Last night I went through every single profile (quickly) using my strat and headphones. I was determined to completely trim the fat and get down to only profiles that I would consider using with no more than about 10-15 minutes tweaking. Note, I didn't actually tweak (beyond some level changes) but I did figure out what is useable for me. I had all the stock profiles and almost every user profile up until early February, then a few more that have trickled in since then and I have to say by and large, anything done by M.Franzkowiak is incredible. Whoever that is (Kemper employee?) he seems to have the magic touch! Every profile is bright but not shrill, expressive, alive... they are great. The Peter Fischer ones are also amazing as well as a few "Kemper" and a few user profiles are really nice (LOVE some of the EVH, Legacy, etc...).
So now I need to dig really deep into each one to find my core profiles. I'm going to slow way down on importing user profiles at this point. I will keep a close on them, but take great time and care deciding if I even want them in the machine right now.
But man, if M.Franzkowiak reads this forum MAKE MORE PROFILES!!!
The ones at this level, I would consider buying a profile pack.
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Looks like he's busy making some more, looking forward to it...
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M stands for Manfred, great guy and great guitarist.
Not sure if he officially works for Kemper, I don't think so, he did phone me once from Germany and helped me out big time...so he's very closely associated with Kemper.Btw, the first Rigs that stood out for me were Manfred's...I think I'm going to e mail him and ask him if he has any more rigs to share.
Here he is, remember this amazing vaporware video.
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Yeah...no disrespect to anyone but home recording amps and cabs usually doesn't cut it in comparison to doing it in a proper studio with nice mics and an experienced engineer who's done it a thousand times. Still, there's no reason that the amp section should be any different so it's still a valid thing.
My approach to any of my own profiling is to try and catch less obvious sounds, the kinds of things where proper studio practice doesn't matter so much...so kind of 'effect' sounds, things I'll find uses for just as small colours in a track. The 'wrong' eq, some weird pedal, etc. Anything as long as it's different..
I've had little success so far, lol!
I did wonder what might happen if I was to stick a wahwah between the mic preamp and the Kemper while it was profiling.
I already tried drenched reverb but only landed up with a clean profile....very strange, the Kemper just seemed to remove the reverb entirely.
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Ah yes, Manfred did that great Tele clip. I have to find that profile in the KPA. Well, he's got the magic touch, that is for sure (profiling AND playing AND building rigs with excellent FX setups!).
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Yes, that's my experience as well - there are some VERY great stock profiles.
The Fischer ones and also the Uwe ones are very nice - beside a lot of others.User profiles in general did not work for me - but there are some exceptions which are great too.
The idea just to place a SM57 somewhere close to the amp will not work in most cases.
I need about a week for a set of my profiles of one amp.
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Armin - what do you think of recording the amp output through a Hotplate Line Out back into the KPA and then just grabbing a cab from another profile instead of micing? That's what I started doing to get the hang of profiling and also because my guitar/vocal closet is packed with an extra Hammond L-100 Organ, a GK 4x12 and other stuff, so I'm not looking forward to clearing it out in order to have a location to properly mic an amp.
Please do not take this as a flame or criticism, but I have to say that i'm a little disappointed that you are charging for your profiles and opposed to either given them away for free or asking for donations. I understand every one deserve compensation for their efforts, but the KPA brotherhood is starting to sprout. The forum needs knowledgable players and engineerings to build the KPA foundation and environment. I've already downloaded many free profiles and am very appreciative, I'm hoping to start contributing my own profiles once I read up on methods and procedures by others. With that being said, I was hoping you'd re-think your business pricing. Anyway,that's for your help on many a forum over the years.
Ad Infinitum
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IMHO is the reason for the great sound improvement KPA vs AxeFx not the underlying amp modeling but the interaction of all components.
The AxeFx concept must model the amp and cabinet separately - and then trying to simulate the interaction with parameters like speaker impedance, speaker distortion and many more.
The KPA can capture all this in context and adjust the remaining differences during the refine process. By this we come this close to the real thing.
When profiling amp and speaker in two steps - then we loose all this - and even worse, do not have any of the AxeFx parameters to compensate e.g. the wrong speaker resonance.
The result may sound nice for some - but the level of realism is not even on AxeFx level.
For a great KPA profile we need all amp, speaker, microphone, placement, room, preamp,... to be great - and that is the reason why a lot of the stock profiles sound this great.
As for my profiles:
I do the same and in addition do I create many profiles of each amp(many mics, settings, all channels...) - and need about one week for a set of them.
If this is worth the price of a set of guitar strings has everybody to decide for himself. It looks as if a lot KPA users love this service. -
When profiling amp and speaker in two steps - then we loose all this - and even worse, do not have any of the AxeFx parameters to compensate e.g. the wrong speaker resonance.
Would you say that it is better to use the cabinet with which the amp has been profiled than switch to other profiled cabinets?
