All my guitar saddles sound great

  • I've discovered a flaw with my Kemper... It captures the sound of what's coming from my guitar/strings/pickup TOO good. I've got 2 guitars with graphtech saddles. I have never noticed it before, because it's never been amplified before, but when I hit an open palm muted D string it makes a scraping "Plinkhzzz" sound (like pinging an old filament lightbulb with a string). It's not the pick contact with the string because it rings out. I thought it was the profiles, but every profile does it (moreso distorted profile), both guitars do it. I tried a gibson (usual tuneomatic bridge) and while if I listen hard I can still hear that sound, it's much much quieter. All seymour duncan pickups.


    It seems like the kemper is picking up every single little detail of the signal and amplifying it. I can't quite figure out why. I tried it in headphones and a powered FRFR, recorded it, and it's there in all instances. Is there any setting to reduce the sensitivity of the input or something? It is most obvious when playing a song like Bomb Track by Rage against the machine.

  • It captures the sound of what's coming from my guitar/strings/pickup TOO good.

    POD v1.0 will smooth things out nicely.


    I hear ya mate. After just a few days I ditched using my "practice" guitar, a Squire SC Strat, 'cause it was too-scratchy. 100% the guitar's fault, of course, but I was never aware of the gravity of the problem using PODs right up to the HD500. Enter the Kemper, and it was a different story.

  • Sounds like it may be a classic case of sitar sound? Try swapping saddles, honestly. My Telecaster brass saddles often get worn down flat and have to be fixed. Alternately, it could be the break angle. Post pics/clips.

  • Yes please post clips.

    I think I get what you mean... do you hear that with headphones ? (EDIT : OK I forgot this part of your post)

    In a mix context, I'm not bothered anymore with all these details. But by listening carefully only the guitar track, yes.


    You can also use space parameter and reverb to smooth the sound.

    Edited once, last by diart1 ().

  • Thanks for the replies! Sorry it took me a bit to get back to recording this. I've had the sitar sound before, tried switching up my palm muting (I can kill it a lot faster with a really heavy palm mute - but it's still there.

    Normally in a mix, or even playing if it was really subtle it wouldn't bother me, but check it out! It's pretty grating! I honestly think I'm going to have to swap to different saddles as diart1 suggested. Might be a PSA for people with kempers thinking about Graphtech saddles! (keeping in mind I have 2 guitars with graphtech saddles and they both do this at the same volume - both teles though!)


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  • It seems like the kemper is picking up every single little detail of the signal and amplifying it

    I noticed this too. Letting a chord sustain and fade about, beware doing moves even with the smallest amount with your fingers pressing the chord. You'll notice it producing ugly sounds. So I do not think it is your graphtech saddles.

    I am really not sure, but I got the impression that the tones at louder, minor to middle gain, just are not clear, have or include some fizz, dirt or ugly distortion in it, even some with flutterings. So I am not sure if it is a problem with my device and I should send it back or is it something, all Kemper Stage devices do have? The former would be a hardware problem with my specific device; the latter would be a software problem, IMHO.

  • Sorry to be blunt , better technique and/or better guitar !

    Lol. There is nothing wrong with my technique. It's palm muting. I can use 6 different "techniques" it still makes that noise. I've clearly identified it's the saddles. Whatever graphtech makes them out of creates that harsh vibration when a string is palm muted, the muted vibrating string causes the saddle to resonate it's sound more clearly. It's the fact that the kemper is far more sensitive than the regular guitar -> tube amp chain and it's picking it up clearly. It's just a PSA. Nothing against either product, just an interesting interaction.

  • Oh and yea, please adjust the topic stating that it was "not" a Kemper issue.


    Thanks

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

  • Blimey. A chap politely states he's getting weird sounds out of his Kemper, identifies the cause and posts some audio when asked.


    Some of the comments in return have a hint of defensiveness and on occasion are mildly hostile. No intention to offend, ruffle feathers or cause any arguments but we could have been a little more friendly on the whole.


    To the OP, hopefully you've solved it and some new saddles will let you get the best out of it.

  • I changed the title to make it more clear. It was my first reaction choice of words because I've played these guitars through helix/15 different amps and it's never been amplified, so when I got the kemper is when it was obvious - so kemper seems to be more sensitive - it's not a negative, just doesn't play well with these saddles. No matter how you palm mute it shouldn't matter - I palm mute that particular riff like that because it sounds the best to me (obviously not with this combination of gear :P). like chu said I've gone through the journey of hearing something weird, figuring out what it is - and hopefully might save someone who owns a kemper 50 bucks in the future. No need to attack my technique :).

  • I had Graphtech saddles on my Framus - not an issue. At least not the one you describe. I didn't like the tonal impact these saddles had (somewhat dulling) so I went back to the standard Wilkinson ones and everything sounds fine.


    Yes the PROFILER reacts very truthfully to the pickups, bridge, setup and your fingers, just like a great high-end tube amp would.


    So as others have already stated, this might be a setup issue (string groove too wide/too narrow), possible a notch or something related.

    It could also be a loose screw somewhere (even the tuners) or maybe the strings behind the nut resonate (try the old hair tie behind the nut trick).


    The PROFILER doesn't create any of these issues, it just reacts very truthfully to what you put in - I'm repeating myself - like a great tube amp would.

  • Just to put a pin in this thread. I switched back to the fender vintage saddles that came with the tele. That sound is completely gone, even if I try hard to replicate it, I can't. I'm actually much happier with the sound overall!

  • I have the Floyd Rose Graph tech saddles on all of my CS strats and they are nothing short of amazing. I replaced the stock lock blocks with titanium as well. I have not broken any more strings since installing them. They sound great as well through my Kemper and Axe III.

  • I listened to your audio clip. I’m almost 100% certain the problem isn’t the graphtech material. It sounds like a badly cut saddle slot or the wrong break angle. What you are hearing sounds like the string vibrating behind the saddle and hitting another part of the bridge. The same thing can also happen with nuts that are badly cut or cut too low.

  • On this note, I couldn't get one of my guitars to sound good with ANY high gain profiles! They sounded great with my other guitars but just not this one and this guitar sounded amazing with all my the amps.

    It was driving me nuts.....

    As a last ditch effort I tried moving the pickup away from the strings and bam, back in business!

    The kemper is definitely much more sensitive and was picking up on the pickup effect on the strings more than any other amp that I've had.

  • Try reducing amp block compression in the profiles you’re using if there is any.


    Also to see if this is an issue with the Kemper itself (e.g. something wrong with the cab block allowing overtones in) if you can, profile a real tube amp you own and compare the recorded result.