Posts by mtmartin71

Quote from lonestargtr

I'm not sure why there is so much variation other than to say the Kemper isn't just capturing an IR, which is typically just done using a sine wave sweep. Changing the controls on the amp, even doing merged profiles, will alter the final cab capture. I can do a whole set of profiles with the mics in the same position, just changing the amp controls and the cabs won't be identical. My guess is that the profiling algorithm is complicated enough that there are so many variables that every minor change makes a difference in the finished product. I know it's a bit of a rabbit-hole, but swapping cabs can yield good results sometimes. It can help fix a not-so-great amp profile sometimes. But I haven't found a one-size-fits-all cab that works for everything yet. With the number of profiles I've made using the same speaker cabinet you'd think I'd found the magic one by now but it's so subjective and every day is a little different. I always try new profiles out live or at soundcheck but I keep going back to a few that just work best with the band. And they aren't necessarily the ones I think sound the best at home or while recording. Different profiles for different applications.

Thanks a ton and that was what I was guessing would be the case. Thanks for confirming. Some of the IRs that came from your profiles...whether Studio or Merged...really click for me. I really like the 69 Marshall Plexi 50 4x12. Also dig the IR made with the Jubilee and your 2x12. For the most part, I've stayed out of the rabbit hole and just used what you made the studio profiles with.

I can give you some of my experiences so far:

• I'm not sure that it matters much between breaking out studio profiles i.e. turning off the cab and running the profile to your existing physical cab or using the merged profile. The merged profile or a direct profile made with no cab should be more accurate, but it was made likely with a certain cab attached to it so whether it's "accurate" will be different than whether it sounds good or "right". My experimenting seems to suggest you can use studio or direct/merged profiles to run to your real cab and get good results. I prefer using direct profiles or ones I made myself. They're easy to do well. I think studio profiles are much harder because it's about mic technique, the room, etc. I stick with MBritt studio profiles for that and use his IRs
• If you go FRFR, 3rd party cab/IRs are hit and miss. They sound different. I loved Ownhammer IRs when I had an AxeFX and they really worked well for that. Here, the Kemper IRs don't sound good to my ears. IRs created with the Kemper whether through studio or direct/merged profiles sound "right" which makes sense. But, I'm thinking that there is a some au jus from the amp pairing that follows the IR and vice versa, some au jus of the IR that follows into the amp profile. That seems to happen on any type of profile. Case in point...the IRs of the same MBritt cabs and speaker but different amps all sound different. Some dramatically different. Even accounting for different mic placement, the mics, cab and speaker are all the same so this shouldn't be the case unless there's a trickle effect. Goes back to my original point on the bullet above. It can still sound good if you figure out which flavor you like or you're pairing an IR made with a like amp to the amp-only profile you have.

It can be a cop-out to say, but the old adage of "use your ears" applies here. Studio or merged can split out the way you want to sound good and serve either purpose.

One thing I'm still interested in...if anyone knows...is why the wide variation in the cab IR sound of the same cab/speaker on different amps? It's just as I asked in my OP. Anyone know?

FWIW...I actually found a non-merged profile cab that really fit with it from the MBritt catalog. I separated out the Orange AD30 to pair with my profile of the Orange OR50. I also played with the clarity, tube shape, compression, etc. (which I hadn't touched) and dialed in a profile that really sounds good. What I like about it is I set the amp the way I wanted to hear it when playing and now through pairing with the MBritt cabs, it fits into the same sonic space but is more "my sound" if you will. More testing will have to come from live work but the results feel good so far. I've found that playing by myself though...even loud...doesn't really reveal things until I get into a band mix.

