Posts by HappyPicker

No, I think my Kemper Profiler clean sense just isn't working properly. Apparently it has never worked since the profiler was new. It's OK.

Everything still sounds good. I just have to live with the fact that turning up the gain will also turn up the volume. No problem I can just turn the volume down. I am not sure the clean sense really impacts any part of the tone that the Kemper produces.

I have multiple guitars with multiple pickups. They all respond the same way to clean sense, basically the clean sense doesn't compensate volume enough to balance out the loudness with high and low gain settings.

i.e. Staying on the same clean rig, and setting the gain at 1 the volume is much lower than setting the gain at 5 on the same rig. It doesn't matter if my clean sense is on 0 or on 12. Only thing that happens is the low gain volume goes up slightly. Higher gain volume also goes up slightly. So over all the low gain volume can never be balanced with the high gain volume.

Quote from hjscheffler

The purpose of the clean sens parameter is to optimise the way the Profiler reacts to your specific guitar when you play clean rigs.
If it was the same value for every guitar it wouldnt exist.

Yes, I realize that. But I was asking if people who have watched the input tutorial video thought that the response they heard from clean sense was anything close to what they hear from their own guitar.

I have several guitars and for me, my clean sense control cannot balance the loudness of a low gain setting to a higher gain setting on any of the guitars. This is because the clean sense does not increase the loudness enough. Even with clean sense on it's highest setting, if I play at a gain level of 0 it is still much quieter than when I play at a gain level of 5.

My conclusion is that my clean sense is ineffective and doesn't work as well as shown in the tutorial. It has never worked correctly and that is why I was always confused by the instructions to balance the clean low gain loudness with the high gain loudness. This did not make sense to me because I could never balance any gain setting. For me the more I turn up the gain the louder the amp gets.

So I guess my Kemper Amp is broken unless there is some other control that effects the amount of range that the clean sense control provides.

I just played the input video for the first time since I bought my Kemper Profiler several years ago.

Doing so I realized that my clean sense isn't working. It works a little but no where near the degree that it does in the video. When I have my gain at 0 and turn clean sense all the way up and play. It still doesn't sound as loud as the when the gain is turned up to 50 percent. In the video, the loudness actually goes down when the clean sense is set that high and gain is turned up.

In other words, whether I have my gain set low or my gain set high clean sense makes very little difference to loudness. If I have gain set at 0, and clean sense is turned all the way down it is only slightly quieter than if clean sense is turned all the way up.

My Kemper has always been that way since it was new. Does anyone have a clue what could be going on? Is my Kemper just broken? Everything else seems to work fine. Do others Kemper Amps perform the way that it does in the tutorial video or is it dependent on the guitar used?

I'm confused.

Quote from viabcroce

Quote from HappyPicker: “That approach would never work for me.

My sound level at lower gain is always lower than my sound level at max gain no matter what the clean sense is set for. ”

Then it appears your Distorted Sens is set too high for your…

No, not at all. No matter what profile I choose and no matter what clean sense setting or distorted sense setting I choose. If I play with my gain set near zero then the output sound is very quiet, if I turn the gain up, then the output sound is loud. There is no way I could ever balance the sound with the gain set at 0 to a gain at 10, no matter what clean sense or distorted sense I have set. At first I thought maybe it was a guitar pickup problem but it is the same with all 5 guitars that I use.

Like I said, I don't really care if the clean sense is set "properly" or not. My input signal strength is good and I am not so high that I am clipping and my profiles sound good. I also know what everyone has said including Mr. Kemper but I don't find it to be correct because the gain control does effect the perceived output volume. The higher the gain the higher the volume.

That approach would never work for me.

My sound level at lower gain is always lower than my sound level at max gain no matter what the clean sense is set for. On my KPA, the higher the gain setting the louder the output. Clean sense adjusts this a little but still will never allow low gain and high gain to sound level.

I finally gave up trying to balance the output level and just set the clean sense to where I though the clean signal sounded good.

Strange. You should be able to install.

Check your security settings. In the preferences window, select "Security & Privacy".
Click the lock and enter your password to allow changes.
Under the "Allow Apps downloaded from the" section, select "Mac App Store and Identified developers"

Other than a corrupt .pkg file, I can't think of any other reason for the failure.

Quote from viabcroce

Hey HP, are you saying that your Profiler always boots up loading the same rig? What if you leave it on a different profile, pr if you switch Autoload off?

Sorry, I didn't post sooner.

I de-graded the OS to 2.4 and then re-applied the 2.5 update.

This fixed everything. Apparently I had a corrupted OS installed.

Ever since upgrading, my KPA boots with about 5 seconds of crackle, pop, and snap. Like a dirty contact when plugging in a guitar.

But it happens every time I turn on the KPA even without a guitar plugged in, I currently am using a Dirty Shirley profile.

Also the noise is identical every time I start up. Almost like it is a recorded sound being played every time I boot.

Is this related to the problem?

What is so problematic with 10.7? I converted all my software and equipment years ago, it really wasn't a problem.

Yosemite 10.10 is less than a month away, why would Kemper be expect to support 10.6?

That's like asking for Widows 2000 drivers for Windows 8 apps.

Only Macs served here!

