That's strange 'cause Mark 5 has a ton of gain and no need for an OD pedal for extra gain, unless you want it for a tighter sound.
Hmm, maybe if you crank it up the sustain will come? I was playing at lower volumes as it was a quiet store. From playing yours (and others) profiles of Boogie's they seem to have a ton of gain. I've never owned a Boogie, but i did not like the Dual Rec or a Mark IV combo i've heard friends play for similar reasons.
mark v not enough gain? Something aint right there
I was playing a Fender with a Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge, I normally play Ernie Ball Guitars at home, and it wasn't turned up that loud. On the way home i listened to that Youtube video of Petrucci playing it, and it did sound pretty similar to that, which for rhythm it's less gain than i thought. For leads I would think you need a boost (at least with that guitar) for sustain and fluid feel. I have a Peavey XXX and an Egnater MTS preamp and have never used or needed any sort of boost before.
Interested to hear these. I just played one of these in a store and shockingly i loved the clean channel but not as much the gain side. Descent rhythm tones but not nearly the amount of gain i expected (especially for leads). Probably would be really good with an extra boost in front. Never owned a Boogie...I was comparing this to a Friedman PT 20 (which also could use a tad more gain for leads but i liked the rhythm tones better on the Friedman), but didn't have much in the way of clean.... .
How come I see many packs that are duplicates of older packs? Re-profiling with different cabs, mics, etc? Are the older ones made obsolete by the newer ones? i.e. ODS, JP2C, Bogner Gold, Friedman PT,
Ivan must be getting close, the price has just jumped on the website from €9.99 to €24.99. This is going to be one big pack!
Ouch, did the JVM go up in price too or it was always 19.99?
Thanks will give it a try. I'm not sure how they are recording with this much level as well unless they are using compression/limiting after they record. Whenever i try to get a lot of level out of the kemper with no in the box eq/compression/etc the low end sends the meters through the roof. I noticed your clip as well was not nearly the same loudness as Jimi's original clip or the user demo one on his site.
You nailed it. Best brown sound i ever heard out of the box. Cool fx settings too and your hint with + and - 0.3 on treblek and presence ( depending on the pu's which are used) is great.Got a new peavy wolgang special and cant stop playing. Pure fun.
Thx for these gems!
I must have a really dark guitar (Ernie Ball Silhouette Special), i'll have to try these settings you mentioned. I thought they sounded pretty good, but comparing my recording to the one on Jimi's site, or the youtube video review, mine sounds really dark and not nearly as good.
I'm a bit surprised with your views on the M50X as well. I own a pair and while it's not transparent, it doesn't sound boxy to me.
Terrible is probably a strong word (i've been frustrated recently :)), but for me at least there is way too much 150-300hz and it gives it a "boxy sound". Maybe i'm not describing it as you would. The Sony is very in your face sounding, but the high's are a little too pronounced and the low end is lacking. Though if you hold the headphones tighter on your head (mine are also quite old with replacement ear pads so it may cause some of the loss in low end) then the low end is pretty good. The M50X's are really tight and have a larger ear pad which might be another reason the bass response is so much higher. I'll give them a little bit more time to see if i'm going to keep them, i do prefer them when playing my electric durms as there is not enough bass in the Sony's for the kick to come through hard enough.
As far as the Kemper goes i spent some more time playing through my Bogner and Fender Jensen speaker yesterday and it sounds pretty good. With clean sounds i was still struggling to get the low end punch/compression that my Egnater MTS or my Fender Princeton could do but they are full and clear. On higher gain through the bogner 1x12 (i'm not crazy about the 75 watt speakers in my Marshall 4x12, someday i'd like to chagne those or the cabinet) the gain tones were pretty similar to my Egatner MTS with a Salvado module so that's good i guess. It gives me easy transportability around the house and a lot of different tones (though i still find a ton of different profiles/profilers sound very similar when played through my cabinet).
I'm looking at getting the Torpedo Captor when it comes out and try doing some direct profiling of my amps, though i've been reading on other threads that you can't Profile a Peavey XXX direct out without a mod due to a built in noise gate, and unfortunately my Fender Princeton needs some work to eliminate some noise issues. I would think over time I don't need to keep both the MTS system (though i've been waiting to see/hear the Synergy refresh of this system) and the Kemper. I will sell one or the other and get a good head i think to bridge the gap of the in the room playing (Mark V 25 maybe?, Friedman and the bigger Mesa's are probably out of my range right now).
