New User Profiling Question

bsd512 · December 31, 2017 at 9:09 PM

Sorry for the dumb question, but I am not only new to the Kemper, but also new to guitar cabinet mic'ing. I've read a lot, experimented a good bit, and am basically drinking from the fire hose on getting a good cabinet mic'd setup that in order to produce the best Kemper profile that is as close to mix-ready as I can.

I've been experimenting with a little Marshall combo amp, DSL40C using an SM57 mic, higher gain tone. I know mic placement is critical and I have a lot of work and learning to do there. But lets just consider the simplest case - mic on the grill, on axis, directly in front of the cap.

Just going direct from the mic into the Kemper reference input, it's obviously very bright and harsh in the very high frequencies. Seems pretty harsh and bright to my ears.

I've found that I can compensate for that after it's profiled by using some hi-cut in the "X" block of the Kemper.

But ... instead of doing that, is it standard practice to apply some pre-EQ between the mic and the Kemper to filter out those nasty frequencies before they ever reach the Kemper for the purposes of profiling? I do have a Helix and did that and it produced a tamer profile that was more pleasant without any Kemper post-EQ. But I don't know of I'm breaking all the rules or anything by doing this. I reasoned that if I got a really good nearly mix-ready sound out of my headphones for the amp profile setup by filtering out nasty frequencies before they reached the Kemper, that the profile itself would be better as a result. Is that the case? Do people do this?

Again, sorry if this is a dumb question, I've had my Kemper for less than a week, and I don't generally mic guitar cabinets for stage sound to FOH or for studio use. But it seemed reasonable to me that for live sound that signal would be EQ'd at the board before heading on to the FOH PA's. So why not apply that EQ between the mic and the Kemper so the FOH signal is pretty much ready to go as-is? Or nearly studio recording ready as-is? Depending on how the profile is used.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Webb · January 1, 2018 at 2:33 AM

You can definitely eq the signal prior to profiling but I think a better option would be to experiment with mic placement first. You can easily tame the harsh frequencies by moving the mic further away from the cap.

karlic · January 1, 2018 at 2:53 PM

Much better to get the sound right without processing. As Webb said, mic position first. Centre of the speaker is the brightest and edge darkest.

bsd512 · January 1, 2018 at 3:25 PM

Thanks!

MaximeLajoie · January 8, 2018 at 2:11 AM

I love experimenting with an EQ in the signal chain or the EQ section of the profiler. Almost any guitar sounds on any modern albums will have EQ to cut through the mix and be more present (especially in rock, metal, hardcore, etc.). Placing 2 microphones (one more centered and one further away) can also give you a lot of options, but be careful with the phase relationship between the 2 mics!