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Post by lcr on Oct 27, 2018 5:47:26 GMT -6
Mixing a rock ballad, filled with fake strings, loads of JCM 800 parts with well done printed trem and mod effects. On the second chorus (which is a double chorus) I felt it needed some no brainer caveman moderate gain bar chords... so I turned on the Kemper, set to a MARS preset (Britt?) tuned up tele while kemper booted, and double tracked hard panned. I treated it just like the Marshall tracks or any mic’d amp track( mix proccessing) and DONE. Sounded great. Since it was a double outro chorus and the EASY FAST results I got greedy and double tracked a little octave up arp line on the second half of double chorus / outro. It came out really great. Loving the Kemper. FYI, maple neck tele with Dimarzio area hot T bridge. Ive done this numerous times in the past, and have to try and doctor up the plugin amp with tricks, bury it in the mix so the lack of realism doesnt poke out. I could even crank the gtrs and it sits like a well mic’ed amp thats to loud in the mix.
** edit ** - power chords not bar chords
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 9:33:00 GMT -6
Damnit...stop. I can’t afford to by this thing for the 22nd time. It’s DEF the quickest route to a fantastic sound. That’s for sure. You find a few profiles like Britts that work, turn it on and record. I’ve been getting pretty damn great results with the UAD Friedman amps...and it’s just about as easy...but I feel like I’m missing all my vintage Fender tones.
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Post by lcr on Oct 27, 2018 10:10:17 GMT -6
Not just this song, several so far, should have mentioned that. Heck, Im rolling down the volume pot on that tele on that preset and tracking clean parts that are keepers.
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 12:12:13 GMT -6
Wish there was a better software editor/GUI. Although it never bothered me to use the unit. But I’m a sucker for the skewmorphic with amps.
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Post by mikec on Oct 27, 2018 13:17:43 GMT -6
What kills me is I have great tube amps and great microphones and a nice space to record in. I can spend time getting everything set up for the sound I like and get a really great guitar recording micing a tube amp. It is very satisfying for me recording this way since I am a gearaholic. Then I flip on the Kemper, select a good Brit profile and record the exact same part. My wife comes into the studio, she is classically trained in violin and a singer, and I ask her to pick which she likes better. Just about every time when she listens to a mix either she picks the Kemper as the one she likes the best or she likes them equally as well. Never mind that I just spent 30+ minutes getting everything right for recording the tube amp and 30 seconds getting the Kemper ready. I'd love to sell my Kemper and use the money to buy another cool tube amp, but every time I think of doing it, I realize it is just so easy to get a good sound in the mix with the Kemper. I'd still like to try the UAD Ox some day to see how that compares for my needs but I don't see my Kemper going anywhere any time soon.
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kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Oct 27, 2018 13:37:35 GMT -6
If you are happy with the experience and sound and it takes less time: where’s the problem?
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Post by drbill on Oct 27, 2018 14:20:04 GMT -6
You guys are killing me.....
note to self.....buy a kemper..... LOL
Any profiles that are must haves?
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 14:34:51 GMT -6
Michael Britt
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Post by ragan on Oct 27, 2018 14:43:21 GMT -6
Hell, I’ve bought the thing twice and been straight away dissatisfied with the tones, even the very good Britt ones, and I’m STILL tempted by the damn thing.
The dream of the Kemper is real. So easy, and all those great amps at your disposal! Except every time I use it I can’t get the tones to unflatten and come alive.
All subjective of course.
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Post by mikec on Oct 27, 2018 15:09:10 GMT -6
I would love to be able to justify selling it and using the funds to get one of the new Mesa Boogie Fillmore amps but can’t bring myself to do it. Guess I just need to figure another way.
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 16:48:53 GMT -6
Hell, I’ve bought the thing twice and been straight away dissatisfied with the tones, even the very good Britt ones, and I’m STILL tempted by the damn thing. The dream of the Kemper is real. So easy, and all those great amps at your disposal! Except every time I use it I can’t get the tones to unflatten and come alive. All subjective of course. You might hear stuff I don't hear and/or probably have more tube amp experience than me...AND I remember thinking that sometimes that all the Kemper profiles tended to sound a little bit the same. BUT - I think you might be able to say that about amps in general. Maybe that could be attibuted to the fact that I lean to dirty small Fenders...and by the time I get through tweaking, they all sound like the same dirty Fender. lol. It's definitely not the same experience as having the amp in the room...and that counts for something I guess. But I'd love to see us all be in the same room with a couple of amps that we profiled and then tried to blind test. There might be a slight tell that would identify the Kemper every time - but for me if it were 90%, I'd be fine.
