Nightlight's all too familiar rant: Don't sell your amps

    Even if you're recording them DI, I think you will get better results with your gear.


    I've heard the arguments that professionals are recording the amps, you'll get the use of their studio, blah blah. But if we pair a nice cab with a great DI you recorded yourself (I know a lot of guys do this with any profile they use, swap out the cab), I believe you will get better results than you think.


    For example, I find a lot of the bass profiles on the rig exchange are nice, but when I run my bass through them, they're too boomy, too hi-fi, etc.


    Today, I ran my bass through a Darkglass amp and wow! Being able to tailor things to my instrument is amazing.


    I was able to reduce the boom in the bass, get some nice grit and grind to the low and hi-mids, tame the clank in my bass, and adjust the amount of distortion that was being fed by active pickups.


    The Kemper controls are great, but not like sculpting your sound on the real amp. For example, when it comes to boom on the low string, I find a simple bass high pass filter kills some of the punch. You're also stuck with the distortion and EQ settings decided by someone else.


    It really was eye-opening to do this with a bass. The argument against creating one's own profiles has always been pitched to me in terms of the negatives of my setup.


    In that regard, I think I'll get myself a DI and do some recordings of my guitars amps for myself now and then try pairing them with some cabs made by others as well, I have a feeling I will be really happy with the results.


    Waiting for the counter rant, gents!

    "Whatever works, dude" actually illustrates what I'm driving at, Sam.


    I've often felt that people are just scratching the surface of the Profiler by not profiling their own amps. Or selling them without hearing the sound in anything other than isolation.


    One of the first things I usually read in introductory posts is "Sold all my amps".


    You work in a studio, you obviously have good ears, Sam.


    Would you commit to a tone on a recording based on something you have already captured? Or would you recapture something to work with a specific sound for that album or single? Let's leave the pros and cons of recording with an amp versus the Kemper out of it: just the tone in this case.


    I think it's impossible to commit to a guitar tone till I've heard the drums, but that could be me. My drums really dictate a lot of my other sound choices.


    To that end, I think it is really more difficult to copy a drum sound than a guitar sound, other than if you're using software.


    I have seen tonnes of complaints on the forum about how they don't like the profiles they are using. Something or the other lacking.



    With a DI profile, it is even easier to narrow down on a tone if you're worried about micing up a cab. Just choose some great cab and guys will have a smile on their faces with their own tones for their own music.


    Amps and Kempers go hand in hand imo. You don't need a studio collection of amps. Just the one that is your base tone, imho.


    So not arguing with "Whatever works", Sam! I agree completely!


    Just... Don't sell your amps!

    Hahaha yeah, I think we’re saying the same thing! I sold my Mesa Boogie V Twin rack and 20/20 power amp when I got my 1st Kemper, but I still have my AC30TB and I’ve since got a ‘78 JMP and the BluGuitar Amp1. Horses for courses. I use the Amp1 on a pedalboard with 7 stomp boxes for a country gig, the JMP straight jacked for rock kicks and the KPA for everything else. Once the pedalboard rig was finished, I actually played that exclusively for a couple of months and the KPA was in its bag in the corner. Depends on the music and the mood. And yes, I wouldn’t settle on a guitar sound til I’d heard the bass and drums and everything else hehe ;)

    I sold $5k in amps, 2 boutiques and don't miss a single one.


    Not because they didn't sound good. A few were "take it with me" good.
    But the Kemper just delivers whatever tone I want and done.


    But in a reality where I had more money, more space, I'd have kept a few of them just for the ease of switch-flip & play.
    I had a Mesa Boogie Express for a few months while swapping gear and it was a load of fun to play.
    No better/worse than the Kemper, but I didn't have to wait a minute for it to start making sound like my KPA.


    Yeah, I know, Tubes need to be Warmed and I AM that lazy, haha


    I prefer to switch on and then roam around looking for my guitars and picks and cables and whatnot before I am even ready to flip the standby switch. It's just a bit longer than Kemper booting up time!


