Best overall IRs and Best live/Jam IR's

I hope not to be off topic, but tbh I've never found IR to make anything "better* with the Kemper, just different, like any other Cab profiled (so for me not worth the extra hassle).

Once you find a Profile that you like, save the Cab a s a favorite and go back to the ones you didn't liked, this time with the saved Cab....you might be surprised.

Kemper automatically converts IR to 44,1 kHz and 24 bit.

I have tried thousands of Kemper cabs and IR. In the end Choptones always sounded best for me. (Their newer profiles are all DI profiles with copied IR.)

I like their big IR packs for picking exactly the mics and combinations I prefer. Works better than everything else for me.

I'm using ownhammer IRs. They sound massive. Maybe too good sometimes

My go-to IR is a from a Marshall 4x12 with V30s as I'm using the a Marshall 4x12 with V30s in real life.

Quote from Kellerblues

I hope not to be off topic, but tbh I've never found IR to make anything "better* with the Kemper, just different, like any other Cab profiled (so for me not worth the extra hassle).

Once you find a Profile that you like, save the Cab a s a favorite and go back to the ones you didn't liked, this time with the saved Cab....you might be surprised.

interestingly, I recently had a foray into cabs and found some of the Celestions that had been packaged with an RM release a couple of years ago. They made a big difference for me while I was trying to get a darkish clean sound for jazz. I also used a couple for hi gain sounds that worked well. I couldn’t get my head round the low pass filters and this was a lazy way of getting that sort of sound. I totally get the better thing though, like you say, not better just different.

Quote from Kellerblues

I've never found IR to make anything "better* with the Kemper, just different

Same here. No such thing as best IR.

Each IR has a unique frequency response. In general, that is all an IR is. Think of it as a 31 band EQ setting. Is there such thing as a perfect setting? No.

Each Kemper profile has a unique frequency response. You need to find/match an IR that complements that profile for the unique sound you are looking for.

That is why the IR that comes with the profile usually sounds the best (if it was recorded well). So that is what you are getting when you purchase IR's. You are trying to make sure the right mic was used, it was in the right position, there are not phase issues, and there is not bleed from nearby speakers (2x12, 4x12, etc).

You are hoping the person selling the IR was very good at recording.

In addition to the IRs listed above, many people like YORK IRs as well.

When I first got a Kemper, I made an IR folder in Rig Manager (local) and started dragging CABS from the Kemper profiles. Then I could easily cycle thru them in RM to match whatever profile I was fixing up. I would start with the CABS from the free Kemper packs.

I probably have 200+ IRs I have made myself in a folder that I cycle thru when searching for that "right" sound. And even then it is just different 99% of the time.

Quote from Mangue Ailee

You can get a bad IR that makes a very artificial sound.

And of course, I was speaking about DI profile.

Does a converted IRs sounds different from the native 44.1Hz or are they exactly the same ? (same numbers) I took the brit rock vol1 IRs and damn, they sounded so artificial!

Thank you for your answer when even

Thank you all for your answers

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Sounds (almost) the same. I guess it gets truncated and will loose some bass in the area I high-pass anyway.

I have MANY Choptones IR packs. But the cab and speaker combination in the brit rock are not my cup of tea. So I don't bought it. But I don't think they sound "artificial". My experience with Choptones is, they really capture how this cabs and speakers sound miked. But there is a tendency for mix-ready tones, especially in the mastered packs. You have to try them in a mix to really judge if they work for you. Could sound artificial and weird out of context.

And Choptones often use a specific MD421 in their mixes that I don't like that much. In some of the big packs there is an alternative, less harsh MD421 added.

One of my favourites is the Roadking 4x12 V30/C90 blended pack.

Quote from spotter

I'm using ownhammer IRs. They sound massive. Maybe too good sometimes

My go-to IR is a from a Marshall 4x12 with V30s as I'm using the a Marshall 4x12 with V30s in real life.

Ownhammer is my favorite but I always have to level their files as they run way too hot. Very difficult to run side by side test because Ownhammer IRs are so much louder and our ears perceive louder as better

For live, it's a real speaker & cab all the time every time.

For me, Celestion are the best - enough options for each speaker/cab without being overwhelming, and they just sit right in a mix. It's nice that each speaker is available in 5 different cabs too - cab size, and open vs closed back, makes a big difference. The G12M65's are my favourite, tho have a whole bunch of others which come in useful for various different things.

I've also tried York Audio, who seem to be flavour of the month at the moment... have 3 packs from them, but I've yet to choose any of their IR's over the Celestion ones. A bit over-rated if you ask me...

Ownhammer are good, especially their newest stuff - probably my 2nd fav - but when it comes to setting sounds up for a mix, I still end up choosing the Celestions! Ownhammer's IR's do sound huge, but they're also very dark - just not enough presence IMO unless maybe you've got a very bright amp/profile, or want a very dark mix.

btw, using IR's totally transformed my experience with the Kemper - with a studio profile there are so many variables that all need to be right for it to work with your instrument and for your sound. But with DI (or merged) profiles, plus a carefully chosen IR, I find it's much easier to get the sound you're after.

Quote from alligatorlizard

btw, using IR's totally transformed my experience with the Kemper - with a studio profile there are so many variables that all need to be right for it to work with your instrument and for your sound. But with DI (or merged) profiles, plus a carefully chosen IR, I find it's much easier to get the sound you're after.

I wanted to state this is my long winded post above as well.

When the Kemper makes a studio profile it has to make a guess at where the tone is coming from: Amp or speaker.

You may get best results with a Direct profile of just the amp. It should then marry better to a specific speaker IR.

For example you have a 5150 profiled with a bad mic/speaker/etc. The actual amp profile may not be exact, since it was muddied up with some bad speaker/mic setup. You may not get the results you would expect when you apply a known good V30 4x12 IR.

If you had a DI of the amp alone then match it with a good V30 4x12 IR, you may get the result you would expect.