It's so much easier to just log into facebook and interact with folks - so why don't you like my page and say hello? It's an easy way to keep up with what's new in the world o' Pete's Profiles. And when I hit milestones I'll post links just for facebook friends for free profiles and such. How can you
I know, this isn't profiling but it's useful to some of you out there. Goes over the basics of how to set up a GCP to control 8 different on/off effects or stomps on your Kemper, something that is useful! Info below is for BROWSER mode on the Kemper and a Ground Control Pro midi footcontroller. I haven't delved much into performance mode, so some of it may apply, some may not. If anyone has any questions about using the below info in browser mode, feel free to send me an email. If your question involves performance mode, wait awhile because you probably know more about it right now than I do. First thing to consider is program change and instant access buttons. A program change is going to change a rig on your kemper. Instant access is meant to turn something on and off like a stomp or other effect, or use one to tap in a tempo, while staying on the same rig. Some MIDI foot switches only allow program changes. The GCP allows you to set up either all 12 buttons as program change or 4 program change and 8 instant access. To set the number of program change vs Instant access buttons, click both setup buttons on the GCP at the same time. This would be the top far left and top far right buttons. The display should change to read 'setup mode'. Now click on button 7/utility. Now click bank down once, it should read either 10 PRST / BANK meaning all the buttons are used for changing presets/program changes only or 4 PRST / BANK meaning the bottom 4 switches will change presets and the upper 8 are used for instant access. I prefer the 4/8 setup, if you click data yes or data no (#3 and #4 buttons on the bottom row) you can change back and forth from 4 PRST to 10. I'd suggest 4 PRST / BANK. Once you click this, click the edit button on top far right, it will then read EXIT Y/N. Click #4 on the bottom row to exit. To set your Instant Access buttons for turning on stomps or effects, click both setup buttons again at the same time, release and select #6. It will read instant access for a flash and then It will read 1.CH(1-16) CTL(001-128). Use the bank buttons to change CH(which if your Kemper is set to omni won't matter, leave it at 01) and click the #2 button to change over to the CTL #. CTL# is a MIDI CC - enter the number of the item you want to change in the list below using the #3 and #4 buttons to decrement/increment the number. I edited the list somewhat, you're not going to be able to change the delay mix easily with a stomp like this, we're just going to cover turning an effect off/on. So for an example, say you want to turn switch 1 on your GCP to control Stomp A. So you would change the CTL to 17, and would end up with: 1.CH01 CTL017 - this means that button 1 will transmit a change on channel 01 (which doesn't matter to us at this point, since our Kemper was set to omni mode earlier, remember?) and it will change CTL # 17, or stomp A. Now click Bank down, it will change to 2.CH(1-16) CTL(001-128). This will affect button 2. Click #2 until the CTL # is blinking, select your next item you want to change from the number below. Say it's going to be stomp B. Change that # to 18. Click Bank down, it takes you to #3, etc. Keep going until you've used all 8 or as many as you want. Once you're done, click setup on the far right upper corner, select #4 (yes) from the bottom row of foot switches and you should be able to turn stuff effects and stomps off and on with the GCP. To use the tap tempo, just select #30 in the CTL window. Instant Access Number list for Kemper Profiling Amp #17 Stomp A #18 Stomp B #19 Stomp C #20 Stomp D #23 Stomp X #24 Stomp MOD #26 Delay (mute trails) (switches the delay on/off) #27 Delay Mix (keep trails) (switches the delay on/off) #28 Reverb (mute trails) (switches the reverb on/off) #29 Reverb Mix (keep trails) (switches the reverb on/off) #30 TAP #31 Tuner select Now your programs on the GCP will be numbered by banks of four. However, it's going to be numbered slightly different by bank as opposed to midi # on the Kemper. In other words, the first bank of four will read on the GCP os 01, 02 03 and 04. The next bank will be 11, 12, 13, 14. (bank 1, program 1) but will read on the Kemper as 5, 6, 7 and 8. Next bank is 21, 22, 23, 24 (9, 10, 11 and 12 on the Kemper) and so on. After you get to 91, 92, 93 and 94 (37, 38 39 and 40 on the Kemper) it changes to A1, A2, A3, A4 (41 42 43 and 44 Kemper), then B1-B4, all the way to Z. Since the Kemper and GCP do not communicate in both directions (the GCP can't read for example the rig names off the Kemper, or have the status of effects transmitted to the GCP automatically. Easy fix for both though below. After your kemper is set up as above, select a preset with the GCP. Be sure any effects you want to load when you switch to this rig are turned on and the corresponding LEDs for those effects are lit on the GCP. click the Edit button far right top row once, then click bank down three times until a patch name shows up with quotation marks around it. Rename the patch using the bottom row (#1 to #4) buttons, when the name is correct click edit again, then #4 (yes) to save it. Now when that preset is called up on the GCP, it has your custom name and the effects that are on within the patch are on. Please note if say for example you don't have the GCP set up to turn the delay on, then it won't matter - however the preset is saved on the Kemper is how it will come up.
