Before you buy Commercial Rigs and Profiles check out the Rig Manager for Rig Packs and Rig Exchange

ST · January 10, 2021 at 4:20 AM

New Kemper Profiler owners often rush out to buy Commercial Rigs and Profiles. Before you do, check out the Rig Packs in Rig Exchange.

This is a fantastic way to try free Rigs and Profiles from some of the best commercial sources.

People occasionally observe that Rigs and Profile demos on Youtube do not sound the same when they buy them and run them. Using the free Rig Packs - you can play the real thing with your guitars and signal chain.

And there are some real gems in Rig Exchange from other Kemper Profiler owners.

You can sort by any column heading (Tag). In the image below, I have sorted the Rigs by Crowd Rating. Try sorting by Amp Name or Author or Gain.

You can search by various criteria (Tags).

Click in the Search Box to open your search options.

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And you can find all the Kemper Manuals in Rig Manager Help.

Cheers!

ST

paults · January 10, 2021 at 5:25 AM

Agreed!

Finally · January 10, 2021 at 5:42 AM

More agreement!

You should be able to make excellent sounds using the factory profiles. Once you really learn how to make it sound great in any situation you can grab the extra ones that you need.

Wheresthedug · January 10, 2021 at 8:48 AM

another agreement here. Hope you weren’t trying to be controversial ?

Great tutorial too. This should be a pinned post and compulsory reading for everyone.

1Towneley · January 10, 2021 at 10:47 AM

agree 100%. I have been disappointed with many commercial profiles. Few things I have learned as a relative newbie...

1. Pay no attention to YouTube demos. They won't sound like this for your setup.

2. Use rig volume. High gain profiles especially. These really open up for me.

3. Bedroom volume tone does not equal live tone. I have rigs that sound awful quiet but amazing cranked.

4. Use the studio eq. Limit low freqs & use high freq gain. I've transformed rigs with this.

5. Persevere. You could literally try thousands of rigs without "being happy". Remember most of us are coming from tube amps with one set of tones that we were "happy with".

deadman42 · January 10, 2021 at 11:46 AM

Great post ST, fully agree as well

Additionally it can be beneficial for newbies to scroll trough this thread and get some inspiration for RigExchange gems: What are "your" hidden gems in Rig Exchange?

Quote from 1Towneley

3. Bedroom volume tone does not equal live tone. I have rigs that sound awful quiet but amazing cranked.

This! Importance of Fletcher/Munson effects and differences of the sound perception created through different volumes (and potentially monitoring alternatives) can not be emphasized enough.

Ingolf · January 10, 2021 at 12:15 PM

Absolutely agree!

ajmxbend · January 10, 2021 at 1:48 PM

Thanks for the info about the User Manuals in the Help menu item. Very useful!

Rayosytruenos · January 11, 2021 at 1:14 AM

Yes.

Maurizio70 · January 11, 2021 at 1:55 AM

Well said! The best tip for new kemper owners!

Monkey_Man · January 11, 2021 at 2:10 AM

Agree 100%.

If I could start again today I'm sure I would save a lot of time and money knowing what I know now.

Sollazzon · January 11, 2021 at 8:49 AM

+1

kevinduren · January 11, 2021 at 2:30 PM

Quote from 1Towneley

3. Bedroom volume tone does not equal live tone. I have rigs that sound awful quiet but amazing cranked.

Agreed. And, I have had the opposite happen also: rigs that sounded great in my headphones, FRFR, and ear monitors had way too much top and/or bottom when cranked through a PA.

Another consideration for new users: I have come around from the school of ,"if the rig isn't quite right, find a rig that is" to " if the rig is close, then tweak it to what I want".

I think two factors lead me to that change:

I realized that profiles that someone else could make sound amazing, did not sound as great with my rig, me playing, etc., etc. And believe me, I really really tried.

And, I've finally worked enough with the Kemper to grasp what most of the setting do and realized I knew how to manipulate things to my liking.

0l4fw3mp3 · January 16, 2021 at 3:32 PM

Quote from 1Towneley

3. Bedroom volume tone does not equal live tone. I have rigs that sound awful quiet but amazing cranked.

This is a myth: a myth that the Kemper eliminates. Tube amps sound different when cranked, the Kemper is a digital device where output volume is just a setting.

Your final output volume might affect your tone if your guitar interacts with that output (feedback), but the Kemper is not a factor in this. It will sound the same at any output volume. It is not a tube amp.

You might want to look into Fletcher-Monson curves to understand why things sound different at different volume levels.

unclemar · January 16, 2021 at 3:40 PM

YEP what he said,110%

Wheresthedug · January 16, 2021 at 6:38 PM

Quote from 0l4fw3mp3

This is a myth: a myth that the Kemper eliminates. Tube amps sound different when cranked, the Kemper is a digital device where output volume is just a setting.
Your final output volume might affect your tone if your guitar interacts with that output (feedback), but the Kemper is not a factor in this. It will sound the same at any output volume. It is not a tube amp.
You might want to look into Fletcher-Monson curves to understand why things sound different at different volume levels.

its not a myth but I think you are actually agreeing with the OP. The way we hear at low volume is different than at high volume (which is what the qlequal loudness curves that Fletcher and Munsen plotted show). Therefore, a rig that is EQd to sound great at bedroom volume will tend to sound way to bassy and bright at gig volume. Of course this isn't the fault of the Kemper but ut is still a fact that affects every amp including the Kemper.

Rayosytruenos · January 17, 2021 at 9:49 AM

Quote from 0l4fw3mp3

Kemper is not a factor in this. It will sound the same at any output volume. It is not a tube amp.
You might want to look into Fletcher-Monson curves to understand why things sound different at different volume levels.

Those sentences don't seem compatible to me

Monkey_Man · January 17, 2021 at 10:45 AM

I think you were joking mate, but in case you weren't or for anyone who doesn't "get it":

A tube amp's sound breaks up / distorts the harder you push the output. The Kemper's doesn't.

1Towneley · January 17, 2021 at 7:42 PM

there is certainly a qualitative difference as you increase the rig volume. Not just volume but I can hear the characteristics change (for high gain read: improve). This is apparent over even quite small increases.

Very common for me to get a profile loaded, think "seriously?", then tweak & go "shit now we're talking".

Wheresthedug · January 17, 2021 at 9:34 PM

Quote from 1Towneley

there is certainly a qualitative difference as you increase the rig volume. Not just volume but I can hear the characteristics change (for high gain read: improve). This is apparent over even quite small increases.
Very common for me to get a profile loaded, think "seriously?", then tweak & go "shit now we're talking".

that’s just the way our ears perceive frequencies at different volumes and/or the acoustics of the room being excited by the volume. The profile itself doesn’t change.