An experiment in profiling.

    I was curious about mic positions and I wanted to compare the SM57 to the i5 so I did a bunch of profiles. I thought I’d share the results with anyone who is into this kind of experiment…


    The amp was the Carol Ann Triptik 50.
    The speaker cab was an Avatar Vintage 112 closed back loaded with a Scumback M75 65W 8 Ohm.


    I profiled the amp 5 times with each mic and mic position, here’s basically how the amp was setup for each profile:
    Clean (really edge of breakup)
    Classic, drive-1:00
    Classic, drive-3:00
    Modern drive-1:00
    Modern drive-3:00


    The mic positions were:
    Center
    Dome edge
    Dome edge + 0.6 inches
    Dome edge + 1.2 inches
    Dome edge + 1.8 inches


    I also did these profiles with the mic about 1.5 inches off the grill cloth and about 0.2 inches off the grill cloth.


    The total number of profiles for this experiment was 100, so instead of clogging the Rig Exchange with a bunch of silly experimental profiles I’ve placed them in DropBox so anyone can download them if they want to.


    Since it is kind of a pain to name 100 profiles on the KPA (HINT: WE NEED AN EDITOR), I simply named the profiles #1 though #100 and there is an Excel spreadsheet included that has all the information on what each profile is.


    For anyone who is interested in this kind of experiment, please feel free to download and mess with the profiles, the only thing I ask is please share your thoughts, I haven’t even gone through them myself yet, it took about 4 hours to do this and I need to go spend time with the family now :)


    Anyway, here’s a link to the profiles: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sa9okvad9j4czrr/ssUuSQmy0e


    About that naming 100 profiles on a kemper thing - check out that thread: Editing softweare

    timowens,


    Thanks for sharing these! Can't wait to try 'em out. I'll be more than happy to share my thoughts


    Do you think you could maybe add a zip file containing all the profiles? This would make the download a lot easier for lazy people like me... :)


    All the best,


    - ben



    Good point, I added All Files.zip. Thanks

    Quote from ibanez270

    Thanks , it will take awhile to go through 100 profiles.


    Do you have a fav?


    I really haven't gone through them completely yet. One thing I have noticed is that the i5 is a bit bright so I prefer it in mic position 3 or 4 whereas I prefer the SM57 in mic position 2 or 3. I don't expect anyone to try all 100 profiles, I doubt I will, for example, I'm pretty sure I don't like any of the profiles with mic position 1 or 5 so I've already eliminated a bunch right there.

    So here's my reasoning behind all this. I like to compare the different profiles to learn how each mic sounds in each position. As DonPeterson pointed out, there are basically 5 different amp settings profiled multiple times, Clean, Lead-1, Lead-2, Lead-3 and Lead-4. I really like the Lead-2 settings on the amp so I setup my Ground Control Pro as follows, Test-1 is midi 1, Test-2 is midi 2, Test-3 is midi 3 and Test-4 is midi 4. Then I decide on 4 profiles that I want to compare and I set the midi #'s to 1,2,3 and 4 on the profiles, now I can switch between all four profiles by simply hitting a foot switch on the GCP. The KPA makes this easy, it only takes a few seconds to change the midi #'s on the profiles so I can quickly arrange 4 different profiles to compare to each other.

    Quote from trebie

    Tim, thanks for your systematic approach and work!
    Using the provided information I tagged your profiles with the KIPR Tag Editor. Here are all 100 tagged profiles as zip file. Maybe you could put them somewhere more appropriate. The csv file used for batch editing is included as well.


    Wow, thanks for doing that! I added your zip file to the same DropBox folder, it is named "triptik_experiment (Tags by trebie).zip". I'll have to check out that KIPR Tag Editor.

    Your profiles deserve proper tags! In fact all published profiles deserve proper tags. Without meaningful tags the source and content of profiles is easily lost. I was curious myself how well mass tagging works with the batch mode of KIPR Tag Editor. It was still some effort to edit the spreadsheet but nothing compared to knob twisting on the Kemper.


    Some tags in your profiles still contain references to "Soundside.de". Don't know if this is correct. See list of tags below.
    This could easily be changed by modifying the "kipr_tag_editor_output_file.csv" file and running the KIPR Tag Editor batch process again.


    Tag list of "#08 - 2013-07-15 16-23-07.kipr":

    RigNameTag...................."Triptik Experiment #08"
    RigAuthorTag.................."timowens"
    RigCreationDateTag............"2013-07-15 16:23:07"
    RigCommentTag................."mic pos. comparison"
    RigFavouriteTag...............""
    AmpNameTag...................."Triptik Experiment #08"
    AmpAuthorTag.................."Soundside.de"
    AmpCreationDateTag............"2011-09-17 17:32:26"
    AmpCreationTimeTag............"2011-09-17 17:32:26"
    AmpProfilingLocationTag......."SZ"
    AmpSourceTag.................."Carol Ann"
    AmpCommentTag.................""
    AmpCreationArtistTag.........."Soundside.de"
    AmpSourceAmpModelTag.........."Carol Ann Triptik 50"
    AmpSourceAmpChannelTag........"Lead C - drive 1.0"
    AmpPickupTag.................."LP"
    AmpYearTag....................""
    CabinetNameTag................"Avatar Vintage 112 closed back"
    CabinetAuthorTag.............."Soundside.de"
    CabinetCreationDateTag........"2011-09-17 17:32:26"
    CabinetCreationTimeTag........"2011-09-17 17:32:26"
    CabinetProfilingLocationTag..."SZ"
    CabinetModelTag..............."Avatar Vintage 112"
    CabinetMicTypeTag............."Audix i5"
    CabinetCommentTag............."Scumback M75 65W 8 O"
    CabinetMicPositionTag........."Dome Edge+0.6/d 1.5"
    CabinetConfigurationTag......."1x12"
    CabinetSourceTag.............."Avatar Vintage 112"
    CabinetCreationArtistTag......"Soundside.de"

    Hi Tim,


    Thanks for posting these! I played through them all and like all of the clean ones. I could any of those for either recording or playing live with just a slight adjustment of the tone controls on my guitar or on the Kemper. Of the overdriven/distorted profiles I generally preferred the second and third mic positions - Dome Edge / dist 1.5 and Dome Edge+0.6/d 1.5 and generally the Audix over the SM57. My overall favorite distorted profile is #13. It has the sound I like for playing live - a balance of highs and lows with relatively little of the mic character in the sound. For recording I'd probably use a lot of the other profiles as well. Often those with more of the mic character work well in a mix with other guitars.


    I found an easy way to audition large profile packs like this. I set them up as (in this case 20) performances. That took only about 20 minutes to do and all the MIDI numbers are assigned automatically. With the FCB1010 with the UnO4Kemper chip you can then navigate through all 100 of the profiles. Also, it's easy to reorganize the performances so that you can, for example, put all the clean profiles together.


    Brian


    Brian, thanks for the detailed report. I'm starting to lean more towards the Audix i5, at first I found it a touch bright but the more I try it the more I like it. I also have a e609 and e906 but so far I haven't had much luck with them, I might do another set of profiles with one of them for the heck of it. But, I have another special amp arriving today so I might just focus on getting some profiles of it next :)