Posts by joshriggs

Quote from CarloLf

Or is it just a myth with this famous "Amp in a room"? After all - it is not the amp, which the profiler can replicate very well, and most of you agree with. It is the sound coming out of a box - whatever the box type is. And then: it is the "room", which can be a very different thing. Further: the surrounding sounds: at home alone or with an (extremely?) loud band (which instruments take part?) So many factors, and of course your ears or subjective factor.

Or is it the problem that guitarrists are never really satisfied with their sound (instrument, effects, amp, cabs, etc).

Good point. That's not really what I was describing, and I'm generally pretty happy with my tone though.

Quote from Wheresthedug

Probably because the Plugins are so much more profitable and they want to have their cake AND eat it by preserving this income stream. I”ve tried a few of the plugins on the free 14 day trial but didn’t like them at all as they were too focused/tight/modern/metal for me (probably due to Nolly doing all the IRs) but I can see why some people might like them. As you said though, I think they shot themselves in the foot with the greed strategy.

Yeah, I think this is likely. They could do like Line 6 does with Helix and Helix Native - if you buy the hardware, you get a big discount on the plugin. If you already own the plugin it should be free on the hardware.

Then there's the conundrum of why buy a plugin (say, Archetype Nolly) when the QC has Bogner Shiva, JCM800, 5150, and Victory Kraken models?

Quote from sambrox

I think a big part of them not offering the plugins is also licensing. I’m sure that each individual Archetype plug-in has its own licensing deal with the artist in question, most likely exclusive to the plug-in format and not hardware. That would be a huge can of worms to work out individually with each artist after the fact, especially considering that they probably all have other exclusive deals with hardware producers that would cause conflicts.

Maybe. But STL Tones seems to have that figured out. They sell their artist packs as both hardware and software packs.

Quote from BayouTexan

Amp in the room sound is raw. Amp in the mix sound is polished and smooth. Maybe this is what your ears have become accustomed to.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I did spend some more time tweaking later last night and got some better tones. Or maybe my ears just got used to it.

I think it's similar to when people get their first modeler / profiler and it sounds bad to them ("digital and shrill" 😂) because they're not used to a recorded sound. Except in reverse for me.

It's just been so long since I played a tube amp cranked in a big room (my last one was a Mesa Rectoverb 50 head, with the same cab I have now), so I don't have a good baseline to compare it to. About a year ago I bought a 5150 III 50w head but never got to use it with a band because Delta. I did a bunch of comparison tests between it and my Kemper with a 5150 III profile, both through my cab at loud bedroom levels, and they sounded nearly identical. So I really do think it's my ears readjusting.

I've been following the QC since it was announced and have several friends who own one. Frankly, I think NDSP really botched the launch and just doesn't have good product management. It's been available for what, a year and a half, and still doesn't have basic features that its competitors all have. Still no desktop editor. And why they didn't launch with the amps from their plugins is beyond me. They have the models, seems like that would have been the first thing they launched with and a unique selling point. So far they just seem to provide vague answers and updates, all while new plugins are coming out at a pretty fast pace.

I'll be interested when I can get one that isn't marked up by 700% or have to wait 6 months, and when they have a desktop editor.

I think they should have waited until it was more developed to announce and launch it. My guess is that they severely underestimated the complexity of the product and learned a hard lesson in product development.

For the last 2 years, I've been doing a ton of recording and producing, and have recorded several songs with my Kemper Stage. It sounds fantastic for everything I use it for. Well today for the first time in about a year, I played my Kemper Stage through my Powerstage 170 and Avatar 2x12 cab at stage volume in my new house's garage. It sounded like 💩. I used this exact same setup for a couple practices with my band before Covid hit in 2020, but I remember being happy with it at the time.

Of course all the prerequisites, yes I had monitor cab off, yes I tried several rigs including the ones I record with, yes, I adjusted definition and clarity, yes, I know about Fletcher Munson curve, yes I was creating the tones at the volume I was playing at, yes I play a mix of clean, pushed, and high gain chugga chug.

Is it possible I just forgot what the sound of an amp in the room sounds like? The sound was just kinda honky and flat, and not beefy yet articulate, like I'm used to hearing on recording. Has anyone else experienced something like this after only playing in the studio for a long time?

As stated above, if you wanna be able to switch between different speaker sounds, go FRFR. If you like the sound of a single cab, use your 4x12. Where it gets a lil hairy is if you wanna use your cab for stage volume but go direct to the house PA. Then you just need to find a speaker preset that sounds close enough to your real cab to send to the house. Not that difficult, just takes some time to test things.

