Kemper Vs Mezzabarba Trinty Blind Test

  • I have the profile used in this comparison along the guitar DI I recorded. I reamped the DI with these edits and it did not make up for the differences. I can post a reamp later to show.

  • I have the profile used in this comparison along the guitar DI I recorded. I reamped the DI with these edits and it did not make up for the differences. I can post a reamp later to show.

    Uhm, ok, thanks for your reply. It's just something I often do with my own amp and kemper when I feel some "depth" may be lacking, especially in terms of "feel". Cheerios

    The bonanza

  • Uhm, ok, thanks for your reply. It's just something I often do with my own amp and kemper when I feel some "depth" may be lacking, especially in terms of "feel". Cheerios

    Last week I spend some time with another clip trying to see if I could match it perfectly. Its funny. Once you think it is there and you listen a few more times and you hear something else. Change that little thing and it changes something else. I love the Kemper and in many ways the resulting profile is even better than the real deal in that it deals with noise much more effectively.

  • Last week I spend some time with another clip trying to see if I could match it perfectly. Its funny. Once you think it is there and you listen a few more times and you hear something else. Change that little thing and it changes something else. I love the Kemper and in many ways the resulting profile is even better than the real deal in that it deals with noise much more effectively.

    Agreed, and some fixes applied often bring about another, unexpected differences. The "fixes" I posted can easily do this as well. It's just pretty hard for me to "fix" existing discrepancies there after profiling.

    But that's a testament, in a way, to how close kemper gets to begin with. You may think you've narrowed down a difference, and yet your tweak, even being small enough, can change something else by a tiny margin -- and then you hear that. If kemper wasn't as close as it is, there's some reason to think that the above wouldn't be happening.


    And I agree that kemper profile can be "better than the real deal" in a few ways. Heck, there's been quite few cases where I had bands prefer my profiles of their amps vs their amps, all re-amped, even if by a slight margin, tonally speaking. That's when put in an A/B situation.


    I've always had a preference towards the real amps tonally (more so in regards to how small tonal changes can translate to "feel") in ideal conditions, but it's easy to exaggerate one's ability to hear differences. And I wouldn't be surprised if I guessed wrong in your test -- that, after profiling god knows how many amps in the past years :)


    Cheers

    The bonanza

  • EQ matching can close the gap in this case, however that doesn't really help with respect to the profiling process. What does help is looking at the frequency response of both, the original and the profile, and making several EQ tweaks that will get you about 99% of the way there.

  • EQ matching can make the gap smaller but I don't think it can close it unless you have a dynamic eq match program that can apply different eq over time.


    Here is a quick EQ match, this may be the reveal?


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  • EQ matching can make the gap smaller but I don't think it can close it unless you have a dynamic eq match program that can apply different eq over time.


    Here is a quick EQ match, this may be the reveal?


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    Usually, the problem is the samples aren't level matched before or after EQ matching. Once you do that, you'll generally find they're virtually indistinguishable 9 times out of 10. I've found this to be true using FabFilter Pro Q2 anyway, though FabFilter automatically matches levels when EQ matching.

  • EQ matching can make the gap smaller but I don't think it can close it unless you have a dynamic eq match program that can apply different eq over time.

    Enter Pro Audio DSP's Dynamic Spectrum Mapper V2. It can also limit, compress and de-ess.


    It's been around for a long time; I remember reading about it in SOS many years ago. It's currently sold by Plugin Alliance, my favourite source of great plugins, actually:


    ProAudioDSP DSM V2 - Plugin Alliance


    Don't let the old-looking GUI fool you; it's a mature product and was developed by Paul Frindle (SSL & Sony Oxford console developer).

  • First is the real mic'd amp. How close did the tone match bring the Kemper to the real amp for you guys?

    I EQ matched, but could still tell a difference (I believe caused by real sound differences, but would have to make a longer tests with repeats to know more certainly)... Yet my impression is it was even closer by that point, as usually is the case anyway in my experience after eq matching further to the source. I didn't keep the audio though to share.

    The bonanza

  • First is the real mic'd amp. How close did the tone match bring the Kemper to the real amp for you guys?

    With both samples level matched, I think the differences are fairly negligible. I mean, the low end is more prominent in the KPA sample, and conversely the real amp had more extended high-end, however you could easily incur more noticeable tonal variances by making minor adjustments to the mics position / angle.

  • I EQ matched, but could still tell a difference (I believe caused by real sound differences, but would have to make a longer tests with repeats to know more certainly)... Yet my impression is it was even closer by that point, as usually is the case anyway in my experience after eq matching further to the source. I didn't keep the audio though to share.

    One of these is a sample of the original amp and the other is an EQ match. Can you tell which is which?


    Sample A

    Sample B

  • One of these is a sample of the original amp and the other is an EQ match. Can you tell which is which?


    Sample A

    Sample B

    First is Kemper. But it's not a difference in EQ that matters. It's in the immediate sustain after the attack. The Kemper has more compression in that section. If I'm right that is :)

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  • some months ago i came across a comment, on Mezzabarba FB profile, from user and owner yelling swear words on the kemper, considered a fake thing, something not even comparable to the real thing in someone's imagination...


    never say never...uh?

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


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