Kemper KPA Core Tone Tweaking
Contents
Amp Settings
The Amp block features the following parameters:
- Definition - Changes the nature of the distortion from vintage to modern
- Power Sagging - Increases simulated power sagging of the profiled amp
- Pick - Boosts or cuts the transient in the pick attack
- Compressor - Reduces the dynamic range of the profile
- Clarity - Increases the "clean" character of the amp while it remains distorted
- Tube Shape - Make the distortion "softer" or "harder"
- Tube Bias - Allows the signal to push into clipping more easily, increasing dynamic headroom inside distortion
- Direct Mix - Adds the direct (dry) guitar signal into the processed tone
The profiling process defaults all of these to 0.0, with the exception of Definition which varies depending on the profiled amp and Tube Shape which defaults to 3.3. If something seems off about a profile, you may want to see if any of these parameters are radically changed. For some profiles, extreme values here can make an "organic" profile start to seem processed and fake. Try resetting them to default values and see if the tone improves.
Definition gets quite tricky. It's set by the profiling process but can be altered after the fact. Many times a tightening boost in front of a modern high-gain amp will cause this to be set to max (10). It's very similar to a pre-distortion EQ, darkening or brightening the signal to adjust the relative balance of how the fundamentals vs. the overtones are distorted. While it works well for a quick tweak, I find it's no replacement for some finely-tuned parametric EQ in front the amp. If the tone sounds a bit too harsh or thin, try turning this down, then using a Screamer or pre-EQ to add back any needed tightness or high-end saturation.
Power Sagging affects the dynamics and feel of the amp, and can help get mutes to sound right. If the amp feels a bit too stiff and fast, try turning this up. A small tweak can make a big difference here. I commonly use values of 0.4 - 0.9. You'll know you've gone too far when the your notes start to sound smaller, less powerful, and more nasal.
The Pick setting I find I usually like to leave alone; however, every now and then I'll bump it up or down a bit. The same goes for Clarity. While many love this setting, I find it takes away from the real tone of the amp and makes everything sound like a similar crunchy tone. Where I like to use a touch of Clarity is with a highly distorted tone. Sometimes to get that super-saturated chunk with the crisp high end shining through, you need to use a lot of gain, and things can get mushy. Clarity at ~1.0 can still sound quite natural but keep more definition to the tone without giving up saturation.
Turning up Tube Shape can add a bit more bite or edge to the distortion, like you are pushing the power amp harder. I often like to add a bit here, but it's important not to overdo it. Tube Bias is similar, although I find this one a bit trickier - it seems to add volume as you turn it up, which can lead to an instant impression that higher settings are better. However, too high can make dynamics become artificial-sounding and the tone a bit harsh.
The Compressor in the amp is great, mostly affecting crunch tones. It is neither pre or post distortion, but part of the profiling process itself, making it very transparent yet powerful.
Cab Settings
The Cab block provides the following parameters:
- High Shift - Moves the high-frequency resonance
- Low Shift - Moves the low-frequency resonance
- Character - Emphasizes or removes the formant peaks that characterize the cab/speaker(s)
- Volume - Used to level different cabinets
I like to use the High and Low Shift settings for mild adjustments if the cab sounds too boomy or fizzy. A little goes a long way, and I'm rarely tweaking past +/- 0.4; beyond that, things can start to sound a bit weird or artificial. High shift can also help to try to match another cab profile's tone, almost like you are moving the mic or changing its angle.
Character I generally leave alone. A little boost can help accentuate the cab, but too much can make it sound fake. Going negative often sounds quite stiff or flat, and I avoid tweaking in this direction.
Pre-EQ or Boosting
For detailed general advice Pre-EQ and Boosting, see Dialing in Distortion Tone.
I often like to use pre-EQ or some kind of boost/overdrive to tighten up or otherwise enhance the distorted tone. I almost always favor this approach over making big tweaks to the Definition parameter of the Amp block, although I do like to mess with Power Sagging, Tube Shape, and Tube Bias - they alter the tone in ways that are difficult or impossible to achieve using EQ/boosts.
