I Intend to start a study about commercial profiles

  • Hello to everybody...
    as per the thread title it is my intention to start a thorough comparison study about commercial profiles.


    This decision came to me because I own the kemper since 2012 and since them practically every commercial profile I had was virtually never sounding the way I heard it.


    So I would like to know why this thing happens: I hear a commercial profile announcement with dedicated video...love the timbre...purchase the pack but i don't get the same tone.


    Now...before you add comment and, why not?, critics, I do all my test comparing with the same identical thing.


    at this moment the test made are done with the kemper to audio board (edirol fa101 firewire) and two reference monitor (M-Audio BX8 Carbon). Guitar is always the same: Charvel with two hi quality humbuckers. Even hooking the kpa directly to the reference monitor, the result is the same: most of the time (if not all) it is not a wysiwug situation (what you see is what you get...better: what you hear).


    I intend to do various clips of the commercial profile I can have my hands on so that we can discuss the results, if this thing can be of interest.


    But...overall I care to say the following IMPORTANT statement:
    it is my intention to understand this situation, NOT to discredit the excellent work that all the commercial profiles sellers are doing. They have all my respect and devotion.
    Nevertheless I want to know why this thing happens and if I'm the only one.


    I'm open to receive precious advices from commercial profile sellers so to get a hang on it.


    let me know your comment, if any


    Michael

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • Hi Michael,


    I write to you on the behalf of Goldlionaudio profiles from GoldLion Studios (http://www.goldlionaudio.com). When we create profile packs, we make sure to use a stratocaster, EMG guitar, Humbucker guitar and P90 guitars. You can hear samples on the soundcloud that are dedicated to each guitars. (https://soundcloud.com/goldlionstudios)


    I would gladly send you over some profiles for you to compare and test for your study. If you visit our website, you can start with the free profiles by subscribing or you can ask me for a pack and I will give it to you for free.


    In my opinion, there are many factors which why profiles don't sound exactly the same as in the clips. First of all, all guitars are different. Type of woods(another debate), Pickup heights, type of pickups, but also major differences inside every type of pickups (no 2 humbuckers will sound exactly the same).


    Then, there is the way you play, some people debate that the tone is in your hands, and some others don't. The way you pick or use your fingers, the way you pick hard or softly and at which angle you use the pick, the gauge of your strings, all make a difference. Then. there are your profilers settings, if you have anything locked, your input and output sens, etc. The " space " parameter in the output section can also make a huge difference on how a profile will sound.


    People sometimes complain about the size of packs (I include tons of profiles per pack). But the reason is, I want people to stop missing having the real amp and I want to make sure that everyone gets more than a few tones they like out of everypack I make. I want them to sound like they would with the actual amp and to be able to find settings I profile that suits them, which cannot be done with, 10 profiles, in my opinion.


    If you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know. I am not sure I am allowed to post here, so I will also send this in a private conversation just in case.


    -Max

  • Thanks Max for your reply and thanks for your help offered. I will use for sure the profiles you have in your site and maybe start from there.


    But the fact that you mention a private conversation gets me to do another statement, which I consider as important as the first I made:


    all names of sellers will not be written in order to protect them from bad opinions coming from the results. I will post names and brands only if sellers allow me to.


    Overall I want to be righteous and not, as said, harm anybody, which work I respect and love...

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • Individual playing technique certainly makes a difference, but, one of my favorite things about the KPA is how well the individual guitar’s sound is heard in the Rigs.


    Does your guitar have a Floyd Rose bridge? If so, do downloaded EVH rigs sound like demo videos that use similar guitars?


    But, even if you have a vintage style trem or a hard tail, Your guitar will still sound diffferent than the traditional Gibson and Fender guitars that many people use to make demo videos.


    You haven’t said what kind of sound difference you are always hearing. More or less Distortion? More or less bass/treble?


    Is your Input section set to Clean Sense = 0, and Distortion Sense = 0 ? If someone is selling profiles, they likely created them with those settings.

  • Hi Paults and thanks for contribution :)


    the difference I hear it substantial, i.e. the difference is very sensible as it is another amp. Basically it regards the fact that the profile I test is way fizzy with lots of highs.


    I dig the difference in playing and so on, but it should be limited to some little tweaking. What I'm talking about here is a big difference.


    But as said: it might have been me while other kpa users are not satisfied only but sure what they heard id what they get.


    as for clean sense I always don't use it and both the mentioned parameters are at 0

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • I don't think I have those rigs anymore. Do I found them in RM rig packs folder? For example: I see in RM a Factory content 5.1. are you thinking about them? in case, I'll try them. Let me know what you prefer to hear

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • Nevertheless I want to know why this thing happens and if I'm the only one.

    You are not the only one. I would be very interested to find the answer to this too. I can't believe guitars (I have 16) and fingers account for it, and I'm listening to the demo and my guitar(s) through the same pair of headphones, so that rules out cabs.

    Sterling Musicman JP150, Fender USA Strat
    Kemper Powerhead & Remote > ElectroVoice ZLX12-P | Palmer 1x12 Cab(G12M) | Sennheiser HD558
    Audient iD14 > Reaper

  • In addition to the great comments so far. Guitar setup is really important. String gauge, tuning, bridge height, etc.


