Posts by okstrat

I don't mind it. If I'm reading through and I see someone has a question I can answer easily, it's fine by me. There are a lot of things that I didn't know at first about my Kemper that are buried in the manual. I just don't like it when someone asks a question and has an attitude or gets angry because nobody answered them within a few minutes.

Thanks guys! Yeah, guitars are certainly on the horizon. Baby steps first though!

Before anyone asks, I'm still doing the profiling thing and will be adding new profiles soon. Here's what I've been up to last few months though:

I bought a CNC Machine. Been learning how to run it, made a ton of sawdust, built a bunch of stuff. What's wood got to do with Kempers?

Well, I've built and will be building pedals that either plug into the Remote or directly into the kemper. Ok, big deal... but these are made of exotic woods... and have the same profile and switch spacing as the remote. So you can put one on the end of your remote and it's like the remote is just longer. Hope that makes sense... I used a few footswitches before that weren't sized the same, and they worked ok, but it was weird with the drop off. This is a lot better. And hey, exotic woods and handmade? What's really awesome with the remote is you can set something like the 'X' slot on/off on the footswitch, and it's always there to be changed. You don't have to program each patch/performance like on the remote. Or use one of these to change patches up and down with two switches, and then one for boost and one for tap tempo. There's a lot you can do with any footswitch like this and the Kemper.

They aren't cheap. A CNC isn't something you just throw a piece of wood at and finished stuff flies out the back. There's a lot of finessing parts for proper fitment and sanding and oiling and gluing and etc. Hardest part was making it sturdy enough for use but still keep the awesome wood vibe. Since wood patterns are always different, each pedal will be unique and different. I like the thought of something all natural like wood and hand crafted alongside super tech like the Kemper.

Also building guitar parts out of rare woods too. Just a few PRS parts and humbuckers for now, but it's going to ramp up also.

If you find this remotely interesting - website is here: http://okwoodwizard.weebly.com
and facebook page is here: http://facebook.com/okwoodwizard

Don't mean to spam the board, just thought some folks might find this cool.

Pete

[Blocked Image: https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/t31.0-8/q83/s720x720/11700922_933825913359499_300729372854140443_o.jpg]

Quote from lasvideo

Gotta say Quantum on the Axe FX sounds so good to me, I am getting rid of my Kemper. In addition, the foot controller and editor really add the professional control and reliability I want.

Beside, I prefer to Buy "Made in the USA" ; )

Can totally understand that. I believe their footswitch though is made in China though. And while software and possibly some assembly is in the USA, I would wager a LOT of the internals aren't. We like what we like, but it's such a global economy nowadays that you're going to be hard pressed to find anything 'Made in USA' entirely.

Quote from jasonsmith

Does anyone use an Uninterruptible Power Supply with their Kemper?

Yup, I do. Bought one from NewEgg, because some of the venues my bands play have craptacular power or we play outdoor festivals where power is supplied by generators.

This is what I bought:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/…0G-_-42-101-343-_-Product

My main purpose in having it was to avoid the small 'power flickers' that reset the Kemper and then you're down for a minute or so while it reboots. I'm not worried about playing on by myself - just keep things going when the lights flicker and protect my gear from any weirdness when we use generators for power. I also plug my Line6 wireless in there too. Half of the outlets are battery backup, all are surge protected. I run a fan off the surge protected but not battery backup outlet.

I would recommend a unit like this for all users, especially if you gig.

Pete

Use code 16anniversary for 16% off rest of the month. All profiles from Tone matches below to rare Diezels, Bogners, Vintage amps, etc.

Here's a clip I did awhile back, one of my Brown Sound tone match profiles... from 2013, so I figure some folks probably have never heard it here:

And some later VH - from OU812. This one was done in 2014. All effects on this clip are in the profile! This is from one of my later tone match sets.

Said it before and I'll say it again: Generally you can't hear 'specs'. I could give a crap what the Kemper's specs are - because I'm able to compare the amp I'm profiling with the Kemper real time, A/B. Instantly.

They can't do that. I don't see how they can say an Axe FX model is more accurate.

Quote from mightypudge

Hey, today is my 16th wedding anniversary. Pretty neat. Thanks for the coupon code, sir.

Congrats on the anniversary! It's great when you find The One.

