ampfixer
Hey Olpal, I have a question. From my brief readings it sounds like the profiling process is to simply record your amp with a mic. or D/I. If this is true, I'm wondering if a recording of an amp would be enough to create a profile. I have access to a huge number of cool vintage amps and guitars, so could I sample them and send the wav files to Kemper owners to use as profiles?
John, there is a two-stage process to profiling an amp (incidentally, you actually profile the whole signal chain, so if you want to use a stompbox up front, that gets included in the final profile, as does the microphone you use to make the profile).
The first part is to connect your Kemper to the input of the amp (or the first point of the signal chain). You then mic up the amp's speaker as you would normally, but in this case, the mic outputs back to the Kemper. The Kemper then sends a series of audio patterns and frequencies through the amp and analyses them back through the microphone.
To fine tune the profile, you can then plug your guitar into the Kemper and strum a few chords - this signal is also sent through the amp and back into the Kemper via the mic.
A lot of the rig profiles available (some free
*, some are charged for) take advantage of the fact that the complete signal chain is profiled. An amp can be hooked up to different speaker cabinets, and the character of each cab is profiled with the amp. As I've already mentioned, you can use different mics, and different mic settings, and even use signal processing. Each channel on the amp, and various combinations of drive/EQ etc can each be profiled independently too.
The Kemper itself has an impressive bank of stomps and effects built in, plus the unit itself has all the usual parameters (Drive/EQ etc) available on the front panel to tweak any profile. You can even dig down a lot deeper and start changing parameters like
Power Sagging and
Tube Bias in your profiles.
* There are 170 pages of Users' profiles
HERE, all free to download and use.