Don't forget the cabs!

  • I know that many know this but I wanted to write to those that may not. If you are disliking the feel or tone of a Rig, try different cabs. IMO almost nothing affects the feel, tone and even apparent gain than the cab of a rig. I have taken crappy sounding rigs and put one of my favorite cabs on it and improved it immensely. I have also taken very good pro made amp profiles and added a pro made cab that might have sounded OK with something else and made it sound thin and ratty. Often I play through a live cab and send the outs to he board. Problem with that is, If I switched between a V30 cab and a Greenback cab it doesn't change for me, but can severely change what the board is getting so it is a must to be able to check what the main outs are doing and not just enjoy your live cab sound. Sometimes I feel it would be easier for me to mic the cab like a "normal" amp, and not go direct because for me the biggest challenge has always been to make direct sound just like my cab sound which I love. The other night My cab sound was great, then I heard a recording from the board that didn't sound so great. I switched cabs and got it closer to what I was hearing through my live cab. Cabs make a HUGE difference. I wish there was a way to "profile" my Kemper live cab sound and duplicate it through the main outs so what I hear from my live cab is always what goes out front.

  • I wish there was a way to "profile" my Kemper live cab sound and duplicate it through the main outs so what I hear from my live cab is always what goes out front.

    Surely this would be possible by making a Merged Profile of any. The Merge process requires a Studio and a Direct Profile of the same amp in order to subtract the amp and leave a true profile of just the speaker. You could then use this Cab preset with any Direct profile you want or get pretty close to the same result bu canging out the cab from a Studio profile with your own cab preset.

  • I mean I need a profile of my Kemper & live cab. So I'd need to profile my profiler.

    Yes, but amp portions of profiles as consistent so if you profile your cab (by the Merge process) you would “effectively” have a profile of your profiler regardless of which amp you use in a rig ans your own stage cab would still form the cab block portion of any rig. Alternatively, you could just shoot an IR of your cab and load that in the cab block.

  • I haven’t really experimented with cab changes. What happens if you change a cab on a non-merged profile?

    It sounds different ;). Experiment. As long as you don't hit save you can go nuts. Find a cab or profile you like the cab in and lock it. Now call up another rig and listen. Or if you know which rig has the cab you want to try, select the cab block and the cab from "from rigs" tab. Cab driver makes you wonder how it can do what it does but it works amazing. When playing through a live cab, if I switch merged profiles with different cabs, the live cab remains the same but changes the direct out to board. I only use merged profiles and rely on cab driver to split it out. If anything stays "baked in", It doesn't have any negative effects and I actually feel like it makes it better somehow. Experiment. You'll be amazed at what difference cabs make and it'll open up a gigantic new rabbit hole of tones.

  • I have small collection of Kemper cabs that I have as presets to mix and match. Yeah, you can definitely get some great results. Basically any time you play a rig that sounds really good to you, save the cab as a preset. There's a good chance that goodness you liked so much came from the cab.

  • Surely you get close enough by just profiling your amp and cab, maybe as a merged profile, then monitor out to cab with ‘cab off’ in the output menu, with main out going to the desk.


    Isn’t that what this method is basically designed for?

  • Surely you get close enough by just profiling your amp and cab, maybe as a merged profile, then monitor out to cab with ‘cab off’ in the output menu, with main out going to the desk.


    Isn’t that what this method is basically designed for?

    Yes but the "amp and cab" I want to replicate is the sound of my cab with the Kemper. So my Kemper is the amp.

  • I have small collection of Kemper cabs that I have as presets to mix and match. Yeah, you can definitely get some great results. Basically any time you play a rig that sounds really good to you, save the cab as a preset. There's a good chance that goodness you liked so much came from the cab.

    This is a really good idea and recommendation! THX!

  • I have exactly the same experience, I bought a specific OwnHammer IR's, even the free worst-sounding profile started to sound professional.

    My advice is, don't waste your money on paid profiles, invest in good IR's and combine with free profiles.

  • I have exactly the same experience, I bought a specific OwnHammer IR's, even the free worst-sounding profile started to sound professional.

    My advice is, don't waste your money on paid profiles, invest in good IR's and combine with free profiles.

    Interesting. I've had the opposite experience. I have tons of good IRs from Ownhammer, 3sigma, GGD etc., and I nearly always prefer a proper profiled Kemper cab.

  • Interesting. I've had the opposite experience. I have tons of good IRs from Ownhammer, 3sigma, GGD etc., and I nearly always prefer a proper profiled Kemper cab.

    that's been my experience too. I loaded my Own Hammer IRs into the Kemper and tried swapping out Cabinets for them but always went back to the Cabinet.

  • that's been my experience too. I loaded my Own Hammer IRs into the Kemper and tried swapping out Cabinets for them but always went back to the Cabinet.

    I can relate - the vast majority of IR sellers seem to be pretty good on the systematic side of things - this speaker with this mic at this distance and this angle - and go through all the permutations, but they don't have very good ears - or don't trust them.

  • I use only merged profiles. I'm sure it's just in my head but If it's a Michael Britt profile I'll only use one of his cabs, Same for Top Jimi, or Bert Meulendijk stuff. I've tried mix and matching but most packs usually have a couple options that get me what I want. If it's farther out than that, I'm trying the wrong profile. I don't have a need for fancy 3rd party IR's as I don't have a problem getting amazing sounds using the cabs the profiles come with.

  • I can relate - the vast majority of IR sellers seem to be pretty good on the systematic side of things - this speaker with this mic at this distance and this angle - and go through all the permutations, but they don't have very good ears - or don't trust them.

    I wouldn't go that far. In other amp sims / modelers / etc., the pro IRs can sound fantastic. I just think that within the Kemper ecosystem, kemper cabs have the slight edge to my ears.