My God, are you comparing Kemper / Axe prices / warranties / features / etc AGAIN?!?
Just ref back to all your older posts, we've seen / heard it all before.
Agreed. I guess it’s inevitable that these types of threads always end up going down this path. It’s a freaking piece of guitar equipment for goodness sakes.
I owned both. Had my Kemper over 6 years. Loved it, but decided I wanted a change, so I bought the III and sold my Kemper. Couple of months in, I am perfectly happy. Maybe I will go back to Kemper some day. Both are amazing.
Is it possible you have something globally locked which is affecting all rigs? Just a thought. I am sure someone will know the answer.
Edit: You may also try making a backup of your rigs and loading a fresh OS onto the Kemper.
Display MoreI think I need to leave this thread before it drives me crazy.
Distorted guitars can sound good on any size speakers (including ear buds or a laptop). Are they going to sound like a 4x12 cranked?.... probably not.
The Kemper is really incredible at reproducing the sound and feel of any amp as played in the studio. That being said, it's also great at outputting studio sound to full range PA monitors for live use. I'm not sure how it would compare to a real amp through guitar speakers unless you were using direct profiles; I've never personally used it that way...but it seems that a requirement for accuracy would be a direct profile that eliminates differences in mics, mic preamps, and speakers.
Good tone is good tone, regardless of the playback. It's completely amateurish and unrealistic to expect the bone shaking crunch or ear piercing transients that you might get when sitting directly in front of a tube amp, after it's gone through a mic, mic preamp, been converted to digital and recorded, converted back to analog, amplified, and played back through speakers of varying sizes and quality.
I've got a room full of tube amps that rivals the showroom at most music stores, and with a good profile I could replace any one of them with the Kemper and get professional results in the recording studio or live. I mean, sheeeeeeeesh, don't even get me started on the frustrations of live sound reproduction in any venue larger than a small club. I don't care what boutique tube amp you have...it can (and likely will) be reduced to sounding like a shrill solid state pile of junk after the talentless soundman puts a misplaced junk mic in front of it and applies EQ and effects to it. The Kemper can at least help by eliminating a few of those variables.
If you're not happy with the Kemper, fair enough! If I was sitting in my bedroom jamming out during business hours, I'd probably pick a "real" amp over the Kemper myself. For any professional application (recording/live/low volume rehearsal) however, the Kemper has multiple advantages, with few if any disadvantages.
Just my opinion....signing out!
Distorted guitars can sound good on any size speaker? Even earbuds or a laptop? Sorry, not my experience at all.
I'm not sure that I can agree with this. I use a pair of Adam A7Xs with a Sub and find that they are up to the task. The thing about creating a tone from a profile for recording is referencing. You really have to listen to how guitars are mixed and more importantly how they are processed. There is no guitar player who has played on any track who just plays through the amp and leaves it there. Compression, eq, double tracking, delay, reverb etc. Sometimes soloing a guitar in a track will be strange because to make it fit in the mix certain areas of tone have to be EQ'ed out. Guitars in a mix do not sound like guitars through amps - they have been polished and honed to suit the music. Big speakers have their own issues as large drivers take a lot more energy to drive and often require more volume (and need a larger room) - which often means that things can sound better than they actually are. Smaller speakers in a small home studio are much better at reproducing the mid-range - which is where the guitar sound lives.
Allow me to clarify. By small, I mean 5 inch monitors or smaller. I have 8 inch monitors and am quite happy.
I never had good results with distorted rigs when playing through small monitors. Even headphones did not get me where I wanted to be. Best of luck, OP, you will get there!
His Pivi 650 profiles are AMAZING.
Have you tried powering down the Kemper and closing out of Rig Manager, power up Kemper, then open Rig Manager?
Have you tried updating via rig manager?
My advice may be totally worthless, but in my experience, if I am unhappy with my setup, having someone else play through it (someone that is a much better player than I am) has reset my thought process. Not saying your playing ability is sub par. I just know the tweaking rabbit hole is reallllly deep.
Tough decision. I just got an Axe III and I am facing a similar delimma.
MBritt are great profiles. I would highly recommend you also try some of the other Commercial profiles. There are many great ones here and I have found that many sellers will send you a free profile or two if you ask them and give them an idea of what you are looking for.
Hello! I am originally from the KC area. Send me some BBQ!!! Welcome!
What profiles have you tried? Any particular amp you are wanting to use for that type of sound? Like others have said, the studio EQ can be used in the X slot - I usually toggle to the end of the settings and set my low cut 80-100 and the highs I usually lower to 7500 or so. Also, you can try lowering the 3500Hz and 5000Hz frequencies. Those are frequencies that I tend to aim at cutting if there is too much fizz- also adjust the Q setting - how wide or narrow you want the cut. Again, try some different cabs in the Kemper. I find the cab can make or break a profile. It can get frustrating after you think you get the sound you are after only to come back to it a day or so later and not like it. I try and save different iterations of the profile so I can go back and tweak them as needed based on the volume I will be playing at, etc.
Part of it may have to do with what you have hooked up to the Kemper. I have mine connected to studio monitors. For my room, I have to lower the highs quite a bit. I also do much of what was mentioned before - also check the definition setting for the amp - lowering that can get rid of some of the bite. I also raise/lower the clarity setting to taste. Last, the cab you have for your rig in the Kemper can make a HUGE difference. Try some different cabs as well. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but soon enough you will find "your" sound. Good luck!
Ok, yeah, these are awesome. Just tried out a few of them. I am particularly impressed with the eq details on these. Only a small amount of tweaks on the high end made these work very well for me. Thanks!
Wow. These sound impressive.
I really enjoy playing guitar and am glad I have such awesome tools available at my disposal to remind me that I need to practice more...a lot more. Just my .02 Cheers!
