Posts by Alfahdj

My latest 2 adquisitions, My Gibson SG standard 75 on stock tarback pickups, a Norlin gem that resonates like crazy unplugged. And at the right, my newest Schecter solo ii custom, this one looks like a prototype, the pasadena stocks are one of the jucier pickups I have tried, the pasadena plus stays at volume 7, has so much range in the volume knob that I can go from clean, to classic rock, to hard rock, to modern distortion. Just fantastic. I bought the schecter as I needed to cover the SG for traveling, as I dont want to risk it, but turns out they are really different monsters, did not solve the problem, but damn, I am satisfied.

Uff, totally in for the Brown bag experiment, this weekend I am buying these. Now I get your past questions. I had an old fender "something" 150 solid state amp (cant even remember what it was named, had a black badge with a 150 on it), took pedals as a champ, so I have recorded with it several times, and people tought it was a princeton or something. Now that amp is lost, but I miss it, it is part of my own story.

I guess this amp will be something ridiculous or obscure, but I am totally in for good sounds, and once I try it, I wont tell what I think it is, but I can guess the price of the profiled amp. Should be a nice experiment.

I have to say this is the last profile pack I might be buying from TJ, it is all over the place, the amp sounds good, but the cabs with the different speakers are totally wrong, sounds too far away even for a 4x12, high end is too shrill in half of the profiles. I dont like it even after the F treatment, for me is a great idea done wrong. I had better luck with the twin reverb and ac30/6, but this was a very expensive pack which I have to change the cab section on any profile to be usable.

Quote from Delinquent

To my knowledge the KPA does have the power required to drive AKG 701’s to there full potential, my iPhone does not.

KPA headphone spec’s are 32-600 ohms, 330 mW @ 32 ohms, 220 mW @ 600 ohms

The AKG are 62ohms it will be more than the 200mW required that is the limit of the 701’s design and supply enough volume to reach the desired spl without distortion, let’s say around 112-115db for most of us.

I’m no engineer and the math and science is beyond my abilities but it was elegantly explained to me once, by somebody whose more then qualified to offer an opinion, don’t be fooled by unicorns and fairy dust especially by those that have an invested reason to promote it.

Exceeding the power limits of design does not have an effect on the openess and sonic performance of pair of headphones.

Having said that they can have different sound qualities depending upon the design and components chosen.

Just my 2 cents of course, quite happy to be wrong, my ex-wife made a career out of it.

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You are almost right, in theory, the K701 with its 62 Ohms are able to be run from the kemper, only left is to factor its LOOOW sensitivity, which makes them demand more power as you reach the peak headroom of the dB carpet, once enough power is supplied, the treble frequencies start to recede and mids and lows go up to balance with them. If you drive the K701 with poor power, you have a very poor and cold performace. That is why it is mentioned K701 are difficult to drive properly, and that sometimes they are shrill and sibilant. Dont misunderstand me, I think they sound fine with the kemper, not great, but fine. Anddd they are wonderful cans, not my favorite pair, but I am not selling them ever.

Quote from Delinquent

The KPA’s headphone amp may not be the best in the world but it’s better then most, quite capable of running hungry cans usually associated with needing a dedicated amp.

But I feel the OP’S problem may be in monitoring..

I personally use a set of AKG 701 ( mmm might be 702’s) straight from the KPA headphone out, used to go via a dedicated amp but found it not necessary.

These cans translate beautifully to the Kemper Kab, no need for tweaking.

I do have AKG 701 (they came only in white with gray padding, just so you can identify if they are 701 or not) and they can be driven with the Kemper amp, thing is you dont get good separation (if you get stereo effects in there) and enough juice for the amp to let the lows and highs bloom. Still, totally viable to run them from the kemper. I normally use DT770 pro, and T90s, but same, they can be driven, but the quality its no great. On other cases like with M50s, or SR60s, the kemper is more than enough. You have to experiment tough.

To be fair, for hearing a single instrument, nothing like monitors at head level or a real cab, you need some spaciousnes to really appreciate the tone of the amp. But for mixing, I am one of the few that actually mix with headphones more than studio monitors.

Quote from DavidGruber

It's heresy, I know, but I was kind of hoping to use this for practice and selling my Kemper, which I basically just use for practice. I don't gig or record and I don't need to model. If Kemper could make a similar, simpler device, I think they'd sell a million. Image a self-contained unit like the Spark with a speaker, bluetooth and the sound engine of the Kemper. Load and tweak profiles, but no modeling. Maybe someday.

Companies like Kemper do not have a market for cheap versions of their products, they are a relatively small german company, for cheap products you go for volume more than margin. Its no line 6, Bias, Behringher or Boss. Granted, I would love a "hx stomp sized kemper" for example, or a practice amp with integrated kemper functionality, but I dont see it happening.

