TAF - What to do?

Great post Martin! I'm a big fan of Andys work, and like you mentioned I have brought some other commercial sellers profiles and they just weren't for me so I have stuck with Andys as they seem to suit my taste and give me what I want from a profile. Like you mentioned the market is becoming saturated, but new users will still need to know and find what profiles suit them best. My feeling is as soon as the new DI profiling FW is out people will start buying again as I think quite a few are holding back for this. Also there will always be people who take the free stuff and won't purchase anything to support the vender, this is probably why Andy is a bit gutted. What ever direction Andy goes with his profiles I'm sure will still be at his usual high standard and I will continue to support his work.

Thanks Martin!.. but this thread is not needed really.. however, since its here, I guess I'll explain my journey too!..& apply some honesty too!

Each pack I did in the beginning till now, has been done differently, mostly due to customer feedback/surveys and general reading & feedback. so early days of the LP/Strat/Tele etc, just worked out to be non cost effective. and cluttered peoples machines with too many profiles to handle. - stuck between a rock & hard place, but always tried to cater for the majority.. The first few packs were released cold, with no idea how people would react.. it takes a while to gather data. and where I'm at now is the result of that...

In the begining, there was just a few of Us. actually Myself & Armin, but Armin back then had such a small collection against my mamoth collection bundles. - It did not make me better or more ultimate than him, it just made me unique as I had no competition. and so reputation grew from this... then, today there are too many vendors with varying quality.. some that should not even be classed as professional profiling., and some that are far better than myself (mbritt, Wagner) or at least so Ive been told and from reading others views. Then there is the metal crowd, that I tried to fill, but folks like SinMix do a FAR greater job, so Im leaving that to them.. I simply cant compete in a genre that I know little about. - But sure, Ive done a ton of amps, and aare they all amazing.. no. & I admit that for sure, but like anything, it seemed great when I did it!.. but months later, I load up and think.. what was I thinking!!.. its one of those things.. but, despite all that my customer loyalty remain true. and that was amazing really. There is a healthy number of people now doing profiles, and there is still room for new amps, existing amps or amps that have been done time & time again.. there is more ways to skin a cat!!.

People have now got too much choice, and Im partly to blame for that!. but choice over time will evolve still, there is always grass greener on the other side. that's my philosophy now, remember the skin a cat quote..

In fact, Im expanding slightly, and there is a reason for the new CustomShop stuff Ive done.. soon, there will be a TAF-XChange system on my website, where CS owners will get free profiles when they want. (as long as you have a valid download key).. Users can upload a profile from the pack they own) and other owners of that pack can then download it. - I supply profiles to 100's of Pro grade studios that produce hit records on a daily bassis that will also be supporting this, and uploading the profiles from real records produced. (if it was tweeked on Kemper of course) - You will get free DI's, My own selection, My own Production profiles, everything that Ive never shared until now, there will be advice forums, on how to's etc etc.. Im trying to build a inner circle community of Kemper users, and want to see peopel really succeed and get the best out of.. this way I can satisfy most requirements..and maximize on my customer base.. there will be production vidoes, tutorial videos, and even (if we can get it, a studio cam) where you an see and get the profiles in real-time as they are profiled - so, tons planned..will start of slow and build up from there. but its exciting for sure!.

For now. my rant was about a mannor of things, its like if you are asked by 100 people to do something. then you go out your way to do it. - then never hear anything of it again because they lived of the free stuff is sort of bad news to me, and a little bit of a low blow!.
Ive always said.. Im not in this for the money.. as if I was, then I'd frankly sell them a lot more expensive and offer a lot less options to get them..all I ever asked for is the respect at what i do, how I do it, and for what I have to offer!.

Im a very open person, as you can see by this thread. Ive nothing to hide and no fears. a lot of you have seen me grow and a lot of new faces are wondering who the hell I am.. its the nature of the internet. Id; rather reach out and let you all in, than be quiet and fade away!.Ive still a lot to offer...as in time you will see! (dot.. dot.. dot)

So to summerise. Look out for TheAmpFactory on the Horizon!.

Be well
Andy

This sounds awesome Andy!!!, cant wait for it to all come together.

Awesome post Andy!