    Try out a Mesa Boogie Mark V 25 watt amp as your next on-a-whim purchase, dB. About the same size and maybe the same weight as a powered Kemper. It has a DI and headphones out as well. Man, what a tasty amp, so versatile. And boy, 25 watts is a lot louder than you'd think, I could keep up with a drummer easy.

    Hmmm., nightlight...


    Is there a forum for disgruntled and recently divorced women trying to sell their ex-husbands Mesa Boogies for ridiculously low prices just out of spite?

    Quote from db9091

    Hmmm., nightlight...


    Is there a forum for disgruntled and recently divorced women trying to sell their ex-husbands Mesa Boogies for ridiculously low prices just out of spite?


    I think you may luck out if you just look a bit. After all, with all the stuff you spend on mics and pres, you should find a second hand amp quite cheap.

    I buy and sell amps anyway - with or without the KPA.
    Its so much fun to try new/different gear.
    And I learn more and more what I like in amps.
    ..... and since I profile all of them - I never miss one when I sell it later.


    Playing the guitar is one part of the fun - gear the other.

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    Edited 2 times, last by Armin ().

    Like 1
    Quote from nightlight

    I think you may luck out if you just look a bit. After all, with all the stuff you spend on mics and pres, you should find a second hand amp quite cheap.

    I'm not rich or anything. Usually I get an idea in my head, go for it, and then scramble to be creative with financing it (i.e. selling other things I own to pay for it) which is why I'm very into buying things with decent equity. Name brands have equity, so I've learned to lean towards them.


    Indeed, while I don't fancy ever selling it, the Kemper DOES have great equity. Better than real amps actually.

    To me a good guitar sound is like a great album...When you first listen to it you don't necessarily like it but you persevere. Its only after a few go's that you really know.You become comfortable with it and then love it....


    I bought most of my valve amps without listening to them because there was no point. Great amps often sound crap on their own but come alive in a band mix. definitely the opposite is true...played a Line 6 stack that sounded so full and awesome, then in a band..gone....disappeared. tried endless boogies and hated them BUT heard some amazing sounds from players using them..


    You studio types are great at what you do because you care so much.... for me its like fine wine, I can't be bothered to study it, I just wanna play...


    P.S. when I have hankered for a valve and tried one, they sound flat and uninspiring, although given my comment above, not surprising...


    P.P.S. stopped looking at amps cos the Kemper is enough. i've realised that if it doesn't sound good, then its me ( The sounds I've set up or most likely my playing) not the KPA.

    I'm still struggling to sell my last 4 remaining amps - even though they have found their peace in the basement.
    It's more nostalgia and the pain of separation that I still feel for my sold Mesa Boogie than logical reason ;)



    But someday I'll be brave and then....... ;(

    I did think about selling my amps when I made my almost perfect 5 slot gig performance - clean, clean with FX, bit of grit and then rhythm...but for the life in me I cannot get my lead tone (the fifth slot) to sound as good as when I use an amp and external fx.


    Solo tone is THE one thing that I am not in love with yet on Kemper...clean and dirty rhythm is honestly perfect to my tired ears...but I'll keep my amps for solo-ing if nothing else!

    PRS Custom 22's - Fender Strats - Diezel VH4 - Carol Ann OD2 - Toneking Imperial MK2 - Colin the Kemper - CLR Neo ii.

    Quote from Greg

    I did think about selling my amps when I made my almost perfect 5 slot gig performance - clean, clean with FX, bit of grit and then rhythm...but for the life in me I cannot get my lead tone (the fifth slot) to sound as good as when I use an amp and external fx.


    Solo tone is THE one thing that I am not in love with yet on Kemper...clean and dirty rhythm is honestly perfect to my tired ears...but I'll keep my amps for solo-ing if nothing else!

    I took the opposite approach when I bought my Kemper - My lead tone was the one sound that determined whether I would keep the KPA or not.


    That was a little over five years ago.