On the esthetic side of things, I believe the binding does emphasize the color of the fretboard, the darker, the nicer it looks with binding. Black binding is a no no for me (seen several guitars like that). Also on the body, good and well done binding is wonderful to look at, its like an small piece of jewelry embeded into the guitar.

Now, on the functional side of things, neck binding has been used to hidde proper fretwork, as normally frets do not extend to the binding border, not the case of gibsons for example as they even have to polish frets to the point of perfection for the binding to properly fit the nibs. Some chineses assembly have poor binding and poorer fretwork, then I dont liken it.

All in all, it is like the black ouline on old cartoons, it makes everything look more refined and present. I like it a lot, but I prefer it off on maple and rosewood fender-like necks that have succulent fretwork.

Fralin´s are plenty clear and glass-like. Maybe you are missing the upper high impact obtained from a cab, and not a monitor itself. I have a 92 american standard strat, I can testify you should be able to get the "fender crisp tone" from the Brigth chanel twinery verb package profile from tone junkies (that thing is free). Most commercial headphones have a severily lacking uper mids and highs, which is where the fender chime resides in. I hope you get the chance to try studio monitors, or frfrs, that way you will clearly hear what it is supposed to sound like.

Another thing is the kemper does not have the best headphone amp in the world, hence, high end headphones are not going to get the best results, if I am using headphones, normally I go line level out to my lake people G109A, with a couple of HPs. Otherwise, FRFR with a small subwoofer

Quote from lonestargtr

Curiosity question...

How important is knowing what amp is being profiled? Is it vital to know what amp is making the sound you are hearing or is just hearing a great sound enough? I mean, most profilers already change the names so as not to infringe on copyrights. Is it just in the "knowing" the amp brand/model or do you just listen to the tone with no care about what amp it is?

To be honest, I have never purchased a profile pack for a single amp, as I am not after one specific tone, I hear demos and look to what I have and what I dont, and based on what I hear, I decide to get a pack. Normally I just go over the collection of profiles, start checking every profile, and keep the ones I like, even if I dont know what am I playing (I use my strat, my Sg, my C1 fr with most profiles before start deleting). I never heard or looked after a TopHat amp before until I came across the one in the 2020 pack, and now I know if I would ever have the money, I would buy one of those.

Played a silversky on a music store, not trough a kemper, but my experience is a mixed bag. On one side, it has a more PRS like neck, fretwork is perfect, it isn´t flatter than your normal fender (its a 7.25"), and a bith thicker. A bit thicker than your typical strat, but nowhere close to your Gibson neck. Very playable tough, it reminded me to my schecter Solo 2 custom.

Second, pickups are thicker sounding than your strat, not hot like a Texas custom, but more fullbodied than a 69 vintage set. Nice presence, but not sure they are everyones cup of tea.

On the other side, theres is not really a whole lot to justify the extra, I feel the beefier neck feels disjointed with the guitar design, the finish is great but way too flashy for me (nebula), and the bridge is a run of the mill tremolo, nothing special about it. I did not feel it was worth the extra money, you are better of with a custom shop fender if you really want an strat.

But hey, it is my opinion, I bet someone else will tell you the neck is the best thing ever, and the pickups are magical, thats fine, but they werent for me.

Quote from CarlosCDQ

Code

Good afternoon Kemper users. Until today I have been playing my kemper stage through a focusrite sound card without any problem. I found being able to reamp very interesting and recently purchased a behringer umc1820 audio interface with spdif input and output. I am not able to make it work, I have seen some videos and read manuals but I cannot make it work. Can anybody help me? I am using logic pro. Thank you very much!

For some reason this interface has a labeling error in the front, where there is a button with the Spdif/ADATA label, that buttong in pressed position is supposed to activate the ADATA connection, while depressed is the Spdif. What in reality does is, pressed activate both digital I/O, but just one at a time ( I believe it was an early software update, but it is not well documented). Once you get that online, go to your setting of the Interface, and where you select the clock source, you should see the local clock, Spdif (if it is connected correctly to your kemper) clock, and ADATA clock. Afterwards, go to inputs and outputs in your software and enable the last ones (9 and 10 is the inputs for Spdif if I remember correctly). I hope this helps you out.

Quote from Dimi84

With Kemper also, gain can be increased above the amp's regular range (not that you don't know this -- and cool things can be accomplished with KPA that way) at least after profiling. Or with axe FX you can modify the amp sim in such a manner to get more gain than the stock model left untouched, certainly.

You can do things like increas the compresion, tube sag, and transient response, but in the kemper, all those (including the gain) are predetermined by the stock software, they behave in an stablish known manner, like the gain, if you ever profile an amp of your own, you will understand what the profiler does when you turn up the gain higher than initially intended, it does an stimation of the gain increase. In real amps, and models by that matter, the increase of gain is non linear, and also changes some other characteristics of the output, specially the compression and the low end are affected in particular ways from amp to amp.