Quote from Nikos

Am I the only one who is "very sceptical" about the "direct profies";I have the impression(dont know if this is indeed the "problem") that the KPA has not the nescessary DSP power to really separate the preamp/amp/cabinet in a 100% needfull way.I am convinced that "studio profiles" are still the best way to go allthough I have no doubt that the KPA2 some day will allow better separation.

@okstrat

What kind of cables do you use to bridge the long distances from the control room to the recording room;I just ask because I spent some years ago 2000 euros for Sommer-Cables and their Plug-Mama/Pegasus/Spirit etc cables..imo this is very important to do if you want a "good result" and you amp is 10 meters away from the cabinet.

Your speaker cable is important and would need to be good quality, but since it's active/powered it's not as important IMHO as a long guitar cable - I don't think you get as affected by capacitance from cable length in a cable that's carrying an active signal vs a passive one. The guy from Trainwreck amps used to make his own speaker cables out of lamp cord / extension cable wire! By the way, the guys who use the speaker cables that are the same size as a garden hose or are so big the jacks look tiny usually have stock wiring inside the speaker cab - which is usually much smaller than you'd think. Not only that, but the wiring inside your amp from your speaker output jacks is typically fairly narrow too and it goes directly to a transformer on tube amps.

Here's what I do, hopefully it gives you an idea or two.

I mic a cabinet up in my Live Room. Run a long speaker cable from it to my control room, where the amp is. I tend to hook up at least 4 mics on a cab at a time, and I listen to them through my monitors (KRK VXT6s).

I'll mess with mic placement until I get what I'm looking for and also phase correct them. But the big thing I do is I have my amp in the control room and the cab in another room. Why? Because what I hear off my monitors is what I'm sending the Kemper. I think it's kinda backwards if you're leaving your amp head in the room, tweaking it, coming back into your control room, and having to go back and forth. Just dial in the amp from the control room and have your monitors cranked through your recording/profiling board/setup so it drowns out the leakage from the cranked amp.

I know a lot of people don't have the luxury of two rooms, but it makes it much easier to get a tone that you're looking for if you don't have the profiled cab blaring in the same room you're trying to profile from. in my opinion, other than mic placement and gain staging, this is the most important thing for good profiles. If you can't hear what you're doing / sending to the Kemper, you're really shooting in the dark. Sure you might get some good profiles but it's going to be more of a luck thing than a planned one.

Oh, and take plenty of breaks. Your ears get fried pretty quick especially if you use loud volumes. And if you are going to use your profiles live through a certain type of powered monitor, use that to monitor your Kemper output and dial your amp in for that.

And if you are going to sell the amp you are profiling, profile the hell out of it - different mics, cabs, settings, etc. Make more profiles than you think you'll need because then you'll be covered later. Nothing worse than profiling and selling an amp and then deciding later you didn't get all the profiles you wanted out of it. Don't ask me how I know this.

Pete

Have you tried both types of expression pedal settings in the Kemper? May also need to swap the polarity of the cable. I had to do this on some Line 6 pedals I had. I don't know what the output jack(s) on the Moog pedal are, on a Ernie Ball volume pedal you have to plug in two 1/4" mono 1/4" plugs and terminates into a stereo 1/4" plug. If you are using a cable like that just swap the two 1/4" mono plugs.

Maybe not life changing, but would you believe colors are brighter, sounds are louder and food tastes better with my profiles? Ok... would you believe I'm having a sale at least?

I met my wife this month - 16years ago - and figured it was as good a reason as any to run a sale. For the rest of October, coupon code 16anniversary on checkout gets you 16% off.

This is good for all my stuff - Platinum profiles made with a vintage Tube RCA preamp from Les Paul's studio (yes, that guy) - which includes profiles created to emulate the sound of vintage Supro, Valco, real tweed and blackface fenders, '70 and '72 Marshalls etc. Or if you're a more modern guitarist, VHT Ultralead and matching cab profiles, or a Diezel VH4 built for Slayer and matching Diezel Cab, Friedman, Cameron and Wilder modded Marshalls and more! A veritable treasure trove of amplification nirvana from your tone pal.

Just think of the savings when she and I have known each other for 99 years! Oh, and it goes without saying, but all amp names here and on my website are trademarked and copyright their original owners. I'm using the names only for comparative purposes only - my profiles are not endorsed by any of the amp companies listed there or here. I was just lucky enough to have those amps and my Kemper in the same room and... electrons moved, the earth shook, stuff happened.

