Posts by Terence T

Quote from Armin

My advice in cases like this:

1) Play your favorite CD via the same monitor speakers - how does it sound?
2) Play some videos of the guitar and amp combination you love via your speakers - how does it sound?
3) Play some great demo clips of Kemper profiles via your monitor speakers - how does it sound?

If all sounds bad - buy better speakers
If all sounds great - it's your guitar or your Kemper setup/used profiles

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I appreciate the advice, but with respect I've been playing guitar since 1991. Been in studios since around then, started a small home studio in 2004. I know what good speakers sound like.

Quote from chrismilne

You never mentioned (that i saw) whether you've tried load boxes, micing a tube amp etc that you are comparing this to...why not buy the Torpedo for $200 or so used and compare it...can easily resell if you decide the Kemper is better.

Yeah, true.

Quote from Booyah

Try adding a bit of Clarity from the amp section or dropping the gain when you switch from single coil to humbucker. You’re driving the amp harder with the Paul than you are with the Strat causing more distortion I believe.

Pick ups on one of my starts is hot, the other strat is a bit weaker. The LP is in between the two.

Quote from silhouette

I've just been trying the Britt Mars J800 1 5 2. It actually sounds fine to me - not my kind of thing but perfectly playable.

Perhaps a new set of questions is needed. How are you monitoring these sounds? Are you using good quality studio monitors with a studio quality sound card? You probably haven't given us enough information about your system for us to be of much help.

I have to say that I don't like a lot of the profiles out there. To my ears many of them are over-bright and too edgy for my purposes. It has taken me a while to create a library of sounds that suit me.

I did mention I'm using an RME Fireface in all fairness. Using Swan monitors, will be upgrading later in year possibly. Headphones, Sennheiser HD25. Going into Reaper.

I could post a clip when I get the chance, but I'm not sure what anyone can suggest. I've been through all the functions on the Kemper I can find, plus taken on board the kind suggestions here. There's nothing moire to really try, though I'll keep going with it for a while.

I'm back at the same point I was with POD HD, endless tweaking with no real satisfying results. It could be that the Kemper quite simply isn't for me.

Thanks for the suggestions all, I've tried everything mentioned here.

Its still not working out unfortunately, and for a street price of £1450 I expected it to work out. The Torpedo Captor is going for £200, I can get a mike and build an isolation cab for my amp at about that price also.

I'll keep trying with the Kemper for a little while longer, but I'll probably sell it.

Quote from silhouette

Better still what about a profile we could try?

I use the M. Briit Mars J800 1 5 2 profile a fair bit, part of the free M Britt pack. Nice results with my strats, sounds like mush with my Les Paul. (Recorded)

I'll post a sample when I get the chance...

Thanks for all the replies.

I didn't get a Kemper thinking it was going to replace my tube amp, I got it because of its reputation as a good piece of gear and I can't mike my amp at home. I don't really care if its tube or digital, if it sounds good that's good for me. I have a humble Marshall JCM 2000 combo, I was happy practicing with a POD HD for a couple of years. And I didn't expect my small home setup to sound as good as a remastered commercial release, that would be unrealistic. So my needs are relatively modest.

Fact is, many people at home or making and posting some good results with their Les Pauls and Kempers. Do I need a preamp? Change of interface? I'm using an RME Fireface UC, that's a good bit of gear.

Is there something obvious in mixing I'm missing? I pan left or right, and then EQ. Can't see anymore to it than that, but I'm a player not an engineer.

This is what I'd class as a good Les Paul tone, recorded with a Kemper. I'm not getting anything close to this. I dont mean the exact tone, but the quality.

Plenty of other examples on youtube of Les Paul players getting good gain tones. I'm trying to find out what they are doing.

Quote from waraba

It might be something with the whole dynamic , dist vs clean sense, pure cab ...

but remember heavy drive or dist will squash your signal to a very compressed signal, killing lots of dynamics in the process.

I would lower the gain and concentrate on your dynamics vs compression until you're satisfied. But yes you'll escape from the metal world to lower gain music, and you're sure getting some maturity, that's the price.

That's why I love older marshall for gainy tones ( plexis & JCM 800) , with proper natural double tracking you can't miss a killer tone on a great Lester & a KPA.

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I'm using JCM 800 profiles mostly.

To clarify a few points, the results I'm getting with my strat are ok. The problem is mainly when recording rhythm with my Les Paul. I'm not managing to record my picking/muting, it sounds a mess.

Quote from Gizmo

I remember being in the same place as you when I first got mine in 2012.
i was a bit of an amp snob and never used anything else live.

I messed with clean and distortion sense for what seems an eternity, tried all my guitars and several different FRFR cabs.

Finally i realized something, I bought the KPA instead of the AxeFx because I didn't WANT to tweak and I wanted to get away from all the tube amp choices I seemed to be continually making. I settled on one (or two at the most ) CS/DS settings for the 4 guitars I used in a show, got myself a good FRFR, bought some MBritt profiles (un-tweaked except for fx) and suddenly everything was good in my world.....(actually it wasn't THAT suddenly, took me over a year before I had the courage to go live with the KPA)

For the last 5 years, I haven't used a tube amp live if I had the choice. It wasn't so much that the KPA sounded BETTER to me than my amps, it was a "complete package" thing and I am now hooked.

