I notice the same thing when I had my Fuzzfactory in the loop. Sounded kind of terrible, yet in front of the Kemper, sounds fine. Something odd is going on.
Posts by zerocrossing
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For me, the Synth 9 is marvellous. I used a few settings when recording an album but usually it lives in one setting. I'm really not using it as a synth as such, it's never 100% Synth 9, nor funky little lead breaks. I think I set the loop to about 20% and it's about making my guitar sound bigger, like something else is there but you can't work out what.
A more powerful synth engine would be wasted on me.
Maybe me too. I have about 8 other analog and hybrid hardware synths and maybe 20 or so software synths. But, you know...
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Electro Harmonix Synth 9. Since the other guitarist left our band, my role has been about filling up the sound. I use a low level with a hint of ducking control, set to polyphonic analogue synth sound and it just adds an extra depth without taking anything away from the guitar tone.
I was actually thinking about this one, but I wish it had more parameters from each synth voice exposed. I may go Boss SY-300 instead.
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eventide H9
Do you really feel its algorithms sound that much better?
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I’m not a stomp guy so it wouldn’t be a big issue for me but if I really wanted to go the extra mile and use a stomp because I just can’t get the KPA to sound right it would be a good Vibe pedal. Try as I might I’ve never been able to get the KPa vibe to sound anywhere close to my Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe.
One thing I noticed a long time ago... probably early digital pedal days... I think with the Line 6 modulation box, was that my pedals (I think at the time a Phase 90) would suck a lot of lows and a bit of presence out and maybe give a bit of upper mid range bump. The Line6 and most digital effects I’ve used since, don’t do that. They just give you some platonic ideal of what the effect is doing. That’s my take on it. The Kemper is guilty of that too. Sometimes, that is awesome, but I hear you. You miss out on that effect that really helps bring out that vintage “vibe.” (Pun definitely intended.) I find that if I I put the Kemper’s lead booster, or sometimes one of the equalizers, before the modulation effect, you can get a lot closer to that vintage sort of vibe. It doesn’t work if it goes after. I love the sound of the Voodoo Vibe... but I’m not sure if for me personally it would be worth the money and floor space. Maybe I should just bite the bullet...
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Digitech Freqout.
Huh! That's really interesting. I've got an old Steinberger that has a Sustainiac built in, but I've been thinking about doing the same thing for my old G&L, but I love the sound of its neck pickup. (Though the Sustainiac as a neck pickup as surprisingly good) This looks like an excellent solution!
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Or two.
What would it be? Analog Chorus? Univibe? In my case I already have a Cockfight (could probably get rid of it) and a Blackstar HT-5 Dual (I like it too much to ditch.)Let the games begin!
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Nice, good demo. They're all close, but I do notice that the real amp just has a little something more than any of the modelers, I can't explain what but it just feels a little more complex and clean.
My take on this was, they're all really close but if I'm nitpicking then -1. The AxeFX sounded the closest, but had a strange very subtle phasing/filtery effect underneath it.
2. The Helix was very similar to the Axe but ever so slightly less low mids/bass or more pronounced upper mids, it didn't have the same filters effect but something felt flat.
3. The Kemper seemed to have a more fuzzy/muddy tone for some reason than the others and a little less dynamic range. It sounded almost lo-fi like there's some clipping or SPDIF sync issue or some other jitter like fizz going on.
While the differences were indeed subtle this is the first time in these shootouts where I've felt the Kemper was behind noticeably and in a way that makes me question if it's now simply getting too long in the tooth and may need an update that increases the frequency curve resolution in the OS or I even wonder if that is fixable in software at all
.I listened to them both through my studio monitors and then also through my CrapMac(tm) laptop speakers which might seem silly, but I find that because they are solely about the upper mids and treble they can be quite revealing of subtle differences that may be hard to discern from larger monitors where they're competing with the energy from the lower end.
I was looking into maybe swapping my Kemper for a AxeFX II when I heard a demo where the AxeFX sounded clearly a bit better, and I thought it might be nice to have something that was more “amp like” when tweaking.
I quickly got over that. I poured over dozens of demos, and it seemed to be a crap shoot as to whether the AxeFX beat the Kemper or vise versa. The conclusion I came to was, if the Kemper sounded worse, it was most likely due to how the profile was made or tweaked. I don’t think that even the AxeFX III is better than the Kemper. It’s just a different approach.
One other thing I am noticing is, that I think for some types of amps, especially high gain models, it’s probably better to profile it with a DI/load box of some sort, and then use a cabinet from another profile or a converted IR.
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When I first got my Kemper, I was somewhat weirdly apprehensive about tweaking the profiles. I’d find one that was good and all the tweaking was basically done with effects or EQ. Somehow I had this silly idea that I shouldn’t “destroy” the profile... as if it was some sacred thing.
I quickly got over that. Now I view it kind of like I would view a pure modeler. I think as a profile as a “default preset,” or some initialized preset of a specific model. Sometimes, actually most of the time, I’m kind of good to go with a profile as is. There’s nothing wrong with finding a profile (or buying) and having it provide what you want. Of course, as no actual recording of a guitar doesn’t get some treatment during the mix process, neither do the tracks recorded from the Kemper. I’m not sure why anyone would think that finding a profile that works and using it is “lazy.” Just put that time into a better performance or more time crafting your part.
