Posts by KPmole

The deluxe reverb is a difficult amp to profile accurately, in my opinion.

Yes, I use varying mic distance.

It depends on the amp. I don't think Tweed amps sounds particularly good unless the mic is a few inches off the grill. I usually profile Marshalls on and off grill for two different sound variations. I just ordered the DI, so I will start creating merged profiles soon.

What distorted amp were you recording before you tried modelers/VSTs/Kemper?

FWIW, all the modelers, VSTs, etc sound terrible to my ears as well. Also, most of the profiles that come with the Kemper also sound terrible until you disable all of the effects. I've had the best luck profiling my own amps.

What kind of a distorted guitar tone (name a player or record) are you trying to achieve?

+1 on everything drog said. Recorded guitar sounds different than sitting in front of an amp. We did a recording session at my house a few years back and our other guitarist was freaked out because his amp sounded "really dry" when played back through the monitors before effects were added. He explained that sounded different in the room. I had to explain that the reason for close-mic'ing an amp was to reduce bleed from room acoustics and other instruments...and told him to put his ear up to the speaker grill and see how much room reflection he could hear!

+1 Bump!

I've been happy with my Kemper so far....and honestly, I mostly (nearly exclusively) play profiles of my own amps. It's just more convenient to fire up the Kemper at 1am; and I can't really crank a Marshall half stack or turn up a Deluxe Reverb to a reasonable volume during those hours. There are a dizzying number of options, but the reality is that I just play a few profiles and stick to one or two (or outboard pedals) effects.

Hmmm....I was finally able to listen to your clips, and through my semi-decent headphones and laptop DA converter, they sound almost exactly the same.

If you like higher gain, by all means use it though! We all have different opinions and ears.

I've never plugged a mic directly in my Kemper. I've always ran a mic to a preamp, then into the Kemper.

Does the Kemper input have phantom power? I guess it's crazy that I never even assumed that going directly in was a possibility. I just always made the assumption that a quality mic and preamp was an essential component of the profile sound.

Using plugins to profile seems pointless. Make the profile, then when recording, use the plugins to enhance the sound.

I think you're oversimplifying it. If turning up or turning down the gain was all it took to get a great tone we'd all sound fantastic all of the time.

The problem with high gain is that it tends to smooth everything out and subtlety and grit is lost. Raw, slightly cleaner sounds can sound much heavier and organic. If you want smooth infinite sustain with no character, play a synth!

Another issue can be the mix. If you want huge powerful guitars, don't bury them in reverb or delay. Dry is usually better. The vocals shouldn't be too loud either....if they're lower in the mix it makes it sound like the guitar is really cranking.

Lastly, it helps to have great profiles and amps.

I didn't listen to your examples (I'll check them out later on a PC... They don't play back on my phone) but I don't think either priest example is that great of a sound. I prefer the earlier, lower gain, and more raw sounds for the reasons I listed above.

I have a Roger Mayer wah that I could contribute. Not to be confused with the $$$$ vision wah, this is a Roger Mayer retrofit wah from the late 80s when he'd use a crybaby enclosure and replace the electronics with his own board.

If you already have the RM wah, let me know (I tried to browse the 19 pages for info but was difficult to navigate). Also, I'd like any info anyone has on how the settings relate to wah hardware. For example, I have the standard wah potentiometer in my RM wah right now (linear taper, I "think" 10k) but it (or any other crybaby wah I've owned) sounds the best (in my opinion) with an audio taper pot due to the wah effect being quick and controllable within a limited range of travel. I'd like to understand better how I can make tweaks to design my own dream wah.

I think Kemper should promote the page. I mean it's really great advertising. Imagine all those people that see it and don't know about the Kemper. The first thing I'd do out of curiosity, is to look up some videos so I could hear how terrible it is...of course, only to discover that it sounds fantastic.

I've got a very impressive collection of tube amps. In my opinion, Kemper is the first solid state amp (or simulation of a tube amp) that is good enough to replace them in most situations. Let the haters hate!

