do I need to buy profiles?

Quote from pacocito

Being professional for 25 years gives you an opinion that is not better or worse than another one. It's just an opinion. I know many professionals whose tone sucks.

1) It's always better to stay polite.....

2) Just listen to the demos I posted and then decide if my tone sucks, the overall reaction in this forum (and in my jobs) is the opposite.

3) If you are a professional guitar-player for a long time (I've done about a 1.000 recording sessions), you spend much more time with your gear and tone. It has nothing to do with "better or worse", it's just a matter of experience.

4) I personally don't know any professional guitar-player whose tone sucks, and by the way: who would give him any money...

5) Critisizing is always easy, so please: let's hear something from you

I can just give advice from a metal perspecitve - If you´re into metal then it´s not really necessary to buy profiles. The commercial ones are good and there are some brilliant packs out there - however the best metal profiles I´ve played so far have all been from the forum or the rig-exchange for free. Just my 2 cents..

Quote from Hannes_ITS

I can just give advice from a metal perspecitve - If you´re into metal then it´s not really necessary to buy profiles. The commercial ones are good and there are some brilliant packs out there - however the best metal profiles I´ve played so far have all been from the forum or the rig-exchange for free. Just my 2 cents..

You're right, there are millions of metal-profiles out there, if you're lookin for good clean and crunch profiles it's different.

back to topic, guys. (I quoted the OP for your convinience)

Quote from jamme61

I like what's in the kemper but want to know if the amp factory stuff is even better?

Quote from Desiato

Don't forget - The Amp Factory's Rig Pack II is included free on the Kemper website, and is included in Firmware 2.1.0.

Here's the link. Then select the "Rig Pack" category drop down.

Desiato is right.
All rigs of the factory content that start with 'TAF' are from the Amp Factory - play them, only you can decide.
There really is no objectively better/worse, but thousands of profiles and thousands of tastes.

although, I do feel like the factory content is a little bit underappreciated.
but that's the curse of factory content.

I'll give my 2 cents to the OP

I don't think commercial or free profiles are better or worse than each other. Most of the commercial profiles are a step up to the free ones, but there are some free ones that really sound amazing.

I am mostly a high gain / metal player so take that in mind

My favourite FREE profiles:
Cadaver EVH 5150 by Jason Wan
Bogner XTC CH3 Plexi by r.u.sirius
Bulb Rhythm Patch by Justin (this one is mostly if you play a "djent" style)
Engl Powerball (EPWBIRCAB07_820) by Kosten

My favourite commercial profiles
Engl Powerball by Soundside.de
Mesa Boogie LoneStarSpecial 4x12" by Soundside.de
pretty much all the marshalls on soundside.de
Marshall JCM800 Hot Mod by theampfactory.com
Suhr Badger 30 by Soundside.de
Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier by ShainSTH

I use these often, and with no preference over the paid ones or the free ones

Quote from guenterhaas

1) It's always better to stay polite.....

2) Just listen to the demos I posted and then decide if my tone sucks, the overall reaction in this forum (and in my jobs) is the opposite.

3) If you are a professional guitar-player for a long time (I've done about a 1.000 recording sessions), you spend much more time with your gear and tone. It has nothing to do with "better or worse", it's just a matter of experience.

4) I personally don't know any professional guitar-player whose tone sucks, and by the way: who would give him any money...

5) Critisizing is always easy, so please: let's hear something from you

1) Not always. In this forum there are people from different countries and different cultures.

2) Your tone in the demos is very good but I'm sure that can be very good with stock profiles and rig exchange profiles too. I never wanted to say that your tone sucks.

5) Not from me! Just listen to TAF demos... With your experience, I'm sure you will appreciate them. Not all amps sound the same! And I'm not pretending I'm professionally profilling amps.

When I got the KPA, I was disappointed in the Stock Rig profiles. I was able to tweak the 11R (took a lot of time, but could do it) to sound better than 95% of the stock profiles un-tweaked.

The point of the KPA for me initially was to NOT tweak. But 5% of the Stock Profiles were authentic tube amp joy and I was satisfied enough until I got home (had it sent to work during the day)

When I got home, I bought Andy's. And went through the roof with how amazing the KPA could be! I still feel that way.

