    Anyways, I am a brand new Kemper owner and I'm looking for must-know advice for a newcomer. I've owned the AX8 for several months now so I'm not completely green concerning modelers (yes I know the Kemper is a "profiler" and totally different) but I am generally pretty inept concerning new tech. It took some time for me to start dialing in anything decent on the AX8 and I'm still not totally satisfied hence the purchase of the Kemper. As for actual amps I'm mostly used to my 6505+ and JSX heads through a marshall cab and the usual pedal chain. I like my tone and I hope to profile it some day but I'm not obsessed with having an identical sound. I'm pursuing digital because my life/living arrangements don't lend themselves to micing and blasting 100+ watt tube amps.


    I primarily play metal, 7 string mostly but 6 and 8 as well. I bought the Kemper almost entirely for the purpose of home recording therefore it will mostly be going through monitors and occasionally headphones. Keep in mind that I'm still learning how to even use all of the knobs and buttons, in case my questions seem especially silly.


    What I would like to know: ?(
    Are there any tips that I simply must know to start coaxing the magic out of this tone box? I didn't love anything from the factory for metal. I tried to sift through the threads on here but there's quite a lot to go through. One recurring theme I noticed is the recommendation to turn off the "cabs" or the "pure cab". Is this indeed a must? Perhaps only in certain applications?


    Any other major tips?


    I imagine 75%+ of the battle is finding a profile I like a lot from the get go yes? On that note, are there any universally good/popular metal profiles (it would be nice to start with free ones) that I should start with? Finally, on that same note, what would you say is the best method for searching for profiles? It was tiresome just going through all of the factory profiles and I understand that there are many times more available on the rig exchange and around the net.


    These probably silly questions and/or ones that have been asked many times before and if so I am sorry. On the other hand, thank you for any and all input! :)

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    Are there any tips that I simply must know to start coaxing the magic out of this tone box?

    Welcome aboard man. Start with reading the manual and watching some tutorial as these will give you a great head start. ;)

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    I imagine 75%+ of the battle is finding a profile I like a lot from the get go yes?

    Absolutely, YES. :)

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    On that note, are there any universally good/popular metal profiles (it would be nice to start with free ones) that I should start with?

    Direct this question to the free rigs sub forum and you will get lots of input and suggestions. :thumbup:

    Hi! Welcome to the club!


    My advice will be general, because I don't play metal, but it still applies. :)


    - Keep the effects subtle, especially reverb
    - Match your performance slots to specific songs or types of playing
    - Get the monitor volume up to where it sounds great
    - Get good at creating and deleting presets for the many places you can do this
    - Use an EQ in Effects to lock a global High Pass filter at 5000 to 8000 Hz to take mic harness off the top
    - Use an EQ in Stomps to shape your signal before the preamp. This can completely change the sound of your guitar.
    - Less gain can be heavier than more
    - When you set up a selection of Stomps, you can press and hold the Stomps button and store the whole section as a preset that you can apply to other profiles in one shot.
    - Don't use long, cheap cables between your guitar and the KPA unless you use active pickups.
    - Try different Cabs and save the ones you like as AA... so you can find them
    - The factory included effect presets can be restored at any time, so I go through and Delete the ones I never use. It makes my own saved presets easier to find.


    ...and a million other things. :D

    There are LOTS of good free profiles out there, and many very good for metal. They do not come stock with the Kemper. Like was mentioned, go to the free rig section of the forum. Also, I believe Sinmix has a free download pack, and I'd be real surprised if his stuff doesn't do it for you. Rig Exchange is hard to find stuff on. It's best to read through the free rig section of the forum, and then find those on RE.

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    I imagine 75%+ of the battle is finding a profile I like a lot from the get go yes? On that note, are there any universally good/popular metal profiles (it would be nice to start with free ones) that I should start with? Finally, on that same note, what would you say is the best method for searching for profiles? It was tiresome just going through all of the factory profiles and I understand that there are many times more available on the rig exchange and around the net.