The simplest and quickest way to do this is to use the Green Scream effect, which is a model of a Maxon OD808 pedal, which mirrors the circuit of the original Ibanez Tube Screamer. The typical settings when using such as an overdrive is to set Drive down to 0% and Tone between 60 and 100%. The Green Scream effect's Tone parameter at the <0.0> (noon/center) setting matches 100% on a real Screamer. Turning up higher than <0.0> has no impact on the tone. I find I am almost always between -1.3 and <0.0>. Volume doesn't matter - I like to leave it at <0.0>. Some like to turn Volume up heavily, but this is only necessary on older real amps that couldn't be pushed into distortion without the input volume boost. It doesn't matter on a high-gain amp - you can use the Gain knob to get the right amount of distortion. The only time it may be worthwhile using a non-0.0 value is when you want to be able to toggle the Green Scream on/off to switch from a cleaner tone to a more distorted tone.
A more powerful approach is to use the Studio EQ effect. It gets you both a more transparent sound (the Screamer tends to add a little compression/color) as well as greater control over exactly how frequencies are manipulated. This features 2 fully parametric bands, plus low and high shelves. Sometimes it's as easy as boosting a parametric band by about + 4-6db, lowering the Q down to like -2 or -3, and then sweeping the frequency to find the sweet spot. Usually it's between 800 and 3,000 Hz. You can use the low shelf to trim some woofy low end - I find a -3db cut around 150 Hz to do the trick. If this isn't refined enough I like to use the other parametric band for this purpose. I'll set the frequency to about 40 Hz, gain to about -4 db, and then lower Q until I can hear the lows start tightening up. Another thing I like to do is cut some of the warm midrange - this can make the amp get more aggressive sounding. Then you can start trying different settings to refine. Sometimes, you may need to also trim some extreme high end with the high shelf if you get a harsh, crackly distortion in the high frequencies.
The Treble Booster effect also works well as a boost, but I find it doesn't offer enough control - it's basically a high shelf. It can be a bit more transparent than the Screamer and doesn't cut any high end, so the tone can get quite harsh if used excessively. The Lead Booster is more tame in that it is more of a hump than a shelf, taming both highs and lows; however, I find again that it is a bit too limited for my purposes. The Pure Booster only boosts the signal level, similar to adjusting the Gain knob. It is only really useful to toggle on/off to switch between cleaner and dirtier levels of distortion.
If pre-EQ'ing or boosting makes the tone too thin or scooped, you can use post-eq to try to make up the difference. Thus, pre-EQ/boosts should be thought of as changing the nature of the distortion vs. changing the frequency balance of the signal.
Swapping Cabs
Often a profile can sound a bit off at first glance. If reverting to default Amp/Cab block settings don't help, the issue may be with the Cab profile which can sound far from ideal. This is often due to a poor room, microphone, or microphone placement during the profiling session, which is often the case when one is trying to mic the cab in the same room as he is monitoring the mic's sound. Sometimes the amp profile comes out great, but until it is paired with a good cab profile, you will never know how great it is.
When browsing rigs, I like to save the Cab blocks of my absolute favorite rigs. These should have a great tone with little need to dig into the ToneStack or use Post-Stack EQ effects. Once you have a few stored, you should try these on rigs where the tone sounds off and tweaking isn't helping. You may find a rare amp profile get new life.
Keep in mind that the profiling process is not intelligent enough to completely segregate the characteristics of the real amp and cab. Much of the resonant characteristics of the power amp portion of the amp is tied to the cab being used, so by switching the cab profile, you are likely getting a sound that would not accurately match that same real amp paired with the real cab and mic setup of the new cab block. In most cases, the difference is somewhat subtle; and the tone of new Amp/Cab still sounds like a real rig rather than some digital concoction. This is especially the case where you are switching from similar cab profiles. For example, if the original rig used a particular model cab and the new cab profile used the same cab, the impact to the amp's tone should be negligible.