(Oh...edit: I never had as many positive comments about my sound as I've had since using the KPA)

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I use mine mostly for recording, my problem is with recording distorted tones with my Les Paul.

I have a fresh set on, monitors are at a good volume. I use headphones also.

Yeah, I've played around with the cabs, PureCab, checked the settings which are at SPDIF, Reaper using the Kemper as clock source.

So after some initial success with a new Kemper, I've reached a complete wall.

I handed over the cash for a Kemper to solve a 10 year old problem I've had recording distorted guitar. All VST's and modelers sound absolutely terrible to my ears. Good for clean, total joke for distortion.

I've now reached a similar place with my Kemper; it sounds better than the above but through my Les Paul in particular, it's not sounding great. Not sure if its something simple I've overlooked, I've tried both SPDIF and Line in on my RME Fireface, swapped around the position of the EQ on the Kemper. I have both purchased and free profiles from Topjimi and M Britt.
Pretty much back at the same place I was at with POD HD, tweaking for hours and not getting much music done.

Had a love hate relationship with this unit since I got it, would really like to be at the same place many are with it.

Any tips greatly appreciated.

When you hardly notice when your girlfriend packs up and walks out the door, then you're really addicted

'What babe? Yeah sure, I'll be there in a minute...'

So got a chance to check the 800 profiles from Mix Berlin.

Seems what these guys is doing is giving a 'neutral,' profile for you to tweak to your tastes. TopJimi seems to have been profiled at a sweet spot, and I don't adjust these profiles in anyway. That saves me a lot of time, I'm a player not a tweaker.

Comparing the Marshalls of both profiles side by side, they have advantages and disadvantages over the other, but for me TopJimi sits in the mix a bit better. MixBerlin has good response to technique though. Tried out with one of my Strats, will check the Les Paul later.

The free Vox profile by MixBerlin is great, best free profile I've found so far and I'm glad I gave MixBerlin some money.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I've tried out the free MBritt profiles, and they don't really do it for me but neither did the free TopJimi. I'm getting some ok results from the paid TopJimi's as I said, and it would be worth checking the paid MBritt. Studio Mix Berlin may be worth a try also, though IMO he's post processing in his examples. His free Vox AC30 is interesting.

Keep your favorite Marshall suggestions coming in...

I'm a Marshall/Les Paul addict, am constantly trying to re create that sound with my Kemper. I've had some good results with a couple of Top Jimi profiles, but am looking out for others that may be even better.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the replies all.

Its been a few weeks of experimentation, but Im starting to get some good results. Not full satisfaction with distortion yet, but enough progress to justify that the Kemper is working out.

First thing I did was to purchase some new profiles, TopJimi's Caswell Marshall and Marshall Jubilee packs. The Caswell with my Les Paul is the best digital distortion sound I've ever had. The Jubilee I use purely for the cleans so far, as I love the Marshall clean tone and this is hitting the spot.

I also did some research as to what EQ to use and downloaded a trial of FabFilter Pro Q 2 EQ. I've been using Nomad Factory plugins for over 10 years now, and its time to explore other plugins.

Also, I'm using the Kempers reverb and delay a lot more.

The results of the above have pretty much opened up the Kemper as a recording tool. Problems I had with my old POD HD is that I had no idea where to go with it, whereas with the Kemper I see directions and possibilities if that makes sense.

Still much to work out, but I'm happy to say that for the first time in my 12 years of home recording I'm starting to feel like Im no longer restricted by my gear. Almost afraid to say that, as I've tried everything that I could minus miking a stack, which is impossible where I live.

Recording at SPDIF 88.2, cant see any great advantage to it. Just habit really, my PC is effortlessly handling 8 tracks.

Next problem is recording bass guitar, I'm getting better results with Amplitube Ampeg so am continuing to use that. I feel the Kemper has a lot to offer when recording bass guitar, perhaps its a case of finding the right profile...

Im using the Caswell Marshall and Marshall Silver Jubilee clean by Top Jimi. The ones preloaded on the Kemper I found just ok. If it weren't for the Top Jimi profiles I might not have stuck with the Kemper.

They sound great for practice, but just ok when recording. Better than the POD HD I upgraded from, but when I compare with say this

Many of the people recording the clips claim no eg, no compression etc. But there's clearly something they're doing to make it sound better....

So Im struggling a bit with getting the results others are getting, when recording my Kemper.

Comparing with the youtube Kemper guitar heroes who claim to not be using any EQ, compression or mastering is probably not a good comparison, but if I do compare the results Im getting with what people are posting, I'm not getting the best out of my gear. There's a big secret out there, and Im not sure what it is!

I'm using an RME Fireface into Reaper, recording a Les Paul and American Strat. I EQ with Nomad Factory plug ins.

Any tips, much appreciated.