Question about the Kemper Profiler

    Hi Kemper fam.


    I have a question:


    If the KPA basically just reproduce a snapshot taken of another amp with its settings ect, then when we tweak the EQ on the front panel, what are actually tweaking? If that makes sense.

    When people have something slightly negative to say about the Kemper it is usually that the profiles are a snapshot of that rig taken with those exact settings, that guitar and those pickups, and we can't really do much tweaking on that.


    I was under the impression that the Kemper's front Treble knob/dial (for example) would work in conjunction with the profile's snapshot regardless of what setting used to profile it? But how can that be done when it's just a snapshot?

    Like, if the user who uploaded the profile had his amp EQ at 12 o' clock but I want much much less bass (maybe close to nothing on THAT particular profile) I just physically tone it down with the Kemper's Bass knob/dial?


    Is it fair to say that we never "start from scratch" with the Kemper? We download/use profiles that come done with the option to tweak those, and add effects ect ect?


    Thanks for your input.

    The Kemper captures a snapshot of the full signal chain including amp, speaker and mics etc.


    Of course we can tweak this by altering the amount of gain and other parameters. We can also tweak the EQ to reach the tone we are after. However, this doesn’t equate to the same eq changes (and their effect on amp gain) that these knobs would have on the real amp. The EQ on the KPA is set at fixed frequencies regardless of what type of amp has been profiled. The EQ on a Marshall/Fender/Vox are all very different circuits but the KPA doesn’t mimic any one of them. I would tend to treat it more like EQ on a mixing desk than traditional guitar amp EQ but it is a very powerful tool however you look at it so experiment with it and listen to the results rather than worrying about how it gets those results.


    one really useful feature which lots of people don’t seem to know about is the ability to set the EQ knobs before or after the amp. This has a massive effect on how they affect the tone (particularly with distorted tones). A Boogie for example has the EQ before the pre amp distortion stages which makes it more of a distortion character control than a frequency eq control. It is very common for Boogie Mark Series players to have the bass knob very low or even off to keep the sound tight then boost the bass after the pre amp with the graphic eq. If you try playing around with EQ Pre/Post option and you will see what I mean.

    Don't concern yourself too much on "what is a profile". Concern yourself with the tone coming out the Outputs. Then you will be "right as rain" after eating the cookie.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Like 3

    The tone stack and the amp settings in the Kemper gives you a level of tweaking control that no real amp has, and the starting point of the profiles is generally a LOT better then "all-knobs-at-noon".

    As BayouTexan said, what comes out from the Outputs is what does matter, and that is absolutely amazing

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

    Like 2
    Quote from dbasl86

    Thanks for the answers guys! <3 :)

    Basically the Kemper changes are linear and those in a regular amp aren't. People then jump to the conclusion that this automatically equals "bad" and it most certainly doesn't.


    What it means is that it doesn't have the same effect as the original and in many cases that's better, not all of those amp idiosyncrasies were designed in...they were as a result of what they were able to do and a level of compromise in the circuit...