What is the best way to profile a Non-master volume amp to get it in the sweet spot (hi volumens) without driving the Kemper past acceptable levels on input while profiling?
Non Master Volume Profile Help
- bshaw92
- Closed
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connect the mic to an external preamp
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What is the best way to profile a Non-master volume amp to get it in the sweet spot (hi volumens) without driving the Kemper past acceptable levels on input while profiling?
Have you adjusted the Return Level?
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Turning down the return volume worked.....I just didn't see the big knob with the little twinkling lights calling my name, Thanks. Is there a value or sound I should be looking for? I ran the amp volume at about 4.3 but i got a little too muddy of sound as a result. What is the logic sequence behind the adjustment? There should be and probably is a cause-effect relationship for setting it so if anyone has the learning curve flattened I would love to know. I have some theories-(adjusting as high as possible without clipping during trials), but there may be more to consider.
I like to do it like this: Before i profile i search for a rig with a tone similar to the one i am to profile. Then switch to profiling, set the amp volume, and adjust the return level. You can compare the level of the incoming signal to the original rig by switching between them. This should make sure you have the return level set right. If the incoming signal is still too hot, the KPA will compensate for it.
The question of how loud you should profile to get the best results isnt that easy. There are two main aspects you should consider:
1. The impact on the power amp
Cranking the amp will produce more power amp distortion and generate a more compressed sound with less transients and of course less dynamics. Some people consider this as the only way of getting the right sound out of a tube amp and even use attenuators to have this effect at moderate levels. I simply hate the sound of power amp distortion and try to avoid it at any cost. I always set my 50 to 100 Watt tube amps to only around 10%. For my style and taste it just sounds better, and you also don´t go deaf by it. The more headroom your amp has, the more dynamics and transients your sound will have.2. The impact on the speakers
Guitar speakers need a minimum level to sound good. This highly depends on how much wattage the speaker can take as well as the amount of speakers in your cab. That minimum load is the reason why most people think that their tube amps don´t sound good at bedroom levels. Most often it´s simply the speakers not getting their minimum load to sound good which has nothing to do with the amp.
However when pushing your speaker to its limit you will get speaker compression. This will affect the harmonmic contents of your signal with a lot overtone stuff happening. Again, it is highly subjective if you really need that. Many users say that the speaker begins to "open up" at that point. Many users say it just sounds like shit... -
I got a little too muddy of sound as a result. What is the logic sequence behind the adjustment?
I had similar problems and I have to admit I even switched to using a Preset Rig (D'Lux Dirty Cactus) which works quite fine for me (after some tweaking). But once I will have it all set up ready for gigging with the KPA I definitely want to do more research on profiling my own amps. So I am also still learning but my theory was "better a bit too much overdrive than to few" because if the profile is too dry how should the KPA extrapolate a distortion that it has not heard during the profiling session? So if the profile is too hot you can always dry it up by turning down the Gain Control on the KPA. But the profiles always tend to be hotter than the reference (I guess they made it that way for exactly the same reason as I told before) - so maybe it is best to set the reference amp to exactly the sweet spot you like and if it is still to hot then turn down the Gain Control on the KPA.
But on my last profiling tests I found that the signal level that the KPA sends to the reference amp (through the Dry Out) was much hotter than my guitar plugged directly to my amp. The reason for this was the Distortion Sense control in the Input section. I had it turned up, above zero so it was not unity gain. When I turned this down to < 0 > then the reference amp sounded similar to plugging in directly. So I guess on profiling it is very important to set the the Clean Sense correctly (Input LED orange, never red) and to have the Distortion Sense on unity gain.
I guess what you describe as "muddy sound" might come from to hot a level from the Direct Out into your reference amp. This could distort the input valve of your amp much more than your guitar would do normally. So you end up with distorting the preamp and the poweramp at the same time. If I remember well somewhere in the Manual it says that this is not good, it should be only either preamp or powerstage distortion in a profiling.
But hey - these are just my humble thoughts about it. I am also still learning.
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