Can Kemper Profile Test Signal destroy my AMP? They´re very loud/base-ish

  • hi there...


    i had my fender hot rod deluxe III only on 2,5/10, but the "clean" (lower) test signal was already very loud...hope my neighbours dont complain;)


    anyway, i dont care bout my neighbours, but my amp. can it break, it was even a bit shakin? these signals are very basey, especially the last one. or did i do anything wrong?


    i said "cabinet", because its a combo amp, right?


    then also...if i leave my fender just 1/10, it does not sound nice, no real warm crunch -> if i profile it at 1/10 and use the KEMPER internal gain afterwards, this will NOT be the same gain tweakin effect as if i profile it at 2,5/10, right? thats at least how I figure it out.


    cheers, maz :)

  • Nah. The amp will deliver whatever clean power it's capable of, and beyond that just go into distortion, which is how we guitarists like it. The speaker in a tube combo should handle whatever its amp throws at it 8)

  • No, stomp distortions are not the same as cranking up an amp and using it's internal gain structure. They will change the amps tone alot as well..You can use a Pure Booster Stomp to overdrive the amp without changing the tone and without using the amps volume controls. Overdriving a clean signal will give you a volume boost as Tarzan stated, you can use the Volume parameter within a Pure Booster to regulate the volume change.

  • Nah. The amp will deliver whatever clean power it's capable of, and beyond that just go into distortion, which is how we guitarists like it. The speaker in a tube combo should handle whatever its amp throws at it 8)

    hope u understood tho?
    during these signals the amp gets veeeeeery loud and even shakes a bit. u´re sure, i cannot break it with the Kemper test signal?
    thats my main concern...that the tubes or the speakers or anything in my fender breaks...
    during profiling the amp gets very loud..: and its just 2,5/10...which is my favourite postion of gain tho...


    its so bad, i cannot profile the nice spring reverb of my fender...and there is no internal spring reverb in the kemper, right?

  • You can't profile the spring reverb in any case - the kemper does not profile time-dependent effects (though it should be able to profile the general TONE - but if the amp actually shakes, it would probably muck it up, since it's a spring verb).


    Which mic are you using?

    I´m using a Shure SM7B...with no low cut, but Pres Boost...thought that might be nice.
    im ok happy with the result, not perfect tho.
    maybe i shd use my Neumann TLM102? do i need to switch on phantom power on the KPA somewhere?
    or i could use a shure sm57 instead.
    thanks for help:)
    i wonder, if i really CANNOT damage my amp;) can u confirm that these signals are crazy loud?
    cheers, maz:)

  • I'd try with the sm57 first. The sm7b is notoriously low-output.
    The Kemper doesn't have phantom power, so you need to run it through a mixer or something like that.

    so u think, the SM57 might have a "brigther" clearer result?
    the SM7B i guess I use more for vocals...not sure if ill keep the SM7B.
    anyway, i shd try a SM57 then for my fender. i want a crispy result like the real amp is;)
    but i still hope, my amp doesnt break when i profile with my desired amp volume (which is still little)
    but a hot rod deluxe as a lot of watt...40? or even more...so it gets loud;) and kemper will not guarantee a broken amp im sure :p

  • IIRC @Armin killed the speaker of an old Fender Deluxe once.
    Very old speakers could potentially be in danger, not the amps.

    Well its a new hot rod deluxe and also just 2,5/10...so it shd be fine...even tho the signals make an AMP shake quiet a bit...it sounds like the weirdest psycho movie;)


    anyway, will use a SM57 then...


    I will also profile it with my Tech21 gain pedal, but i shd not use a noise gate while profiling? even if its just a little bit switched on?


    cheerio

  • IIRC @Armin killed the speaker of an old Fender Deluxe once.
    Very old speakers could potentially be in danger, not the amps.

    I can confirm this, as I once destroyed an '66 Eminence-Gold in my Deluxe Reverb.
    Though this happened by just only switching the Amp off with Volume at 7, I assume, it also would have happened during a profiling session especially with the clean profiling-signals

  • Well its a new hot rod deluxe and also just 2,5/10...so it shd be fine...even tho the signals make an AMP shake quiet a bit...it sounds like the weirdest psycho movie;)
    anyway, will use a SM57 then...