    These probably silly questions and/or ones that have been asked many times before and if so I am sorry. On the other hand, thank you for any and all input! :)

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.

    Like 1

    There a few great packs for metal in Rig Manager.


    For modern metal, my first stop would be the Lasse Lammert and Lars Luettge (might be labelled Tonehammer) ones.


    Older stuff can be a bit trickier, mostly because it seems like everyone's obsessed with the honkiness of a tube screamer + V30s. The Choptones and Michael Wagener packs are really good though.

    Quote from Lokasenna

    There a few great packs for metal in Rig Manager.


    For modern metal, my first stop would be the Lasse Lammert and Lars Luettge (might be labelled Tonehammer) ones.


    Older stuff can be a bit trickier, mostly because it seems like everyone's obsessed with the honkiness of a tube screamer + V30s. The Choptones and Michael Wagener packs are really good though.

    I'll second this :"Lasse Lammert and Lars Luettge", they are fantastic, forgot about them. I also really enjoy Keith Merrow's free pack for some of the heavy lifting.

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.

    Like 3

    Thank you ALL very much for your responses! :)


    I didn't realize that a USB stick was required for importing files so I had to go pick one up last night. Going to find and download the aforementioned profiles/packs now and some others I'm sure. I'll check back in after!



    Seems like an especially great list here. Thank you very much for it :)

    Quote from Lokasenna

    There a few great packs for metal in Rig Manager.


    For modern metal, my first stop would be the Lasse Lammert and Lars Luettge (might be labelled Tonehammer) ones.


    Older stuff can be a bit trickier, mostly because it seems like everyone's obsessed with the honkiness of a tube screamer + V30s. The Choptones and Michael Wagener packs are really good though.

    I'm actually not able to find a free pack from Lasse Lammert, just the "Producer" pack for $69.99. Could you possible direct me to the free one?

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    I'm actually not able to find a free pack from Lasse Lammert, just the "Producer" pack for $69.99. Could you possible direct me to the free one?

    in the Rig Exchange software there is a tab named Rig Packs (or something similar. I’m not in my computer atm.) There is several Pro Profiles from Keith Merrow, Mbritt, Lasse Lammert etc. for free.

    Gear: Kemper Profiler | Neural DSP Plugins
    Guitars: .Strandberg*

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    Thank you ALL very much for your responses! :)


    I didn't realize that a USB stick was required for importing files so I had to go pick one up last night. Going to find and download the aforementioned profiles/packs now and some others I'm sure. I'll check back in after!

    A USB stick is only needed if the kemper can't come near the computer. Otherwise it's much easier to audition and load profiles from Rig Manager. Much better user interface and organization. All you need is a USB-a to USB-b male-to-male cable.


    Like this: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonB…gid=pla-83922868406&psc=1

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.

    A huge thank you to everyone once again! The famed amiable nature of this forum lives up to it's reputation.


    Very happy to know that I don't have to continue using the USB stick and even more thrilled with the Rig Exchange. One of my next big steps is deleting the vast majority of the factory profiles that I'll never use to optimize searching through the unit.


    Auditioned quite a lot today and I'm not quite "there" yet but I'm very optimistic. I really liked some of SinMix's offerings and surprisingly was very underwhelmed by the Keith Merrow and Ola Englund stuff. Finding that I have to bring the gain down on just about all of them and I do still need to tinker with some EQ filtering.

    Quote from TheMetalHobbit

    Auditioned quite a lot today and I'm not quite "there" yet but I'm very optimistic. I really liked some of SinMix's offerings and surprisingly was very underwhelmed by the Keith Merrow and Ola Englund stuff. Finding that I have to bring the gain down on just about all of them and I do still need to tinker with some EQ filtering.

    That surprises me too. I really like Merrow's profiles, but they seemed to me to be lower gain than most other profiles any kind of djenty style. I am not really a high-gain player and still once in a while playing them I'll think they could use a little extra juice. Whereas for me, SinMix's profiles rarely lack anything in the chugga chugga department.

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.