Posts by Dean_R

This is weird. This thread is very informative in regard to those who are considering buying what people refer to as"top of the line modeler". I think it's gracious of Kemper to even host discussions about other gear that they made a specific category about other gear. I was in the same predicament a month ago deciding where to spend my hard earned dollars and my research lead me to choose the KPA. My research included reading this forum as well as other forums. Sure there's bickering, but most should have the intelligence to decipher real information from all the bickering. People might learn from my and others experiences.

What's wrong with people finding the truth about an overly hyped AXE FX II and the need to almost have the knowledge of an electrical engineer and studio engineer combined to be able to get good sounds after never ending editing of presets that will have to be updated and reworked almost on monthly basis if updating to the latest firmware? Just because many on this board see the clear Amp Modeling superiority of the KPA, it doesn't mean that others who only read this forum can see the obvious.

My conscious doesn't bother me one bit, sharing with others my great experience using the Kemper and recommending it over the AXE II and in the process help someone chose a better/Superior technology while saving dollars (almost over 25%). And to the topic of this thread, Yes it's weird that no one likes to mention how silly it is that that latest update to an extremely overpriced machine does nothing different that anyone can discern from the initial firmware almost half a decade ago. People need reminders not to get sucked into hype. What I love about the kemper is it sounds like the amp, not better or worse, the same.

Quote from skankenstein

"
Says the guy with 35 of his 69 posts in a thread where he does nothing but trash Fractal and anyone who owns one. LMAO.

http://www.metallica.com/videos/tour-videos.asp

Says the guy who names himself Skank with his own free will

Quote from Michael_dk

To be fair, plenty of people on this board too get all pissy and start calling "TROLL" as soon as someone with a divergent opinion speaks up here. Not everybody, but more than I'd like, personally.

Sure, some might be offended also, but not in the way that the crazy AXE FX Fans act. I've been following digital modeling since POD 2.0 and I've never seen anyone behave like those who are die hard AXE FX fan boys.

I'll be frank when I say, that when reading the Gearpage and seeing how those fan boys act and watching people get banned from that website for merely questioning the AXE FX, the AXE FX to me no longer represented music, rock and roll, Jaz or whatever., It became to represent this over-hyped infalible machine in the minds of fanatic-cult-like following,geeky middle age men rocking out in their headphones while their kids/or wives are asleep meanwhile they know nothing about how the AXE really sounds in a live situation with a real band with drums and bass, they all insisted that it' actually better than tube amps in sound quality. I had a mindset that despised the AXE FX based on that image and I would probably never buy anything that Fractal makes.

Who knows probably that image some how influenced my perception when I played the AXE FX II in person to consider buying it about a month ago. My thoughts were, crap! This think sounds nothing like those gearpage geeks made it out to be, it sounded like my Pod Hd could get similar tones and even more true to the amps it modeled than the over glorified AXE FX II. Who knows, I guess we're all emotional creatures and Line 6 in my mind has a very professional image while Fractal has the complete opposite with image mismanagement , specifically the disservice that the Gearpage is causing them with nothing to see except fan boys going gaga. Who knows maybe the AXE FX will never be relevant due to that image, that I'm sure many has observed and will probably never buy anything Fractal due to not wanting to associate with that cult like mentality that prevails over at the gear page and the fractal website. Then again, it might never be relevant due to Epic fail in the Metallica Video above.

Quote from Frodebro

I've heard plenty of clips where the Axe-FX sounded great, and I've heard plenty that I personally didn't care for. I don't think it's fair to judge the Fractal based solely on one clip any more than it would be to judge the Kemper on one questionable profile.

That's also what I think, but for one reason or another the AX FX got so hyped that it became almost unthinkable for many that it could possibly sound bad. Even what you just wrote is considered offensive to some who own the AXE FX...Of course anything can sound bad including Kemper , real tube amps etc, but the difference is that you don't offend anyone by saying that Kemper can sound bad, even though it clearly models amps way more accurately than the AXE FX..

Quote from Section8

Terrible mix, partially the result of trying to add a grand piano to a electric-guitar-centric mix. Piano just sounds awful blended with this song. It annoys me when heavy acts decide that orchestras or other weird arrangements/instrumentation will add value to great songs. It takes a weird kind of hubris to decide your great thrash song should be presented with an accompanying orchestra... kind of makes me throw up in my mouth, a little. That being said, I love Metallica... at least up through the Black Album, but I think every band jumps the shark when they decide they are suddenly ready to blend their sound with classical instruments. It lies on some point of the same continuum where Pat Boone decided to release an album of metal covers, but an inversion of the Pat Boone thing.