I think the key take-away, is that you should profile your Marshall on '10'. I agree with the observation that you can turn down the gain to clean it up, and it's relatively accurate, whereas if you boost the gain too much above the gain setting you profiled the amplifier at, you can get mixed results.

When I create my profiles, I usually do one or two at mid or low volume (for a cleaner tone) then one at max volume for the amps that I like to occasionally run that way (Marshall or Tweed Fenders).

An interesting thing happened the other day when I profiled my Deluxe Reverb. I profiled it at a volume of 3 (mostly clean with just a slight bit of distortion) and then created another profile at volume 6. When I played with the volume on 6, I started hearing a strange distortion when I would play extremely loud or really dig into my picking. It was more prominent on the lower notes. When I investigated, it seemed to be an issue with my speaker; I think my speaker is blown or starting to go bad. On loud very dynamic playing with the amp volume up around 6, the beginning of the notes would have a weird buzz that would disappear as the note died out or not be there when you played softer. I assumed this would result in a very horrible sounding profile, but being curious, and since I already was set up to make the profile, I profiled the amp in that configuration with the speaker buzz. Guess what? I got a profile of the amp with speaker buzz. It might not be 100% accurate, but it's shockingly close! You can't hear the speaker buzz when playing quietly or with a guitar that has lower gain pickups, but when I play a higher gain guitar and strum hard I get the ugly speaker buzz that my amp has. When the note dies, it cleans up, and if I hit the notes softly the buzz isn't there. Honestly, it's a pretty cool profile...I'm probably going to replace the speaker in my DR though. Back to my original take-away...the Kemper seems to be accurate to the highest amp volume that you profiled at...or at least that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

My entire approach toward digital recording, is that once it's 'In the box' it stays there until it's played back on someone's personal audio player, computer, or home stereo.

Once my guitar is converted to digital it stays digital (via SPDIF) until playback of the final mix.

I'd like to post some A/B/C clips, but I'm:

A.Lazy
B. In need of a Soundcloud account
C. Trying to figure out the best way to divide the clips while putting them in one sound file.

I did a lot of knob tweaking and comparison between the 6G15, Kemper, and Boss FRV-1, and the results were very interesting. From an average guitarist's perspective...any one of those reverbs set to a reasonable mix level would be more than adequate for a live performance or recording. From a Surf guitartist's perspective (when you play with the mix cranked up and the reverb is a key component of your overall sound)...only one or two would be suitable for recording, but any of the three would be fine in most live club situations. -If only you could kick the Kemper to get the spring crash!!!!

Quote from MistaGuitah

Now, having spoke on behalf of a few choice profiles, I find that most profiles seem to be guys just dialing in amp the way they like rather than finding an optimal combination of settings, volume, etc that makes it easier to personalize for people who use the profiles. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I've been doing a lot of profiling lately. I've read how guys do it, descriptions of how the commercial profilers make theirs, youtube videos, etc. It seems to me that if you take a usable, base sound into consideration, it takes 5-6 profile attempts before getting a profile that works really well. It's so much easier to just dial in a sound I like because that only takes one take. It's much harder to create profiles that are more workable.

Hmmm...Isn't the main selling feature of the amp being able to instantly create amp sounds that are dialed in the way you like?

Different players have different approaches, like different sounds, use different gear...we're all different. Honestly, I think most of the profiles that shipped with my Kemper, as well as a lot of the effects included are total garbage. That being said, when I make a profile of my amps it sounds great to my ears because that's the sound that "I" like. I'm old school in that I play vintage amps in a vintage way. I'll use a pedal or two for effects (never profiled with the amp) and as far as the amp settings, they're pretty much the same regardless of what guitar I use. I use guitar selection to tweak my tone more than I use the tone or volume controls on the amps. If I need trebly twang, I'll grab a Tele...chunky overdrive, play a Les Paul.

Personally, I think a profile should consist of an amp sound that is as close as possible to the tone of the actual amp without effects or added processing.

