How much do you tweak?

  • I tweak everything constantly. I've always been that way with everything from tube amps to plugins to other modelers to my current Kemper Stage. That's just me.


    I've found that with the Kemper, I rarely have to tweak a clean or edge-of-breakup amp. Maybe dial in some extra gain or presence. With high gain profiles, I have to tweak a lot.


    Part of that is I have very specific sounds I'm after with high gain rhythm tones. I like a boosted amp for tight low end, but not too much gain. I want chug, but not grind or fizz. I like a little bit extra 500-700k mids, and a big punch in the face of upper mids. I want depth and thickness, but not boominess. Then for recording, I want two slightly different profile sounds to quad track with.


    Then there is so much variation with most high gain amps. Take a newer Mesa Dual Recto for example. In addition to cabs and mics, there's the orange channel in raw, vintage, and modern modes, and the same for the red channel. There could be a boost in the profile, or maybe different power tubes. Holy shit, so many different settings that create so.many different profiles out of one amp. And Rectos in particular have a huge EQ range, so there's that too... Oy.


    Also, I've found that the person profiling the amp makes a big difference. Michael Britt, for example, makes great clean and crunch profiles because that's what he plays mostly with his country band. His high gain profiles, like his 5150 III are ok for leads, and sound good in general, but you have to really dial in extra boost, definition, and input sense to make them chug. Other 5150 III profiles by people like Lars Luettge chug right out of the (virtual) box.


    Anyways, all that to say that the whole "don't tweak a profile" thing just doesn't work for me. I wouldn't just pass on a tube amp if it didn't sound like I wanted it to without tweaking it, so why would I do the same with a profile?


    You can tweak if you want to. You can leave your friends behind. If your friends don't tweak and if they don't tweak, then they're no friends of mine.

    ?

  • I massively tweak them. Like, a lot. I look for potential from a profile NOT necessarily one that is ready to go, because I haven't found that yet. I've been playing tube amps, well, my first amp was a tube amp at about 12 years old so, 40 years. So I think I'm pretty good at getting a proper tone. I thought I was gonna throw up the first week I got the Kemper because I thought everything I heard was crap but after getting to know it, I don't think it can be beat. Just remember It's the sound of an amp Mic'ed up not "in the room." good luck.

    Great thank! Actually I am quite disappointed so far so I'm glad to hear you say that it taken you time and now it's unbeatable for you!

    About the amp in the room, I i know and i had a modeler before, so I'm used to it :)

  • Anyways, all that to say that the whole "don't tweak a profile" thing just doesn't work for me. I wouldn't just pass on a tube amp if it didn't sound like I wanted it to without tweaking it, so why would I do the same with a profile?


    You can tweak if you want to. You can leave your friends behind. If your friends don't tweak and if they don't tweak, then they're no friends of mine.

    ?

    No-one is saying tweaking is bad, its just what floats your boat. I don;t agree on Tube amp tweak. Changing the volume, gain, presence or even eq isn;t really the type of tweaking I'm referring to.


    Im talking about difiction, amp sag, IR's etc which you rarely have that level of control on a tube amp.


    Can we still be friends even If I'm a non tweaker ;)

  • Great thank you for your answer man.

    That might be a stupid question but can you change the cab only for direct profiles?

  • Silly question, why morph a pure booster and not just volume? Would save you a slot. I do the same but with volume.

    And sometimes I do that as well. My morphs are usually tied into increasing delay mix and/or feedback, and/or a flanger - something extra for solos, depends on the song. I love effects. So it's not strictly volume I morph, I should have been more clear in my statement there, sorry.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • So I wondered - How often do you tweak your profiles?

    In comparison I tweak my Kemper rack unit "wayyyyyyyy wayyyyyy" less than I did with the Axe FX II XL+ I owned, and way less than I do my Helix that I still own. Which means I play more (I need that) and tweak less (I need that too) . That's a good thing! ;)

    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

  • Also, Tone Gremlins are real. They come in at night when you're sleeping and change your favorite profiles so they sound totally different the next day. True story.

