Why does it sound sharp and harsh

    Years ago, at a sound check, I tried using a Marshall Silver Jubilee amp with the speaker cabinet aimed at me like a monitor cabinet. I left the amps knobs set just like I normally used them, so my sound in the PA would be consistent with the sound that was usually sent to the mains. All the warmth, creaminess, space was completely gone. All I heard was dry, harsh, and bright. And, that was WITHOUT adding a microphone, or profiling into the equation. Aim one of your amps at your head - you will experience the same thing.


    You can use ST or LP rigs with either guitar, if you like the sound you get. Most of my guitars provide both single coil and humbucker sounds, and I don't necessarily switch Rigs when I switch pickups.

    How much does a cab color the sound of the profile when profiling. If I change to a Marshall 1960 cab in a profile where the original was profiled with an Orange cab, is it going to sound like a mix of the two? I would like to keep things as basic as possible, basically only use setups in the Kemper that would be possible and realistic for me in real life if I ever want to re-create the sound.

    Quote from danniee

    How much does a cab color the sound of the profile when profiling. If I change to a Marshall 1960 cab in a profile where the original was profiled with an Orange cab, is it going to sound like a mix of the two? I would like to keep things as basic as possible, basically only use setups in the Kemper that would be possible and realistic for me in real life if I ever want to re-create the sound.


    A LOT of the characteristics of an amp is baked into its cab, the cab it was originally profiled with.
    So the answer is: A LOT.

    Try using the Wah Low Pass in the effects Mod place with these settings:


    Manual- 7 through 8
    Peak- 0 through 2
    Mix- 100%
    Everything else- Zero


    This really helps at taking away that harshness you're hearing, it does for me anyway.

    Playing around with different cab profiles is yet another way to get your sound the way you want it. I spent days trying to find the perfect Mesa Triple Rec for my guitar and my ears, ended up changing the cab profile and got one I loved. Smarter folks than me state I'm losing alot of the original amps tone doing this but heck if I didn't like it to begin with....


    There's some really cool advice on dialing out harshness in this post that even I'm going to try and I've had my Kemper for over a year. My wife would love to get her blankets back!! lol

    Quote from VirulentVitality

    Try using the Wah Low Pass in the effects Mod place with these settings:


    Manual- 7 through 8
    Peak- 0 through 2
    Mix- 100%
    Everything else- Zero


    This really helps at taking away that harshness you're hearing, it does for me anyway.


    this is one of the most effective things you can do to get rid of unwanted high frequencies. Though you have to really experiment with the manual parameter, cause it really depends on the particular profile you use and your guitar. For example if I set it to 7 I know it'd sound way to dull with my setup, but that's just me. And also if you found or almost found the sweetspot using the mix parameter also helps.


    by the way switching cabs is a great way to achieve new great sounds. I can totally understand that you prefer to ask a few things first but don't be afraid to experiment

    Quote from MS

    Sometimes the profiles do sound harsh but as someone mentioned you have to find that sweet spot. Even with real amps the same problem persists.

    Yes, thank you. It wasn't just my imagination. I do think they sound a bit harsh, at least a lot of them. I do realize that a recorded amp will sound harsher as compared to just playing it live "for real". So maybe what we get is the harsh reality. Never the less, I do see that there can be a big variety between different profiles with basically the same amp and setup. Some will sound warmer and some will sound VERY cold, brittle and harsh.

    What are your clean sense settings, danniee? And what are you monitoring on? If you're using headphones, have you turned up Headphone Space?


    I get a lot of tones out of my Kemper into Dynaudio BM5a monitors, and while some sound better and others worse, they don't sound brittle, harsh and cold. In fact, that was the first thing I noticed after getting my Kemper, so warm and organic sounding.

    First of all: the KPA doesn't "sound" at all, it's like a sampling-machine and depends on the profiles you use.


    If the profiled amp sounds "harsh", the profiles will sound the same. You also need a good monitor situation to forge an opinion. That means: good studio-monitors in a room with a good acoustic (both as linear as possible), otherwise what you hear could be far away from the original KPA-profiles.


    Just one bad example: if you play a KPA in a standard living room using cheap computer-speakers, a dicussion about the "sound" or the KPA-profiles would make no sense at all. Try to get as close as possible to a studio control-room acoustic, the KPA reproduces the recording chain of guitar-amps used in studios, amp, cabs and mikes included.

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    first name: Guenter / family name: Haas / www.guenterhaas.de

    What Guenter wrote. Also, it's not "a recorded amp" which sounds harsh, it's that there are ways to record an amp which make ot sound harsh.
    As I wrote already, a mic placed 1 inch from the grill will most probably capture a lot of harsh freqs unless you specifically want to avoid this and operate accordingly.

    Quote from viabcroce

    What Guenter wrote. Also, it's not "a recorded amp" which sounds harsh, it's that there are ways to record an amp which make ot sound harsh.
    As I wrote already, a mic placed 1 inch from the grill will most probably capture a lot of harsh freqs unless you specifically want to avoid this and operate accordingly.


    This! It is solely microphones and their positioning in respect to a loudspeaker that are responsible for 'harsh', 'warmth', 'oomph' and other sound descriptive attributes.
    Nothing else.

    I don't think it has anything to do with my monitoring. I've been doing music for 20 years so I'm not a newbie. It sounds the same no matter if I listen through my PC speakers or expensive headphones, through my DAW or direct through the Kemper. I can compare to other recordings I've made and other referenses so I think I have enough experience and reference to decide that I do think it often sounds more harsh than I expected. But like I said, maybe it is because I'm not used to dealing with real guitar rigs and the recording of them as I've only used VST guitars previously. So, and as I mentioned in my last post, maybe this is the harsh reality. I also think it usually only sounds harsh and cold when playing single notes, or a solo rather than mean playing chords.


    nightlight: what is clean sense setting?


    I do notice that when recording and playing through Cubase I have to lower the master volume a lot on the Kemper, otherwise I will experience clipping in Cubase. Is this normalt? All profiles seem to have much higher volume than what Cubase allows.

    I think your problem has something to do with clipping, as indicated in your latest post. Are either your input or output LEDs flashing red from time to time?


    Under the input section, there's a setting called "clean sense". This is used to trim or boost the level of clean profiles vis-a-vis distorted profiles. Setting it at the right level is important for getting the optimum use out of your profiler. If you have no idea what this is and haven't set it, I suggest your read the manual and some of the other discussions about this very important parameter and then make adjustments on your Kemper.


    Cannot stress enough. This is the main reason why a lot of people have difficulty getting into the Kemper, because if you do not set it right, chances are high you will have a sub-optimal experience.

    I don't think the problem is clipping. I lower the volume to have enough headroom. I was just wondering why I had to lower the volume for every single profile when hooked to Cubase and playing through Cubase. I guess it is Cubase that's sensitive? But as I said, I lower enough to not have any clipping and still have the same problem. I know what clipping is and how it works and it has nothing to do with the problem of the profiles sounding harsh.


    I will look into the "clean sense" setting. I guess I expected the Kemper to work as it should right out of the box. I never touched any clean sense setting that I know if. But you're telling me I need to tweak the Kemper before it will work optimal and that this could be the problem to why the profiles sound harsh?


    It would be interesting to compare a recording of my own amp just to see if it sounds harsh too. I think I will try that. Then I will have more experience on what a real recorded amp sounds like as compared to just jamming live.

    ...I just looked into the clean sense setting by pressing "input". Everything is set to 0dB. When I change the parameters, I don't hear or see any difference when playing a profile. I read the manual but I don't really see what I would have to do or why.