Still pretty impresive what the kemper does, but I gotta give these details to the modeling guys as the Axe, they model even the eq respons on the knobs of the actual amp, that is cool, and cannot be achieved so far with profiling due to the nature of the process. May be later with interpolation of parameters in the profiling session, but who knows...

I am calling it, in the future, we will get some pretty know records where your Marshall 69 profiles, LDW one and the Top Hat, will be used, and it will take aaaages to know it. They are that good.

Quote from ColdFrixion

Yes, it does. This is a quote from Christoph Kemper:

"Profiling is a sort of automated modeling, where a very complex base model of a generic guitar amp is filled with settings that finally form a specific amp model." -Source

"a sort of automated modeling" its him trying to put on simple words what the profiler does without start speaking about digital control algorithms and observable domain transfer funtions to a random press which is asking "what does your product do?". I am 99% sure kemper profiling technology is based into transfer function reproduction, and not modelling, 2 aproaches, as I explained, completely different from one another.

Also I could quote the kemper guys telling again and again and again that this is not a modeler, but a profiler, and that adds up to their approach, Modeling, it isnt

Quote from ColdFrixion

A model is a representation or simulation of something. The accuracy/authenticity thereof determines how closely the model conforms to the original. Good meteorological models, for example, accurately simulate the weather. As such, accuracy/authenticity is important. Of course, not all amp models are based on actual amp designs, but for those that are, what's the point of creating a model that's based on a real-world amplifier if the goal isn't to be as accurate/authentic to the original as possible?

It should also be mentioned that the Kemper uses amp models, as well.

To be precise, kemper does not uses models, to the ones that know maths, kemper is reproducing the transfer funtion of a mic in front of an amp, using the mic as an observation feedback for the output, with a known signal over time. It is incredibly genious, but still difficult to achieve due to the nitty gritty of Z domain for digital transfer funtions.

Modelling an amp is more in line with actually using mathematical models, where they simulate the electric chain with basic mathematical models, and start tweaking the model element by element until the same input, generates the desired equal output under the same conditions, even after modifications on the variables of the math model.

Two worlds completely appart, Kemper give us a blackbox that reproduces as intended, without knowing whats inside, while fractal/bias/helix, go on modeling even the internal components, where technically you can modify the capacitors and tubes on the supposedly modelled amp, but at the cost of negligible less accuracy, as this is more a trial an error aproach.

Try super distortions, they have an organic sound with good mids for lead playing, in the bridge you can also go for EVO2, they are a tamed version of the evolutions, theses work wonders for metal tones, as they have a ton of definition and crunch sounding uper mids. Im a dimarzio guy when looking for new pickups, good quality and great definition overall.

I disagree totally, CAB is the overall output eq curve, AMP is dynamics, response and colour of the sound. In studio you can push your limits and make an 1x12 cab sound like a 4x12 with good eq processing, but you cannot get the reaction from a breaking point fender deluxe in a mesa boogie mark IV, thats just silly.

Also, you are comparing 2 high gain amps with very similar amp structure, maybe same tubes, who really knows?

Will a 4x12 greeback celestions cab make your twin sound like a marshall? no it wont, thats why its always a 50/50, if you like a tight sound, you go to a 2x12, you want a big sound with more low end, you go 4x12, you want a very focused mid sound, 1x12 is where its at. The nuances between speakers give you spikes and cuts here and there, but it is in the end, an eq for the overall output.

If you are using a mic in the studio to mic your FRFR, you are technicly double Micing your rig, lol. Headrush sounds fine for monitoring or performing, but if you want to "mic" your kemper, you need the power amp and an actual cabinet. Otherwise, record directly from the XLR outs, cause micing the FRFRs will result in a very shallow or hollow sound.

I will give you a tip before you start gassing all over the internet for your next purchase in the seeking of great tone.

First discover your bottleneck, if from the kemper directly to any other source you find it sounds like bliss, then, the next step will be your soundcard. Going digidal via spdif is one choice, but any interface with decent preamps will give you great results, the line out of the kemper is quiet and has enough Vrms per channel, so preamp wont colour the sound too much. Now you should try headphone outs and direct outs to any other sources, if you find your headphones lacking in comparison to direct outs to your studio monitors, then maybe are your HP, or the Headphone preamp/Amp in your interface (dont freak, many good interfaces get away with the bare minimum on the monitoring headphone department, as studios monitors are most of the time the standard), then you can resolve if the headphones are the problem, if your kemper doesnt drive them enough, turn off the separation in the kemper to compare directly with the audio interface out at the same volume and check if your HP sound different or less ballsy in the interface, if thats the problem, get yourself a Headphone amp and use the line outs in your interface to feed the preamp.

Last suggestion, check what others use, one of the most common combos around here, are Scarlett interfaces with a DT770 pro 80 Ohm or Audiotechnicas M50s.

Quote from Phil10220

Get Gilmour Brick 2 solo from Burningyen, with some mod you are very closed to EJ saturated sound with a strat .

Sick profile, use it too, might work as well with some tweaks.