In a related note, the Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones sound terrible with the Kemper. Really boxy, at first i thought they were ok for music but now all i hear is that same boxy sound with music as well. My Sony MDR7506 are too bright and lacking in bass but are much more flat and pleasant. Unfortunately i bought these too early before the kemper arrived and i can't return the AT headphones.
Chris,
Have you read the Kemper Reference Manual, cover to cover? Be honest. The KPA is a complex and powerful device, and there are so many ways to shape your tone. I am not saying that this is your situation, but I am always surprised when I learn of someone who spends upwards of $3,000 on a powerful digital device but refuses to open the manual and actually learn about their device.
Also, I presume you are disabling the KPA's Cabinet Module (Output Section ---> Monitor Cab Off) when you are playing your KPA through one of your traditional guitar cabinets, yes? While this is certainly a viable option, and can yield some fantastic tones, it absolutely limits the tonal variety that is possible with the Kemper. Your guitar cabinet is contributing approx. 75% of the over-all tone...and is the primary reason why you noticed the following:
If you really want to open up the power of your Kemper, and accurately discern the sonic variations of different amp/cab profiles, you will want to try your Kemper through a good FRFR monitor. That is the only way you will hear the dramatic contribution the mic'd reference cabinets make to the original profiles.
Cheers,
John
Thanks for the info. While I have not read the monitor cover to cover, i did scan for a few items (mostly where to find things). I have however, watched every tutorial i can find from Kemper and users (some multiple times) and have been reading the forum for at least 6 months or more. I didn't spend nearly as much as you're suggesting but it is still a very large investment if i'm not getting significantly better tones than an ipad with Bias and Amplitube (not exactly saying that, i do think it's a significant improvement). I guess i just have to spend more time with the Kemper and figure out for myself if the money is better spent on a Kemper or 1-2 Smaller Heads (Mark 5:25, Orange, 5150 and/or pedals and a direct box and in the box IR's when i need to record it).
I'm defintely enthusiastic when i see videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ96hClp9JM and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiBPG3dWcW8
For me, it's still very hard to get a good tone on headphones and lower level monitoring through studio monitors (compared to listening to similar clips via the same setup which i think is a bit odd). I have not tried an FRFR monitor, i would like to try one at some point. I like the sound of my Bogner cabinet but i hear you on the amp/cab interaction and resulting tone (to answer the other question i did turn off the cab on the kemper when using my real cabinets). I have not played around at all with the effects other than enable/disable what has come with the profiles). I do have a Strymon Mobius, Strymon Flint, and a TC Triple Delay so i'm not really concerned whether i like those a lot or not. In the videos i've seen, except for the Reverb they all seem quite good though.
In the end i should probably just learn to play better and I would probably be happier 
Ouch, that hurts
Only thing I can say is that I tested my profiles in all possible circumstances untill I was completely satisfied about the sound so that's including the circumstances you mention. I also tested with a great variety of guitars and off coarse it's what Sam @sambrox says, the kind of guitar makes a difference but I can use a strat, tele or LP (not too hot) on the same profile without any problem...
Ouch, that hurts
Sorry about that @breu I think you misread that. What I meant was I've purchased from most of the big name commercial profiles but i haven't bought yours yet because i only bought during the Black Friday and Christmas Sales and you didn't have any I actually tried some of your free pack and agree that they would be much easier to slide in to a mix because they do not have the boominess that many profiles have when recording without a real cab.
I did notice that with my Strat a lot of profiles did sound better, but i don't normally play heavy tones with a Single coil bridge pickup, so it would be unusal to do that. I think 95% of my issues are back to Amp in the room sound and not having a very good environment (room/monitors etc). Though one of the frustrating things is i can listen online clips of other people with the Kemper and it does not have the same sound as when i'm sitting playing in that same environment (i don't mean quality of playing which i'm sure is much better on their end) i mean it's boxy/boomy and/or hollow.
What did you think of the amp in general? Did you compare it to a larger Mark V, curious how much different they sound in person.
It seems the points are still not showing up for existing users. Still working out the issues, or something else? Thanks.
