Hey everybody,
So I bought the toaster, it's a marvel of engineering. I did a quick test at the end of the week (last week) with an EVH 5150 III profile played "unchained" direct into my Api board thought a Burl A/D/A and it sounded pretty insane (I had an hour to unbox plug it in and quickly do this). Listening more closely now there's a bit of that un-natural high mid stuff...
https://www.tiktok.com/@neilshreds/vi…bapp=v1&lang=en
But this past week I spent a ton of time going through profiles in rig manager by Amp type then googled a ton and tried M. Britt (all free stuff) Guido Bungenstock and a host of others. I found some decent sounding stuff but there seemed to be a general harshness in the top end (upper mids) coming out of the Kemper regardless.
I realize that the Kemper is a close mic'd version of the amps (profiled) and that adding too much gain and other interal Kemper fx can stretch the limits of a profile and/or the Kemper's "goodness". I ended up putting a Dangerous audio "BAX" eq right after my Profiler before it went into my API and that helped by cutting 3-5 db of top end. I also notice a lot of the profiles fall apart when you roll the volume down, they sound like they have an auto wah or a noise gate acting badly (when they are either "OFF" or totally removed).
I'm using a PRS custom 24 10 top gtr so it's not the guitar. Just for reference, I have an orange rockerverb 50 head that I was using with a 4 x 12 mesa cab and a Mesa dual rectifier that runs through an 80's 4 x 12 marshall cab prior to the kemper. Here's my Mesa dual Rec through the marshall mic'd w/ a 421 into an API but recorded in the room not through DAW (my CR doesn't have a computer in it for recording at the moment)
https://www.tiktok.com/@neilshreds/vi…bapp=v1&lang=en
I heard a shootout by "the captain" on youtube where the kemper won over the amp 6 out of 6 times! and I was sold and I had to get it. I am looking for a solid solution to record guitar stuff for social media (for fun) instead of blasting a track through some genelecs in my live room and balancing my live amps against them, then recording it into my phone with a shure iphone mic . (long story why i'm not just mic'ing and recording them in my control room at this point) Anyway that's not an option right now so back to the kemper questions.
I'm monitoring through Genelec speakers in one room and ATC's in another, I have a back round in recording engineering so I'm aware of overloading A/D's or driving the output of the kemper too much or the input channel on my API too hot (although that often sounds really nice w/ a live mic on a crunchy amp tone). I've also tried a couple of distortion pedals on the input which help a bit (i'm trying to get good crunchy rhythm tones and lead tones) VH, Ozzy, Journey, Ac/Dc, Megadeth, Slipknot, Kansas etc. am I expecting too much compared to a tube amp and cab?
I've since bought 2 packs this weekend from michael britt (D pack and Pack 1) since i'm not at my studio i'm running the kemper into a fender delux reverb's "normal" channel at a balanced level and low volume just to practice and mess around. more testing on Monday! But, I am curious about other's experiences here? I've had my partners come in and listen and agreed about the high mid harshness so I don't think totally I'm crazy . Is it all about the profiles you choose or buy? I really want this to work! I watched Rabea on a few different tutorials and comparisons they sound better to me.
I know there's a lot here so sorry and thanks in advance!
Best,
Neil