That's true but regardless of the Piano the guitar sounds were terrible in the parts where there was no Piano. It's easy to dismiss and blame the mix, the sound guy, but why can't it be simply because the AXE FX isn't up to the task of hanging with a drummer and bass or in a band situation all together.

I've heard from most who went back to using amps after switching from the AXE FX stating the reason being that the AXE FX doesn't sit well in a MIX specifically in a Live situations. What if the AXE FX II really sucks in live situations, but sound wonderful on its own. I happen to think it's the case, because to my ear when I played the AXE FX, I couldn't bond with it for the life of me, it just sounded overly hi fi and unnatural. What came to mind was harsh, brittle and unmusical and that's how it sounds in this video.

Thanks, I tried these with Red wire impulses and they sounded great.

Did you accidentally click "no cab" . If you're using the latest firmware you can do the direct profile without a speaker and the "no cab" will give you a profile that's without the speaker.. all the I can say is to make sure that the "no cab is selected" and when you click the button reference amp, you should hear the amp sim and that would confirm you're connections are good.

No doubt it's designed well but I'm referring to the most recent editor request thread where most people chimed in in this community indicating it's a given that it's hard to argue against an editor so I won't rehash the obvious benefits. I just bought the KPA about 2 weeks ago and I was in disbelief that it didn't have an editor. I Love the user interface but you don't come across many digital devices that don't have editors, at least it saves wear an tear on the knobs.

Anyway, I think the editor has already started and the beginning was rig manager. Updates to rig manager will turn it into a full blown editor in time.

Quote from ReDRuM

Maybe for you, but recall and editing is what kids these days are used to. I'm not saying I like that workflow, or that it's better. I'm just saying that I believe it's very important for a product to have an editor. I might be wrong, of course.

Editors are not for kids only. It's been established by most of the Kemper community based on my quick reading that an editor is needed. If KPA doesn't produce and editor at some point, then it's lagging behind. The user interface is nice but if studios and everyone is using computer software (DAWs) to record, it's a no brainer that an editor is desperately needed.

Quote from DonPetersen

very comprehensive profiling - well done

I also have a HT-5, great little amp, isn't it?

I love that amp, you can get classic and modern sounds and still rehearse with drummer with it .

Quote from Raoul23

but someone would still hack it at least this way our investment is safe

If the PC or mac isn't being used for DSP and the Kemper DSP is being used, no one can hack it.

Have you ever heard of UA plugins being hacked and someone is actually running them without the UA card. If you buy the UA card and have it connected, someone might be able to hack and open up other plugins, but still someone has to have purchased the audio interface and without a card, you will never get any UA plugins.

You're all quite welcome, I hope the wow was actually because you liked some of the profiles.

Quote from endlessnameless

With due respect I am not sure they are though. VST brings compatibility issues, piracy, latency, DSP issues etc - why would they want to delve into that?

True, but if they do what line 6 did with POD farm, they will appeal to the producer who likes to use software plugins. All they have to do is create a plugin that would run all the dsp inside the Kemper hardware. You must connect the KPA VIA USB and that would be the dongle and protection against piracy. I would love that feature. I actually think it's a great idea, my guess is that it would generate additional sales to Justify the effort, because it would start competing with all plugins directly. For someone using the plugin, they can compare in the same project how the kemper will sound without having to fool around with re amping and connections.

I've tried Bias Positive Grid, and it sounded extremely harsh to my ears. Too much fizz. If this uses the same technology and it probably does then there's nothing new except for the hardware format. The name "Amp Match" appears in their version of Positive Grid. You can buy the positive grid mobile app 20 bucks if you have an IPad and it has "amp match"
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bias-amp/id711314889?mt=8

Quote from C-4

I've been continuing to read and re-read both user manuals (brief version and long version) whenever I read on here about something that brings up a question or something I have not considered before.

I admit my stupidity, ignorance, and lack of ability to even understand a lot of what is written on this forum, which is the reason I keep re-reading the manuals. I see the words, but nothing much computes.

On weekends, I go back through all of my chosen profiles, and tweak those I desire too, then write them down and back up my newest work.. I am saving for the remote, so I am writing down and trying to organize about 5-10 specific profiles for loading onto the remote. One performance will be for each of three guitars I work with live.

I have not purchased any commercial profiles yet, due to saving for the remote. I figure that once I get the KPA out and at work on a job, then I find out that I need to re-tweak, purchase, or will be happy with what I already have.