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Post by ragan on Oct 27, 2018 17:40:40 GMT -6
Hell, I’ve bought the thing twice and been straight away dissatisfied with the tones, even the very good Britt ones, and I’m STILL tempted by the damn thing. The dream of the Kemper is real. So easy, and all those great amps at your disposal! Except every time I use it I can’t get the tones to unflatten and come alive. All subjective of course. You might hear stuff I don't hear and/or probably have more tube amp experience than me...AND I remember thinking that sometimes that all the Kemper profiles tended to sound a little bit the same. BUT - I think you might be able to say that about amps in general. Maybe that could be attibuted to the fact that I lean to dirty small Fenders...and by the time I get through tweaking, they all sound like the same dirty Fender. lol. It's definitely not the same experience as having the amp in the room...and that counts for something I guess. But I'd love to see us all be in the same room with a couple of amps that we profiled and then tried to blind test. There might be a slight tell that would identify the Kemper every time - but for me if it were 90%, I'd be fine. I'd like that too. And I'd love to be wrong, given how amazingly convenient the Kemper is. Here's an example where I hear similar things to the two times I've owned the Kemper. Jump to 2:14 to hear the crunchy, overdrive comparison. The amp sounds, well, like an amp. The Kemper sounds like a remarkably good sim of that amp, but it still sounds like a sim. It's flattened out and a little phase-smeary. Right after the solo'd clips there's a comparison of the same riff with a band backing and stereo rhythm guitars. It's even more pronounced in that context (which mirrors my own experience with the Kemper). It's a remarkably good sim (or 'profile') and still the best thing on the market to me. But it's just got that bit of flat, smeared phase stuff that doesn't sell my ears. It almost does, but it doesn't. For me anyway.
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 18:44:51 GMT -6
You might hear stuff I don't hear and/or probably have more tube amp experience than me...AND I remember thinking that sometimes that all the Kemper profiles tended to sound a little bit the same. BUT - I think you might be able to say that about amps in general. Maybe that could be attibuted to the fact that I lean to dirty small Fenders...and by the time I get through tweaking, they all sound like the same dirty Fender. lol. It's definitely not the same experience as having the amp in the room...and that counts for something I guess. But I'd love to see us all be in the same room with a couple of amps that we profiled and then tried to blind test. There might be a slight tell that would identify the Kemper every time - but for me if it were 90%, I'd be fine. I'd like that too. And I'd love to be wrong, given how amazingly convenient the Kemper is. Here's an example where I hear similar things to the two times I've owned the Kemper. Jump to 2:14 to hear the crunchy, overdrive comparison. The amp sounds, well, like an amp. The Kemper sounds like a remarkably good sim of that amp, but it still sounds like a sim. It's flattened out and a little phase-smeary. Right after the solo'd clips there's a comparison of the same riff with a band backing and stereo rhythm guitars. It's even more pronounced in that context (which mirrors my own experience with the Kemper). It's a remarkably good sim (or 'profile') and still the best thing on the market to me. But it's just got that bit of flat, smeared phase stuff that doesn't sell my ears. It almost does, but it doesn't. For me anyway. Need to listen when I get in front of my monitors...but when you say phasey it kind of made me wonder if that’s the thing that ultimately made me start to think everything was sounding the same? Like this plasticky thing when they’re stacked.
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Post by ragan on Oct 27, 2018 18:46:18 GMT -6
I'd like that too. And I'd love to be wrong, given how amazingly convenient the Kemper is. Here's an example where I hear similar things to the two times I've owned the Kemper. Jump to 2:14 to hear the crunchy, overdrive comparison. The amp sounds, well, like an amp. The Kemper sounds like a remarkably good sim of that amp, but it still sounds like a sim. It's flattened out and a little phase-smeary. Right after the solo'd clips there's a comparison of the same riff with a band backing and stereo rhythm guitars. It's even more pronounced in that context (which mirrors my own experience with the Kemper). It's a remarkably good sim (or 'profile') and still the best thing on the market to me. But it's just got that bit of flat, smeared phase stuff that doesn't sell my ears. It almost does, but it doesn't. For me anyway. Need to listen when I get in front of my monitors...but when you say phasey it kind of made me wonder if that’s the thing that ultimately made me start to think everything was sounding the same? Like this plasticky thing when they’re stacked. That's exactly what I mean. A flattened sheen that similarizes things.
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 18:48:25 GMT -6
Just listening to 2:10 on my phone. Yeah - definitely a difference...sounded like the Kemper was scooped with more high end. Wonder if that could be dialed out?
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 27, 2018 18:51:51 GMT -6
I know the “Definition” parameter in the Amp stack made the biggest difference of anything. Did you ever try that? It basically could dial out that brittleness and change what sounded like an unusable profile to a totally usable one. Still, though, I felt like my demo guitar sounds sounded platsticky. I always attributed it to me not really knowing what I was doing.
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Post by ragan on Oct 27, 2018 21:54:03 GMT -6
I know the “Definition” parameter in the Amp stack made the biggest difference of anything. Did you ever try that? It basically could dial out that brittleness and change what sounded like an unusable profile to a totally usable one. Still, though, I felt like my demo guitar sounds sounded platsticky. I always attributed it to me not really knowing what I was doing. I believe I did mess with "Definition", at the behest of you and others, yeah.
