Can't get bedroom amp tones

  • Hey, I bought a Kemper without much intention of using it to record. I mainly just wanted to use it as a bedroom amp, and have a whole bunch of different amps at my disposal. So far after almost a year, I've only found one profile that I really like, I've bought 3 different tone packs, and I just csnt get any of them to sound good except for the one. Idk what I'm doing wrong.


    I got a evh 5153 el34 profile and right from the get go it was so good.


    I'm not sure why it sounds so different than all the other profiles, it feels like a real amp, when I play a hard palm mute I can really feel it.


    But when I use a dual Rec profile that I bought it just feels stale and dry. Im not sure what the difference is.

  • Hi ,


    I am a bedroom player as well ( playing guitar that is ;) ) My advice would be trying out the free profiles from different vendors - They all have their specific way of making their profiles with their specific sound characteristics. We all have our favorites and the ones


    we are not as fond of. It all depends on Gear, ear, music style , Frfr or guitarcab , knowing how to tweak, etc. Then choose packs from the ones you like best and see how close you get with tweaking to your taste (also changing cabs).


    ( I use JBL 305)

  • How loud are you monitoring?


    You probably already know that our ears hear differently as volume changes. Its called equal loudnes curves or Fletcher-Munsen effect. Some profiles only really come alive at higher volume. Ot’s possible the 5153 profile you like was just tweaked specifically to sound good at bedroom volumes.

  • I sort of have a similar problem, albeit mainly playing with headphones at home. I never really felt what all the people talk about with the Kemper, at least in regards to playing at home. I really dig the sound of anything that's 5150 related, but the only one that made me actually happy was an EL34 5150III aswell. And now I think I found the reason because yesterday I got my old girl, a Jackson RR24M with an alder body and a single EMG81, out. And damn, almost all profiles sounded a LOT better to me right away. My main guitar is a pro series RR24, which features a mahogany body and a Duncan SH6 (TB6) for the bridge PU. And I also use 10-52 strings on the former and 10-56 on the later. It all really made me consider changing the PUs by having a luthier drilling all the cavities and holes for a set of EMGs... Which makes we sad in a way bc when I bought that guitar it sounded SO good with a 6505... Maybe someone can help me with that? :/


    Tl;DR: I feel like it REALLY depends on the guitar in my case. What PUs does your guitar have? I'm not into much tweaking, but the liveliness changes a LOT with the pickups, so when I turn down the lows and boost mids and highs, the sound with my Duncans gets pretty decent again. Maybe try that if you don't have different pickups at hand?

  • My Kemper is always loud. I never play quietly. I have 3 different guitars, ones got an emg 81, one a nazgul, and another fusion edge. My el34 5153 profile sounds good with all my guitars. With most other profiles I've tried, switching guitars does give a little variance in the tone, but not enough to make it come alive. The only thing I can think of is that the profiles I've bought are specifically meant for recording. Meant to be double tracked and eqd. So that leads to my next question. Where can I get some profiles specifically for just jamming?

  • My Kemper is always loud. I never play quietly. I have 3 different guitars, ones got an emg 81, one a nazgul, and another fusion edge. My el34 5153 profile sounds good with all my guitars. With most other profiles I've tried, switching guitars does give a little variance in the tone, but not enough to make it come alive. The only thing I can think of is that the profiles I've bought are specifically meant for recording. Meant to be double tracked and eqd. So that leads to my next question. Where can I get some profiles specifically for just jamming?

    What style of music are you playing mainly for your jamming sessions?

  • What he said, but also the pure cab function is meant to help studio monitors sound more like a real amp cab, don’t just switch it off, try actually playing with the strength.

  • What he said, but also the pure cab function is meant to help studio monitors sound more like a real amp cab, don’t just switch it off, try actually playing with the strength.

    it's counter productive as it makes everything sound the same.

  • it's counter productive as it makes everything sound the same.

    Not in my experience. Don’t use it if you’re not monitoring through studio monitors or an FRFR though. It simply applies an inverse eq curve to the most common mic/pre combo at the output end of the rig.


    Of course if you locked the cab section itself or just copied around and always used the same cab then that will result in things sounding the same throughout, as the cab is about 90% of the tone (just as with real amps).

  • You tried the free Kemper factory Lasse Lammert and Ola Englund profiles and didn't like any of them?

    It's hard for me to imagine not getting a great metal tone with those suggestions, OP.

    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.

  • It simply applies an inverse eq curve to the most common mic/pre combo at the output end of the rig.

    I believe it's a lot-more sophisticated than that, Per.


    The fact that it eliminates, to the degree you dial it in, harsh phase cancellation, suggests it's not a fixed frequency range and that it's a whole-lot more fancy than simple frequency-cutting.