    I will also profile it with my Tech21 gain pedal, but i shd not use a noise gate while profiling? even if its just a little bit switched on?


    cheerio

    Noise Gates should be switched off during profiling.

  • Yes, you absolutely can damage something - the speakers. It doesn't matter whether they are old or new. I am speaking from much first-hand experience with this, Speakers break in over time. If you suddenly start driving frequencies and volumes that go beyond what the speakers have been subjected previously you can alter the behavior (and therefore the tone) of the speaker (and even cause physical damage). If I was to profile an amp I would not risk having the Kemper drive a signal into the speakers that is too much louder than what you had been accustomed to playing at. Especially with low frequencies which have a tendency to move the speaker even more than usual and can loosen it up (not necessarily in a good way). Otherwise you risk changing the character of the speaker. It doesn't matter whether the speaker can "handle" it or not, you may still end up altering the speaker enough to change the tone and/or feel, even though the speaker may still be "ok" so to speak.


    There are other considerations, for example if a speaker has already seen quite a bit of volume/frequencies previously then you will be less likely to cause any issues, even if YOU normally play a much lower volume. And of course power ratings and speaker doping, cab pressure resistance, a whole litany of considerations.
    There's enough detail on the subject matter of speakers that you could spend forever researching and learning about it. But at the end of the day I would make this one basic suggestion: If you have a rig, especially a vintage rig, that you don't want to risk altering the sound of then I'd suggest being more on the conservative side in what you are pumping through the speakers.


    While numbers alone don't necessarily mean much, yours being a new amp and dialed at 2.5/10 it is unlikely you are going to affect much with a few profile runs.

  • Yes, the amp and/or speaker can be harmed - especially when you profile old amps or even new ones very loud.


    Guitar amps were not created to send bass guitar signals or these test tones into them - I killed some gear - and avoid profiling to loud now.


    I killed the big condensers of an old vintage amp.
    Old confensors loose capacity during the time.
    The amp sounded even better after replacing the defective parts.
    Pack #17 is the stock 1952 deluxe - Pack #36 the 'modded' one = all new power supply condensors.

    (All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with soundside.de)


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

    Edited once, last by Armin ().


  • If this would harm amp or speaker, wouldn't you say there's something wrong with that combo in the first place? There's no limit to how far you can push a guitar combo, at least I've never heard of such a combo, and at that point the amp is way into distortion territory so whether it's a bass heavy signal or not shouldn't make any difference.


    If anything gets destroyed in his new combo I'd claim warranty should cover that.

  • If this would harm amp or speaker, wouldn't you say there's something wrong with that combo in the first place? There's no limit to how far you can push a guitar combo, at least I've never heard of such a combo, and at that point the amp is way into distortion territory so whether it's a bass heavy signal or not shouldn't make any difference.


    If anything gets destroyed in his new combo I'd claim warranty should cover that.

    Regarding speakers:


    There's two primary scenarios of harm:
    1) Those caused by frequencies outside the scope of a normal guitar.
    2) Those caused by excessive volume.


    And there are two classes or harm:
    1) Physical damage to the point of some form of breakdown.
    2) Newly imparted wear that change the sound and/or feel of the speaker.


    There's too many variables to give one-size-fits-all advice. For example, if somebody is a bedroom-volume player and they crank guitar through the amp with the volume on 11 for a few minutes that is likely not going to result in the person noticing any change when they go back to bedroom volume. Compared to somebody who plays at a moderately loud level (say 5), then cranks something that is not guitar through the amp while cranked on 11 for 20 minutes, they may well suddenly realize later on the amp doesn't sound and/or feel quite the same any more.


    Just be smart about using your gear, common sense goes a long way. And while it is possible profiling with the Kemper could result in unwanted impacts it is rather unlikely if for no other reason than we'd be hearing a lot of complaints by now if that were the case. I suspect most players are smart enough not to set their gear to the extremes and go profiling a dozen times.

  • Regarding speakers:
    There's two primary scenarios of harm:
    1) Those caused by frequencies outside the scope of a normal guitar.
    2) Those caused by excessive volume.

    I don't quite follow that. There's a wattage limit to what the speaker can handle, regardless of frequency. Since the speaker in a combo should handle the output of the amp, it shouldn't matter what you put into it. Those tubes just can't put out more than the speaker can handle.