So I disagree with Armin on that point. The KPA should be INSPIRATIONAL and FUN. So do NOT bog yourself down with learning all the little details of how to tweak a so-so profile into a very good one.

Get GREAT ones off the bat and JAM! Then with time, you will learn all those tweaking details, more to create new sounds than turn junk into passable profiles.

One could say "Well, if you don't have that much money, it's more economical to learn how to tweak these so-so ones into very good ones" which is kinda true.

But if you are that strapped, don't buy a KPA to begin with. You saved hundreds getting the KPA over the FXII. So drop another hundred or two on some Commercial ones and Rock Out! You will NOT regret the purchase. I've probably dropped close to $1,000 on commercial rigs and I'm not regretting it. Heck, that's 1/2 of some boutique amps I've bought, and now I have hundreds of top notch amps, as profiles, in my KPA.

If the Commercial ones were not as good, or the stock ones were able to be tweaked to commercial level, the Free Exchange would be rife with them and these commercial profiles would go out of business. But commercial profiles are thriving. For a reason. They are simply better pound-for-pound. I keep 80% of the profiles I buy from Amp Factory. I keep about 50% of profiles I get from the KPA support page Rig Packs (not stock rigs of the latest pack) and of the Stock Rigs or Free Exchange? About 5%. A very awesome 5%, but a LOT of junk in there.

Start with the KPA's Rig Packs on the Support Page as they have some amazing rigs, Gundy, Andy, etc, so go THERE first!!

Quote from DonPetersen

although, I do feel like the factory content is a little bit underappreciated.
but that's the curse of factory content.

Some of the factory content is awesome but no one is promoting them by recording and mixing demos. It's a pity. Profiles like 69, Pure Blues or Ford Boost are among the best.

I just urge people to read posts like yours and check out such lists of loved profiles. This weeds out tedious hours of junk profiles.

And while Don can find beauty in stock rig profiles, I didn't buy the KPA to become a computer programmer. Been there, done that. Time to be inspired, and willing to PAY for it!

Quote from pacocito

1) Not always. In this forum there are people from different countries and different cultures.

2) Your tone in the demos is very good but I'm sure that can be very good with stock profiles and rig exchange profiles too. I never wanted to say that your tone sucks.

5) Not from me! Just listen to TAF demos... With your experience, I'm sure you will appreciate them. Not all amps sound the same! And I'm not pretending I'm professionally profilling amps.

1) Shouldn't people be polite and nice to each other regardless from their country and culture?

2) You're not right, in the beginning I tried an awful lot of profiles from RE and found only a few that I liked, the same with the Kemper presets. Now I'm using a lot from Armin, some free ones, some from TAF and some profiles from my own amps and I'm really happy with it.

3) The TAF-Demos are useless for me: a single guitar in a dropped-down-tuning with a lot of reverb? You have to hear every guitar-sound in a band-context, many profiles may sound excellent alone, but not with drums, bass, keys ect. With a lot of effects and tweaking nearly every profile may sound "well" (and very similar...).

Finally there's no rule like in real life, too. Everybody has to try and find the profiles he likes, no matter if they're free or commercial. I bought and tried a lot from TAF and I just kept the Bassman '59 and the Conford Carrera. Because Armin delivers a huge variety of profiles with every amp, I could find much more profiles that I liked, that's his big advantage. Just one example: The Plexi E alone is coming with 43 (!) different profiles, I bought the TAF-LazyJ-bundle and the whole bundle just offers 29 different profiles.

For sure there are many users who are happy the Kemper profiles and the free ones. If they have fun with it, there's no reason for them to buy commercial ones.

Quote from Hannes_ITS

I can just give advice from a metal perspecitve - If you´re into metal then it´s not really necessary to buy profiles. The commercial ones are good and there are some brilliant packs out there - however the best metal profiles I´ve played so far have all been from the forum or the rig-exchange for free. Just my 2 cents..

yes totally agree with this.also to be honest once you have a good selection of hi gains thats really all you need because they do tend to sound very similiar. although i must admit its often too hard to resist the temptation of trying out all the latest offerings. ....thats why i always seem to be hovering around the 1000 profile limit.

