Buying commercial profiles = deception Am I the only one?

  • I don't wanna complain. Maybe the problem is my guitars or my technique. But everytime I buy profiles (I wont name cies , but trust me, I've tried them all) but when I compare the demos of the sellers and the result I got playing the same riff than the demo it doesn't sound the same AT ALL. My result are al,ost boring if I compare with their great sound Do they eq and make post production work on it? I don't know. They all use better guitar than mine (Shur and so on) But mine worth 1000$ each (Gibson and Fender,all American) Am I the only one to get this kind of deception? PS Please dont give the names of the cies on your answer, I still respect those cies a lot. I am very honest here just wanna verify if this happens to you too?


    Thanks


    Paul:love:

  • Pickups matter, style of play does, tuning does, the guitar bridge may, and so forth and so forth. I've had Harley Benton guitars costing 100-200 euro sound great through the kemper (and close to audio clips of sellers). It's just that plenty of variables do come into play. Profiles are snapshots usually set-up using a particular guitar, monitoring, pla pla.

    The bonanza

  • My result are almost boring if I compare with their great sound

    Apart from Dimi's comments, some might add a tasty touch of space, reverb, delay to their demos. Especially when doing guitar only demos, this adds considerably to the perception of more depth. Some commercial sellers might even use demos played by other guitarists that just slightly tweaked the rigs to their taste (and guitar and playing style).

    I'm quite sure none of them do heavy post-processing but without actual examples and comparisons it's impossible to tell what's going on :)

  • for my experience i was never happy with the profile rig. I replaced my guitar with better quality guitar with the right pickup. After this my tone is much better. Maybe not identical to the commercial clip. But still i was happy. I believe the guitar is very important to the tone. The amp is also important but a bad guitar through a good amp sound like a bad guitar through a good amp.

    I have a question for the OP. Do you try the Kemper factory profile with your guitar? Are this better or worse than the commercial? Or the same?

  • Check out a YouTube channel called Tone Wars for a shootout they performed between cabs. Same guitars, same profiles, different cabs....wow...I couldn't believe how much of a difference it makes!


    Cheers..


    Todd in Chicago

  • If we're talking about studio profiles being recorded direct as is on one end and you listening with proper speakers on the others, cab choice shouldn't matter. There is lots of deception indeed and it's been blatant since the explosion of commercial profilers. Many double track their excerpts / add post eq/effects etc. Kind of like the elite cycling world with PED: if one doesn't cheat, it's week in comparison to the rest of the competition who does. Try to get individual samples first and navigate this world with caution.

  • I am very honest here just wanna verify if this happens to you too?

    In a nutshell... yes. I have purchased profiles from about a dozen different sellers. Most of the popular sellers and a few smaller "mom and pop" types. On a number of occasions I have been left with the same feeling you have - wondering if I am playing the same profile they purported to be using in the demo video. Many never seem to sound as good. A few sound pretty good but don't seem to trip my trigger. There is one seller that I really like (you asked not to name anyone). At least half of the packs I have purchased were bought, demoed and deleted. I just knew after a short test drive that they were not going to work for me. You are not alone. I have pretty much quit buying profiles since it's so hit or miss.

  • Most demos double track the demo and this significantly changes the tone compared to a single guitar.


    I'm not suggesting they are for you, but check out the Choptones videos to see how this changes things. There is usually a black and white picture section where the guitar goes into a single take and then it goes back to double tracked.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • Demos are usually either YouTube or Soundcloud. Both use algorithms that significantly alter the sound. The demo files are mixed and processed to sound as good as possible on the chosen platform. They have to be because left unprocessed, the resulting audio can be and often is utter garbage. They also have to mix that demo file to work on everything from a smartphone speaker to a full pro-level studio. What we hear is not what they hear.

