Posts by grappagreen

    Finally - Any distortion at all, no matter how small on the output of the Kemper should be avoided at all costs. Make sure that master LED never goes anything other than green, you can push up the volume in your DAW or on the desk or with your poweramp. You will find the playability of the Kemper vastly improved even if there's just the tiniest smidge of clipping going on it's amazing how much this affects the tone and feel because it happens all in the transients, with a real amp the transient can be many times louder than the body of the note, allow that to clip and it sounds unnatural in a way you can't quite put your finger on, what's worse it feels unnatural too.


    I hope my exploration helps some people!

    Thanks Per - didn't mean to cause you bags of work but seems like what you found is interesting and worthy of some further thought/experimentation.


    I'm going to dedicate some time this weekend to try and understand a little better. I wonder if this is a contributor to why I constantly feel a difference in dynamics between my 'real' amps and the KPA. Don't flame me all 'cause I'm a lover not a fighter!


    Si

    Interesting post this and something we've all come up against at some point.


    I eventually got to the point where I did the following;


    1. Deleted all profiles from my KPA
    2. Did some research and found the best free profiles I could find based on my desired amps/tone(s)
    3. Road tested the profiles and picked my Gold Standard for each
    4. Deleted the stuff that didn't make it!


    Now when I grab some new profiles (I just can't help it!) I find the ones that could be the new 'Gold Standard' and copy to the KPA. If anything proves to be better than what I have then it becomes the standard and the old profile deleted. If I buy a pack that doesn't make it then I can live with it and I'm happy to support the people who invest their time in doing this.


    I know this seems a little 'tough' but I just had to do it as KPA profile testing was robbing me of my life! It's fair to say that I still have to suppress the urge as I know that a killer profile could still be out there hiding from me and this is what makes it difficult to break the habit. With so many profiles however it could be a life's work...just look at RE!


    I never thought that having an unlimited amp collection would be a bad thing but I've changed my mind tbh. I'm glad I'm not rich as having access to anything you could ever want in the world must ultimately be such a downer.


    The great irony for me is that since I bought the Kemper I've never used a valve amp live again but I've purchased more 'real' valve amps than at any point in my life. At some point this year I intend to profile the tones I love most from these, call them my own, and if they are good enough delete everything else. Then what I have is truly what I really want..


    Regards,


    Si

    Here's my workflow with setting up sens settings in case it's of any use for anyone -


    I find the best way to set sensitivity is to go with a clean profile then slightly raise the gain on it till you can hear it on transients, the distortion tends to amplify clipping effects so you can really hear the point at which you dial it out completely. Also when you raise a clean profiles distortion it doesn't sound like a normal amp, it's more like you're mixing between a digitally clipped fuzz distortion channel and your clean signal channel, this makes it easy to detect where things are going wrong. Once you have the clean sens set raising the distortion or lowering it on a dirty rig should sound much more natural.


    Per,


    Can you clarify this for me a little if you don't mind as I'm a little confused and I'd like to experiment. Are you suggesting to start with a clean sound and then adjust the clean sensitivity upwards (add gain) until you hear the transient break up and then back off slightly to set the clean sense level for a specific guitar/pickup? Sorry if I am being dumb!


    Si

    I had one and gave it away. Just didn't seem to work for me but I was coming from a 2x12 Bogner V30 cab for the first time to FRFR.


    I eventually settled on a Xitone with a coaxial driver and was happy with that.


    Regards,


    Simon

    Sorry if my comment came across as flippant - didn't mean it in that way at all :)


    I started with a 150w SS power amp before I bought my powered cab which is 300w. Tbh I felt that the 150w was a bit close to the edge but it was early days and I hadn't got gain staging optimal.


    Hope that helps.


    Simon