Kemper Amp Profiling - Assist Needed

[Halen]

I'm new to the whole Kemper world and would like to get rolling with some amp profiling. I've never done any recording, so this is a new world to me. Here are the questions I have:

- Which mid level (price wise) mic do you recommend?
- Do mic cables (quality) make a difference, if so which ones should I consider?
- Do I need a microphone preamp?
- Does the room quality make a difference, or can you profile an amp in a non-studio space?
- Any tips and tricks I should be utilizing as I profile an amp with the Kemper?

 

[JerEvil]

I'm new to the whole Kemper world and would like to get rolling with some amp profiling. I've never done any recording, so this is a new world to me. Here are the questions I have:

- Which mid level (price wise) mic do you recommend?
- Do mic cables (quality) make a difference, if so which ones should I consider?
- Do I need a microphone preamp?
- Does the room quality make a difference, or can you profile an amp in a non-studio space?
- Any tips and tricks I should be utilizing as I profile an amp with the Kemper?

Nothing super special required.
- Which mid level (price wise) mic do you recommend? Get an SM57 and some type of ribbon mic (Cascade Fat Head II is solid)
- Do mic cables (quality) make a difference, if so which ones should I consider? - Not that I have noticed
- Do I need a microphone preamp? Not really. Some of the best profiles I have heard are jus a mic in front of a cab and nothing else.
- Does the room quality make a difference, or can you profile an amp in a non-studio space? - Kemper doesn't pick up room at all.
- Any tips and tricks I should be utilizing as I profile an amp with the Kemper? - Have a way to isolate your cab so you are only hearing what the mic'd signal is if possible. Makes things a lot easier.

 

[Halen]

Nothing super special required.

- Which mid level (price wise) mic do you recommend? Get an SM57 and some type of ribbon mic (Cascade Fat Head II is solid)
- Do mic cables (quality) make a difference, if so which ones should I consider? - Not that I have noticed
- Do I need a microphone preamp? Not really. Some of the best profiles I have heard are jus a mic in front of a cab and nothing else.
- Does the room quality make a difference, or can you profile an amp in a non-studio space? - Kemper doesn't pick up room at all.
- Any tips and tricks I should be utilizing as I profile an amp with the Kemper? - Have a way to isolate your cab so you are only hearing what the mic'd signal is if possible. Makes things a lot easier.

Cool man, thank you for the above info it's very insightful. When you say isolate the cab, do I need to build a box or can I just use baffling? With the two mics, are you going into a mixer and setting EQs before sending the signal to the Kemper?

 

[JerEvil]

Nothing super special required.

- Which mid level (price wise) mic do you recommend? Get an SM57 and some type of ribbon mic (Cascade Fat Head II is solid)
- Do mic cables (quality) make a difference, if so which ones should I consider? - Not that I have noticed
- Do I need a microphone preamp? Not really. Some of the best profiles I have heard are jus a mic in front of a cab and nothing else.
- Does the room quality make a difference, or can you profile an amp in a non-studio space? - Kemper doesn't pick up room at all.
- Any tips and tricks I should be utilizing as I profile an amp with the Kemper? - Have a way to isolate your cab so you are only hearing what the mic'd signal is if possible. Makes things a lot easier.

Cool man, thank you for the above info it's very insightful. When you say isolate the cab, do I need to build a box or can I just use baffling? With the two mics, are you going into a mixer and setting EQs before sending the signal to the Kemper?

For the cab, I mean have it in another room as far away as possible. Run. 50' mic cable if you need to. It's to hard to A/B when the cab is in the same room you are trying to refine your profiles in.

Yes to the mic question. Into the mixer and then summed out to mono into the Kemper. Before mixing mics though, get your individual mic placement down. Not sure what your self recording experience is so if that seems like a "duh" thing for me to say, I apologize!

 

[Monkey Man]

I'd be wary of using two mics, mainly because if they're not properly-aligned in terms of capsule distance from the mic'd speaker, you'll get phase cancellation / comb filtering, which can make the higher frequencies sound harsh. Many are allergic to this, as am I! It's a game of millimetre adjustments to achieve proper, equal distancing.

If this scares you, I'd go with what I was going to suggest anyway and that's an SM57 straight into the Kemper. You simply cannot go wrong with that - no phase issues, no extra gear required, no potential gremlins from other gear that might introduce noise or complications.

The obvious advantage to using that second mic Jeremy suggested is to be able to blend in a little top-end / bite to taste if required. IMHO, as long as you set the amp up to not sound too dull, the absence of that second mic shouldn't be a problem.

Be sure to make Profiles of a bunch of ballpark settings - dark, med, bright, mid-present, all in clean, crunch, overdrive and high-gain forms if possible. That's 16 Profiles that should cover most needs IMHO.

