How Much Tweaking On The KPA's Included Profiles Are You Doing?

  • Once you get through checking out the different included profiles on the KPA, how much tweaking do you find yourself doing? Do you think the tweaking is more of an adjustment to your input source (studio monitors, PA speakers, amps etc) or tweaking the profiles themselves?

  • Very little of the profile itself per se. There are so many excellent profiles I usually start with one I like, then add some fx and a drive block to switch on/off with a behringer foot controller. I then save a 'louder' version for lead breaks, and a 'cleaner' version (with drive turned down and different fx) for clean, as I dont like a pristine clean sound. Works to me like the perfect multi channel amp, and of course I can easily change amps as I please.
    My band plays out with a sound engineer who doesnt appreciate too many different tones to cope with. He just loves the Kemper.

  • I think the guitar amp is part of my instrument and I want to know it like I know my guitar. The Kemper Amp is something completley new so I want to know how it works. I mean not the bits and bites of the programming behind it but I want to know how the different settings influence the sound. Especially the new ones that you don't find on your tube amp.


    What I almost certainly do when I meet a new profile:

    • adapt the input (clean sense and especially distortion sense)
    • turn down the noise gate
    • set the power sagging to where I like it
    • switch off the reverb and delays

    What I am dealing with right now when I decided to use a profile more seriously:

    • EQ before the amp (in the stomp section)
    • EQ after the amp (in the X-slot)
    • this and especially the "High Shift" parameter in the Cabinet section can change so incredibly much on a sound...

    www.audiosemantics.de
    I have been away for quite a while. A few years ago I sold my KPA and since then played my own small tube amp with a Bad Cat Unleash. Now I am back because the DI-profile that I made from my amp sounds very much convincing to me.

  • I generally use ALL the parameters available to make good sounding rig a great sounding one (to my ear/taste), not because I have to but because I like to.

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • I remove the effects and the EQ.(and the cab)
    Then most of the time i lower the gain because there is too much with my pickup.
    I'm not using the noise gate.


    I always find that it sounds better without eq. I don't know why but the EQ seems to compress the sound a little bit.

  • I've never used an EQ on any Profile, not once.


    Learnt something cool from Pete's rigs (okstrat)...to add some juice/volume to clean profiles (or any Profile), add the Pure Stomp in the "X" position.

  • I have my noise gate locked to off so it's the same on all profiles and I don't have to change it (same deal on the input sens settings). I really don't tweak anything except the occasional gain adjustment. There are so many good profiles it's quicker ot just find one that you like than try to convert one you're not sure about. I treat it like having a garage of already dialed in amps to pick and chose from.


    The only tweaks I do are outside of the KPA in my DAW, usually just a tiny bit of hi/lo pass to make room for other instruments.

  • I have my noise gate locked to off so it's the same on all profiles and I don't have to change it (same deal on the input sens settings). I really don't tweak anything except the occasional gain adjustment. There are so many good profiles it's quicker ot just find one that you like than try to convert one you're not sure about. I treat it like having a garage of already dialed in amps to pick and chose from.


    The only tweaks I do are outside of the KPA in my DAW, usually just a tiny bit of hi/lo pass to make room for other instruments.


    If I had taken that approach then I wouldn't have my favorite rigs. They've all required some type of tweaks to adjust to my guitars/ears.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • If I had taken that approach then I wouldn't have my favorite rigs. They've all required some type of tweaks to adjust to my guitars/ears.

    +1 Same here. I tune to taste and to adjust for my low output Strats. Many "crappy" profiles are now my favs, after tweaking. Those knobs are there for a reason!


  • If I had taken that approach then I wouldn't have my favorite rigs. They've all required some type of tweaks to adjust to my guitars/ears.


    Maybe you wouldn't, I certainly don't have a fixed set of favorite rigs. What I want or like changes from day to day, tune to tune, so my approach suits me just fine. That's not to say that I don't use some profiles more than others, just that the tweaking I do is either at the guitar end of things or in the DAW, I'll always sound like me when I play and get the tones I want out of most rigs that way.


    That's why I like the Kemper so much compared to any other sim I've tried or heard. It's really really close to being as transparent as a real amp, I don't need to use it as an FX unit to mask my sound or try to make me sound like something or someone else because it does what it does so very well, and that allows me to get back to learning the guitar rather than any other part of the signal chain. :)

  • Hi
    I very seldom think the sound of the profiles are optimal to my equipment.
    I run KPA in two two FRFR - EV ZX 4A, active speakers in a stereo setup.


    Note I a m only a happy amateur playing at home at bedroom level so you have to take this info out of that!


    If the rig doesn´t sound good in my ears (not the same as others ears :) ) I try 3 different CABS.
    Tills 1960 006 if I need a brighter sound, Tills 1960 015 a bit darker and a Marshall 1960 CAB (Marshall by Schleicher).


    Very often theres is a dramatic change and often improvement.
    If I get no good sound with any of them - I delete the profile.



    Mike


  • Mike, you might want to include the cab from the S Mehl rigs. It's a vintage Greenback with a gritty mojo that is very nice. If you don't have it, then save the cab from this rig of mine: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/690187…012-06-26%2019-24-18.kipr

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • One other comment about whether a profile/rig works for you - try it with all of your guitars before you trash it. There are many rigs where I didn't like it with one guitar, then fell in love with it using another one.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • Really good info here. When I started this thread I was wondering if people were doing more tweaking than playing like I've found myself doing on modelers that just don't have that good amp tone. I fully expected to some tweaking for personal taste. From what I'm hearing here, it's your normal amp tweaking with the capability of really refining your tone.

  • Yep! It took me a while but today was the first day where I rearranged my rehearsal space so that the Kemper is BEHIND me - so that I don't see the LEDs and buttons and stuff and I can concentrate on playing. And I played the whole day without touching one button and it did feel reeeeeaaaally good ! ! !

    www.audiosemantics.de
    I have been away for quite a while. A few years ago I sold my KPA and since then played my own small tube amp with a Bad Cat Unleash. Now I am back because the DI-profile that I made from my amp sounds very much convincing to me.