Profiling with Two Notes Torpedo Studio

  • I own a TON of amps, as well as a Two Notes Torpedo Studio. The Torpedo Studio is a reactive load box with cabinet impulses, and it sounds perfect.

    Has anyone profiled with one of these? I know that there have been a number of posts about NOT using load boxes, but this is a fully-reactive box, with the best cabinet impulses in the world. Any thoughts on profiling with this, or should I still use a cabinet and mic?

  • I don’t travel the Studio but I do have the Torpedo Reload. I have made some Direct profiles with a regular DI box connected between KPA and Speaker and then redone them with The Two notes instead. They were definitely different. I preferred the cheap ART di box with real speaker but I suspect the differences are more “taste” than quality.

  • I made some profiles using a Suhr Reactive Load box, into my interface, loaded IRs in my DAW and then fed that back to the KPA. Some turned out GREAT, others not so much. Profiles of a Bugera 1960 Infinium (don't dismiss, it's a great sounding cheap Plexi clone) along and combined with an old Laney AOR100 came out sounding really good. Profiling my modified Marshall DSL100 didn't come out so good. A couple days later I profiled the Marshall the normal way (speakers --> mic) and those came out sounding incredible.

  • One of the things often overlooked or misunderstood about a reactive load box is that it doesn’t “react” like the specific speaker used in the IR. A simple restive load has a constant impedence. A reactive load has a fixed impedence curve which may (but most like will not) match the speaker in the IR being used. Even a specific model of speaker has different impedence curves depending on the box its mounted in. So while, a reactive load is a great tool (I still like my Two Notes) it doesn’t react like the actual speaker/cabinet in the IR. Therefore, the results from profiling with a load box may sound fantastic, they may sound less than great but they will almost certainly sound “different” to the real amp/speaker setup. The question isn’t whether or not they sound the same or different but A) whether they sound good or bad to you and B) whether the difference is actually significant enough to matter. With my cloth ears the answer is usually that either is just fine :)

  • Okay, what about this... the load in the Two Notes is defeated if you connect a cabinet to the Torpedo with the through port. This would leave the amplifier interacting with an actual speaker, but the output of the Two Notes could go to the profiler.

    What are your thoughts on this?

  • Okay, what about this... the load in the Two Notes is defeated if you connect a cabinet to the Torpedo with the through port. This would leave the amplifier interacting with an actual speaker, but the output of the Two Notes could go to the profiler.

    What are your thoughts on this?

    That's how I would do it. You need to do some tests so you can hear the results for yourself, that's really half the fun :)


    That being said, IME and IMHO the load in the Torpedo Live is not the best, at least it doesn't compare to my actual cabs. On the other hand, making an IR of my cab with the Torpedo and using it to make profiles works really good as long as the amp is loaded down with the actual speaker cab.

  • I don't come here often, so apologies for not seeing this earlier and responding, but this has been my bread and butter for a long time now - I only do direct profiles.


    I run the amp into a Suhr Reactive Load (though I also have a TL and have used it) and defeat it by running another speaker cable to a cab in another room that I cannot hear.


    So it goes guitar -> KPA Input -> KPA Direct Send -> Amp Input -> Suhr Reactive Load -> XLR Return on Kemper.


    Then I attach the monitor output of the KPA to my power amp (matrix, flat) and that to a guitar cabinet in the room with me. That way I know what the end result will actually sound like.


    I had several instances where not using a guitar cab to defeat the reactive load, while inaudible to me as a guitar player, affected the profile greatly (weird high end artifacts.) Mostly on higher gain or super bright amps (EVH 5153S, Matchless Chieftain with the Brilliance Control on.)


    Your results may vary, of course, but it's happened enough in my case that I assume it will always happen now.

  • I just profiled the six channels of my Randall 667 and uploaded them to the Rig Exchange. These were profiled with the Torpedo Studio with a Marshall 412 cabinet and SM57 mic.

    Channels go up in gain... 1 (rock) through 6 (high-gain metal).

  • Can someone point me towards a step by step guide for how they profile with a Torpedo Live? I'd like to dig deeper into this and want to make sure my results are the best they can be... shoot me a PM if you'd rather... TIA!!!

    The older I get, the better I was.

  • What I am doing is running the amp output into the Torpedo Studio (should be the same as the Live), then going out to a real cabinet to defeat the internal loadbox and let the amp interact with a real cabinet. The output of the Torpedo is going into the Kemper, providing the cabinet and amp sound to the Kemper.