Then there's the signal chain! Assuming you're not making a direct profile, you're really not just profiling the amp. You're profiling the mic, mic placement, and mic preamp as well. Despite the popularity, a close-mic'd amp with an SM57 and a generic pre wouldn't be my top choice for a great profile. The overall tone of your base sound can be affected more by mic placement than an adjustment of the amp's tone controls (on a vintage tube amp with passive tone circuit).

What speakers are in the cabinet? If they're vintage 30s, it should be safe. If they're Celestion greenbacks and your amp is 50 watts, they should also be fine. If your amp is a 100 watt Marshall and the speakers are greenbacks, I'd be concerned....but even then, they should hold together long enough for profiling.

The speaker distortion is an important part of the profile, in my opinion.

I installed the update and played around with it a little bit. I've got to say, I'm impressed!

I believe that with proper tweaking it will sound very convincing. One thing I noticed was that it sounded more full range than my tank. I think if I can reduce some of the bass on the reverb tails it would add more space and air to the overall sound and sit better behind the guitar. I didn't notice much of a change when changing the spectrum or damping settings, but I'll experiment more this weekend.

As sambrox mentioned, with some adjustments it can sound like the tank, or amp reverb.

Do you have a 6G15 Fender tank sambrox? -or are you comparing to a Fender amp w/ built in reverb (like a DR, SR, Vibroverb, etc) because they are different sounds! With a Fender guitar (Strat/JM/Jag/Tele) it can be extremely bright, and the brightness is a key component to getting the drip. It also has much of that "grainy artificial digital tone" that the FRV-1 has (yes, I'm talking about the 100% tube Fender tank) and is a very "in your face" splashy and artificial sounding reverb. Sure, I'd prefer the 6G15 over a FRV-1 (assuming it's ran in parallel so you don't experience the volume drop and slight tone-suck that it has), but the FRV-1 is a great pedal for authentic Surf sounds...which most guitarists aren't seeking and don't prefer over built-in Fender amp reverb or digital reverb.

I'm hoping the Kemper spring reverb will be tweakable so that the 6G15, and amp reverb sounds can be reproduced. I'm definitely looking forward to trying it out this weekend.

Quote from ECma7

I have yet to find a digital recreation of a spring reverb that compares to the real thing....
I've tried

The Boss FRV-1 nails the Fender '63 tank sound. I have the real thing...in a way the FRV-1 is better because it doesn't have the drop in gain that you get by running the external tank in front of the amp...but you can still dial in the drip.

Thanks for the info! Yes, I was just interested in why there was a difference. Honestly, I haven't messed around with the volume on the amp parameters much, but I appreciate the information. I'll experiment more with it in the future.

Hi Antipodes!

I appreciate the feedback (still trying to get the hang of the profiler, and creation of profiles) but I'm confused on your comments.

I've been using the Kemper via SPDIF direct to my interface/DAW, which allows no control over volume from the Kemper...so I'm assuming that 0dB SPDIF out is = 0dB in. When I monitor the peak level meters, my profiles at the loudest peaks read around -6.3dB. I've got a couple of Top Jimi profiles, and they seem to typically peak around -7.8dB. In other words, my profiles appear to be slightly louder, not that that's a good or bad thing.

I'm just wondering if the lack of volume is due to objective perception, as the Tweed amps are very midrangey and lack some bass or treble punch that some of the other higher gain amps might have. Are you going by ears alone A/B'ing with other profiles, or do the levels seem low from the output of your Kemper? Is the amp parameter something that affects the analog output of the Kemper or rig profile, but has no affect on the SPDIF output?

Any feedback is appreciated. Like I said, I'm still learning on how to use the Kemper. I can set levels and record a guitar amp in the studio, but haven't experimented too much with rigs, etc...and I've been using SPDIF out exclusively (other than using the analog out to play though my monitors for practice).

From what I can tell, the levels are near perfect for SPDIF recording (I wouldn't want to have the SPDIF out any louder) but if I could tweak levels better on the Kemper end, I'd like to make the improvements.

Thanks!