Posts by Dynochrome

Quote from V8guitar

Therefore the comments about inorganic is probably correct but by design. They have a very precise response.

The inorganic statement comes from what me ears tell me. It's like I can't hear the wood in the guitar as ridiculous as that sounds. That being said, I struggle with the idea that you can hear wood at all in an electric guitar. Now I know wood does make a difference obviously, And hollow bodies will feed back (sometimes in a great way) live. We had a discussion here once about ES-335 plugged in and recorded, could you hear it's a hollow body at all or detect it out of a bunch of solid bodies? I own a real nice one but sometimes think it's a novelty and a "looks" thing as when recorded, mine could be any solid body Gibson. And I agree with the EMGs being precise, and maybe the best choice for metal guitar.

Quote from chu

Each to their own, of course.

But phrases such as 'inorganic' tend to be banded around a little as if it's a trait of EMGs. Many of the best basses I've played have had EMGs. My favourite Strat sounds came from an EMG loaded Strat. The 81? The ones I've played have always been in guitars that didn't interest me before I even picked them up so I was destined to be non-plussed but I can't say as they were a problem (a LTD and an Epiphone before you ask - both aimed at the metal side of things).

Oh yeah! EMG's on a bass are excellent I agree. Most bass players I know that have active and non active basses rarely pick up the non active, the EMGs there make a big difference. Never played the singles. I have only had EMG 60 and 81s

Quote from Guitarius

It was something stupid, obviously. I tried chaning my cables, but the thing is, they both were 10m long. Apperantly EMG's lose their volume on these lengths, I didnt know that and did not think of that.

Conclusion: use either high-end cables if they're long or use shorter cables.

Resolved, thanks for the help anyway.

I recall some people (right or wrong) running 2 batteries with their EMGs. Can't remember what it was supposed to do.

I thought since EMGs are low impedance they would drive longer runs better. (like a mic cable vs. guitar cable)If not, that's another reason for me not to like them. Something about them always struck me as flat and inorganic. Just my opinion.

Quote from Guitarius

After some research I found out about Clean Sense but even with that it still sounds dull.

I do not believe you understand what clean sense does. It wouldn't have any effect on bright/dull. I think it's because of the way the manual is written that people have a misunderstanding of what clean sense does. To understand it, watch the video. It really explains it well. usually when gain goes up on an amp, it gets louder but often a cleaner sound will cut more because it's less compressed. Clean sense balances the volume so that you can have volume rise,stay the same or even get lower as the gain on the profile gets turned up. I understand it better than I can explain it, but again watch the video. Distortion sense works completely different.

Quote from zero71

So back in 2019 I sold my Axe FX 2 to fund an FM3. Fractal delayed the unit a year, so I ended up buying a KPA Toaster to tide me over. Took a while to find profiles I loved, but when I did, I had a blast with it. Mid 2020, my number came up for the FM3, so I sold the KPA and placed my order. And it was fine, it was fun, it sounded good, but for the past 18 months I've been tweaking and tweaking and I always almost happy. I kept thinking about the Top Jimi Lee Jackson '74 Plexi that I loved so much on the KPA.

Fast forward to today and I just swapped my FM3 for a similarly aged KPA Toaster. It booted up with an And44 SRV profile that I didn't love, then went into update mode for a good 10 mins or so. I sat there nervously noodling through that profile that I didn't dig until it cut out as the update started to write. 15 mins later, I loaded up the LJ High G12M profile, and whoaaa that's what I've been missing. So good.

So New Used Profiler day. I'm so happy I kept all my profiles from 2020!

I've got the original Lee Jackson pack and think it's been redone and replaced?

Quote from HowardBrown

Totally agree, then I would need to try not to touch any effects! I end up doing the same thing with them that I do with profiles. When I played in bands many years ago I had a two channel amp with Reverb and Chorus on board and one stomp box, delay... and I didn't know I was missing anything lol!

I did the same thing with 2 ch rigs like this this... (this pic from around around 22 yrs ago) Yes the Kemper is a bit easier.

Quote from HowardBrown

I did this too during 2020, Mbritt a TJ had sells and I got the Grab-n-Go, Crank-n- Go and the 2020 pack from Mbritt and 10 to 12 amp packs from TJ, about $140 total. Around 950 profiles and I pulled 240 out and loaded them in my Kemper, I want to cut that down to 50 or less. In truth a dozen of the best profiles (to my taste) is more than I really need.