    I have that happen alot, but I think those Gremlins are changing the tones in my head rather than changing the settings on my Kemper/Helix/etc lol :D!

    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

  • Also, Tone Gremlins are real. They come in at night when you're sleeping and change your favorite profiles so they sound totally different the next day. True story.

    This! They live here as well...

    I have that happen alot, but I think those Gremlins are changing the tones in my head rather than changing the settings on my Kemper/Helix/etc lol :D !

    I think that's a great point which translates into "we are not the same every day" :) Different moods, different situations...

    Which is great and absolutely human. What sounds great on Monday can bug me on Tuesday. But overall the tendency is pretty clear. I take this also as different levels of inspiration which come from different sounds - which is where the Kemper takes me into its' wonderful universe every day...

  • In comparison I tweak my Kemper rack unit "wayyyyyyyy wayyyyyy" less than I did with the Axe FX II XL+ I owned, and way less than I do my Helix that I still own. Which means I play more (I need that) and tweak less (I need that too) . That's a good thing! ;)

    This has been my experience with modelers as well. A lot of people feel this way. Great sounds are in ALL of these boxes. Some may argue that 'better' sounds can be had with Fractal/Helix etc. If that's true - and that's a big if - you have spend a ton of time dragging it out of the unit.

    I was using an Atomic Amplifire 3 button prior to the Kemper. I was OK with the sound, but knew if I sat with it for like......a weekend.....I could get it just right. For just. One. Sound.

    That's not better or worse, but it requires a somewhat different mindset and a trainload of patience.

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

  • In comparison I tweak my Kemper rack unit "wayyyyyyyy wayyyyyy" less than I did with the Axe FX II XL+ I owned, and way less than I do my Helix that I still own. Which means I play more (I need that) and tweak less (I need that too) . That's a good thing! ;)

    For a newbie like me it's nice to hear that you choose your KPA when you have axe and helix too lol

  • And sometimes I do that as well. My morphs are usually tied into increasing delay mix and/or feedback, and/or a flanger - something extra for solos, depends on the song. I love effects. So it's not strictly volume I morph, I should have been more clear in my statement there, sorry.

    No worries dude, not a criticism, just checking I wasn't missing a trick. Like you I often morph multiple effects and volume and e.q, its brilliant!

  • most of the time i only tweak bass,mids,treble and presence and Definition,sometimes when i need the profile to sound with more punch i change the cab.


    i also own the Axe 3 and i do just a bit of tweaking to get a great sound,on Mesa Boggie amps i tweak the EQ but with other amps i only tweak bass,mids,treble and presence and bingo.

    Guitar: Fender Strat HSS<3 Schecter Custom Solo II

    Signal Chain: Kemper->AxeFX 3>Neural QC>Apollo Twin->M-Audio Monitors

    Computer:Mac Studio

  • Great thank you for your answer man.

    That might be a stupid question but can you change the cab only for direct profiles?

    Not a dumb question at all :) all questions are welcomed! We all start somewhere and I was wondering the same thing at some point when I got my Kemper lol ^^


    You can change the cab section for any profile. To save a cab from a profile, select the cab section, then hit save and save it as a preset. Then when you want to use it with a profile, just select the cab of that profile, then use the dial to find it in presets and select it. Super easy once you do it a few times ;)


    Hopefully I explained it okay enough lol

    Feel free to lmk if you have any other questions

  • For me personally, I've gotten the best results by tweaking profiles. If I were you, I'd try tweaking the Definition, then Presence and Treble, then Mids and Bass.

    That's the order I'll normally go as well, however when I'm auditioning profiles I tend to look for one that has the tone I'm looking for and then adjust the gain (yes, even up, I know, sacrilege! ). My main go to rig at the moment is a profile I've pushed the gain up quite a bit. Whatever sounds good is good