Pete
(who in a week or two is going to have a pretty cool announcement)

<p>

Quote from oozish

Can someone recommend these to me or some other profiles from Pete? I have the vh4 and they're really good. I'm interested to know if he's using FW 3.0 online &nbsp;any of his recent profiles I haven't heard much from him lately

</p>

<p>Totally using FW 3.0 on newer profiles, all profile sellers were warned by Kemper to hold off until it was released in a non-beta version. I started my profile empire in 2013 long before FW 3 was a twinkle in anyone's eye.</p>

<p>Here's the FW 3.0 profiles I have currently, with more to come. If you use a regular setup with a full range cab or monitor you won't get a whole lot of benefit, it's mainly going to make a difference when you run a guitar cab or swap a lot of speakers within the Kemper, but that's just my opinion.</p>

<p>http://petesprofiles.weebly.com/1965-vox-ac30.html</p>

<p>http://petesprofiles.weebly.co…r-shiva-6l6-profiles.html</p>

<p>http://petesprofiles.weebly.co…dded-jcm800-marshall.html</p>

<p>http://petesprofiles.weebly.co…artist-4203-profiles.html</p>

<p>http://petesprofiles.weebly.com/vht-ultralead.html</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Pete</p>

<p>Hey guys! Sorry I just saw this.. been working on some top secret projects at the Tone Shack, and right now I'm waiting for Kemper to repair and return my Powerhead back to me. (no big deal, the battery is goofy and I don't want to void my warranty - so off it goes for a probably 10 minute operation. Oh well.) All profiles from this point on are going to get the direct out content tested with a powerhead and a variety of Cabs. Yes, I could have done the same with a seperate poweramp and my old Kemper but you know, at least with the powerhead it's more likely I'll be using the same gear someone else will.</p>

<p>Regarding the Mesa Quad profiles - these were made back in 2013, before merged profiles. I was one of the first to create profiles that were taken from the line out, and I did an entire set with the Quad since it was a preamp. Unless I'm doing a tone match, my methodology is to capture/archive the tones of an amp. I did that well enough with the Quad that I no longer needed it so I sold it since I had the profiles. You can always add your own cabs or cabs taken from a 3.0 merged profile and use them with the Quad.</p>

<p>And BTW I appreciate the kind words in the thread, new content is coming soon that will knock your profiled socks off. :D</p>

<p>Pete</p>

I'm fortunate enough to own a bunch of really good tube amps and cabs. And my use of the profiler has been to make profiles of those amps for myself and others. So what I'm mentioning here is from that frame of reference.

The Kemper sounds like the amp you're miking up. Period. There are a few exceptions here and there, but most of the amps I and others profile, it nails. I've had several guitarists over here bring their favorite amp, and we've hooked up their amp in my live room, miked it up, set up the Kemper and they can't tell the difference between their amp and the profile. That tells me that while we may get new firmware updates with effects and goodies here and there (where the hell is my delay available in any fx slot!) the core tone of our Kemper is already there. Yes, there have been slight improvements to the profiling but nothing that would invalidate what you did in the past. One of my bands has another guitarist, he uses a Kemper also. His favorite profile for live use is one of my Bogner XTCs that I profiled in 2013.

I know it's easy to be swayed by hype on any side, but if you're a Kemper user that bought one and uses profiles you didn't create, realize that what you're hearing on profiles is what that amp sounded like when it was profiled. Yes, some profiles sound better to us than others, and some amps are perceived as better than others by us... but it's very accurate to the original source. Being able to compare instantly the profile and the source/target amp is Kemper's greatest strength. Why listen to hype when you can just see for yourself?

I read the thread about Quantum or whatever the latest FW update for AxeFX is - more power to them! I can understand how some of our users can be a little snarky towards Cliff, he's taken potshots at the Kemper for years. Everything from some grand conspiracy against him to the processing power to frequency range, etc. Plus hearing them go on after every firmware - THIS is the firmware that is a game changer. ... until the next game changer.

Use what you like, whether it's Kemper, Fractal, Line6, whatever. My opinion: the Kemper got it right the first time and all of these other products affect me as much as an ant fart on a windy day.