Example - you have delay set to turn off and on with the GCP. Even if the rig you're selecting with the GCP has the delay turned on, if the delay button is inactive on the GCP when that rig is selected, it will NOT be active. Here's the best way I've found to create a profile for use with an external power amp and guitar cab. If you have the right gear, give it a try! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. First, hook up your output from the kemper to the amp input like you would normally. Instead of running a microphone, you will need to run a cable from the line out of the amp to the mic input on the Kemper. If your amp doesn't have a line out, you can use a Hot Plate or equivalent line out. You will need to have some sort of load on a tube amp - whether it's a hot plate or an actual speaker. Without this, your tube amp WILL blow up. As with any advice I give here, you try it at your own risk. I also run a line from the monitor out of the Kemper into a power amp and guitar cab so I can preview how the profile is going to sound. In my opinion, it sounds like The only downside to profiles made like this is that they are specifically for use with a guitar cab and poweramp. You can assign a cabinet to it from another profile, but best results are from using them with a cab and poweramp. So how does it sound? Click here for a free profile - a Blue channel Bogner Ecstasy 101B profile. If you like it you may want to try the entire set!
Been a bit busy this week. Got a new piece of gear I've been trying out with the Kemper - a Two Notes Torpedo C.A.B. Basically it's a mic/cab emulator that also does power amps too. I figured it might be cool to use for profiling, as you can also capture your own IRs and load into it. So far it's interesting. Future blog post on it. Another thing I've been working on is Tone Match IV - a Metallica set. Here's the link if you're curious, there's a clip of Master of Puppets I did with one guitar track. I think it's pretty cool! Quick tip for comparing changes on your profiles easily - make sure your patches are sorted by date. Save the profile you're working with. Now make whatever changes you want, save it again. Now you should be able to use the rig button to swap between the two. I use this for small adjustments or even if I'm just trying to make a new profile 'better' than the old one. Since you can quickly revert to the old one, it's easy to hear changes. of course, when you're done you'll want to delete any leftover profiles, otherwise you'd have a mess.
I'm getting ready to do a third set of Tone Matched profiles - would love some ideas. Most of the first two were ones I knew I could use, and figured others could too... so what recorded tones would you like to see? Send me an email. Please note, the more popular/known the artist, the more likely I'll attempt it as it would have a good appeal for a greater number of users.
Below is a tone match of a suggestion from my good friend Rich - check it out. Long live the 80s! Got some constructive criticism for the following statement: And that's why I think most people who profile with the Kemper aren't happy with the results. In my nearly two years of profiling, 99% of the tones I could hear with a mic, the Kemper grabbed. The few times I tried to profile in the same room, I wasn't happy with the results because the sound of the 'real' amp blended or overpowered with what the Kemper was giving me. What they had an issue with is in bold, but I wanted to leave the paragraph/context it was with above too so it's read all together. I'm not saying the Kemper is a bad product. I love it and it's probably the best piece of gear I've bought in a long time. But I think that some people, I'll say some instead of most - buy it thinking it's going to be super fun and easy to mike up their amps and go crazy. I did same room profiling for awhile. It worked. Some of the profiles I got that way sound great and I still use them today. But my percentage of 'good' profiles versus 'crap' was a lot worse doing it in the same room. The Kemper is a tool that will, as I stated above, grab 99% of tones you can hear with a microphone. Great. Now if you're profiling in the same room at the same time - You're NOT hearing what you're feeding the Kemper, and your profile is going to sound different.
Maybe I should have phrased it another way - in my experience, you get a much better success rate on usable profiles if you can hear the 'reference amp' from the Kemper's monitoring clearly and without interference from the amp/cab you are profiling. Just finalized some profiles I've been working on for awhile. Check out this link, let me know what you think. If there's interest I'll include info on tone matching on a future blog topic, it's just going to be awhile because it is a bit more advanced than basic profiling. It sure is fun though!
