Posts by dgburns

  • White Marshall ... again

    Thanks everyone for the feedback. After some poking around, I tried replacing the cab with an IR of my cab(s) I did as a separate capture. I find the results interesting, while the profiles with the cab sound way more like a sm57 on a cone (to me), the IR sounds more even in the midrange (again, to me). Need to investigate this further, but found the results seemed good enough to share. In Rig Exchange. It's only one cab, but you can lock it and try that cab with other amps (as you all are well aware, no doubt)

    Also been experimenting with direct profiles of a Pod XT Pro. I know, it's old, the sounds maybe not up to date, but I'm surprised at how well 2.0 is getting better results then before. I had a Hiwatt as a kid, and did my dangest to capture what I remember it sounding like. I also profiled the Hiwatt in the Pod cause the local used shop has one for sale and I need to extinguish the GAS before I do something stupid and buy it. (lol)

    thanks

    David


  • White Marshall ... again

    I took a shot at Profiling with the MK2, and with the amp I started profiling back in 2014. Twelve years ago, can that be ?

    Anyway, three flavours, dirt, more dirt and most dirt. For the most I finally tried the mxr dist + since it's the Randy Rhoads overdrive and a Randy Rhoads re-issue head. It don't sound like no RR to me, but it's the right two pieces of the puzzle if you want to try getting closer with tweaks etc. I was not trying to cop his sound, just trying to get a decent sound.

    Still getting my head around 2.0, but here goes (in the rig exchange)

    -edit-

    I run my Kemper with the -12 pad in at the output, so maybe back the volume off if you run it full - these may be hot. I put the pad on because it gives me about - 18 dbfs on my meters which I like.

  • Rig Manager the Folders and Folders question

    BACK in the early days, there were way fewer publicly available profiles. Now with so many, my thoughts turn to which ones stand out and why. I have alot of folders, but I break it down into:

    1-my own profiles, and in this group I have folders for every amp I own. In there, I have folders for every profiling session. I also keep a master fav folder that I dump stuff into just to keep in a handy place.

    2-client folder. Folders for projects made for clients or projects. This way I can recall stuff on a per project basis. It happens often that a fav profile gets altered and I just can’t keep all that in my head. Save the patch and keep good notes in comments.

    3-everything else. I keep an offline Rig Exchange in case any get deleted from the public exchange. I also just go to Rig Exchange and search by date first. Then check to see what the latest uploads are. Basically I find it best to do a search because there are just too many now.

    Lastly, I recommend doing a backup and save out the state of the app just in case something gets corrupted or you can’t open it. I don’t tend to keep too much stuff in the actual kemper itself, but I mostly do studio work.

  • How much better are 2.0 Profiles than v1?

    Quote from DonPetersen

    I just want to point out that PROFILING is and always was aimed at tube amps.
    Any amp emulation can be hit or miss, since the methods used in these devices sometimes do not correspond with the analogue reality the PROFILER expects.

    For sure. A little thought for you. What did Les Paul do when he got a hold of his first multitrack tape machine ? ( answer - he dismantled it to the basic parts to find out how it was made internally. He likely made better recordings as a result after putting it back together again ) Now, not comparing myself to that venerable gent, but the spirit of experimentation is how we get better, IMHO. I need to know the absolute limits of the capability to understand how to better create with it. A bad profile can tell me more sometimes about what NOT to do again then a really good one done in a tried and trusted fashion.

    Now if I could only find a way to make a guitar played through a kemper sound realistically like a cello, viola etc….but I’m primarily a tv / film composer so maybe not the target audience.

    .Anyway, good times… :)

  • How much better are 2.0 Profiles than v1?

    I normally would not post a reply to a question like this, mainly because tone CAN be subjective, and so very personal. That said, I have made a fair number of profiles with a MK1 rack, and now have a MK2 rack. Disclaimer, I have not made many new profiles under 2.0 but I want to talk about a recent profiling session.

    I profiled an old Line 6 Pod XT Pro. Again. I had attempted this under MK1 with not so favorable results. The profiled tone was very different to the original. And at the time, I felt it was just a limitation of the profiling nature of MK1. The MK 2 2.0 profiles of the same amp emulation, a Vox AC 30 top boost were startlingly different. The interesting thing about this experiment is that the source was exactly the same, the same patch, maybe the imput level to Kemper not scientifically exact, but that may have been the only outlier factor.

    The result, the sound was way closer to the original, but also way less compressed and less dark. The gain range was way closer. Maybe the most important was that the resulting profile was more malleable, meaning I could take it in far more directions after the profiling was done. This alone offers some insight into the possibilities of the new 2.0 version. I want to mention that the process is easier now that refining is no longer a part of the profiling.

    This particular sound is telling, it’s a dirt in between clean and overdrive, that place where many profiles go to test against the mountain of tone god, and most fail the climbing attempt. The thing about heavy distortion tones is that they are inherently more compressed by nature. This may be why those sounds still provide satisfaction having been profiled on pre 2.0 profiling. (let’s assume for the sake of argument there is no difference playing these in MK1 vs MK2 hardware, as I believe to be true)

    One final point, when profiling a real amp, the basic amp tone, the mic placement, and the resulting editing of the sound in the kemper still play a very large part of the sound we experience. As a result, and IMHO only, profiling under 2.0 by itself is not the panacea, it is not the golden goose, it will not make a mediocre dialed in amp sound any better then the source can be. We still need to use skill, our ears and our creativity to create next level profiles under 2.0. That said, 2.0 opens up possibilities that were simply not available under the old 1.0 profiling. We have yet to reach it’s zenith. It will take time, and much hard work creating those next level profiles. The irony is that for some sounds, MK1 profiles that were very well executed may just find a place in the new paradigm.I guess that means - use your ears, and go with what works for you.