My thoughts on profiles in general are thus:

Amp/Pack Profiling Approaches:
1) Subtle-Variety
2) Sweet-Spot (Plug-N-Play)

The first was initiated by Armin as EQ/Gain slices so anyone could find their own sweet spot. The latest Custom Amps by Andy do a similar thing but where he picks the EQ/Gain sweet spots and then the subtlety comes from multiple Microphone choices. So this is a Hybrid of 1+2 but only done using ONE amp.

Type of People Seeking Profiles:
1) At home hobbyists (bedroom shredders)
2) Recording Engineers (amateur & pro)
3) Live Performers (gigging folks, amateur & pro)

It seems that the Engineering Pro's out there would seek the "sublte-variety" approach. When recording you benefit from subtly of available choices since you aren't setting the amp or placing the microphone. I think Hobbyists, Performers & Amateur recording engineers, may not be as interested in this. They have less time since it's not their day job and seek more Plug-n-Play sweet-spot profiles. Less choice is more productivity, "let's get ON with it" mentality.

MW and MBritt have done only Sweet-Spot so far and have small offerings compared to TAF and Armin. TAF's offerings are staggeringly large at this point. I think Andy posted he personally had 11,000+ of his OWN profiles! That's twice the Free Exchange! Yikes! Do you EVER sleep Andy?!?

MY favorite all time profiles have come from TAF and MBritt. I love (i.e. bang-for-the-buck) TAF's Pack 6 and Pack 8 and MBritt's Pack 2. I do not see one or the other pack being "better" in terms of tone. Pack 6 can hang with Pack 2 as equals any day of the week in tone-town. (I have many from other packs from both I like, just taking my favorites as examples)

What generally sets TAF & MBritt apart from others is their HIGH degree of usable sweet spot amps. With most commercial profilers for me the "Usable" or "Keep" rate is 5-30% and the Favorites rates is "<2%". With TAF/MBritt my Usable/Keep rate is in the 80/90% and they make up the bulk of my Favorites, TAF being the much larger portion due to the much larger library of 3 years offering.

Even the "new" 2.6 profiling algorithm has not been noticeably "better" as I believe Andy did Pack 6 and 8 with pre-2.6 firmware and they just jump out with liveliness, crunch, touch, presence, etc and are authentic, ball-busting, take-no-prisoners tones with top notch cleans to boot.

So I've tried to parse what IS different between TAF and MBritt and what I've come up with is this feature I call "versatility". Meaning the ability to use a profile on various guitars (LP, Strat, Tele), various speakers (Headphones, FRFR, Guitar Cabinets) and NOT do any tweaking. For example, when I take a Pack 6 Bluesbreaker to my 2x12 Cabinet I have to tweak it's HI and LOW SHIFT parameters on CAB to get it where I want it. It's easy to do, but needs doing to my ears. If I switch to my 1x12, I have to do it again. Whereas with an MBritt CAA or Dumble profile I don't. They just "work" on everything equally well. TAF is superb with Headphones and FRFR w/o tweaking, but I've noticed my Strats (many varieties of single coil) don't like some of the high end distortion (but my Tele does) Yet my Strats have no problem with MBritt distortion. So I call this property "versatility" for lack of a better word.

I attribute this to the fact that MBritt is a touring professional and probably (IDK) has sound engineers as well as his own experience to work as a team to adjust profiles together for the LIVE sound he knows how to get. Wherever this ability comes from, something new in profiling and renders profiles that can handle live cabs with the same ease as their FRFR counterparts. (same ease = still sounds great, not equal in tone)

But, again, the TONE is not better overall than TAF, just usable untweaked on LIVE cabinets. So I'm a big fan of TAF and MBritt. I find while I love MW cleans and some of his distortions easily made my Favorites folder, I'm using TAF and MBritt in my day-to-day usage in about equal measure. When setup, I bounce between TAF's Bluesbreaker and Laney V30 over to MBritt's CAA and Dumble and if you told me they were done by the same profiler I'd believe them!