Well, probably. It's certainly easier. At the very least you need a way to get a good amp tone, and hear that tone monitored through your Kemper with as little bleed as possible. The more bleed, the less accurate what you're hearing is going to be. And that's why I think most people who profile with the Kemper aren't happy with the results. In my nearly two years of profiling, 99% of the tones I could hear with a mic, the Kemper grabbed. The few times I tried to profile in the same room, I wasn't happy with the results because the sound of the 'real' amp blended or overpowered with what the Kemper was giving me. So, best results in my opinion - put your amp/cab in one room, kemper in another, listen to the kemper outputs when profiling so you can compare the original and kemper profile, refine until it sounds exact. Ok, so some of you don't have the room to do this. You can always put an amp in a closet. Or a bathroom and the Kemper in a hallway. Sure it's not the most convenient thing to do, but if you don't have the room you're going to have to get creative. If you put a blanket over the cab and microphone, you might be able to get away with using the same room. Headphones are another option, but the problem with doing that is - you're likely not going to be using your kemper profiles with headphones all the time, so if you dial in a tone for headphones - you're screwed if you want to use them with say a FRFR or for recordings. It's not impossible, but what sounds good on headphones may not translate to another output device.
The bottom line is, get a great tone happening through your kemper when 'reference amp' is selected during profiling, and you should be able to capture it. If you don't like what it sounds like there, change an amp setting, move a mic, change a cab, whatever - if the reference amp tone isn't there, you're not going to be happy wi Brief note - this is going to get updated sporadically. No set schedule, just when I feel the urge and have a few minutes. I may update it a few times in a day, or you may not see anything for a week or two. The good news is if you don't see me here, likely I'm profiling amps. Anyways, so what's the first step for the Kemper owner wanting to profile one of his amps, or even better, steal the digital soul of a friend's setup? First thing you have to do is get a microphone. The confusing part is, for nearly every microphone out there, some people love it and will extol it's virtues to the heavens, and some people are going to hate it. What's a Profiler to do? Start with an SM57. If you don't have one, I bet you know someone who does. If you have to buy one, you can score one for around $100, get that and a mic cable to start. This is what you should start with. Even if you had a friend with a bunch of microphones and preamps/mixing boards, start real simple. Get the entire concept down of profiling first, get things where you like them to be, THEN start playing with other stuff. Later on in this blog I'll detail some other mics that cost around as much as the SM57 but will get you even better profiles, at least in my opinion. And that's what a lot of this tone stuff is - opinion. I do profile sets sometimes that have a hundred profiles, and I get messages like this - "I loved the *insert name of mic here* profiles and didn't like the *insert name of other mic here*. Why don't you just do the profiles with the mic I like?
What's interesting is that I usually get different views on what the great sounding mics are, and sometimes the mic one guy loves is the one another hates! So I do em both and figure that there's a tone there for everyone. Of course, if you do profile your amps only for yourself, you'll gravitate towards a certain 'magic mic' and use that. But you should start with an SM57 just because it's a classic and if you can get a good profile with it, you should be able to get results with most microphones. And you should always remember, this is fun. I have a great time profiling amps, because there is a skill and a level of difficulty to it. But there's something awesome about being able to take an amp you own or really like, and capture it with the Kemper. For every person who says loudly how easy it is to put a microphone in front of an amp and get a great tone quick, there are several of us who know he's lying. And in the case of the Kemper Profiling amp, you need several ingredients: A Great amp A Great cab A good mic (note I didn't say great, it helps but it's optional) A great ear Patience Two rooms (one for the miked amp/cab, one for you and your Kemper and monitor system) Why don't you need a great mic? Or an expensive preamp? Or several of each? It's never going to hurt, but think of it like playing guitar. If you have a guy with the most expensive guitar in the world and he's been playing for a week and another guy is a seasoned professional with years of experience and he's playing a $99 Chinese Strat copy, it's not hard to figure out who is going to sound better. Everyone has their preferences, but the #1 mic you'll find in every recording studio is an SM57. They are cheap, they are on a million recordings. They also sound like CRAP if you don't get good placement. A real common place to start is halfway up on a speaker, where the dust cap edge starts. If you have a cab where you can't see the speaker, use a flashlight. Start with the microphone there, a few inches away from the grill cloth, pointed straight at the speaker. As you move towards the edge of the speaker, the tone gets warmer/less highs. It gets crispier the closer to center you get. If you want a deeper low end, put the mic closer. If you want less low end, pull it back a little bit. This is called the proximity effect and it can be exploited in your profiles.
I'll go into more detail the deeper this blog goes, but suffice to say, if you're doing profiles at home - experiment! Just be sure if you do something crazy, you can duplicate it if you strike gold. It's an awful feeling to get a killer tone and forget how you did it. Nobody likes to reinvent the wheel. |
Pete Turley
Amp collector and Kemper capturer of tones. Archives
July 2014
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