all those amps in a toaster

Not sure what you are getting at.

Why did we buy it?

For us the Kemper is perfect. Small, you can get tons of sounds that - to our ears - sound just like the real amps. Easy to set up a bunch of different tones from cleans to heavily distorted and switch with one footswitch press.

Also, tons of outputs so very flexible how to hook it up.

We don't try to match other bands' sounds so can't comment on that. However I believe the sound from the video with the young lady is EVH himself on the original so that tone should be easy to match on the Kemper. Tons of Van Halen amps and tones for free or commercial profiles.

Quote from theplayer

I wish there was a kind of rigsound bank to choose from for those who don't have these skills.

I hear you, brother. I've never been good at dialing in tones and thus don't enjoy the deep dive knob tweaking in most modelers. In fact, that's one of the things I love about the Kemper. When someone profiles an amp, they're not just capturing the stack. They first take the time to dial in a killer tone, something I have little talent for. Then they profile that. Because of this, I can pull up great sounds right out of the box, no tweaking required.

Of course, you're talking about trying to get the exact sound that artists use on the record, and that's a huge challenge for anyone whether you have a Kemper, a modeler or just tube amps and stomp boxes. The guys on the radio spend tons of time getting that sound you hear. It's not realistic to think that there's any shortcut to reproducing their efforts.

Also, and this is something many guitarists don't consider, what you hear on the radio may sound like one guitar. Very often, it's not. It could be multiple amps recorded together, then mixed down into a single track. It could also be the same thing with the guitarist multitracking it, i.e. recording the part more than once. The imperfections between takes will introduce subtle phase and chorus issues that impart their own sound. And then there's the mix engineer. No matter what came out of the amp or how it was recorded, the engineer will likely sit in front of the mixer and tweak the eq, compression, etc. on the guitar tracks after the fact to make them sit better in the mix.

And then guys like us come along and try to get "that sound." If you ever find an easy, magic solution to that, no matter which gear you buy, patent it. It's going to make you rich, because at present it doesn't exist.

With that in mind, here's a thought that might make your journey easier. For a given song you're trying to dial in, find a profile that's reasonably close in gain, etc. and then record a DI playing the part. Once that's done, you can put the song on loop, point the DI to reamp the Kemper, and then bring up Rig Manager. As the song plays, you can just down arrow on your keyboard to move from profile to profile in order to more easily audition the sounds. I can usually get a sense of a profile in one bar or less.

Once you have some candidates that are close, you'll probably have to do more work to get close to "that sound," perhaps adding chorus, delay, tweaking the gain or definition, etc. but that's a small step in comparison to browsing through all your profiles to find the best starting point.

By the way, this is why playing covers has always made me grind my teeth a bit. We're expected to sound "just like the record." I don't want to sound just like the bloody record. I want to sound like me. Oh, well. It is what it is...

The girl in the vid doesn’t sound at all like Eddie, but she can play his style (i.e. she has studied his playing and phrasing).

That’s way more important than nailing a tone anyway.

Quote from theplayer

But I don't get the picture of your tip: record a DI playing the part etc. Can you explain more of this?

If you have a recording setup (I use Cubase), then you can take the alt out of your Kemper and record that rather than the main outs. When you then route that track back to the return input of the Kemper, set your Input Source to the reamp selection. Now, when you press play on the part you recorded, it'll come out the Kemper the same as if you were physically playing guitar.

I use EZ Drummer and a free bass plugin called 4 Front that emulates a Fender Jazz bass. I drag in some loops for the drum groove, write a bass line in the piano roll, and I have a rhythm section to play to. While I do this for the songs I'm writing, if you wanted more than just guitar you could do something similar. Take a cover song you want to get the sound for, throw together a simple drum and bass part to make playing more enjoyable, and then set your beginning and ending markers to the start and end of the song. All DAWs typically have a Cycle or Loop function so that the section plays continuously.

So, you've got the DI signal recorded and it's being played back to the Kemper, which is set to use the reamp return signal to drive it. Once you press play, double click on the top patch in the section of Rig Manager profiles you want to audition and that's the sound you get. As you arrow down (you need to set the option in the Kemper for auto load of profiles), the next profile will load and the guitar DI you've recorded will instantly change to the newly selected profile's sound.

Apologies if some of this is too obvious to mention, but I figured better to cover too much than not enough. I find this approach makes auditioning sounds much more enjoyable. Hopefully it will for you, too!

Quote from theplayer

Ingolf, listening better, you're right. So what about this then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17lJpY6MBRE

I would sign for this! (and I have a GT-100 but have moved it to the attic for well known reasons...!)

He surely gets in the ballpark, and he's a very skilled and versatile player.

