I am still new to Kemper land and am so far having a great time and enjoying it. One thing, however, that is concerning is the number of profiles on the rig exchange that sound "not present". Granted this is subjective but you can tell a quality profile from one that isn't as good, even if the tone isn't what I like. I'm wondering how much tweeking goes into these profiles that are up on the exchange. What do you do before uploading and how much time to you put into?
How do you tweek profiles prior to publishing?
- gkbradshaw
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One thing you might want to keep in mind as you review profiles (both free and commercial) is intended use. When I first got my Kemper I went through some of the same experiences as you're describing thinking how is it that, for instance, a Marshall can sound so bad? The answer lies in context.
First, it's important to remember that the Kemper is not a modeler, it's a profiler. So, instead of a profile doing everything a JCM800 can do, it's a snapshot of a single moment in time, capturing the particular knob settings, speakers, etc. that the person doing the profiling had dialed in. So the heart of the issue is really a very straightforward question - what was this tone dialed in for?
I'm a classic rock guy, and I enjoy things like Whitesnake. If I have a Marshall, that's the direction I'm going to take it when I dial in tones. However, metal is probably the most dominant form of rock these days, and it calls for a completely different tonal perspective than, say, a Bryan Adams song. For my personal use and taste, a lot of the stuff I've heard could accurately be called terrible, but only if you add, "for the x style of music." Regardless of what you're into, the tones that you think are awful could be massively cool when used for the style of music that their creators are playing.
I'm sure it's possible to create bad quality profiles, and with 15,000 or so entries some of what you experience may be exactly that. However, the people here are unusually friendly and helpful as Internet communities go (forums are typically snarky by default). I'm not sure you're doing yourself any favors by walking into a room, where people freely share what they've created, and asking, "Why does your stuff suck?"
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"because it's progressive rap-country-polka, of course!"
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I think a lot of it also to do with the profiled sound being A/B'd to an amp in the room when profiled.
You'll tweak the profile to sound like the amp sound in the room youre profiling in and a lot of it is dependant on the monitors, room acoustics too I would think. So, what might sound identical to the amp in the room might actually sound crap as a profile with a different guitar through different monitors in a different room etc....
Also add peoples ears and personal taste into the mix as well.
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I think a lot of it also to do with the profiled sound being A/B'd to an amp in the room when profiled.
Robman, I think you're right. No matter how good a profile is, it's still going to sound different the direct sound of an amp in the room, and I just haven't quite wrapped my brain around it. I have a feeling that as I start playing in a band setting or recording that this may become less of an issue.
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Welcome to the Forum GK.If you are profiling yourself the KPA is an amazing instrument.I profiled a Fender early 70's Champ and had fun changing the Cab to a Rectifier 4x12 etc... and running the gain at levels way above what the amp could hit itself.
I would say that a bit of EQ and changing Cabs make a huge difference and are usually where I'd start.
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I'm also new here.
I miss a little more info in the profiles. Not all of them are explained. I think that, if after the work involved in creating a profile, people could put just a little more time in explaining it, it would be great.
As I said before, I'm new here, and I'm not very used to Rig Manager, so I'm probably missing something important.
Anyway I know Rig Exchange probably has any kind of sound I'd like to have.
And yes, people is so helpful and kind here that I feel very lucky belonging to this community and I hope that someday I will also be able to help others.
Finally, it's a matter if time I begin to create my own profiles (no; I haven't sold my beloved amps and I hope I won't have to).
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Chris, yes you are absolutely correct and I didn't really mean for it to be taken that way
I figured that was the case, thanks for editing the original post. Folks here are pretty cool and they go out of their way to help each other, as you've doubtless seen.
With such a huge number of free profiles on RM it was hard for me to even figure out how to approach reviewing them to see which ones I liked. Ultimately, I just cheated. There are a number of highly regarded commercial profilers here (the mods prefer us not to discuss them outside of the dedicated forums for third party profiles) and I ended up just buying a bunch from a few of them that resonated with me.
My thinking was that highly regarded commercial profiles would represent the best that I could get out of the Kemper and so I'd then have a point of reference when looking at the shared ones on RM. However, after buying the commercial ones all my needs were covered so I didn't really go back to researching RM.
I do have one from RM, though. There's a much beloved Matchless that was really good (and might be a fit for what you're looking for). I'm not at my Kemper at the moment but I'm sure someone else can chime in with the name, everyone knows of it.
Of course, what others here have mentioned is that a Kemper doesn't give you the "amp in the room" sound, it gives you the "amp on your favorite record" sound, a significant distinction. If you're expecting the former when you review profiles, it would certainly color your reactions. That said, I've never noticed any "digital-ness" in the stuff I have so I wonder if there might also be something in your listening chain or how you set things that could be contributing to that.
I miss a little more info in the profiles.
I'd also like to see some sort of easier method for categorizing the genre of music that they were intended for. With a new version of the Rig Manager coming soon that includes an editor, I'm hoping that there might be some additional tweaks that will make it easier to find things in the RM free profiles.
"because it's progressive rap-country-polka, of course!"
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Its a great question and, as Chris said is often all about context.
I’ve uploaded a few profiles but they were all done for very specific purposes. For example there is a set of THD BiValve profiles with various gain levels which were done purely for an experiment to test the difference between changing the gain on the real amp V increasing the gain on the Kemper. I never intended them to be anything other than an A/B comparison for a one off test. There is also a set of profiles of a Mesa 2:ninety power amp purely to test the effect of using a preamp only profile V a preamp into a profile of a real power amp. The results were mind blowing to me. I know these are pretty extreme examples but the point is valid nonetheless that context matters.
Having said that the first few profiles I made and uploaded sounded incredibly close to the sound of my amp in the room which worked well for solo practice but listening back to them now they sound unbelievably dull so I would probably never use them in a track at all. Part of that is mic technique but also a big part is that my room at the time have poor acoustics which affected both what the mic picked up and also how I heard it back through the monitors. Many people are working in totally untreated rooms so evaluating the quality of the profiling exercise can be very hit or miss too.