So, continuing my "what IS different between these guys" I notice that when I seek to recreate authentic commercial tones (EVH, Beano, Led Zeppelin, Rush, etc) I have ONLY been able to do this with TAF profiles. Literally no one else comes close when I do comparisons side-by-side. (i.e. I get all the AC/DC tones tweaked from Commercial and Free Exchange profilers and do an ear test, TAF always wins. It's uncanny) I don't know if this is because the HUGE variety of Andy's offerings mean those actual amps are available and so I can create authentic profiles? Or that his profiling is spot on for those amps rendering me able to cull commercial famous tones with ease? I attribute this ability/quality of Andy's TAF profiles to get authentic re-creatable commercial tones to his extensive Recording Engineering experience as a professional and knowing how to get a sound in the studio for gobs of pro musicians (and i'm sure many no so pro, haha)

So I do NOT agree that MW or MBritt are "better" overall. I think they each have their strength and weaknesses. Certainly the large volume of TAF profiles allows a person to find almost anything they want and carve it into what they need.

If I were to give advice (well, I guess I am) I'd say if Andy figured out what this "versatility" aspect is, namely getting profiles to drop onto Live cabinets w/o tweaking, and if MBritt were to profile famous amps in such as way as to sound like Eric Clapton on the Bluesbreaker album, or Led Zeppelin I, etc they would be impossible to tell apart ever. As it is, they have their niches. MBritt is a worthy new addition to profiling and as far as I can tell, Andy's only equal competitor, but Andy still has the advantage of a huge library of profiles behind him. About Andy's only disadvantage is stateside where the exchange rate between the Pound and Dollar is a whopping 1.75 or so and only diminished when he offers a 40% discount which he does a few times a year.

Now, I'd like to say a word about what I like and don't like, pricing and why.

I don't spend all day recording and I've spent a LOT of money on profiles. My current count is in the neighborhood of $1100 and that's probably an undercount. Some of this was being curious, some need, some to have something to talk about on the forum (hey, its MY hobby, right?) So what I'm looking for as a hobbyist at-home recorder for my own squawking is Sweet-Spot Plug-n-Play ready-to-go profiles. Either for learning while emulating commercial tracks, finding inspiration, writing music, or recording that music. I don't have the time, money nor frankly the ear for sublte-variety slices of profiles that in the end amount to 4 choices of gain. I expect to pay about $5-10 dollars an 'amp' in a pack and so if I get a pack that is 120 profiles but 3 amps I'm not going to use but 12 profiles and don't want to spend $100 of it. I'd easily drop $30 on that example. If that makes sense.

That said, this "sharing" idea under the Custom Amp section is VERY intriguing. Will keep my ears posted on how this develops!

@db9091 - Excellent post. I couldn't have verbalized my thoughts any better. The only thing I would add is that the $600 Kemper Remote is taking funds away from me buying profiles for the next several months. I would attribute the drop in profiles being purchased to Christmas and the funds needed for the Remote.

Duh, why didn't I think of that, haha! Yes. And a good time is TAX time in February for Americans. Many who expect returns will have money to splurge. Andy, think about doing a Presidents Day sale in February for the Tax folks. But some are lazy and will wait till March/April so they'd have to catch you at Easter. And thanks alwainwright!

Great post DB, thank-you for your input. - and yes the Tax translation hurts us both!. in time it will sort itself out!.. (I hope) and your right.. Mbrit is a live player, he knows what worsk in FOH/Live Cab route and he works with that daily. - I come from a recording background, and this is why you are able to dial in tones from your records, because well that's what I do..(and where my expertise lays)

Martin, yes I get you, but you see if I did 70 profiles instead of the 100, then I'd be loosing faith with the people that really need those extra ones.. (remember I work for lots of other studios), so mufti micing is the Key here.. and one thing I have also learned, there is a sweetspot for me, and one for you.. hence why i do a variety of them now too.. I'd love to just throw a few per mic up, and maybe I will to see how it flies.. afterall I gotta test the water some more yet!...and hey, if its not enough, then the advantage of CS users, is that they will get a heap load more later anyway!... thankyou. I might do that with the current EvilRobot!.

Regardong Videos... Sex sells....My face wont!! nor will my playing..I can hold my own.. but Im not a class player!.. however.. Eventually, when all my evil plans are in place, Im thinking to do Daily Profile Noodle!.. just quick, dirty and nakid.. (not me but the profiles) - and I have a buddy who is great with editing. he will sort all the others "proper" videos... all this will happen, its finding the time to get them done!.. but rest assured, I will do what I can to make it happen, as I feel very strongly on the whole "Lets do videos thing". - and if you noticed I now added a video section to mywebsite for this purpose too..

