Clean/Distortion sense, I keep not doing this right for some reason

mikeb · December 30, 2017 at 4:41 PM

I have no idea why I have forgotten about this about 10x times but I reset my profiler about once a year for a couple reasons but mostly to get fresh profiles and thus fresh ears.. so to speak. My issue is I keep forgetting that my Seymour Duncan JB pickup is HOT for the kempers input. I always think of the JB as like mid-gain and mid output but Kemper says otherwise. Most profiles sound right and good with my distortion sense at - 6-7db!

I feel like something might be amiss with my stuff because no one seems to have this issue. The issue of course being profiles start sounding very similar because the gain is too high. -6db on my distortion sense makes this dissappear which is great but am I the only one that notices this?!

Halp

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paults · December 30, 2017 at 4:55 PM

One thing to keep in mind is the distance between the pickup and the strings has a huge impact on the output level of the pickup. You can lower the JB to lessen the output. The JB is a much higher output pickup than a PAF, especially in the area of that peak frequency that gives the JB its ability to cut through a mix.

I agree that a Distortion Sense setting of -6db or -7db makes a JB’s output similar to a traditional humbucker.

When I first bought my KPA, I discovered I needed to have my DS set to -7db to get the same sounds I was hearing in the sound clips/demos. I kept it that way until I lowered my higher output pickups, to make it easier to change guitars at gigs.

mikeb · December 30, 2017 at 5:03 PM

It's kind of screwing with my head. I mean I don't really want the JB to sound like other pickups but when the gain is too high feeding profiles, they have this nasty high end thing going on I can't stand. The other thing is changing Distortion Sense does not sound the same as turning the Gain on the particular rig down. I know.. I KNOW CK said I am wrong and my ears are wrong.

paults · December 30, 2017 at 5:16 PM

The JB has a very specific kind of high end, compared to other pickups. it used to be my preferred bridge pickup, because of that “snarl”. With a lot of gain, though, it can get nasty.

Lowering the output of the pickup wouldn’t make it sound like other pickups - it would still have its characteristic tone.

Since Distortion Sense is a Global Setting, my guess is it doesn’t have a linear ratio to individual rig gain changes. Since the KPA responds so well to input changes, it makes sense to me that it would be hard to find an exact DS setting that would match an exact rig gain change.

mikeb · December 30, 2017 at 7:14 PM

Now that is interesting actually. I wonder if more people don't realize this is the case. From asking around a bit, people just leave the input distortion sense at 0db and go on their merry way.

paults · December 30, 2017 at 7:45 PM

When I got my KPA, all of my stage guitars had the pickups adjusted to drive the front end of my Marshall. I didn’t want to adjust the guitars until I knew I would be using the KPA for gigs. Rather than adjusting every Factory and User Rig, it made sense to me to adjust just one DS Control, until I committed to using the KPA.

I ended up adjusting my guitars, and used DS=0db.

Another reason I decided to adjust the guitars: Since profiles are created with DS and CS both set at 0db, unless I had adjusted my guitars, I would have also needed to use DS at -7 for the profiles I made of my own amps to sound right.

Cili · December 30, 2017 at 8:34 PM

Clean & Distortion sense, both have an impact on how the profile will sound with other guitar and pickups and string height vs the guitar used to make a profile. At least in my case.

As soon as I lower the clean sense on -6db the sound is instantly better.

GearJocke · December 30, 2017 at 10:38 PM

Well I don't have JB's in any of my guitars, only high gain pickups. With some profilers profiles I can leave CS as it is but with others I have to lower CS about 6-7. Some profiles can sound louder than others and still I don't need to touch CS. How come?

mikeb · December 31, 2017 at 4:19 PM

I think the JB is actually a high gain pickup even though in my mind it is medium gain. That is probably where I am having issues. Still, I feel like DS could be adjusted more automatically somehow.