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Post by longscale on Oct 27, 2018 22:39:54 GMT -6
I like the Kemper for a bunch of reasons. Not the least of which is availability. I can track electric guitar sounds that I don't hate and sometimes end up quite liking at a moments notice. Ok it does take longer than I'd care for to boot. However I mean availability in both setup time; I did not have to position an amp, wire it, hang a mic, position and wire it, get my signal path going. Plus availability in terms of the hour of day. I can play convincing sounding parts and not wake the dead (or the wife). That to me means I play more and have more fun. Some of the fun of the Kemper for me was had when I started to profile my own amps, and could use those sounds.
I find many of the available free profiles quite similar sounding. I purchased and gravitated to the M Britt profiles. To me they sound quite good to say the least. He is super nice to deal with and his sounds are really good imo.
I'm not saying people can't hear some flaw - I totally believe people when they tell me things like "I hear it". So not trying to argue. I like real amps. I'd use them all the time if I could. I even love the way an old Fender tweed *smells* when it is warm. ha
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Post by ragan on Oct 27, 2018 22:42:54 GMT -6
I like the Kemper for a bunch of reasons. Not the least of which is availability. I can track electric guitar sounds that I don't hate and sometimes end up quite liking at a moments notice. Ok it does take longer than I'd care for to boot. However I mean availability in both setup time; I did not have to position an amp, wire it, hang a mic, position and wire it, get my signal path going. Plus availability in terms of the hour of day. I can play convincing sounding parts and not wake the dead (or the wife). That to me means I play more and have more fun. Some of the fun of the Kemper for me was had when I started to profile my own amps, and could use those sounds. I find many of the available free profiles quite similar sounding. I purchased and gravitated to the M Britt profiles. To me they sound quite good to say the least. He is super nice to deal with and his sounds are really good imo. I'm not saying people can't hear some flaw - I totally believe people when they tell me things like "I hear it". So not trying to argue. I like real amps. I'd use them all the time if I could. I even love the way an old Fender tweed *smells* when it is warm. ha This is of course totally valid. I like the Kemper for those things too! It's an amazing piece of tech, no doubt. If I hadn't built up a nice ISO cab situation with extra cabs to put in there so I can play at all hours and listen to the mic'd signal at mix position, the Kemper may not have gotten returned.
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Post by askomiko on Oct 28, 2018 2:03:37 GMT -6
If you like the Kemper, just wait until you try AxeFx3...! Kemper profiles have a certain sameness to them, and tweaking them doesn't work too good, the profile has to match your vision from the get-go. AxeFx is more "modular" approach, which imo is nicer for finding your tones: tweak the amp buttons directly and they respond like the amp would, instead or searching through 2000 profiles. I had the toaster model for a few months but the AxeFx remains, and I'm still on the ancient Axe2, not 3.
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Oct 28, 2018 7:50:59 GMT -6
As the non player AE hear is my take on the Kemper it nails until you put it right next to the best examples of the tone your after then it’s some what dissipointing. The thing is though it doesn’t dissipoint I the way most digital emulations have more in the way a lower price point clone dose. So you look at the thing the versatility, the lack of needed upkeep and the fact that it’s a bargain in price, space and weight and simply find yourself going
Damn 😎
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 28, 2018 8:20:34 GMT -6
If you like the Kemper, just wait until you try AxeFx3...! Kemper profiles have a certain sameness to them, and tweaking them doesn't work too good, the profile has to match your vision from the get-go. AxeFx is more "modular" approach, which imo is nicer for finding your tones: tweak the amp buttons directly and they respond like the amp would, instead or searching through 2000 profiles. I had the toaster model for a few months but the AxeFx remains, and I'm still on the ancient Axe2, not 3. I’ve thought about picking up an Axe Fox 2 or something...the 3 can’t be that much better, right?
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Oct 28, 2018 8:22:14 GMT -6
If you like the Kemper, just wait until you try AxeFx3...! Kemper profiles have a certain sameness to them, and tweaking them doesn't work too good, the profile has to match your vision from the get-go. AxeFx is more "modular" approach, which imo is nicer for finding your tones: tweak the amp buttons directly and they respond like the amp would, instead or searching through 2000 profiles. I had the toaster model for a few months but the AxeFx remains, and I'm still on the ancient Axe2, not 3. I’ve thought about picking up an Axe Fox 2 or something...the 3 can’t be that much better, right? Your wallet hopes at least😎
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 28, 2018 8:56:03 GMT -6
I can’t swing any of it...just no way to justify the return on investment these days.
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Post by lcr on Oct 28, 2018 9:52:15 GMT -6
If the Axe FX 3 is legit (as good or better than Kemper) my thoughts are, time to start double tracking - ala mic’ing up two amps.
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