Lets keep this thread clean,
i just think people can chose any path/profile they wish.

Free OR commercial, there is (AND should NOT) be any competition. - we are all here for the same reason, to play guitar, enjoy and record our music. - the tools we use are for our own enjoyment, these can be found in Free or otherwise commercial from a varied choice. - you will of course get some better than others, that's totally normal. but whats great to me is perhaps terrible to others & vice versa

Tone is so subjective. I have recorded/worked with so many Famous/in-famous people who LOVE there tone but I was knocked back or even shocked in some cases (not in a good way), but yet they still sell millions of records.

So to summerise:

They are all great Factory/Free & commercial, but its how YOU make it great is the most important thing!

I really do agree with and44. Tone really is subjective.
I know that some people may like a more isolated clean sound while others may prefer a more open airy type sound.
The same thing applies itself to a mix context.
What sounds good isolated and alone may not fit or gel with the bass and drums in a mix.
You really have to choose what works best for you in the genre or style you play.

Quote from guenterhaas

1) Shouldn't people be polite and nice to each other regardless from their country and culture?

Nice yes but the meaning of polite can be very different even between european countries.

Enjoy your profiles and I will enjoy mine. We have different opinions. That's all.

That reminds me of Liberace hearing from an interviewer that some people laughed at his playing ability and him saying he laughs all the way to the bank!

Andy et al are able to do it commercially because people find their tone works.

If I had to pay separately for the stock Rig Pack on the KPA I'd be VERY disappointed, unless that was the only thing that existed. Stock, compared to other modelers, is as Don pointed out, "underappreciated".

But Andy, Armin, Pete, Gundy, etc have raised the bar on what can be expected from profiling. We all benefit.

And these guys have and some continue to give free profiles of their work. If you don't like the free ones, stop there.

100% agreed with Guenter. It's also important to keep in mind that different playing styles and guitars will react differently to the same profile. This youtube clip of a Golub crunch mod Marshall profile is one of the best tones I've heard out of a KPA. But when I tried it with my Strat, it sounded miserable. You have to match the right dish with the right sauce.

Meatsauce tasted great on pasta!

Quote from burningyen

100% agreed with Guenter. It's also important to keep in mind that different playing styles and guitars will react differently to the same profile. This youtube clip of a Golub crunch mod Marshall profile is one of the best tones I've heard out of a KPA. But when I tried it with my Strat, it sounded miserable. You have to match the right dish with the right sauce.

That's what I meant and that's why I don't like posts like "my experience with Soundside profiles is different. I don't like them......and I don't see them as professional grade profiles."

Our taste, playing-styles, guitars, monitor-situations and finally our ears are totally individual, it doesn't make sense to dismiss any profiles here. Even we don't like some profiles we should keep in mind, that other guitar-players may love them. And to rate Armin's profiles as "non-professional" is simply competitive behaviour and we don't need that.

There are a lot of great profiles available (Soundside, TAF, RE, Kemper and many more) and we can profile our own amps, too. We should be very satisfied that the KPA gives us a 1.000 amps in a small box.

There is just one right method: trying out and keeping what you like

Quote from db9091

If I had to pay separately for the stock Rig Pack on the KPA I'd be VERY disappointed

(...)

Gundy, etc have raised the bar on what can be expected from profiling.

Gundy's rigs are based on factory rigs.

Well where are the Don profiles?!?

Like I said before, I don't have time to tweak so-so profiles into Very Good Ones. There are so many already available I'll just move on to those.

BTW, want to clear up one thing: Just because I find I cannot re-create Armin's sound clips don't mean I don't like his profiles. I like many of his profiles and have bought a bunch of his amps. Just have not been able to figure out why I can reproduce Andy's but not Armin's sound clips.

It's frustrating cause I want to hear a clip BEFORE I buy it so I can reasonably rely on for my uses. I wish there was a "try before you buy" ability because of this. I have a decent number of guitars and a nice studio at home, but haven't been able to stop the issue.

If others have not had that problem, or the opposite, that would give good feedback. If they HAVE but conquered the issue, I wanna talk to you!