Why are most profiles I demo on RigManager excessively bassy?

  • I always find myself dropping bass in the EQ section and running the Studio Equalizer effect increasing bass cut and dropping low gain on pretty much every profile that I demo or use on RigManager.

    I use single coils, but couldnt even imagine the increased bass response with humbuckers.

    I even have my global output eq set with decreased bass.


    Any tips? Or is down to compensating with tons of eq?


    If it helps I use a Gibson-like guitar with an Dimarzio Eric Johnson DP211 humbucker blended over to single coil. So essentially its a single coil.

    Yorkville NX10C active/300watts/10” speaker (w/tweeter) monitor.

    But I’ve had this excessive bass issue with other gear as well.

    Anyway...suggestions?

    Thanx

  • But I’ve had this excessive bass issue with other gear as well.

    You may have lost some of your high end hearing range if you experienced high volume environments.

    I've had things detonate to where I couldn't hear the phone ring for a week.

    If you have difficulty articulating a conversation in a busy room your high end range has diminished.

  • Are you able to try

    (A) decent Headphones straight into the Kemper.... if the system sounds good with these then maybe you’re not fond of your amplification system / it’s not flat

    (B) Another guitar? Even single coils vary a great deal in there frequency response depending what guitar they are in / the pickup itself. Whilst a humbuckers are usually expected to have higher output and be ‘darker’ this isn’t always the case and depends massively on the construction of the pickup and the design of guitar it’s in. Also, you may have a dodgy tone circuit / dirty pots etc. Some pickup wiring schemes with ‘vintage wiring’ can mean the volume and treble are interactive and the treble response is rolled off a little even when you might expect it not to be.


    Good luck with finding the issue - Kemper profiles span a wide range of tastes but, like a real, it’s very good at responding to the signal it’s sent. I previously had Pods / amp sims on computer etc and IMO they all tended to mask the differences between guitars. I then got a very simple valve amp that showed me what I’d been missing then the Kemper. A decent amp or the Kempers a guitar ‘as it is’ which may not always be a good thing!!

  • Kemper profiles span a wide range of tastes but, like a real, it’s very good at responding to the signal it’s sent. I previously had Pods / amp sims on computer etc and IMO they all tended to mask the differences between guitars. I then got a very simple valve amp that showed me what I’d been missing then the Kemper. A decent amp or the Kempers a guitar ‘as it is’ which may not always be a good thing!!

    My experience exactly, Gary.


    Was forced to stop using the 2nd-hand $50 USD Squire Strat I'd managed to get away with previously; it sounded like ass through the Kemper - thin, scratchy and noisy. Someone who's quick-to-judge might have concluded that the Kemper wasn't up-to-par when in fact it was the guitar.

  • What pickup position are demoing with? A lot of profiles, it seems, were done using the bridge pickup, in which the creator probably tweaked to sound "full" with a bridge pickup. Use the same profile with a neck pickup, and it will sound overly woofy, bassy, and not bright enough.

  • When watching videos of profiles etc. the sound is usually full (either bridge or neck) - when i play around for fun i use these full profiles as well - the problem is, for me, its no band context friendly.


    I found a lot of guitar players, when adjusting the amp to a "nice" tone is way too bassy for a band context. I don't own a kemper for long, so there may be better solutions, but so far, i managed with increasing definition to get the nice sounding profile into a band context.


    Also, profiles i use with my strat-sound, are not always compatible with humbucker guitars - e.g. i have a nice percussive tone for my neck on the strat but its way too brite on my LP sound bridge. Especially when using clean sounds.,

    once a purist, then analog pragmatic and finally a digital believer who found out that you can't hear a mosquito fart in a band-context.

  • Know its a pain in the backside but we need sound sample Brah


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • To answer some questions. . .


    Yes, the monitor is on the floor. I’ll try and get them up a bit with some kind of mod. I dont want to go the tripod stand or amp stand route. Just too much extra gear to deal with.


    I own and tried a Yorkville NX10C/QSC K8.2/Atomic CLR neo/ and have the bass issue with all of them.


    CKemper recommends reducing bass from the “output” eq. Which is global. Fine.

    But does reducing the output eq bass then affect the treble/mid response?

    I would ideally have it at about 8 or 9 o’clock (1/4 of the way up) for best results. Is that too much reduction?


    What I hear through headphones is less bass boominess (response). I’m pretty sure this is normal and not what I am expecting to hear from a proper frfr monitor setup. Correct?

    I assume all monitors reguardless of how “flat” will always have more bottom and spikier highs than what is heard through headphones. I use Grado SR60 with a 1/4” adapter plug.


    I always end up using every bass reduction option I can find which includes reducing bass from EQ(soft button section), Studio Equalizer(x slot) with bass “gain” lowered and bass “cut” up til I hear it just begin to cut. “Output” eq reduced.

    After I reduce the bass to my liking, I then go back to the original rig profile and realize that I killed the tone. Lol. Along w/bass cutting I also tame the highs in most profiles. High cut/etc.


    Maybe I should go to those other modelers where I could build my rig from the ground up. I know the Kemper shouldn’t be modified to the extreme without ruining the tone.

    I’ve tried the AX8 and the Helix, but I just prefer the organic tones, ease of use, and user interface of the Kemper.


    I’m going to try lowering my pickups a bit as well. They are not too high, but maybe it will give a slight reduction. I play in a wedding band which doesnt require hot high gain metal tones.


    Anyway...lol.

  • If you can globally reduce the Bass with your Output Section EQ enough to get a sound you like from your speaker, you won’t need to make all those other Rig adjustments. The headphones sound (and the sound of a line to the PA) will not be negatively affected by the reduction in bass.


    If your speaker sounds best to you with the bass set at 8 to 9 o’clock, then set it there. That is not a problem.

  • Yes, the monitor is on the floor. I’ll try and get them up a bit with some kind of mod. I dont want to go the tripod stand or amp stand route. Just too much extra gear to deal with.

    Milk crates.


    I'd definitely raise it before making EQ tweaks; placing monitors on the floor is a 100% guarantee they'll sound more-bassy and lose high-end definition. The highs are more-directive (don't disperse much), so unless you place your head down in-line with the speaker driver/s, you're not going to hear much detail, which in turn is going to further increase the impression that the sound is too-bassy.


    IOW, placing monitors on the floor is like shooting yourself in the foot... twice, and the shorter (vertically) they are, the greater the effect.