As far as dialing the right tone from a specific song/artist, just by Googling around, you may find out which guitar/amp combination was used to achieve that tone. No guarantees, but it's a start.

I remember trying to dial in Elliott Randall's s sound from his awesome one take track in Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years".

I found this interview in which he spoke about showing up for the gig with his Strat and having to use an old Ampeg SVT bass amp, as none of the studio's guitar amps were available.

So, I grabbed my Stat, looked for an SVT bass profile on RM...and boom!...the initial tone was right there!! With some minor tweaking I got really close.

Love my KPA.......

Like Chris, I have no talent for dialling other people's sounds. I've never been any good at it. Also, as Chris said, the sound on records is WAY more than just the guitar and amp; its the playing (often layered many times), the prhasing, the picking, the room, the mics, the desk preamps, the EQ, compression and all the studio FX all controlled by a great engineer/producer. Most of the best live bands I've heard don't even try and capture the sound of their records exactly. Many of them have two or three core sounds from there amp (or modeller) which they use for the whole set but add a few specific effects for the real signature tones.

You mentioned Sweet Child 0' Mine as an example of a song that NEEDS the specific tone. I disagree with that. It is a song that needs a fairly high gain sound (probably Marshall but if you played it on a Boogie or a Bogner or whatever nobody would care) and a neck pickup. Beyond that, get the notes and phrasing right and people will know and love the song. Get the exact sound of Slash but screw up the playing and people will notice a lot more than if the sound isn't exactly like the record.

As guitarists we tend to be obssessed with gear as the solution to our tone quest. We have more guitars that we need, more amps than we ned and more pedals/effects than we need..... and we still want more just to get THAT sound. It's a curse we all have to live with unfortunately. Realistically we need one guitar and an amp end of story (I wish I could sure the GAS and stick to that myself ) and the ability to coax a great tone out of it. How many trumpets did Miles Davis need? How many saxophones dis Charlie Parker or John Coltrane need? In some cases whatever one they could beg borrow or steal because they had pawned their own but hat's a different story. Django Reinhardt- most of his career with one guitar! Miles often said that as a kid hw e would take his trumpet into the woods where there was no one around to hear him just blow one note for hours while he worked on his tone. The tone was in him not the horn. In our case it' no different. Even though we don't blow into and there is am amplifier and speakers between us and the final listener, the tone is still in us.

I am one of those "lucky" people you mentioned in your post who can get a sound in a few minutes and be happy with. I do minimal tweaking (often absolutely none at all). This isn't because I am super fantastic at finding sounds but merely that I have made peace with my inability to sound like anyone else but me. It used to annoy me that I didn't sound like Steve Vai or Larry Carlton or Steve Lukather or ............(insert guitar hero of your choosing). Now after nearly 40 years of playing I don't care. I am who I am and I sound the way I sound. There is nothing I can do about it so I am happy to just focus on my playing. I have heard many great players say that even when they plug into someone else's rig they still sound like themselves. In fact Steve Lukather said that he idolised Eddie's playing and sound and was so excited the first time he got to plug in to Eddie's rig. He was convinced he was going to finally get to experience the famous brown sound. He said he was gutted when he turned up the guitar volume and ..... sounded just like himself If Lukather can't nail Eddie's sound, even with Eddie's gear, the rest of us are really going to struggle

I've often said that I don't tweak sounds to match my playing. Instead I tweak my playing to match the sound. If it is a little too bright I pick a little closer to the neck. If it is too dark I pick nearer the bridge. If it isn't meaty enough I pick harder......... you get the picture. I make a lot of my own profiles. Other people probably think they sound crap compared to commercial profilers or even other profiles on Rig Exchange but they are my sound and I am finally learning that's OK.

Try and stop thinking of the massive range and flexibility available from the Kemper, AXE FX, Boss GT etc as something you need to use or it will eat you alive with frustration. Instead, try and pick a sound you are comfortable with and limit yourself to using just that for a while. Use the limitation as something to explore in a positive way and have fun. Get in the general area of the kind of sound you need but don't obsess about it.

Quote from theplayer

How many of us are such a sound engineer?

Quite a few, certainly more than you think

Quote from Wheresthedug

pick a sound you are comfortable with and limit yourself to using just that for a while

That's the key, discover YOUR tone, discover what feels right to YOU ... and stick with it.

Always remember that the best covers on this planet haven't even tried to copy the exact same sound of the original.

That’s a great point lightbox. In fact some of the best covers are so good and so popular that many people think there were the original

Coincidentally, this was the title article for today's ASCAP email:

https://flypaper.soundfly.com/…-transform-original-song/

Quote from Wheresthedug

Get the exact sound of Slash but screw up the playing and people will notice a lot more than if the sound isn't exactly like the record.