Also, I wouldn't bother to try to enter the metadata (tags) on the Kemper; maybe just use abbreviations to describe the various Profiles as you go, and fill in all the details and "expanded" language using Rig Manager later.

Good luck, Halen. I'm already pumped man!

 

[Halen]

For the cab, I mean have it in another room as far away as possible. Run. 50' mic cable if you need to. It's to hard to A/B when the cab is in the same room you are trying to refine your profiles in.

Yes to the mic question. Into the mixer and then summed out to mono into the Kemper. Before mixing mics though, get your individual mic placement down. Not sure what your self recording experience is so if that seems like a "duh" thing for me to say, I apologize!

Cool, I'll track down a longer mic cable. Was sweating the idea of having to build an isolation cabinet, glad this isn't the case. And I have ZERO self recording experience, so this is going to be an adventure.

I'd be wary of using two mics, mainly because if they're not properly-aligned in terms of capsule distance from the mic'd speaker, you'll get phase cancellation / comb filtering, which can make the higher frequencies sound harsh. Many are allergic to this, as am I! It's a game of millimetre adjustments to achieve proper, equal distancing.

If this scares you, I'd go with what I was going to suggest anyway and that's an SM57 straight into the Kemper. You simply cannot go wrong with that - no phase issues, no extra gear required, no potential gremlins from other gear that might introduce noise or complications.

The obvious advantage to using that second mic Jeremy suggested is to be able to blend in a little top-end / bite to taste if required. IMHO, as long as you set the amp up to not sound too dull, the absence of that second mic shouldn't be a problem.

Be sure to make Profiles of a bunch of ballpark settings - dark, med, bright, mid-present, all in clean, crunch, overdrive and high-gain forms if possible. That's 16 Profiles that should cover most needs IMHO.

Also, I wouldn't bother to try to enter the metadata (tags) on the Kemper; maybe just use abbreviations to describe the various Profiles as you go, and fill in all the details and "expanded" language using Rig Manager later.

Good luck, Halen. I'm already pumped man!

Solid advice bro, thank you. I think I'll just attempt the one mic first and get a feel for this workflow. This is enough to chew on and I'm sure will take me some time to attain some moderate level of success.

Cool idea to create a set of ballpark profiles, that makes complete sense.

Does the speaker cab have much of an impact on the profiling (1x12 vs 2x12 vs 4x12)? I only have a couple of cabs, and several combos which I figure will be more straightforward.

 

[K-Roll]

the heil PR 30 is also a great mic

 

[Halen]

the heil PR 30 is also a great mic

Cool, I hadn't thought of that one. I have a Heil PR40 and it's a great mic for the voice over/audio work that we do.

 

[Monkey Man]

The cool thing about the '57 is it's not an accurate mic, but its inaccuracies are a perfect fit for snare drums and guitar cabs 'cause it tames the high-end harshness, IMHO. There's also some mid-range mojo going on there. There's a reason why it's been the most-used mic in history for snare and guitar-cab duties... a bunch of reasons, actually.

I think I'll just attempt the one mic first and get a feel for this workflow. This is enough to chew on and I'm sure will take me some time to attain some moderate level of success.

Yep, that's what I'd do, mate. Good call.

Cool idea to create a set of ballpark profiles, that makes complete sense.

My thinking is that it's best to make the most of the situation that you possibly can once things are set up. That way you've got a super-representative set of Profiles for the amp that're consistent for the setup you construct (mic, mic placement and so on). Trying to fill in gaps later on will not perfectly fit the scenario; recreating the exact mic placement alone would be tricky.

Does the speaker cab have much of an impact on the profiling (1x12 vs 2x12 vs 4x12)? I only have a couple of cabs, and several combos which I figure will be more straightforward.

Assuming the same speaker model is used for each cab, my guess is that the character will be very-similar, but the cab resonances and thump will be picked up by the mic too, so any variation will be in those aspects of the sound.

 

[Halen]

That is awesome input Monkey Man! I owe you a beer and a shot for delivering such sage advice. Found a used mic on Reverb and it will be here tomorrow. Hopefully next week I'll be profiling some amps.

Thank you again man, sincerely appreciate it.

 

[Monkey Man]

Well, whaddaya know? Someone on the interwebs actually appreciates the ridiculous amount of time I put into trying to help others! 14 hours so far today, and that was mostly via PMs on various forums. Yeah I know. I'm just a big-assed sucker. LOL

That's fantastic, Halen. I'm stoked you found something useful in what I said, and that you're all over this thing with a mic to arrive shortly. How cool is that? Woohoo!

Amp immortality, here we come! I'm gonna stay tuned, brother. This thread lives in my dock from now on...

 

[Monkey Man]

Hey man, it's been 7 weeks; any progress yet?