I hooked up a Crate Power Block to the KPA and a Marshall 1912 cab from the monitor out, cab disabled internally, and ran some of my stock profiles through it, and it sounded good to me at home, even turned up. However, my plan is to use IEM's, so I really cannot tweak much more until I hear playback through FOH, as I am using headphones to listen to everything, and also to practice.

I have the forum-approved and chosen profiles, such as the Morgan AC20, Golub Marshall, and several others here that I have read about. My question is, since I do not know how to really manipulate the KPA as many here do, how much more should I be doing? While I am surely no expert, I have been playing for almost 6 decades, and what I am hearing from the unit's stock profiles, which will be used for commercial band work, to my deaf ears, sound really amazing as they come from the individual profilers who have contributed generously to the Rig Exchange.

Obviously, I could make them sound better, based on what I am reading, but where to begin? I would think that those who have taken the time to profile and share on the Exchange, have already done an immense amount of work to get the right cabs, mic placement and amps dialed in. What else is really left to do, other then wait for the finished version of the newest OS system?

I understand that if I like what I hear, that is all I should expect, but is there anything I might learn to do to really possibly improve the sound that much more?

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My advice is not to overlook the factory profiles and the user profiles on the rig exchange. I notice that most profiles can be made to sound good. Here's what I do. I disable all effects and listen to the basic profile and many times they sound fine, then I start adding my effects.

Also in the Amp setting I I bring everything to default, Power Sag to Zero, tube bias to zero, tube shape to 3.3, clarity to zero, compressor to zero, pick to zero, the definition I leave as is because I don't think I can figure out the default. Now you have the amp as it was originally profiled before the user started tinkering with it to bring to sound good with their setup. From there I'll tinker with these setting just for curiosity but generally the amp default is best from my experience (compressor can do wonders though So I'll add a little of that).

Generally I think that the default, should give excellent results and from there adding effects is based on one's taste. If the profile isn't good at default, why bother! there are many others that sound pretty good at default and can only get better.

I'm really sorry about that, It was left over from another patch and I'm must have not updated the tags. These were all HT 5.

I have about 30. Initially I loaded many until I noticed it wasn't that easy navigating through hundreds of them so I deleted all and re uploaded my favorites.

Thanks for sharing, nice write-up.

I uploaded some to the rig exchange but it was a bit tedious so I attached a zip file where you can download all 22 profiles. Hope you enjoy them, I use a strat with Kinman woodstock noisless. The MIC was sm57. Put the Amp in an ISO closet, deadest room possible, so there's a lot of clarity. Most are 1.5 inches from the cone and if it's not the cone it's stated in the name (cap and those are zero inches offaxis).
Interesting is that I went out after profiling for a few hours and left the amp on. When I came back it was cooking, so those profiles are indicated with HOT tube and I can actually hear a significant difference in the tone considering the amp was dialed the same.
I didn't add hardly any effects, little reverb. If you modify these and get something nice using effects, feel free to post to the rig exchange.

The amp has the ISF which is a dial to move from British sound to American . I profiled three positions, American, Middle and British so when you see midd in the name,, it means the knob was in the center position and brit would be all the way to the right etc. It's a subtle difference but it changes the feel and can be better heard and felt at loud volumes. If you view the rigs in rig manager, the comment will hint at the pedal when used.

Next I will do the direct profiles.
I hope I posted to the right forum otherwise, please feel free to move to the proper forum.
Let me know what you think.

Quote from meambobbo

And its totally possible - reamp through the real amp, the kemper profile based on the real rig, and for the axe, shoot an IR of the mic'ed cab and load that into the axe using the amp model based on the actual amp used, and use identical settings.

Im not interested in anyones opinions until this is done. This discussion has become an essay contest filled with bombast and no substance

You make it sound so easy, it's really not because if someone is to follow your instructions it wouldn't be fair to the AXE FX. You need to tell the AXE FX few things about the speaker that you're shooting an IR off. At least you need to know the resonance frequency, then the shape of the impedance curve (you might need some measuring tools) and whether it's 4, 8 or 16 ohms, otherwise it's a crap shoot. Sorry about the long essays (I know I can be long winded), I hope this short response is more to the point . I almost read the AXE FX manual before I made my decision to go with the Kemper, less than one tenth of the way, I decided that electrical engineering is not for me.

Here's a link with more detail from the AXE FX WIKI, just go to speaker resonance and impedance curve to see how much these multi parameters (relating to impedance and resonance) can vary the sound so widely or wildly, it's not as simple as loading an IR if you're seeking accuracy.

http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/a…ANCE.2C_SPEAKER_IMPEDANCE