This!

In a live performance people will just not hear the subtle differences in tone but will recognize if things are not played correctly according to the original. I bet if you picked up an acoustic and played Sweet Child O' Mine people would know what it was right away.

Studio sound is a different animal, but if you record covers for real, you will have an engineer to tweak your sound. (I don't consider making youtube videos in this category.)

We also barely tweak the Kemper sounds, the only thing we do regularly is take delay or reverb off a bit if it seems excessive.

Also, speaking of Miles, his autobiography is a fantastic read, highly recommended.

Why did I buy the Kemper? Easy, versatility combined with great sound. It does everything I want, combination of valve sounds, effects and power amp in one simple box. Previous modellers I always though sounded duff, but the new wave ( Fractal, Helix etc.) have changed that.

what I'm confused about is why this versatility is a problem. I have played in covers bands for years. I have never used a Marshall but played AC/DC, Guns etc. So just because it CAN cover all the sounds, doesn't mean I have to..I don't see it as a problem but just options. I can delve as far into the sound as I wish, the amp is now not my constraint but my willingness to invest in it.

I'm not a sound engineer and I'm rubbish at dialing in sounds, but I don't let it bother me.

I use the KPA the way I want to use it - which is what I love about it...I'm not the limitation, both my dedication to my sound ( or lack of it) and my playing...

When people ask me about it, I always say "its brilliant, but if it doesn't sound great, that's my fault, not the Kempers!"...

theplayer as per one of our previous posts, I think this is the problem. You approached it as having to have the exact sound for each artist you cover, whereas I treat it as a few sounds covering many songs. Its great if you can nail the exact sound on the record, but no artist uses exactly the same sound live etc. To me that's way overkill and noone will really notice..

V8guitar a friend of mine went to see Zal Clemenson’s new band at the weekend. Apparently it was a disaster and he jokingly said to me that Zal kept fiddling with his fancy Kemper toaster thing but no matter what he did it still sounded like Vernon Reid through a £30 phone

I explained that meant either Zal doesn’t know how to work the Kemper or the sound guy was rubbish but it wasn’t the Kemper’s fault

The "girl" is the guitarist on the late show with Stephen Colbert. She's even been featured on EMG TV, so a monster player.

I wouldn't start lusting after gear thinking it would get me tones I can't get with the Kemper, theplayer . Seriously, the last thing you want to do.

There are quite a few variables other than the Kemper profile you choose. For example, the choice of guitar (scale, strings, pickups, bridge, etc) will have a huge influence on the tone.

I'm also a firm believer that just owning the same gear as your hero isn't going to make you sound like him. Think of all the guys who own everything played by John Petrucci. What makes Petrucci special? It's the way he frets chords, the amount of pressure he uses when playing single notes, the pick he uses, the subtle vibrato and motions he makes with his hands.

Sure, you can go note for note, but you won't sound like him. I think the analogy of Lukather and Eddie's rig is perfect in that regard.

There are some tricks with the Kemper to get you closer to the sound you hear. For one, don't be afraid of tweaking a bit. Start with definition and clarity and tube sag in the amp section. Work your way through the EQ and cabinet sections at the top. Make small changes and keep auditioning. As ToneDeaf suggested, have a looped DI play into your Kemper and audition without the guitar so that you can make better informed decisions.

Quote from Wheresthedug

I make a lot of my own profiles. Other people probably think they sound crap compared to commercial profilers or even other profiles on Rig Exchange but they are my sound and I am finally learning that's OK.

I subscribe to this view 100%. I personally find it more problematic to use others' profiles on recordings rather than live. The music has its own requirements and I find it easier to mix when I have sculpted the tones to fit the music, rather than the other way around.

From the Berkeley College of Music website, in the Bio’s section: (if you want to see some great players, search for Berkeley audition tapes on YouTube.... )

“Maddie Rice has proven to be a young musician to watch. As a 2014 Berklee College of Music graduate with a burgeoning pop-rock career in electric guitar, she was chosen in 2015 to be part of the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. As a member of Stay Human, Jon Batiste’s band, Rice adds to the group’s unique blend of jazz, funk, and pop.”

Quote from Wheresthedug

or the sound guy was rubbish

You can pour your heart out on stage but if the sound guy's not competent you're screwed, and there's nothing you can do about it but stand there and look pretty. Which is problematic in my case.

Seems like the OP wants some presets i.e U2 Edge / Eric Johnson / Slash etc...more common in my experience with the Boss GT / Helix / type boards....very efferent animal to the Kemper....I got a kemper cause of all the flashing lights...