In the last week I've been going through the stock folders in Rig Manager and found profiles like Dimed Bassman, it's about my favorite right now lol...

I haven't looked at the exchange in ages but did a few days ago, found a .22 Caliber (or something close to that name) that I really liked, a couple of crunch and overdriven, a couple of really good lead and for fun a couple of rip your head off profiles. Out of the profiles I purchased it would be easy to pick a dozen and call it good and as you suggested tweak here and there to cover just about anything, but I could do the same thing with the profiles from the stock Rig Manager folders or Rig Exchange.

After five years of owning the Kemper I've realized that all the profile options available have hindered me somewhat, instead of settling on a handful and making them my "own sound" I keep chasing a never ending flow of options and miss out on the joy of just simply playing. The choices are by no means a bad thing for most people, but a person like me with a pretty good case of OCD it's a nightmare

Yes this exactly! The choices have been a hindrance to me somewhat too always looking for "greener grass". I used to buy an amp I sampled for a bit brought it home and made it work for me live usually by implementing a GCX and a rack effect. Things were good but there was always some compromise, maybe I didn't like the clean too much or not enough channels, shared EQ etc. The closest I got is with that and My ENGL, it had lots of options, dual masters that I could switch but that thing in a flight case was a beast. Now I have none of those limitations but lately have been thinking of the Kemper in a similar way as when I bought one amp and used it. I always think of wheresthedug telling me about the first time he took the Kemper out with 3 rigs and how well it went. I'm pretty sure I could do about any gig with 3-5 rigs given all the options (morph,pedals,gain boosts, FX).

Quote from Steve5478

I haven't installed this pack yet into my Stage. But i'll give it a try.

Thanx for your advices too

I don't install, I just check 'em out on RM. If I think I'll use them live they go in the pool. I only have about 25 rigs there! I use that as the "storage" and Performances is where I have the things that I use and have tweeked. If I want to go back to the original I'll browse it.

Quote from Hudiluma

I have the oposite experiance. My former Marshall Tube Poweramp coloured my signal into my 12x4 Marshall cab extremely and IMO it was the most negative impact on my sound with profiles. When I switched to a linear solid state amp really the lights went on!

Same here, every time I think I want to try it through some tube power or into a clean Marshall or tube power section, it colors it too much and makes it blurrier and less defined. No sense burning those tubes and lugging the thing around if a light power amp sounds clearer.

Quote from chu

I would never have thought that my favourite tone would come from a Mesa and my cleans from a BE100 but it made me stop listening with my eyes. I don't need a profile of my dream amp, I just want to be able to make my Kemper sound like the tone in my head.

I have finally started doing the same thing, not caring what the amp is, just how it works for me. Sometimes profiles available for amps sound better to me than when I actually played the "real" amp (Stiletto and SLO come to mind) I've had 3 Splawns and sold them all, they sounded good but nothing I can't get from the Kemper. There is a good chance I'd like your Splawn hot rod rig better than I liked the amps.

Quote from Steve5478

I agree with you ! I only use few rigs. I just have to find a "creamy" one and a tweedy i appriciate now....

Just for the heck of it tell me what you think of the Dan Gat (turn slap off but keep there for option) and the pet gre in the Ledgends III. If you need a bit of juice for the pet gre, turn the gain knob up a bit. I think that rig sounds wonderful.

Quote from JoshuaL1

One year into the kemper rabbit hole here.

There’s 3 ways to use the kemper :

1 - Having all the great gear and make your own profiles

2- find a profiler that have you ear, the amp you want, the same use.

3 - take a profile you like and tweak it to death. And that’s a deep hole. Every little tweak of any parameters is important. Move one, need to adjust another.

The kemper can be really user friendly and plug and play unit but also a bug tweaking machine.

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I do 85% #2 and 15% #3 I don't think it's hard to make your own great sounding profiles, when I did with some fairly simple gear, I got great results, but I'm lazy and it's easier to use whats there already and aside from having the pride that "I made this", I doubt I could make anything that much better than what I can find in any of the paid, legend packs or free packs.

Quote from Steve5478

Many say that to use Profiler, you just have to browse Rigs and select the ones you like and tweak a little if needed.

What are you tips to go so far in turning rigs into others ?