I'll chime in a bit.

I'm one of the people who demoed the Marshall custom shop, and I must admit that it did nothing for me, to be perfectly honest. i DID buy the custom Vox bundle, however, and along the same lines I must admit I was pretty disappointed by it. I have one of your "regular" vox topboost packs, and that one is awesome. I purchased the custom pack because the many-mics-mix-and-match approach really appealed to me. But sadly, I found the custom pack a bit dark and dull. FOR MY TASTES. And I am sure part of this is I have bad taste - plenty of people seem to like the pack

In conclusion: For me personally, the latest packs just haven't hit my aural tastebuds right. I LOVE the approach, but simply found the tones to be not my cup of tea. I might get smarter in the future, I might not.

Now, trying hard to push down my considerable ego and looking at this with myself out of the equation.... I would guess that part of the reason could be that you released "so many" packs in so little time. These are kind of big purchases, and people need some time to get hungry again. After a great big meal you can always squeeze down an expresso or a creme brulee (oh man, can I ever!), but a huge steak - maybe not so much.

If I were you, I'd keep doing the smaller packs in between the big custom ones - and I would space out the custom ones, maybe a month between. I would also consider offering a discounted subset of the custom ones - like your usual single packs - to whet the appetite of prospective buyers. It works in many businesses - we always get the feeling that we are missing that last something, right . I know I am presenting this like a devious business man, but it's really just marketing like so much else. On the more consumer-beneficial side, it could give people a more accurate taste of the custom shop packs without having to shell out the big cash before testing (and there might be something more interesting in a purchased pack than the selection of the free demo).

Just some thoughts from here.

Just my two cents. Many of the factors (saturation, clutter) have been mentioned before. I'm a hobbyist and while I'm always curious, all I really want is maybe 10-20 great tones. The interface of all digital solutions, including the Kemper, still sucks compared to a real amp, and I find it a hassle to go through too many profiles. Even auditioning too many at the same time feels like a chore. I also like the idea of being creative with what you have (like most of our old heros), and getting to know it intimately, rather than being like the kid that gets a new toy every day and has an according attention span.

Then there's also the cost. While profiles are dirt cheap compared to buying the real amp, it adds up quickly. When I bought my Kemper, I figured something like 200 dollars is what I'm willing to spend on profiles. For my needs (see above), even that is plenty.

Had some computer problems, so I'll continue here.

So the above was just descriptive of me. What could Andy do to get more of my money? What gets me excited is the idea of exceptional vintage amps, the real gems among them. Or iconic amps like David Gilmour's. I already have what I need, but the CS format for amps like that makes sense to me. Even then at some point I'd get saturated but no doubt I'd stretch my budget for that. Now where's Santana's Abraxas era Fender? Are its whereabouts even known?

Lastly, take what you read on forums and what people email you with a grain of salt. Lots of GAS talking on forums, but when it comes to opening their wallets...

Hey Andy,
I am a guy on the fence about purchasing. Why? Well I don't want a ton of profiles, instead I am trying to seek out the few best amp profiles for my needs. Most times in the packs I hear one or two sounds that peak my interest, but not all of them. It might help to somehow separate the different amps in the audio clips, so the customer has a better idea of which amp is being heard. You could even do this just with an audio cue i.e. " this is a bluesbreaker sample".

I really like the idea of the singles and custom shop profiles, since they are more focused on one amp. That marshall custom shop is one I am most likely going to purchase. I would love a fender custom shop (vintage 57 deluxe).

i also want to say that I like the vision of the custom shop profiles. It adds a greater value to the customers purchase, is a fantastic idea.

I also do not think you need to offer free profiles, just list them as lower priced singles. Audio samples work fine for me.

Thanks Drog, The CustomShop idea has been around for a while, just takes a lot of time/energy to sort out, finalize and actually get programmed. (Its taken our web guy a while to do) but we have good visions.. and want to try and give the TAF community a lot of involvement, not just with 100's of profiles but a lets share it idea..(more of this as it unfolds) but lets just say, we have a lot of rewards systems in place that's simply fantastic, Personally I cant wait for it to get started.. but time is limited, and there is plenty to do!.

Soon is the best answer I can give

Thanks for your support, Much appreciated!.