  • OS14 / Profiling 2.0 Public Beta Discussion

    Early days with 2.0 beta profiling. I want to add a few of my observations. I’ve only tried a few profiling attempts, and only for DI style captures, no real amps yet.

    Taking a hint from some shared profiles, I profiled an old Pod XT pro without profiling a cab. Results were impressive so far. Still evaluating, but the improvement from my attempts under 1.0 are not subtle, there is a marked improvement. I was never happy with my DI attempts to profile other hardware untill now under 1.0.

    Not only improvement in the initial profiling result, but the resulting profile appears to take to additional manipulation very well, like added effects, eq etc. This is encouraging to say the least.

    Finally, the profiling process itself appears easier, with refining now not a user step, it speeds things up alot.

    It’s hard to use words to describe sound. I feel, and this is opinion only, that the 2.0 profiles I made appear to have more fidelity, especially in the mid to upper frequencies.The sound feels more open. When I compare to my 1.0 profiles, many that I had obsessed over, the 2.0 are in another league. Can’t imagine what profiling a well dialed in amp will produce.

    This is such an improvement. It will take time to create a good collection of new profiles, but it’s clear to me already, I will have to remake any old profiles that were favorites of mine.

  • OS14 / Installation and Rig Manager Discussion

    Quote from Ezerath

    Issue with my MK1 Kemper noticing that older MK1 profiles do not sound the same with V14 update? I have way too much low end and it's like clipping completely at master volume on max (0db) --- never had this issue before. It seems to be on any profile that is a DI profile and then has a cab added to it; sounds like overloading a limiter/compressor it's just terrible sounding.

    Then I have a 2nd issue as I'm trying to go back to 13.05: reinstalled Rigmanager 3.10, unplugged by kemper USB to the computer, put the 13.05 kaos file in the OS update folder on the USB, etc. The kemper does not recognize any OS update on the USB. Really frustrating right now. I tried with the koas file in the update folder or the USB, doesn't work; I tried in the root of the USB drive (not in any of those 3 folders) -- doesn't work. retried the same thing with the drive formatted by the kemper, nothing.


    Please help.

    I updated to Beta 14 yesterday. I also noticed that profiles that used my own cab's ( cabs I made and imported ) did not sound right. I also noticed none of my cabs from V13 were loaded or accessible in RM. I could not select any cab at all. Then I restored the Kemper unit itself via a backup from usb I had from a month ago. The kemper still stayed at the new v14 beta after that restore, but all my cabs came back, and the patches sounded more like I remember them.

    I think that when I did the initial update to beta 14, RM also froze or stopped working while in the last phase, in the syncing phase - I don't think my profiles and patches were properly restored or whatever it is that happens in that sync phase of the software update. I had to quite RM and relaunch it. Not sure why this (restoring profiler rack from USB) worked for me, and I'm not suggesting anyone do the same without contacing support. Just relaying my experience.

  • I think I will hold on to my MK 1 toaster

    I moved up to the Kemper Rack MK2, in fact played it yesterday for the first time. A couple observations :

    1- I appreciated the factory presets more that I did the MK1, there were more I would actually use. (:that said, my roll your own also pleasantly surprised me, they translated well )

    2- I am tending to not feel the need to add treble like I used to do, and this is across the board in terms of all profiles I tried, including mine from MK 1.

    3- I am appreciating the fixed effects more than I thought I would prior to getting the unit.

    4- I’m generally, and this is highly subjective at the moment, feeling that there is a higher resolution, and I state this without any empirical data to back my claim up. But I put in alot of listening on the MK 1 over the years, so my initial reaction in this aspect was not subtle.

    5- The led bleed thing some complained about is not bugging me since the studio is more darkly lit and I turn down the led’s anyway. Unit looks nice lit up in the rack.

    6- Really looking forward to future developments.

    In summary - Happy so far, and it’s just going to get better IMHO. So these are all personal opinions, feel free to disagree.

  • Player vs Profiler MK 2 pricing and value

    Re-posted from another thread:

    So I'm trying to understand some math vs feature value and why move up from MK1.

    -----------

    Profiler rack Mk2 2,098.00 CAD

    Player 998 + 418 level3 = 1,416.00 CAD

    Difference = 682 CAD

    -----------

    So whatever is in the Rack that is not offered in the player is the difference?

    What are the differences? is it only 16 effects ( 4 player vs 20 rack mk2 )

  • Dual Recto Rev F Liquid

    Hi Fellow Kemper friends,

    new profiles in the rig exchange. This time around, I concentrated on

    -one sm57, vintech x73i mic pre and keeping it simple.

    -profiled the amp using the two notes captor 8 with no cab using the amp settings as a liquid profile.

    -no boost for profiling, any boost was applied in kemper after.

    -amp on bold / diode rectification and line voltage was about 115 volts or so ( so just under the spec 117 volts )

    In the course of doing all this, I came to the conclusion my greenback 4x12's have a real mid push, and I'm trying to find ways to move past that. I tried loading in some cabs from Lass Lammert's bogner amp ( love Lass's work for the kemper), and felt after some tweaks I could get the settings into lower tuning 7-8 strg territory. But as these patches are presented, it's strictly 6 string Les Paul normal rock n roll territory.

    I am not uploading anything here that is not 100 % from my own profiling efforts. But feel free to swap out cabs and tweak as you want to.

    The shortform is

    DRec = Dual Rectifier

    liq = liquid

    bst = boost

    scp = scoop

    The scoop is either a bit of eq applied to the preset or a combo of eq applied to the preset and a speaker ir that was captured with a mid cut.

    So, I don't know how I feel about these just yet, they could be useable, or maybe just ok.

    David

    D