So I've been doing direct profiles of the pre-amp/power-amp of some different amp heads. I did one of an Orange OR-50 and sold that. I did the profile with my own Port City 2x12 Vertical OS attached. I did not have the right mics and room (or experience) to try a studio profile that was going to do any better than the MBritt stuff and I've kind of standardized on his profiles in terms of my live rigs. The profile sounds great and accurate through my Matrix and the cab that was attached. It got me to thinking...If the merged profiles are made by separating the amp from the cab better, couldn't I just take the one pack of MBritt merged profiles (he did this on the JCM800 pack) and pair up the CL80 versions of those cab IRs to my direct profile? It sounds good actually, but, each cab IR of the same cab/speaker sounds different per profile that I pulled from...one noticeably from the other two. If the merged process separates the amp/cab more cleanly than the studio process, then why so much variation in the tone of the what is the same cab and speaker? Could it simply be variations of where he mic'd the speaker for each session, or is it the load...something else? Just curious.

Thanks guys. That was what I was leaning towards too!

I'm playing on a big stage tonight where there will be a sound guy and house equipment. To this point, I've just used the Kemper with our own system and used my own wedge to monitor (going direct) my signal and the rest of the band. I'm sure they'll have a monitor there for me tonight. I could just ask for my entire mix through that...or I can bring my wedge and run the monitor out (with IR on) just to have my sound coming back at me. Would be more similar to a ream amp set up except my real amp is wedged in front and pointing up at me. Thoughts? Is this overkill? Most of you who play direct on large stages just roll with the house monitor for everything on stage?

Quote from skoczy

I have successfully imported new DELAY presets.And among them there is REVERSE DELAY:
[Blocked Image: https://s9.postimg.org/4pcu6ud9b/vvvv.jpg]

So I figured it out. Can't import in Performance mode. Went to Browser mode and got em on my Kemper.

I'm having problems importing the new presets. Two different USB sticks. Both reformatted and cleaned. I try to bring the presets over into the shared folder and the only options I get when I go to "External Storage" are "Backup/Restore" and "Format Device"

Tough to say. It really depends on your use case. I think you have it right though. It's easier to find good effects with the AxeFX. The Kemper has fewer useful, rich sounding effects vs. the Axe...and you're just comparing against the Ultra. The newest AxeFX running the latest FW has even better sounding effects (and amp sims for that matter). To me though, I don't think it's worth the footprint of bringing both an AxeFX AND the kemper. What "might" be worth it is using the FX8 and treating the Kemper like a real, clean amp pedal platform. To me, I was fine giving up the Fractal effects because effects are not a core part of my sound. I just want to use one device and keep the footprint real small. I'm direct to board now 90% of the gigs I play.

Further update. I used the Kemper DI box today to capture two amp-only profiles of an Orange OR50. It was less than ideal because I couldn't really wind it up and dial as I had to point the cab into the ground to muffle it. But, I think my settings held up pretty good. I threw a couple of profiles up on Rig Exchange. I used a Tele (Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar bridge) to create em. It wasn't that hard to do so now I'm a little more inspired! I do have the benefit of a friend who had a studio complete with control room...all in his basement. I'm trying to see if I can now go for a full studio profile. You definitely need some separation from your amp/cab and how you're monitoring. Even trying to do the amp only, you get the sounds mixing and it's not ideal. But...I did up the profiles. Refined them a few times, and it sounds nice and...Orangey! The OR50 is more of a vintage fuzz amp. It's not a Rockerverb.

Quote from Jose7822

Thanks for the replies so far. I know that there are profiles of just the DI/DA amps in the Rig Exchange, but I personally tend to skip those (and I bet that a lot of people do the same). I prefer to put something that people can appreciate right away when they audition, rather than have to go through their cab collection and tweak from there. I know that I can use any of the cabs I have in my Kemper for my own use, but the question was regarding using the free cabs available to ALL Kemper users with these profiles that I just made for the purpose of uploading them into the Rig Exchange as complete rigs. I'm assuming this is OK?

As far as IRs vs KPA cabs, is it possible to audition these without loading them into the Kemper (like we are able to do with complete rigs using RM)? Unfortunately, I'm very busy this weekend and won't be able to experiment with my Kemper until this Sunday. That's why I wanted to hear from people who have done this before in the mean time, in order to get a better understanding of this.