Some people really need to have that feeling of a speaker cab pushing air. I've spent a lot of time mixing and producing lately and I hear things differently than I did when I only played guitar in a live situation. So to me, that thump of 4x12 air isn't as important since I know I'm literally the only one who will notice it at a live show. And everything sounds like garbage in our shitty little rehearsal room so why be picky about rehearsal tone? 😂

+1

At this point, modern manufacturing is modern manufacturing wherever you go in the industrialized world (human rights abuses of course is it's own topic), so it's not a surprise to me that a guitar made in Indonesia with good parts and components would be excellent quality. This idea that guitar gear made in Asia is poor quality is severely outdated in my opinion, and mostly comes from old experiences where the parts and components used were sub par, not the manufacturing itself.

Quote from runningondunkin

Are you using a toaster or rack with remote? I thought the stage already did this.

Nope, I have a stage, and it only does it when connected to rig manager.

Quote from flyingheelhook

Don't mind the fanboys - they'll argue with anyone who comes up with legitimate criticism.

It's starting to sound like the Fractal forums in here. 😆

Quote from Ruefus

‘Modern’ does not mean better.

For you, maybe. Not for me. Clearly we have different tastes. 😁

Quote from christianbad

page 284:

✓While navigating Slots within a Performance via the <PAGE> buttons of the PROFILER Stage, or the left and right RIG navigation cross buttons of the other PROFILER variants, any modifications (e.g. loading another Rig, or cranking up Gain) are interpreted as editing, and will be retained until you move to another Performance. Don’t forget to store before you load another Performance, if you want to make those modifications permanent.

Performance Mode 284

✓As soon as you load another Slot from your foot controller, or foot buttons of the PROFILER Remote or Stage, any former modifications within that Performance are interpreted as temporary tweaks during a live performance and will be discarded immediately. If, for example, you had activated a booster in module B, or increased Delay Mix via pedal, any such changes will be lost if you switch Slots remotely. This way, you can always be sure that Slots will be loaded in their original, predictable state during live performances.

✓However, there is an exception to this practice: While Rig Manager is connected, any modifications are interpreted as editing and maintained during Slot changes as long as you stay within the same Performance.

Right, so I don't play with rig manager connected and don't intend to, which is why I made this post. 😁

Quote from musicmad

It's a documented feature.

I've not seen a way to do this mentioned in the manual and I've read it several times. Can you please link me to any docs on it?

Quote from octopus

Suppose you could choose a Telecaster for free.

a 1953

a 1973

a 1993

or a 2013

Which one would you take?

Display More

If we're not talking about which one to sell for the most ridiculous price, I'll take the most modern version with a 6-saddle bridge, wider neck radius, and locking tuners all day. And HH or HS configuration. 🤷

Quote from jon9max

The Telecaster has been same for 72years. Still going strong. Sometimes they get it right the first time.

The brand name and general body style of the Tele has been around for 72 years, yes. But there have been hundreds of variations over the years, and unless you get an American Original model, they're very different than what you would have bought in the 1950s. Now you can get them with locking tuners, 12" neck radius, noiseless pickups, HH configuration, even a Floyd Rose. That's the point we're trying to make - there can be modern hardware updates to meet the needs of new customers and stay competitive while also keeping the vibe of what made the original great.

Quote from Simon S

if you connect your laptop with usb and open the rig manager while you are playing, it will solve your problem. i use this workaround for playing live.

Thanks! I don't really consider that a viable option because I need my laptop and usb for other things in a live set. Seems like it would be an easy fix if it already does it as a bug when connected to USB. 🤣

You can set the BPM manually to match the DAW project tempo.

Also keep in mind that a professionally recorded song will have so many additional variables that shape the guitar tone. Not just the guitar, amp, mic, speaker, and room acoustics, but how the guitar tracks were layered, EQ and compression added in the mixing process, and additional EQ, comp, and limiting added in mastering.

Speaking of layering, it's a common practice to record multiple guitar tracks of the same part using different guitars and different amps. So what you hear on the final product will likely be several amps and several guitars layered at once.

Heck, even pick choice drastically affects tone. So my point is like others above = try to get in the same ballpark, but don't stress about getting it identical, because you can't.

I have a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170, and it does the job. A little mid heavy, but I can easily dial it back with the onboard EQ.

My personal opinion is that a tube power amp isn't necessary. The Kemper is already profiling a tube amp's power section, so that's like putting tubes on tubes. But if it works for you, that's all that matters!