No big secrets really. What I did was read the manual, then watch the videos about the amp section and understand all of the controls,I don't usually need to change much here, but you should understand what's going on. To clean things up, simply turn back the gain knob. I think the Kemper rolls back with the gain knob every bit as good as a tube amp does and even though it changes the "snapshot" I just use my ear and I have yet to pick a rig that turning the gain down didn't clean it up nicely. And first before installing the seemingly mandatory studio eq in slots, just turn the amp knob controls, they're very powerful, you don't usually need much and IMO the frequencies chosen there are perfect for guitar. To gain UP, Either just turn the gain knob up a bit, use a pure booster, add a gain pedal or a combination of. I quit being concerned "where" my gain I need comes from (gain knob,boost, overdrive) and just use my ears and put together what I want. But actually, I never do any of this to the extremes, just a bit because normally I can just choose another profile that gets me more in the ballpark, but knowing I can change things drastically if needed. One example that comes to mind is the "Kobain" rig in one of the legends packs, it starts off with a (teen spirit?) clean sound (Silverface I think) then has a pedal that makes the whole thing punk out. There are just so many ways with the KPA, it can change with your tastes and moods.

I don't know if this is the right place for this post, but when this pack came out, I breezed through it and thought it had some very cool stuff. Then went back to my favorite profiles mostly in paid packs. Knowing now what I know about Kemper after several years of use, that you can take a pretty distorted profile and turn it into a nice spanky clean as well as take a fender twin and "turn" it into a metal amp,.. I'm seeing I don't need a gillion amps/packs to get what I want,I just need to tweek more to what I like now that I am understanding the amp controls and using the stack a bit. I have spent Approx. $130.00 in amp packs (I know there is MANY that have a much bigger investment) and after spending a bunch of time going through the Legends Tribute Pack III, I realized I could have any tone I wanted just tweeking that pack! I just think the grandeur of this pack is overlooked, playing with it a bunch tonight, I think you could give me a Kemper, teach me how to tweek, load it with this pack only and nothing else and I would be happier than I have been with all the vintage and boutique amps I've owned & played.

Quote from Wheresthedug

yes , it was added after the powered Kabinet was launched as people were finding the Kabinet wasn’t loud enough.

So the setting is on the KPA that boosts the powered cab? I would figure the "power amp boost" would have to be done on the unit with the power. Otherwise it would be an "output boost"

Quote from dacop1313

my advice is to go tube power.

Because why?

Quote from HowardBrown

For starters in the Output section you might try setting the Monitor Out Volume to -12db to -18db

One thing often overlooked to retain signal to noise ratio if you need to set the Main Output Volume to less than -12 dB, (In this case -18db),then activate the Main Output Pad to reduce the signal level of the Main Output by 12 dB. This increases the range of the Main Output Volume control and preserves the signal-to-noise ratio of the Main Output

Quote from HowardBrown

and the Power Amp Boost to 0

Is there a power amp boost setting on a non powered model?

If you gig and can afford it, eventually you may want to get a clean, dependable solid state amp. The less coloring after the kemper, the better it reproduces the profile. . Lugging that tube amp around may become a burden and tubes are a liability not to mention doesn't help anything. Kemper profiles don't need to be "warmed up" by tubes and if they do you're using the wrong ones or it's set wrong. Normally profiles are made from tube amps and virtually no one can tell the difference between the real tube amp and Kemper in a blind A/B when profiled properly. That's good enough for me and I want that to appear as uncolored as possible through the mixing desk.

Quote from londonjeepster

Pro Tools for me, very easy to use, but expensive maybe... cheers

There used to be lower priced versions that were pretty good and real easy to use, but most DAW's nowadays are pretty easy to use. If you compared logic today with what it was 20 years ago It looks vastly different and and now is much more like what most of us are used to.

I still like Cake as it's easy to understand with a little work and super customizable with loads of cool color templates for free. There is even a template editor that lets you design your own templates/colors if you are into that. (I'm not) Of course the midi editing is great but it's a small part of what I usually do.

Quote from GearJocke

I can relate to that. It wouldn't make sens to me either to change DAW. Cubase user since...can't remember. Dead easy to use.

I believe you don't have to have the "latest greatest" as the software is like the puppet master for the hardware doing the A/D/A conversion. I'm sure some can "sound" different. but in reality, shouldn't. I strive to have my playback be exactly what I hear when tracking. If I can do that, I have full control. I'm guessing any workstation software should do that. I'm pretty old school. I understand (and know how to do)most of the complex editing that can be done, but when I record I actually don't use the weird manipulating that much. It is either good or bad. Now if I was recording someone and there was a track they loved but something like the timing was off, I'd dig into fixing it, but for me, I work like I'm on a Studer that rewinds instantly and punches predictably. I'm just happy to not have to cut tape.