I gave up...the Kemper ships back tomorrow. (Solved)

  • Yes, you can use IR cabinets.

    Also, Rig Manger comes with several Celestion IR's that you would find under Preset Packs/Kemper Factory Content. You can click the column header Preset Class to sort the list. Then look for Cabs and you should find several to try.


    If you have your own IR's, I'd start by creating folders probably under All Presets/Local Library (maybe named Cabs or IR's - you can then add other sub folders as you need to keep organized). Then drag your IR files to these folders and you can just double click any to load them into the current Rig you have loaded.

  • I am much happier now! You guys hear it and know its there! Maybe this is why:


    I always worked and played in loud db environments (go figure). To keep my hearing optimal, I went to a hearing doctor decades ago who told me to practice this every night - I turn the TV in bedroom at night down to an inaudible level and focus in on the speech part. I got very good at this over the years and still do it every night. This drives my wife nuts because she can't hear shit. I am always accusing her of "blasting" the TV when I walk in. If she walks into my studio during practice, she tells me I am going to go deaf because... it's too LOUD, turn it down! LOL.


    Monkey_Man I think we nailed it. I guess my ears are just more focused on what you call "high-end grit" than some other people.


    So, now my dilemma is; how can I ignore this high-end grit when I practice without a mix? Even more; how can I develop a heavenly tone out of a mix and then have it sound great in a mix when that grit has me dissatisfied with the tone - the million dollar question.


    A while back, an Instructor ask my opinion on an iso track. I told him the track sounded like poop. He agreed. What he didn't tell me until after was it was an iso from Jimi Hendrix's album (can't remember which song but it's floating on the web). I thought is was just some guy trying to sound like Jimi. Pretty shocking moment for any tone chasers out there.


    Thanks everyone!

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • Monkey_Man I think we nailed it. I guess my ears are just more focused on what you call "high-end grit" than some other people.


    So, now my dilemma is; how can I ignore this high-end grit when I practice without a mix? Even more; how can I develop a heavenly tone out of a mix and then have it sound great in a mix when that grit has me dissatisfied with the tone - the million dollar question.

    Well BT, that grit is usually added during mixing, if at all, so in the vast majority of cases guitarists find tones they like and record those. Even during the tracking stages in studios the engineers are focussed on getting the best tones they can out of amps.


    The high-end boosts (often resulting in that unpleasant grit) and low-cut filtering are carried out during mixing in order to help tracks sit nicely in mixes without having to be cranked to smithereens in order to be heard and hence ruining the party for the other instruments and vocals.


    So, my suggestion for home use would be to either use tones you like "out of the box" or dial back the treble / presence on those that sound harsh, knowing that if it came to recording them they'll be tweaked during mixing. In cases where you've dialled the high end back, you could simply set the Stack EQ to what it was originally for recording, which IMHO could well yield better results for mixing than if you'd attenuated the highs only to have them boosted later by the engineer.


    You can easily record accurate notes on the amounts of dial-back in the comment fields of Rigs in Rig Manager for reference in such situations.


    HTH, mate.

  • The high-end boosts (often resulting in that unpleasant grit) and low-cut filtering are carried out during mixing in order to help tracks sit nicely in mixes without having to be cranked to smithereens in order to be heard and hence ruining the party for the other instruments and vocals.

    SM57s that are commonly used to mic a guitar cab have quite a presence peak just where you hear that ugly grit in the top end. Face the mic too close to the centre of the cone and it gets brighter.


    A Royer 121, or a Heil Sound PR20 give a much more balanced recording. Also using a multiband compressor to tame the low end can be a lot less drastic that filtering all the low end in one go.


    When you look for profiles, don't ignore the mic type used.

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • That's sound really interesting. May have to dive into that today. Thanks.

    Only thing I'd say dude is its a rabbit hole. You will definitely hear the difference, but for me I didn't find any better sounds, just different. Just gave me even more choice t get confused about :)


    If you are a tone chaser then maybe worth it but I stopped using separate IR's for that reason.

  • Only thing I'd say dude is its a rabbit hole. You will definitely hear the difference, but for me I didn't find any better sounds, just different. Just gave me even more choice t get confused about :)


    If you are a tone chaser then maybe worth it but I stopped using separate IR's for that reason.

    indeed. I bought the Kemper to simplify my life not make it even more complicated ?

  • indeed. I bought the Kemper to simplify my life not make it even more complicated ?

    Exactly! It basically takes just a few minutes to dial in a tube amp. Start all knobs at 12 0'clock and go! I've spent 4 friggin days going through 128 downloaded IR's in the Helix Native to get a good dirty tone without grit or fizz - nada, not close yet. I've heard the Kemper is the fastest to tone out of the big 3. I wish they had a Native app to test drive first though. At least Line 6 saved me some money - cause I don't want what they have.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • indeed. I bought the Kemper to simplify my life not make it even more complicated ?

    Me too. And though I am now keeping my Kemper, I took it off the stage and am going to shelf it for awhile until I get it where I want to. I'm still gonna play it and learn how to program it and change patches and such, I'm just not gonna use it live or any effects live. Just my guitar, my amp with ZERO effect on the clean sound, with no leads. After months of hearing every sound in the world, it feels good to just strum.

  • The first gig I did with mine I literally just set up a clean, crunch and solo sound in a single performance. Used a few MBritt profiles (including the 69 Marshall) with no FX and the sound guys (both FOH and Monitor) came up to me afterwards and said it was the best sound they had had the pleasure of working with.

  • Me too. And though I am now keeping my Kemper, I took it off the stage and am going to shelf it for awhile until I get it where I want to. I'm still gonna play it and learn how to program it and change patches and such, I'm just not gonna use it live or any effects live. Just my guitar, my amp with ZERO effect on the clean sound, with no leads. After months of hearing every sound in the world, it feels good to just strum.

