a clean and clear rig without clipping

did You already try to use a compressor in slot A?

Just about any Vox or Fender profile will work. If you want pristine clean then try a bass profile. I have used those for cleans.

One issue is always going to be the guitar. The part I believe you're referencing (the chord jabs) is either a Rickenbacker or Tele/Strat sound.

Mike Skill of the Romantics seems to have favored Telecasters and a Rickenbacker 300 series (I think). It's a single-coil sound for sure. Getting that 'chime' out of a Gibson-style humbucker won't be easy. I have a Tele and a Les Paul. I can make the Tele a passable imitation of the Gibson....but not the other way around.

It could be you're using Profiles more appropriate for single-coils (lower output) and the LP is pushing it too hard?

Perhaps a Profile of a JC120? If that won't stay clean - absolutely nothing will.

Maybe try turning the cab section off to see if that becomes manageable with an EQ? Just spitballing ideas.

I agree - trying to get a a LP to sound like a Rickenbacker is always going to be a challenge.

Perhaps backing off the volume on the guitar would help here to..

Quote from Ruefus

Perhaps a Profile of a JC120? If that won't stay clean - absolutely nothing will.

any PROFILE with the GAIN turned down all the way to zero will stay super-clean. In fact cleaner than any tube amp would.
It's one of the reasons the PROFILER is so popular with Lap Steel/Pedal Steel players

getting a Humbucker to sound like a Single Coil - can't be done IMO.
Even if split a HB will sound 'off' and any 'pickup conversion' attempts I have heard and played so far don't really work all that well.

But for starters, create a notch filter with the Studio EQ (narrow band with max cut) and target the low mids of the HB, widen the Q as needed.
might be good enough for live use.

hth

I actually like cleans on a HB. It has a much warmer tone. I don't understand why you would be clipping unless your rig volume is too high. When I use EMG Active HB's, I do not clip. I really have to crank all the volumes up to come close to clipping. It's got to be a volume setting somewhere. There are at least three; Rig Volume, Amp Volume, and Master Volume, besides the Gain.

BTW, I would try a bass profile too but use less compression on it.

Quote from theplayer

I raised Clean Sense all the way up

why?

What is the rig volume set at?

the Outputs of the Kemper can be very hot...never had a volume issue (even with the -12db pad engaged). Having the clean sense maxed will give you problems in balancing the volume of the clean rigs Vs distorted ones...

Lower the amp volume when that happens.

Quote from theplayer

It's set on 0-dB. Raising this volume tends quickly to clipping

Is that right? I thought the rig volume is like the master volume, so should not affect input clipping???

I never have a clipping issue, yet have huge volume reserves...

I will preface this post by saying “there is no wrong way to do anything “ if it sounds good to you it is good for you. However, there are efficient and inefficient processes and audiences generally have a subjective view of good sounds in their ears which may or may not match you idea of good sound.

Having said that, you continually seem to be fighting the Kemper trying to make it work in ways that it wasn’t designed to work. While you may get the result you are looking for at any one specific moment working this way often results in other problems further down the line. Fixing these problems then creates other problems which also need fixing and before you know it you are in a vicious downward spiral trying to fix an ever increasing number of issues.

There is no way you should need Clean Sense at +12db. That would l imply you are using super weak pickups. Lower output than the lowest output vintage single coils. Like active pickups with no battery weak. As you use a Les Paul you shouldn’t need Clean Sense above 0 to do its job. With fairly mid output pickups I run mine around -5db to stop the cleans being too loud.

I think you have stated in previous posts that you have some sound engineering experience? If so you will be aware of the concept of gain staging. Slamming the Clean Sense is like boosting the mic preamp gain until it is clipping like crazy then slamming a brick wall limiter after it to bring the level under control for later in the signal path.

If you have clean sense that high with a Les Paul I can pretty much guarantee that your overdriven sounds will be super quite in comparison and will need either the Amp/Rig volume pf the clean sounds massively reduced OR the Amp/Rig volume of the dirty sounds cranked up to compensate.

If you have clean sense set correctly and all of your Amp and Rig volumes set to 0db you should need to do only very minimal level adjustments between rigs. When you are doing these adjustments don’t forget that you can reduce the volume of the louder rigs just as easily as increasing the volume of the quieter ones.

My advice would be to totally reset all your rigs and Input and Output settings. Put Clean Sense back to 0, set Amp and Rig Volumes for all rigs to 0 also.

Take a single rig and adjust the gain from 0 to 10 (i would do this with an expression pedal set to morph the gain knob). Now adjust clean sense until the perceived volume of the clean and super high gain sounds is roughly equal. That is the “correct” setting for clean sense as its purpose is to balance clean and over driven rigs at a global level.

Once this is set properly you might find that solo rigs need a little boost to make them pop out. No problem raise the rig volume a touch for those righs. You might adjust EQ etc also but I am just focusing on the fact that the volume adjustment should be a few db hear and there never plus 12db on one an -12db on another. If you need to do that then something else is wrong.

If boosting clean rigs causes clipping just reduce overdriven rigs instead. But once again, if clean sense is set correctly you shouldn’t need to change it much at all.

Not piling on, just wanting to emphasize and hopefully help you sort it out. I have no doubt that you're frustrated (been there, will be again)......

Quote from Wheresthedug

There is no way you should need Clean Sense at +12db.

This quote can't be overstated. There is no reason to have Clean Sense maxed out. It may have addressed a symptom, but not the underlying cause.

It's like taking pain medication for a toothache....and not going to the dentist. You feel better, but you haven't fixed anything.

Quote from Ruefus

It may have addressed a symptom, but not the underlying cause.

It's like taking pain medication for a toothache....and not going to the dentist. You feel better, but you haven't fixed anything.

That’s exactly what I was trying to say in lots of words but you said it much better and much more succinctly 👍