Clean and distorted rigs

  • Just read elsewhere about a rig. Some user complained he has only the distorted rig of an amp and would like to have the clean version. So my question is this: to get the rig as a clean one, is it not enough to just turn the gain down and maybe tweak some things on the amp settings? And why do many profiles of an amp come with so much versions, from clean to heavy gain?


    After all, it should be the same amp. Of course I understand, if an amp has two or more channels, this makes differences. And the question can be widend: what are the true secrets of creating a good profile?:/

  • turning down the gain has the same effect as turning down the guitar volume knob. It is similar to turning down the gain on the real amp but not necessarily the same. Also tweaking the tone controls on the real amp is very different to the to e knobs on the Kemper. The knobs on real amps are interactive. Turning the treble also has an effect on the bass and mids. You can only ever reduce frequencies with the real amp tone controls (never boost them - unless the amp has an active tone stack). Also, changing the tone knobs on a valve amp also changes the gain structure of the amp. In contrast, the kemper tone controls are fixed frequencies and independent of each other. They can cut AND boost frequencies but don’t change the gain structure of the rig.

  • Just read elsewhere about a rig. Some user complained he has only the distorted rig of an amp and would like to have the clean version. So my question is this: to get the rig as a clean one, is it not enough to just turn the gain down and maybe tweak some things on the amp settings? And why do many profiles of an amp come with so much versions, from clean to heavy gain?


    After all, it should be the same amp. Of course I understand, if an amp has two or more channels, this makes differences. And the question can be widend: what are the true secrets of creating a good profile?:/

    That's what they do at Fractal: they try to recreate the behavior of the real amps with all the controls and a lot of parameters if you like to dive deep.


    A very different approach. Kemper tries to match just one sound per Rig. Find a Rig as close as possible to the sound you want and don't tweak too much.

  • Modeling is what Fractal and pretty much everyone besides Kemper does. It attempts to emulate all the components and interactions of an amp digitally.


    Literally assembling an entire amp piece by piece with software code.


    Kemper doesn’t do anything like that. A Profile is a moment in time. A specific amp, set a certain way. It makes no attempt to model each function.

    Tweaking the core sound is largely unnecessary. You either like that setting or you don’t. Minor tweaks for preference, sure. Otherwise, move on.


    But dropping the gain will not give you what the Profiled amp sounds like. A Profile with the gain on 5, turned down to zero will sound quite different from the physical amp doing the same thing.


    You may like the sound (Cory Wong does), but you’ll have a sound that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

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

  • Tweaking the core sound is largely unnecessary. You either like that setting or you don’t.

    I disagree. Most profiles with mid to high gain I tried do not sound good for my ears. I mostly ignore sounds from metal amps and freaks, but try more classic amps. To my experience, with to much gain, you cannot hear the soul, the specific sound of the amp. Turning gain down, I can quite differentiate the different amps.

    And then: often, I find profiles garnished with heavily used effects. Obviously, to make them sound better. But what? I want to get the amp's sound. Tuning it for my performance(s) or for just playing around should be my thing.


    On the other side of course, I admit: I found a bunch of usefull effect combinations on those profiles.

  • I disagree. Most profiles with mid to high gain I tried do not sound good for my ears. I mostly ignore sounds from metal amps and freaks, but try more classic amps. To my experience, with to much gain, you cannot hear the soul, the specific sound of the amp. Turning gain down, I can quite differentiate the different amps.

    And then: often, I find profiles garnished with heavily used effects. Obviously, to make them sound better. But what? I want to get the amp's sound. Tuning it for my performance(s) or for just playing around should be my thing.


    On the other side of course, I admit: I found a bunch of usefull effect combinations on those profiles.

    Everyone does what works for them.


    Personally, if I have to adjust any one knob more than about 2 points to get what I want, I move on. Hasn’t failed me yet.


    I also tend to sort by gain and ignore the amp used. I start low and work up until I find 4 or so profiles that resemble what I’m after. Then I work down.

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

  • You're talking about personal taste. Different people like different music and amounts of distortion.


    As for the Kemper - it takes a "snapshot" of the target amp as mentioned above, so any tweaking technically takes you away from the original amp. This can be good or bad depending on your personal taste.


    You could start with a 5150 profiled at maximum, brutal gain and sculpt it into something that sounds a bit like a Fender Champ, but taking a profile of a Champ is how most here would approach it.