    I think starting basic and building up is the right way to go.


    I actually used mine like an amp for the first 12 months - plugged into a 4 x12 and miked it. This was only because I had no access to a PA to test it direct. I tried it once during that time and:

    1) didn;t attenuate the output and nearly fried our desk

    2) Found it sounded crap - later found out that the cab was masking duff profiles


    Had to push myself to get an FRFR and started again to find good sounding profiles. Unsurprisingly they were mainly ENGL profiles ( as I'd been an ENGL user ha!).


    I also had a mini mixer and checked the output before going out for real. Worked perfect and since then had compliments on my sound which I'd never had before.

  • Coming from a Helix, I feel that the Kemper is miles ahead in terms of tone and feel. I think getting some good profiles helps. For instance I tried some MBritt profiles and felt it was super dark and not very inspiring through monitors. But when I set it up through the power section of my amp into my 2X12 it came alive. Awesome Marshall sounds. So I guess it really depends on how you dial it in (coming from the Helix dialing in is ssoooooooo much more easier) and also what your reference point is I suppose.

  • Hi!


    I am late to the party, but I had this thread open for quite a while.


    @BayouTexan suffers from the well known high frequency "phasiness" of mic'ed guitar speakers, that separates it from the "amp-in-the-room" sound, IMHO.


    Some are very familiar with this phasy sound, as it's omnipresent, some have got used to it, and some cannot stand it.


    The cures for: Use the Pure Cabinet control to tame the phasiness. (Did somebody recomment it here at all?)

    Or use a real guitar speaker (or Kemper Kabinet Imprints) for listening.

  • Hi there,

    I was disappointed with the kpa at first too, because I was used to play through Marshalls. I thought that the kpa was never capable to achieve such a sound in a live set up.
    I kept working with it. And boy was I wrong. It is all about finding the right profiles in combination with the right guitar. The kpa is very sensitive re pickups of the guitar. It really brings out the differences between different guitars. In the studio and on stage I love the kpa. On stage it provides a reliable consistent sound gig after gig. With professionally recorded profiles that thing sounds like the amp sounds we all admire. I play classic rock.


    Here is an example. All guitars are kpa

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    It' s only Rock n Roll, but I like it :D:thumbup:<3

  • BayouTexan You can get rid of it using EQ hi-cut/lo-cut


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    or you can try these settings, too.


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    Edited once, last by Syntek ().

  • Hi there,m

    I was disappointed with the kpa at first too, because I was used to play through Marshalls. I thought that the kpa was never capable to achieve such a sound in a live set up.
    I kept working with it. And boy was I wrong. It is all about finding the right profiles in combination with the right guitar. The kpa is very sensitive re pickups of the guitar. It really brings out the differences between different guitars. In the studio and on stage I love the kpa. On stage it provides a reliable consistent sound gig after gig. With professionally recorded profiles that thing sounds like the amp sounds we all admire. I play classic rock.


    Here is an example. All guitars are kpa

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    Haha! This thread came up outta nowhere. I am keeping the Kemper, I was frustrated more by the way it played than the sound, and I guess and I wasn't really communicating that. I feel like I have to pick different, except on overdriven leads, it's weird...like I am playing thru a compressor at all times. Yes, it sounds great...no doubt about it, but if I am stressed while playing it, it does me no good. If I'm not loose and enjoying playing...why do it? Also, I am so sick of tech. From Grooveboxes, Logic, Garageband, Pro Tools, various synths I have owned, I am just sick of spending my life on tech. When I got the Kemper, I expected a mass of great presets that I could start using immediately. I actually thought Kemper and Fractal were boutique, high end modelers with profiling ability. Kemper is more like a sampler and I hate samplers. Always have. I'll let the tweakers tweak the sound and I'll write great music with what they give me. Kinda like a head coach and general manager relationship. Tech has been more of a barrier to me than a mode of transportation. When Pete Townsend and all the others walked into Jim Marshall's shop, did they get hit with a 90 page manual? No, it was a one sentence manual...Turn every knob all the way up!

    I'm sure the Kemper is easy to program, but I simply do not want to do it, and I am not going to. Were it not for Rig Manager in my Mac, I would have sent it back, cause that's what I use to switch patches/performances and such...so I'm really using it as a module more or less. Yes, it sounds great...fantastic, and the construction and hardware are classic German excellence...as they do everything right without cutting corners. I read somewhere Fractal got called out for using cheap parts. Not Kemper. My goal is to build a small toaster rig, like a Victory 22 with a 1x12, and use it for cleans w/analog chorus and cranked Marshall type sounds, then A/B over to Kemper for high gain, delayed leads. I just can't get Kemper to respond the way I want it to respond, and I have to have that or i get this weird dagger straight thtu my heart that doesn't allow me to play the way I want to play...except on leads. It's amazing to play lead thru...like nothing else. Lol...anyway, sorry for the rant, that's just where I am with Kemper right now.

  • Late to the party, but this thread is strange to read. I came from being an Axe owner, and spent the better part of this year "battling" with it and making frustrated posts like this on their forum, because I couldn't understand why everyone else was happy with their tones but it sounded awful to me. Now, I'm on the other side of the road with the Kemper. It sounds incredible to me, and it's somewhat crazy to me that someone else would not think so, but now I can empathize with them over how frustrating it can be to battle with something everyone else seems to praise.


    It seems with all these amp modeling/profiling units you either love them right away, need to earn a phD in order tweak them enough to love them, or they just don't work for you altogether and you move to another one. That's just the name of the game I guess.

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