So are you saying that if you were going to try to achieve a nice crunch sound where gentle strumming was clean and harder strumming was slightly distorted, you would prefer to set the clean sense low and use a compression pedal to elevate the overall RMS volume. Rather than set clean sense high with no compression pedal to achieve a similar sound.

In your opinion would a higher clean sense setting over emphasize the pick attack in this type of scenario? Whereas a lower clean sense with a compressor would raise the overall level without over emphasizing the pick attack?

Quote from nightlight

It has to do with the way distortion works: as you add gain, you'll notice changes in frequencies, particularly with respect to bass, which becomes more pronounced the higher the gain is. For the same reason, you'll often find that a clean sound is usually perceived as louder than a distorted.

I lack a detailed explanation, but it's something like this: the lower the frequency, the higher the level must be to achieve the same perceived volume.

I agree with you but it seems like you are saying the opposite of Viabcroce as he was saying that the Vavg (or perceived volume) of a clean sound was LOWER than distorted sound therefore I was over compensating by setting clean sense too high. While you are saying that the clean sound usually is perceived HIGHER than a distorted sound due to the loss of higher frequencies and the bass boost in the gained amp.

So which is it? Also when setting clean sense should one be balancing the Vpeak or Vavg of clean vs distorted? If Viabcroce is correct then it sounds like he is suggesting that Vpeak be balanced where as I am balancing Vavg.

Not sure if it makes much difference in the long run, just so long as the user is happy with the sound is all that matters but it would be interesting to hear what C Kemper has to say.

"I believe the key to read this is Peak value Vs. Average value. It's like in the commercials on the radio, it seems that volume goes up but it usually doesn't, it's just more compressed. A clean tone has got a very strong attack, stronger than a more compressed sound; but it decayes very quickly..."

Possibly but I prefer the feel and sound of the KPA using the method I suggested to use the clean sense to balance the volume. If I turn the clean sense down it seems as if adding gain boosts the volume way too much.
I don't really see a clean attack as being any different than a gained attack. Why would one be more compressed than the other just because of the gain setting on the amp. I would think compression would only matter if there was a compression stomp or boost in the signal chain.

Also when I balance the clean and gained, I am only applying a small amount of gain. Level 0 to Level 4 on the gain control is not like I am going from clean to totally distorted. More like clean to clean with a slight break .

I am sure using a meter would be more accurate but usually if I have the volume set at a low bedroom level and I listen carefully between volume at o gain and volume at 5 gain, I can tell when they balance. Too low and it is difficult to hear, Too high is noticeable as well. When balanced they both sound like they are at the same level.

Yes, it lights red if I strum hard. Most of the time it is green playing solo but if I hit multiple strings and pick aggressively it turns red.
I am sure that input is fine. It just takes a lot to balance clean with gained response.

Quote from DukeOURL

so it's set to +12 to get an even balance between full gain or 50% gain and zero (0) gain?? +12 would really crank the clean sound in my profiles..very surprising!

That's the best way I know to balance the clean sense. I find a nice profile like one of the Amp factories a JCM 800 profiled at moderate gain. Then I make sure that there are no effects, compression, or boost in the signal chain.

I set my gain to 0 and gently strum the guitar. Next I set the gain at 4 or 5 where there is a slight distortion, and gently strum again. I use the clean sense to adjust the sound so that the volume with gain at 0 balances the volume with the gain at 5.

In most cases the volume with gain at 0 just balances the volume with gain a 5 when I have clean sense maxed out at 12.

My input led stays green most of the time except when I strum multiple strings hard then I can hit the red but it doesn't sound clipped. My output sometimes hits orange and red with higher gain settings but doesn't sound off.

It does surprise me that others suggest such low clean sense settings.

Quote from Deny

I'd guess you have either a faulty cable or a faulty input jack in your KPA.

No, there is nothing faulty. I have several cables and the instruments all sound the same through them. I also doubt that the input jack is faulty, as cables fit tight, no loose connection, and the input doesn't fluctuate, and no noise issue.

All of my guitars are custom shop models made in America and the pickups are vintage humbuckers or vintage single coils.

I have 2 Strats, 1 tele, and a Les Paul.

For all of my guitars, I have to have the clean sense maxed out at 12 in order to balance gain at 0 and gain at 5. It will finally balance at a clean sense of 12 but I am surprised that so many report having clean sense set negative.

I haven't tried it yet because it won't be out until next month but I am planning on buying the new Zoom TAC-2 thunderbolt audio interface.

So far it has been getting rave reviews and it looks really nice. Slightly cheaper than the Apogee Duet. I use a new MacBook Pro with the retina display. It is wonderful, The display is stunning, the audio is outstanding. I could not be happier.

One thing that really annoys me about the Kemper is the lack of a really good delay.

No matter what I try, I can't get the Tap delay to sound great.

Always there is the initial pick noise that seems to reverberate more than the actual picked note. So on a delay where the feedback is up a little I hear (pa-note,pa..,pa..,pa..,pa..,pa..) over and over rather than (pa-note, ..note, ..ote, ..te, ..e).

Does anyone know how to set the delay so that the initial pick burst is eliminated or diminished a lot after the first repeat while the note reverberations are not diminished as much over time?

Hard to explain but very annoying in the Tap delay. I find that using a larger band width helps some but still doesn't quite get it enough.