Pete

Quote from ampjunkie

This is one reason why you see so many touring pros use equipment that isn't always boutique. If it breaks, there isn't the support they need. When I looked at the CLR, it looked great on paper and the reviews, but the support network wasn't there if things went wrong. EV or Yamaha on the other hand, have extensive support -- especially in countries that are not the USA. The EV ELX112P's for example are pretty good for the money and have great support.

Or they use stuff that if it breaks, they can find easily on the road. Lots of guys use Boss pedals not because they are the best, but they work and you can find them anywhere. I use a cheap Alto for my powered monitor, over 3 years and not a problem, but if I did have one I'd just drive to the nearest Guitar Center and get another one.

A few I've done that are available on my website and not listed, as far as I can tell...

Pete

VHT Ultralead
VHT 100CL
( I know Freyette is listed but my amps said VHT on em!)
Mark Cameron modded Marshall JMP
Wilder modded Marshall JCM800
Friedman Kitchen Sink modded Marshall
Bogner XTC 20th Anniversary 6L6
Marshall Artist
Wizard Modern Classic
Mesa Mark III Coliseum (different amp than a III)
Supro Thunderbolt
Valco Oahu
Ceriatone EL34 Trainwreck
Ceriatone EL84 Trainwreck
(saw a listing for Ceriatone Trainwreck but the above are two different amps)

Quote from gtrgriff3

Thanks Pete... I am isolated from the cab, it's 2 rooms away and there's no bleed.

I've been experimenting with the 57, TULG12, Cascade Fathead II, a U47 clone and a couple other mics I have floating around.

I do generally start with a 57 because that's what I know the sound of... and I monitor back through an atomic CLR, QSC K10, Presonus studio monitors and my IEMs (Shure 535) so I'm hearing well what's going on.

I'm actually starting to think that room/placement of the amp is what is tripping me up so I'm going to play with some acoustic baffling and changing the environment around the cab.

Display More

If you close mic, room doesn't mean much if anything. When I first received my Kemper, I went into several different rooms to find the best sounding one in my house. There was very little difference between rooms - I even tried a bathroom that was very echoey because of tiled floor and walls, my garage, my live room where I track my bands, and even a hallway. no real difference if close miked.

It's your mic placement. Try just running the SM57 and the Kemper only, don't mess with other mics yet. Get something good with that first, then slowly branch out. And don't use a preamp, it's not going to make much of a difference on a 57 unless it varies the impedance. Right now, keep it as simple as you can. If you can get a miked sound off your cab that you like, then you can get a good profile with the Kemper.

Pete

Couple of things that might help... and I've been saying the same thing for over three years here:

Start with ONE mic. SM57 because they are cheap and we know how they sound.
Get a good cab and a good amp. You probably know this, but it bears repeating.
Put your cab in another room, preferably one that is isolated so you can crank it without too much bleed. This way when you profile your amp, you're hearing the sound of the mics without your live amp bleeding over it. Sure you can profile in the same room, but it's a hell of a lot harder because you don't really know what you're getting until after the fact.
If you have the mic in another room, then you can move it around until it sounds good. A great starting point for one mic is straight at the speaker, about 1/2" or so from the edge of the dust cap, at least on a V30. Move it more to the center for more treble, toward the edge for less. Closer for more thump/low end, further back for less.
also, monitor your kemper and the mic with whatever you are going to be using it through. I do my commercial stuff with KRK VXT6s because I know how they sound. If I'm doing stuff specifically for ME, I'll monitor with an Alto which is what I use live. I know the Alto doesn't reproduce as well as the KRKs, but it works well for me if I want to do some profiles that are just for my live use.

If you're not in a different room than the cabinet you are miking, you are really making it hard on yourself.

Pete

Quote from mwinter77

That's odd that even with the nob on the back of the KPR set to what you desire it continues to revert As I said before, I had the same (similar) issue with mine but setting the control on the back of the KPR mid way solved it for me. Hopefully the Kemper team can figure this out for you. Have you submitted a ticket to support regarding this issue?

Yup I did that right after the post above. None of the control settings would stay - put the remote at middle, went back to messed up, put it at middle and also the kemper setting at middle, etc. I'm still amazed I found something that apparently is as rare as it is. I did QA testing in two different jobs for software companies, nothing frustrates me more than when feature 'X' is added and it breaks something that to the untrained eye, isn't related.