Profile Refine Processes (Pod HD)

    In a recent post Vinny Burns gave an insight into a method of refining a profile to adjust the response. This really opened my eyes to some possibilities.


    I did a quick test using four different playing styles / methods on a Pod HD setup and got these results:

    • Test 1 - No refine used.
    • Test 2 - Played harmonics only
    • Test 3 - Played palm mutes only
    • Test 4 - Played loud open chords A-G-D


    Refine Test sound sample


    I chose the PodHD because it was a direct profile with no microphones involved. This would remove any random noise factors that may interfere with the results.


    The only noticeable Kemper settings changes were Gain and Definition:

    • Test 1 - Gain: 6.9, Def: 10.0
    • Test 2 - Gain: 6.9, Def: 7.4
    • Test 3 - Gain: 6.8, Def: 8.9
    • Test 4 - Gain: 6.9, Def: 6.9 *

    * Clearly Test 4 is the best because it has the NICE values defaulted.


    It is interesting to note that the resulting profiles get louder in direct relationship to the loudness played during the refine process. The apparent gain and fullness also sounds slightly increased. Test 4 is a little bassy. Since its DEF was 6.9 it could be increased to reduce the boomyness.



    FURTHER EXPERIMENTS TO FOLLOW

    In my mind the refine process was not related to the external amp being profiled. I assumed once you did the profile, the refine would be looking at the Kemper internal profile and your playing interaction. This is not the case of course.


    When doing a refine for a mic'ed amp, I turned off the amp volume. The Kemper then did the refine process using only the mic picking up me playing acoustically and thru monitors in the room. The profile that resulted was extremely weird sounding.


    This is a whole other area that could be used to modify profile results. Profile with one sound/setting. Then refine with another setting.

    I use so many techniques when refining just one profile . Never one thing on its own though. It’s a big variety of all different things while refining an amp to capture what my amps do when I play them.

    Nice analysis. I typically do a combination of 3 and 4. I never thought about trying harmonics. My understanding of the refining process is that it fine tunes the response of the amp and the frequency range it is in. I follow a similar process to what Michael Britt showed in a video or two of his. I figured that his profiles are some of the best out there so his process works.

    Tim Pierce has said it's useful to play something dissonant.


    Jazzfreak (excellent 5e3 profiles) has talked about playing higher up the neck.


    Would be interesting to factor these techniques in & see which make better profiles for certain techniques or contexts