Posts by professortweed

  • KPA through amp

    I don't have any amps with fx loops and I don't know what level of sound the loop return is designed to accept. If its guitar level you'd be OK. I always have my master volume on full but I don't know whether my monitor output was linked to m/v. I also noted that some user profiles have a much larger volume level than others.

  • KPA through amp

    Tried this today with blackface profiles,no cab, going monitor out into my Custom Vibrolux Reverb. Altered the monitor eq a bit, had monitor volume at -16 to approximate the same level the amp sees when I plug straight in. Worked great. A good Fender amp turned into a great vintage blackface amp. An oddity is that although I set monitor out to 'no cab' the cab volume control was still working, so I turned the cab block off as well.

  • 2nd Kemper, exactly the same direct output problem... SOLVED (rear input make this difference)

    I think this may be a hardware problem. I did this test on my KPA. Guitar into Inst Input on RME UC then into Reaper. Measure signal with PSP Vintage Meter, set Odb to -18. Needle reads between -3 and -5. Repeat but guitar into KPA and then Direct Out into Inst Input on RME UC. Needle is between -2 and -5, so a little hotter signal. This is something I have already noticed and compensate by sensitivity settings and using 'the pot' pedal to reduce level going into an amp from KPA when profiling. However, your volume differences are of an altogether greater order of magnitude.


    PSP Vintage meter is free and very useful for getting correct level going into a DAW. I also tried it with the Kemper Profiles and found that their levels when going into soundcard via Left XLR out , with master volume on full, into RME line input read 0, which is good. A few days later I found their levels were exceeding this. The reason was a corrupt rig which I deleted, following which the levels went back to 0.

  • Pickups, attenuator and cabs

    Yes it works with an attenuator (between your amp and cab). My 'Mr Tom' profile was done this way with the attenuator almost all the way down to get a very quiet sound. I mainly use a bridge pick up so most of my refining is done with that, but I do flip to the other pick ups from time to time. Some have advised to press finish while you are still playing. I have found it useful to do a bit of playing on the lower strings, some quiet playing, some harmonics, as well as just bashing it.

  • Different ways to profile an amp???

    I think you can't hear the reference amp in your KPA cans when you are in Profile mode. Maybe it's possible when you're in refining mode.
    It raises another question. What's the point of selecting an initial KPA profile? Why not just disable stomps, stack, fx (as I think one previous user has suggested) and just set the mic level so that you aren't clipping the return level?

  • Different ways to profile an amp???

    Guitar into KPA.
    Direct out of Kpa into amp.
    Mic the amp.
    Mic goes back into KPA xlr input or into pre amp and into KPA via the TRS input. If you don't want the cab, take line out of the amp into KPA instead, or line out from an attenuator/dummy load. That's your profiling loop.
    Select an existing KPA profile which is similar to your amp.
    Go to profiling.
    Compare volumes of the KPA profile with Reference Amp (the mic'd amp) and make sure that you're not overloading the KPA's input. Input volume is controlled by the return level.
    Start the profiling process. Bring on the aliens and the sounds of the industrial revolution.
    Compare KPA (your new profile) with Reference Amp. If the two don't sound the same (and mine never have) then hit 'Refine' and play along for a while. Comparison has to be done outside the KPA - can't do it through its headphone output. Need to do it through your monitors or their headphone input. Ideally these should be in a different room to the one in which the amp is set up.
    Then press finish and compare again.
    Several goes later - it may be a few minutes of playing, it may be much longer - you will get them the same.
    Now you press store.
    Upload your new profile onto Rig Exchange. You don't have to make it available to everyone. You can now edit it with correct details. It's very tedious doing this on the KPA.


    Do searches on this forum about refining. This is the critical process in getting a good profile (along with good mic'ing technique for getting a good amp sound for Reference amp).

  • Original amp noise VS profile noise.. Here is a real amp test ;-)

    Bruno,


    I've noticed a big difference between my sound going KPA to amp as opposed to going direct from guitar to amp. So, is this what you are saying? 1. get your sound going direct to amp. 2. Set up the profiling loop in KPA. Amp sound will be different. 3. Profile. 4. Refine so that KPA and Reference amp match. 5. Store. Profile should sound like your amp in stage 1, not like your amp in stage 2.

  • Profiling session at Toybox Studios Bristol

    Last Sunday I went to Toybox studios in Bristol to profile my 58 Deluxe and 66 Vibro Champ. I also did some profiles of a Vox AC 30 TB, date unknown. The zip contains profiles of the Deluxe with tone on 7 volume on 2,3,7,9 and 12. I will shortly add zips for the other two amps.


    We recorded the amp in a small stone walled room next to the control room. All amps were mic'd with a U87 about 2" on cap and a M160 about 2" off axis on the cone. Mics went into Neve 1073s and then into the trident mixing desk and then into the KPA.


    The sensitivity settings reflect my attempts to get the sound going through the KPA into the amps the same as the sound going straight into them from my lead.


    I spent a lot of time refining, although not as much as Per recommends. I found that playing softly seemed to help get the cut out lower mids back into the sound. I tended to set the return volume at -18. For the next profile the KPA seemed determined to reset this level to +27 so I had to watch out for that.


    Still not a total sound match. 'Less rich' 'Less open' 'Less big' were the engineer's comments. However, it really helped profiling away from the amp and I think I've got the sound closer to the source than I've managed before.


    One slightly odd thing. After saving a profile, it doesn't sound quite the same as it was when doing the comparison. This is also something I notice when tweaking. It's a cutting out of the fullness of the sound. However, the original sound comes back if I go to tuner, play a bit, and then back to browser. EDIT. I have now gone over to the release version of 1.08 and this no longer happens.


    I've tweaked the cab levels to make sure that the volume is about -8 going into a +4 balanced input on my soundcard, with KPA master volume on full.


    EDIT. The other tweak I've done for my own playing of these is to reduce the pick to between -9 and -1.1, but the uploaded KIPR files have not been thusly edited.



    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16505236/Tweed%20Deluxe.zip


    Here are three vibro champ profiles.
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16505236/Vibro%20Champ.zip


    A vox


    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/165052…0%20-%20Vox%20on%206.kipr