Of course, that said, if the spirit moves me, I’ll find a profile I like and then tweak the hell out of it until it’s something interesting and somewhat unrecognizable from the original. There are no rules. I’m the king of my profiler.
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I just get a message at the bottom of the screen that says, "Downloaded 460 of 3072 remaining Rigs." That number never changes in there's just a spinning progress indicator next to the Rig Exchange icon in the left side pane.
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Thanks for these!
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Thanks for the info. I didn’t really mean that the old profiles would now sound different, but more like profiles made with current OSs would be better. Judging by what’s been said, that may have more of an issue with the quality of the profile than the technology used. I have experienced what seem like... well, to put it kindly, profiles that don’t really do it for me. Others, amazing. Do you know what I mean by that “moosh?” It seems to happen on a lot of high gain stuff, like from Mesa Dual Rectifiers or other djent style amps. I remember reading where power amp distortion wasn’t really captured correctly during the profiling process. Could that be it?
I guess it’s time for an ol’ RTFM moment.
I must admit that I’ve yet to explore the “pure cabinet” function or really even the sag controls. -
Do you play the bass? if so I would imagine you're much more discerning in terms of tone than I am.
I found one that works well for my needs but the part itself is just a songwriting placeholder. I leave the nuances of real bass playing to those with deeper minds (and strings) than me.
I wouldn’t call bass my main instrument, but I’m decent at it. My bass is pretty good. An old Steinberger Q. I should probably reserve judgement until I check out some new profiles. It’s been a while since I checked any out.
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Hi Kemper fans! I must admit I’m a little bit of a lapsed parishioner of the Kemper. Well, not that I don’t use it. I do. I’ve just been more focused on synths for for the last few years. Anyway, I heard a demo of the Fryette Valvulator GP/DI that I thought sounded amazing, so before adding that to my rig, I figured I’d first look at finding some profiles of it. I looked on Youtube and did find some great sounding demos. One demo, titled “Can Kemper Save Chappers,” mentioned that software updates have improved the KPA a lot since it’s release. In case you haven’t heard the demo, they both guess wrong on each amp tested. ?
Anyway, I was considering a “profile purge” as I’ve kind of amassed a s-ton of profiles, and I want to just wipe the KPA and load up profiles of about 20 different amps. Currently I just feel overwhelmed by the amount of profiles I have. I have a few questions.
First, has the profiling process become better over time? Sometimes I hear some low end mooshiness™ in the high gain profiles (in both demos and profiles I have), but some demos seem very nice. Has that been improved, or is it just that some profiles are better than others. (I’ve never made my own profiles, as I don’t own an amp.) I’m willing to pay for 3rd party profiles, if they’ve been made with an improved process and sound even better.
Also, what are some of the currently “best” third party profiles? I hear a lot of talk about the MBritt profiles, and while I thought they sounded good, I didn’t feel like they were head and shoulders above some things I already have. I’m interested in all sorts of amp types. My tastes range from vintage classics to modern ultra-gain monsters. Some of my favorite sounds come from Xan McCurdy (Cake) , Belew, Fripp, Vernon Reid, etc. I was also a fan of a lot of a lot of the 90s MOSFET amps, like the Pierce. I used to have this old Ampeg stereo chorus solid state amp that just sung... anyway, you get the idea. All over the place.
Thanks,
Mark
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I’ve never had good results with the Kemper and bass. Not sure why. Maybe I should try again? It’s been a while, but nearly every time I end up just using Amplitube Ampeg instead.
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Yeah, maybe you’re right. I’ve got a EH Cockfight and a Blackstar HT-5 Dual that I like. I often love the sound of a little Fender combo being pushed into preamp distortion with a pedal. Maybe recommend something?
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I’ve owned the Kemper for a long time now, and I love it. I really do. However, sometimes I do miss the kind of interaction with an actual amp that the Kemper doesn’t quite do. I’ve been listening to demos of the Fryette Valvulator gd/di lately, and I’m loving it. It really gets the “cr” part of “crunch” right. That’s something that I sometimes struggle with using the Kemper on its own. Maybe it’s something to do with poweramp distortion? Not sure. (The Valvulator is a 1 w amp)
I guess my question is this. Set it up as it’s own thing, or marry it to the Kemper so I can still use Kemper’s effects and cabinets? Has anyone tried anything like this?
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Yes there is external gear, which can translate different sample rates http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHSRC2496
That does seem the long-way-round-the-park. I guess I'll just use the analog outputs until I need the extra inputs.
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I just got a new interface, well new to me. An RME Fireface 400, with SPDIF ins and outputs. I had the same issue the OP is complaining about. The SPDIF sounded horrible. The analog outputs sounded great. What I did notice is that the RME preference panel showed that the sample rate at 48 and it seems the Kemper is sending 44.1 out. I switched the clock source of the Fireface to SPDIF and the problem instantly went away, but now my system runs at 44.1 khz... which is less than optimal for me so I'm not sure if I'll use it. I like the extra hz as it helps when using software that uses audio rate modulation.
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After putting the kaos file in the root directory of your USB stick you need to restart your profiler while keeping the < > buttons pressed.Yeah, that didn't work. Seems I have a bad unit. Support gave me a shipping label and I see it's been delivered, but when I write to see where they are in the process I get no response. Is there a way to do a factory reset for Kemper support?