As a long time forum reader and new Kemper owner, I agree with being a little bummed out if my goal was to completely replace all of my Amps/Preamps with the Kemper with no loss. I was defintely hopeful that would be the case but probably it wasn't realistic in my head. I haven't had a ton of time to play around yet but overall i'm quite let down. I've been reading the forum, saving up and listening to every clip that can be found for commercial profiles. I picked up a lot of profiles through the Black Friday/Christmas deals, so i have profiles from all of the big names (except Bert), but i'm having little joy. I need something that is flexable and works well through headphones as well as monitors and cabs. Late at night when playing with headphones, the sound is terrible. I can barely tell the difference between cheap software modelers and the Kemper. I currently have Sony MDR7506 as well as Audio Technica ATM50's, the Sony's have too little bass and the AT's are a bit boxy/boomy. When playing through a cab i also notice a severe lack of low end and punch compared to say my Egnater MTS setup (or my Peavey XXX). I have a Marshall 4x12 (75 watt) and a Bogner 1x12 (v30). I really, really wanted this to work but in less than a week i'm already researching alternative solutions, such as a Mesa Boogie Mark V 25 and the new Torpedo Captor direct box to connect and use their Wall of Sound or some other IR loader (i'm not crazy about their Cabclone output, at least in clips) for silent recording and still have the big sound when playing in the room. If money were no object the tone i'm searching for i'd say is the Steve Stevens Friedman, The Petrucci Mesa Boogie c+ and the Fuchs Blackjack clean tone (i already have a vintage fender princeton but it needs some work). Since this is all very expensive i was hoping to get it all in the Kemper. Honestly after switching through rigs looking for a sound everything starts to sound very similar.
While the sound is better after i record and listen in the car say, but it does not sound like the clips i hear of the same profiles from the commercial vendors. I'm mostly using an Ernie Ball Silhouette Special (with the stock Humbucker and Lindy Fralin single coils) and an Ernie Ball Axis. I haven't been playing much in many years and I was really hoping this would spring board me back in to it with a ton of enthusiasm, but instead it's sort of draining it.
As far as what brought me to the Kemper, I like a lot of the clean tones (though even in clips it's really hard to find that sound i'm looking for, i'd say the closest was Andy's Lazy J collection..which i own), Britt's /13, Tonehawk's demo. For distorted, Jay Wud's demos of the Rectifier and Orange from Reampzone, Top Jimi's brown sound collection, Sinmix's Be100, MixBerlins 5150/Rectifier and Guido's lead tones. I have a lot of those, but not all, i stopped purchasing anything until i sort out my issues. In fact I like the free Tim Owens Be100 and someone else's CCV as much as any of the commercial distorted tones..but don't satisfy at least while playing.
Before i give up, i want to try to Profile some of my setup and see how it compares but i don't currently have a direct box to try and direct profiles. Studio profiles are a bit trickier since I have 2 small kids and no sound proof rooms.
Ok. Thanks. Will have to wait until I get one the.
yes...but i dont know about your preamp...most preamps sound horrible without the colour/saturation etc of a Poweramp.
If yours sounds great without poweramp..there will be no problem
It looks like my Peavey Classic 50/50 does have a line out, so maybe i could try both ways when i get time and compare.
Do you mean, if i profile my same preamp through a poweramp and a cab then i can merge that with my direct (only) of the preamp?
Thanks. One follow up:
For Direct profiles (as opposed to Direct Amp Profiles) as i discussed can you still assign a cabinet to record it with a cab output?
I have a similar question, how do you profile a tube preamp direct? I have an ADA Mp1 as well as a Eganter M4 MTS system, can I profile the ouptut of the preamp directly and then run that to a poweramp later and get a similar sound as I get normally (assuming i'm using a solid state poweramp).
I also have a Tube poweramp, for that I would need to use the direct box method to get the sound of the poweramp as well?
Thanks.
another guitar is not going to solve your problem.
what you are missing is the "room" , "air moving" .
after making a profile the KPA removes all the room sound, so it sounds really dry and "unreal" played through headphones.adding reverb does help a little , but still you are earing the direct sound thirst.
other DI solutions are no better
after recording, you could use a plug-in like this to give some "space":
http://www.tokyodawn.net/proximity/
imho
If he listens to the clips wieth headphones (forgive me if thats not what he said) and likes it, then he should be able to get the same sound when playing his kemper through headphones (minus the guitar and fingers...).
I do agree that i do not understand why commercial profile sellers are putting up finished/mixed, double or quad tracked parts as their only sample of the profile.