    If I recommend a profile that works with my C tuning and 13 gauge strings. It's going to sound completely different on someone else's guitar with standard tuning and 9s.

  • You are not the only one. I would be very interested to find the answer to this too. I can't believe guitars (I have 16) and fingers account for it, and I'm listening to the demo and my guitar(s) through the same pair of headphones, so that rules out cabs.

    correct! agreed on everything

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • In addition to the great comments so far. Guitar setup is really important. String gauge, tuning, bridge height, etc.


    If I recommend a profile that works with my C tuning and 13 gauge strings. It's going to sound completely different on someone else's guitar with standard tuning and 9s.

    don't agree...or to say it better: of course there is a difference if tuning down but this is only in the bottom, so to say, of a chord. But the timbre must be it! Yes, obviously the guitar would sound bigger but not different, a.k.a. a whole different timbre. Do you agree with that?

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • in the meantime...I think I'm going to perform a global reset, just to rule out everything. What does it change on my kemper? Of course priro to doing it I will back up my kpa content...

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

    • Hi Michael,
      Excuse me but I am so happy that you have this problem. Why?
      I have it too and I posted it several times in diffrent conversations.
      I got useful and some „other“ answers from commercial sellers and also from a kemper expert here.
      For example: I asked how to get a sound which is presented in a kemper video, because couldn’t reach it. Answer from kemper: Buy another guitar. Honestly I own enough high end guitars and I come to an end that this vid has a post processing and I don’t know which things are used for that.
      Another example: A buddy from north Germany makes super profiles and I could not get the sound he presents on gus video. I asked why and he told me that he uses the anp profile for those productions but the fx like reverb or delay is from his daw. Next thing was that I bought exact the same guitar like he used. Gamechanger! I got much more closer.
      Next example: Profiles from a well known Netherland guitar player. Last year I have spent prox. 4 hours to reach a nearly similar sound like he gets in a demo. We both used strats. After this time of testing the sound was nearly identical but I got nuts with tweaking because I use totally different pu‘s like him and with another guitar ( like one of my jems)the game starts new.....
      The end of the day for me: I don’t care so much on soundsamples. I own tons of profiles and what sounds good is good for me.
      If you like to do comparison test with profiles and recording I am in. We can do some tests using the same profiles and we record with it. Let’s hear what happens.
      CheersFrank


  • There's tons of profiles that I'd love to own just because of their demos, e.g. there's one 5153 profile pack that is supposed to recreate Misha Mansoor's sound and the YT demo video sounds absolutely amazing. But some customers stated that it doesn't sound like in the video so I'm still quarrelling with myself over it. So I'm curious about this whole thing aswell.


    What confuses me with regard to the guitar aspect is that I read on here that with the updated profiling process the guitar does not influence the sound of the profile any longer at all. So why do so many profiles still sound so different with different guitars? Have almost all of them been created with the pre-Profiling-rework-OS?

  • What confuses me with regard to the guitar aspect is that I read on here that with the updated profiling process the guitar does not influence the sound of the profile any longer at all. So why do so many profiles still sound so different with different guitars? Have almost all of them been created with the pre-Profiling-rework-OS?

    I think it means that there is no "pickup content" into a profile, but of course if one dialed in the tone in the profile using a single coil strat, it wont sound the same as if using a Les Paul with a humbucker.


    Yes, they sound different with different guitars. Thats the nature of the beast, like in a real tube amp. Something would not be right if it was not like that.
    I cant use the same profile for my Ibby J Custom and the Caparison Dellinger e.g.
    They are both mahogany body, mapple set neck, H-H (different Pups), but the dellinger is wired without a tone pot, with a lot of bite and top end, whereas the J Custom sounds softer as velvet. I will chop people heads of if I use the J Custom profile on the dellinger :D


    In the "real tube amp world", If I change to a different guitar, I might have to adjust the amp settings. On the kemper is the same, I tweek to taste and save as another preset, simple like that :)

  • don't agree...or to say it better: of course there is a difference if tuning down but this is only in the bottom, so to say, of a chord. But the timbre must be it! Yes, obviously the guitar would sound bigger but not different, a.k.a. a whole different timbre. Do you agree with that?

    Your point makes sense to how I worded my comment. My view was more from the way you dial in an amp for lower tuning is not the same for standard tuning. Its 2 completely different animals. The Kemper profile is the sweet spot of the amp setting. The sweet spot for C tuning and E tuning is not the same. At least IMHO, what the hell do I know? I'm practically deaf.

  • Thanks Frank for your words...so from now on all commercial profile seller will add, to the profile, a guitar for us to buy. I.e.: want this profile sound? 10 euros for the profiles and 1000 for the guitar that will make the profile sound as you hear :)
    Just kidding...of course.


    But I don't agree that a guitar is a gamechanger. Of course: a 100 euros junk piece compared to a les paul is the deal. But frankly, Frank: do youo really think here in theforum someone has a 100 euros junk...with a 1600+ euros profiler? doesn't add!!


    and so I go back to my joke: if I have to buy a guitar to have the sound showcased from a seller, than it is not a gamechanger but a game over.


    But honestly I really don't think this is my case...


    a hug...

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music