Here's my thinking. Even with the separation algorithms, I'm betting the direct profile is best paired with an IR of the speaker cab that was providing the load while you did the direct profile. So, if you used a 2x12 8 ohm cab to load down your amp on the direct profile and you use an independent IR of a 4x12 16 ohm cab from a 3rd party supplier, it might not sound "right". I can't say for sure though. On the AxeFX, this was a pain in the arse but you could dial the speaker page settings to approximate the right load and response depending on the cabinet. Problem is that none of the IR makers really published all the relevant settings. At best, just the LRF.

I think I may try this myself though. There are some good direct profiles already out there to test this out with. I've got a ton of Ownhammer IRs from my AxeFX days too...but that starts a whole nother rabbit hole!

As an update, I received the Orange OR50 amp. This is the first tube amp I've had probably since 2000, and that was a little modded Epiphone Valve Jr. Prior. I think I may have also had a Marshall 2061x/cx mini stack that didn't get used much.

Anyhoo...playing a real amp again was interesting. Besides the Orange having it's own sound, there was a certain "girth" and immediacy to the sound that was noticeable. Also, it was very loud and I could only get it around 25-30% on the master. I'll have to see if I can A-B better with a Rockerverb head Kemper profile into the Matrix to try to approach that and see if it was all in my head. For what it's worth too, the OR50 is almost like a fuzz pedal amp once you get up around 7 on the gain. It does clean up though. I could easily see just bringing that amp with no effects and using the guitar volume at 5 to do my rhythm and then going into full bore for a volume kick and a fuzzy lead tone. I don't know that I'd need any pedals.

The thing I like about the Kemper, besides volume control, is that I can set up multiple profiles of each ideal setting, clean through lead, and have them at the touch of a footswitch. And...I'd get access to time based effects in the right spot if I wanted them. I do think what I'll want to do is rent a space to go in and make my own profiles. Not a studio...just space where I can play loud without worry.

It feels like for me that the only thing I'll be able to do from my house in an effective way would be to profile the amp only. I can fire the cab at the floor and cover it in dense blankets to absorb...I think. It's just never going to be an environment I can really play at volume to get the right tones and then transfer those to great studio profiles. So...I'd have to rent space to open up a 50W Orange to the settings I want to hear, "save" those settings, and then rent time to go into the studio to capture a profile that way. I think for studio profiles, I'll have to stick with the ones that people are making which is OK too. I can totally cover every live tone I'd need with MBritt's stuff.

Or...is there another way to get high quality studio profiles without playing the amp full bore at the settings I want?

Quote from JerEvil

I did it and honestly don't know if it was worth it. Well, let me say, I don't know that they did anything I couldn't do at home AFTER having seen it done. I had a 4 hour block and it cost me about $250.

The studio profiles I got don't sound too different than the ones I did with Tim Owens at his house.

Both sessions are available for free on the Rig Exchange. It was good to see how they set everything up. I am pretty convinced I can do as a good a job at home and will be trying soon.

We we are building a new house and it'll be finished mid October. I'll have a dedicated studio spot from there on out and plan on doing what Tim did with the Have Amp Will Profile project with both my Splawn and VHT Deliverance.

Thanks for this. Very helpful info. I have a spot that can do it for $50/hour...maybe a little less since there is no mixing. But...your comment makes me think I could bug my friend to try it at his house. He has a studio/soundproofed room to get loud in. I don't have any line of sight to that anytime soon with my house. I live in the city and didn't dedicate space to this when I finished the basement.

For reference, was that 4 hour block for one amp and did you end up needing it? I've looked at those profiles and noticed you guys took a lot of cuts so if I limited my profiles and went for 2 hours, maybe I could fit that in. Still...I think my friends knows enough bout mic'ing and we can learn together to do it.

