Posts by professortweed

+1 for Wagener's 1975 Beethoven recordings.

Now, I'm just waiting to hear when Steve Albini starts using the toaster.

This is from a Sound on Sound article on Steve Albini from 2005.

Electric Guitars

<img src="http://media.soundonsound.com/images/pcsBullet.gif" align="absmiddle" />Favourite microphones: Coles 4038, Royer 44/77, Neumann U67, Lomo 1909, Josephson E22p, various other condenser microphones.

<img src="http://media.soundonsound.com/images/pcsBullet.gif" align="absmiddle" />Favourite preamps: Ampex 351, John Hardy M2, Neve 3115, B002, Massenburg 8400.

"Normally I'll have two microphones on each
cabinet, a dark mic and a bright mic, say a ribbon microphone and a
condenser, or two different condensers with different characters. The
idea is that you can adjust the balance until it sounds pretty much the
way it does in the playing room. I point them straight to the middle of
the speaker cone, the same distance away from the speakers, about 10 to
12 inches. If it's a loud amplifier you don't want the microphone too
close. If it's a clean, round sound, or a very bright sound, then I
might use a vocal microphone.

"For very distorted but very bright guitars I'll
use a brighter mic preamp like the Ampex, but for heavier sounds or
sounds with a very important bass content, I'll use the John Hardy, a
Neve, or the Massenburg. I don't normally process the guitar while
recording. If it doesn't sound right, I'll fix it by swapping or moving
microphones, and then it goes straight to tape. I'll talk to the guitar
player and ask him whether he's happy with the way his guitar sounds. If
he's happy then I don't want to touch it. When I'm working on 16 tracks
I'll submix the two guitar microphones before going to tape. With
24-track, I try to leave them separate."

Armin, Andy and Tills should be able to give you some good tips. My tip is to use a single mic and play around with the position until you get a good sound, then profile with that position. There's a lot of voodoo out there about techniques and multiple mics, but this worked well for me when I went to recording studios. I tended to pull the mic back about six inches and then played around with the angle.

If you're looking to get another mic a ribbon would be good. I would recommend a Beyer M160. Really looking forward to hearing some of the profiles of those great amps. Particularly looking forward to the 69 Showman.

M. Wagener states. "The secret is in getting a great profile and there are a bunch of things
to be paid attention to, like the actual return level, the level going
into the Kemper, refining the profile the correct way etc. If done
right, I can not tell the profile from the original, if NOT done right,
there will be a noticeable difference."

It would be great if he could give us a bit more detail about what he has learned about the profiling process. Curious about 'the level going into the Kemper' as I didn't think this was controllable from the Kemper.

This is what I've noticed too as per my post 3 Sept.

Refined profile sounds different when stored

Has anybody else noticed this? I do the profile and it's never spot
on so I refine and I get the sound so it's very close to the reference
amp (although I've never managed 100%). I then mute the reference amp so
all I can hear is the new profile in my cans. yes, sounding good. I
then store and instantly the sound changes. Volume goes down, sound
thins out and gets a bit harsh and gritty. I have tried system reset but
this still happens.

I've just tried playing KPA in profile mode and yes I can hear a difference in the sound - for the better in my view.

http://www.xound.com/specials/…kemper-profiling-amp.html

See thread on this forum Peter Weihe KPA Review in June/July.

Yes Gizmo, the profiles were different in that each reflected what was coming into the KPA through the mike. I tried this yesterday on a little vibro champ set on 4. With no attenuation between KPA and amp the resulting profile had gain at about 5 and definition about 3. With pot attenuation, and the sound reflecting how it would be if I were going direct into amp from my guitar, the resulting profile had gain about 2.7 and definition 5.3. A few months ago there was a very long review in German about the KPA. I read a translation and the guy was also banging on about how the sound into the amp via KPA is different from that when you go in with just your guitar.

It looks as though I may not need to be selling my Kemper after all, but I now know what to do if I do sell.

I tried and could not reduce direct volume during profiling.

I, too, dislike the headphones out. I use Beyer Dynamic 770s and now plug them into my soundcard instead and sound is fine.

This is one thing I do not like about the Kemper. It's not just the risk of blowing a speaker, it's that the amp will sound different with the hotter level going into it than it would with guitar going direct into it. My solution has been to use a little passive attenuator called 'The Pot' which allows you to dial down the volume and the tone in the same way as you do with your volume and tone pots on the guitar. I set it to about two thirds volume attenuation and one third tone reduction and that gives me the same sound as I get with my guitar going direct into the amp. The profiling signals are still loud but my speaker hasn't blown after numerous profiling sessions.

Let's add the motorboating sound of an old valve amp with worn out capacitors. Or a microphonic tube simulator.

Yes, I'll drop them a PM.

Because of this on Andy's website, and similar on Armin's.

You are paying for the rights of using these profiles for yourself only,
you are strictly forbidden from sharing them or making them available
online for free or for resale.

Before I sell my KPA, I'd like to get clarification as to what the position is with profiles when I sell the unit.

Vet bills, alas.

I am about to put by Kemper up for sale. I have got quite a few commercial profiles from Andy and Armin on it. Should I delete those when I transfer it to the purchaser?

Bought your bundle 2 today.

I think your tweed profiles are great. These are the vintage sounds I've been wanting to get with the Kemper but haven't come across so far, apart from Andy's 62 bassman. I've had a lot of difficulty profiling my own tweed deluxe but you're right on top of it with your 52 Deluxe profiles. I've also had fun combining the amp parts of my deluxe profiles with the cabinet part of your tweeds and got things to sound pretty much like my own deluxe. Well done. Your original 57 pack was good, but these are something else.

By the way how far back are you setting up your mic and what mic are you using?

PS The vox also sounds pretty damn good.

Has anybody else noticed this? I do the profile and it's never spot on so I refine and I get the sound so it's very close to the reference amp (although I've never managed 100%). I then mute the reference amp so all I can hear is the new profile in my cans. yes, sounding good. I then store and instantly the sound changes. Volume goes down, sound thins out and gets a bit harsh and gritty. I have tried system reset but this still happens.

catalinbread formula number 5 would be nice.

I've now tried the Bassman and Tupelo profiles. These are great.