    Then you compound the difference by playing the actual profile at home and it sounds different. Often dramatically so. You play in a different room with a different computer/audio interface/monitors/headphones, using a different guitar and a different player. Absolutely nothing is the 'same'. So, at best your comparing a polished demo intended to promote a product against a handful of minutes scrolling through the list. Likely not using a single piece of gear that was also used in creating the demo.

    Should you give up? Nah. Its just not as 'plug and play' as we'd like it to be.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • Hey Todd, I was the token old guy in the CLR, FREIDMAN, LINE6 shootout and couldn't agree more. ....Paul

    Oh! Hey Paul! Cool to see you in here. Loved your playing in this last go around, which I think was about as fair as it could have been. But yeah, back when you in the cab episode, I'm guessing it sounded as different in the room as it did when I listened to YouTube. I was really surprised how very different FRFR cabs actually sounded. :) Nice to see you here.


    Cheers...

    Todd in Chicago

  • A different prospective from my own experience, the process of making demos for commercial profiles can be more challenging than capturing the profile in the first place. This is point a profiler really puts themselves out there. So, some folks rely on other means to make the demos sound good. If you listen well enough, you can hear the many post-processed studio tricks that are sometimes applied. I don't do that, but I can understand why some do.


    There are a million and one variables between the point when the demo was recorded and you play the profile in your own listening space and gear. Best thing you can do is listen to many demos from the same maker of different offerings and get a good sense if they are in the tone zone you'd expect.

  • I've felt very similar, love the idea of the Kemper, but I just wasn't getting the sounds that everyone was raving on about, they were okay, but didn't have that zing that I'd hoped for. Up to this point I'd only really tried the profiles that came with the Stage and the odd few from RM, so I put it down to my playing and not being able to match the right guitar to the profile. However, the Black Friday sale prompted me to give the commercial packs a go, so checked out the You Tube vids and bought a couple of packs.....


    I'm a little spoilt for guitar choice, so was able to use the same guitars that were used on the You Tube demo......and I have to say, I got the exact fantastic sound!....so I think if you can match your guitar to the ones used to create the profile, then that's half of the battle.


    How great would it be if we all used a profile naming convention to put the guitar used in the profile title,

  • I've felt very similar, love the idea of the Kemper, but I just wasn't getting the sounds that everyone was raving on about, they were okay, but didn't have that zing that I'd hoped for

    me too!


    so I think if you can match your guitar to the ones used to create the profile, then that's half of the battle

    I disagree. The guitar used and played at profiling is just a refinement of what the Kemper already created before you play your guitar on it. So I think, at best it is the guitar player who did the settings on the amp according to what he wants to hear when plugging a special guitar.

  • me too!


    I disagree. The guitar used and played at profiling is just a refinement of what the Kemper already created before you play your guitar on it. So I think, at best it is the guitar player who did the settings on the amp according to what he wants to hear when plugging a special guitar.

    Perhaps I don't know enough about the actual profiling process, but thinking logically, surely the amps tone would have been set to get the best out of the guitar being used?....so a strat would be EQ'd differently than a Les Paul, and in that case, once profiled for a strat, if you used an LP, you'd struggle to get near the demo sounds?

  • Perhaps I don't know enough about the actual profiling process, but thinking logically, surely the amps tone would have been set to get the best out of the guitar being used?....so a strat would be EQ'd differently than a Les Paul, and in that case, once profiled for a strat, if you used an LP, you'd struggle to get near the demo sounds?


    That's not always the case. some guys set the amp up at a neutral dialed at noon state to allow the user to mod the EQ on the Kemper. They even try to use a more or less "neutral" speaker. I always offer many different EQ settings so you can ideally find one that works for you.

  • The guitar, player and the playback system matter A LOT.


    Some sellers may post process clips, especially in a mix, but if it is guitar only clip any post processing would be deceptive IMO.


    Honestly, posting that you are having issues is beneficial as we can maybe help to find if there is a way to bring you closer in your situation.


    Can you post a sound clip?