Just curious. I don't have a ton of experience mic'ing amps to get them the way I want to sound. Mostly I've recorded direct or a studio mic'd things up for me on a few occasions. I've got an Orange OR50 coming and at a minimum, I think I can profile it directly without mic'ing. But...It'd be cool to mic up my whole rig and make a studio profile. I was thinking of maybe going to a local studio where I could get the benefit of their mics and space and do it that way. But...I'm not sure about the time it might take and whether it'd be efficient or worth the cost when I'm on the clock. I guess for those who have taken the time to do profiles and perfect them, what's the process if you're doing one amp. How many hours would I be looking at to set up, mic and properly profile one amp? All I'd really need from the studio person is the space, the mics, and the time to position and set up the mics. From there, it's a Kemper profiling and refining exercise which they'll likely not have any experience with and I won't either.

Quote from Michael_dk

Yeah, but there will be sound coming out of the cab while you profile anyway - just so you know but of course, the noise of doing a single profile will be much shorter than if you were to find a good mic spot etc etc

I was thinking I could point the cab into the carpeted floor since I won't be mic'ing it. It's a closed back. We'll see. I'll talk to my neighbors first!

Related...are non mic'd direct profiles more accurate/forgiving of the process? In reading up, I keep seeing people say that 95% of the free profiles stink and commercial profiles are a mixed bag. I guess I have a little fear of whether it takes an expert to profile for great results. For live FRFR, I've landed on MBritt profiles. I could gig with nothing other than the '70 Super Lead...really. For recorded stuff, they are a bit mellow and I like the sound of the Top Jimi profiles by themselves. For amp/cab, it's tough to say. I guess I'll be able to test it though soon enough.

Quote from Michael_dk

A Direct Profile is simply a profile taken using the output from a suitable DI (which can handle the output from the amp's speaker jack). This should be done while the cab is connected to the DI box's speaker output, in order for the profiler to capture the amp's interaction with the cab.

As such, for a DIRECT profile, there is no cab.

You may be thinking of a MERGED profile, in which the cab and amp are truly separated, but ONLY if you do things right. This means taking a direct profile (directly from the DI box), AND a "regular" profile using a mic on the cab, WITHOUT CHANGING ANY SETTINGS ON THE AMP. these two profiles are then "merged" as described in the manual, which is the process in where the kemper finds out where the amp stops and the cab begins.

Does that make sense?

I think so. I would be making the direct profile then. I can't mic the cab at volume in my house. Maybe if I paid to go to a studio. Instead, I wanted to profile the OR50 amp itself so that I could run it into my Matrix to my cab. The cab will be the same one I hook to the DI to give it a load in this process.

I don't have any real tube amps at present. I do have a Matrix GT1600FX and a Port City 2x12 OS Vertical with a Scumback M75/H75 combo. I've got a couple of questions around using the Kemper with an amp/cab approach vs. FRFR. 90+% of the time, I will use FRFR to play live. There may be occasion though on bigger stages or outdoors where I can wind up an amp. I was pondering the purchase of an OR50 just to have an amp (and profile it although not sure where do to loudness). Then it occurred to me that perhaps Kemper direct profiles into my Matrix/Port City would be pretty close. I've tested a bit with some MBritt merged profiles and some direct profiles from the community. It seems very promising with some but without an A/B, I'm not 100% sure.

The other factor...if I wanted to make a direct profile of an amp, is the profiling method such that the best results will come from using the direct profile with cab I profiled it with or does the direct method truly separate the amp from the cab?

I think the Rig Manager is fine...actually. You can do those previews and get the amps on your Kemper real quick by saving. It also gives you a ton of great profile information at a glance and I much prefer this workflow when browsing or trying to find something quickly. Actually, this is much better than the AxeEdit functionality I was used to. However, where I think the Kemper lacks is just in editing and arranging the Performance mode. I can't seem to unlock the special sauce to edit and change performances on the fly from Rig Manager (I'm using 4.06 on the Kemper). I kind of gave up on Rig Manager for that. And then there is the pain of loading rigs into the Performance and having them over-write the effects you set up for your slot with the ones stored on the rig. I can lock the stomp/effects but if I forget to change it back and move to new slots, that carries over and screws me up. Probably the best is to save the Stomp/Effects presets and redial. At the end of the day though, it's the implementation of how the Performance mode is edited and arranged that is not efficient and a struggle.