FW 3.0 may alleviate some of this. It allows the creation of "merged" profiles, where a DI profile (no real cab) is merged with a "full" profile (real cab was used). These calculate the difference between the DI and full profiles, and push much of the resonance that is characteristic of the power amp into the amp profile. This allows more of the amp's character to be retained when switching cab profiles.
When swapping cabs, I've found using a Merged Cab to replace a Studio Cab or vice versa doesn't always work very well. The merging process's separation of amp/cab can vary greatly from the same amp/cab as a studio profile, so you can get frequency responses that sound very off - extremely thin, boomy, dull, scooped, nasal etc. Thus, it's a good idea to save both the Studio and Merged variations of a cab profile if they are available, so you can potentially apply a quick swap to any profile, not just ones that match the cab profile type you saved.
Tweaking vs. Auditioning
While the KPA can be tweaked heavily while still sounding organic like a real amp/cab, this may involve a fair amount of time and effort. Since there are literally thousands of free and commercial profiles available, it becomes a question of efficiency as far as trying to tweak profiles vs. auditioning other profiles. My advice is to audition first and tweak later. The Rig Manager software allows auditioning the free rigs on the Rig Exchange to be quick and simple. For any given amp or tone, find the best 2-5 profiles available and save them onto your KPA or a Local Library folder in Rig Manager. When auditioning, it is perfectly acceptable to make quick tweaks, such as adjusting Gain, enabling/disabling effects (or loading your favored effect presets), adjusting the ToneStack EQ, or adding a simple boost. If you have to start digging into the Amp/Cab parameters, add a post-stack EQ effect, switch the Cab profile, or dial in some intense pre-Stack EQ, the profile may simply be a dud that is not worth your time. Continue to search for better profiles. Only when you've exhausted your audition choices should you revisit the so-so to good profiles and start doing advanced tweaking.
Gain Staging and Clipping
The KPA is smart - it is impossible to clip its digital signal path. You can chain together numerous EQ's or other effects that boost volume without having to worry about getting unwanted clipping as you would with real world devices or most modelers/multi-FX units.
The only thing that can be clipped is the Output block (D>A converter or SPDIF), which happens when the digital signal is too hot. This is easily remedied by turning the Volume knob down. You could also edit each effect to be more volume-neutral, but often you want to toggle those on/off for the volume change such as for a solo boost.
Be wary of rigs in the Rig Exchange that may be clipping. There are lots that have the Volume turned up or use Boost effects post-stack that push the volume too high. Just turn down Volume and see if the tone cleans up. Even a heavily distorted tone will sound bad (or at least harsher than it should) if subjected to this kind of clipping.
Post EQ
For general EQ'ing advice, see EQ.
Loop some drums and bass while dialing in your tone. If you are creating a track, definitely reamp - you will hear things much better when you aren't playing. My philosophy is that a good tone should sound good in all situations - low volume, high volume, inside, and outside a mix. But a great tone will always sound great in a mix at a high volume, and honestly it's more important to sound good in a mix than good solo. Pulling that tone outside the mix and lowering the volume may reduce its charm, but you'll still be able to tell its a good tone. Comparatively, a "killer" tone you dialed up in the headphones at low volume outside a mix is more likely to sound like garbage inside a mix than if you took the opposite approach. If you absolutely can't get your own drums and bass or even find a suitable backing track, you can import a track from ___ band you like the sound of - in this case, pan that track 50% L and pan your guitar sound 50% R to get some separation. Now you can tweak EQ and really hear how it affects the sound in a mix.
Always set the ToneStack EQ controls before adding a Graphic/Studio EQ effect. Save those for fine-tuning. In some cases you might not need one at all, and this will free up an effects slot.
It's a good idea to browse through the EQ presets that come factory with the Kemper. There's a cut-through-the-mix setting that is a good template to help a tone fit a mix. It is essentially boosting around 1.5 kHz, with smaller boosts to the surrounding areas with more focus around 1 kHz. I have found moving this peak upwards can get you a thin-sounding tone, but sometimes this works perfectly for a lead, where you want to cut through with a sharp edge to the tone. Sometimes, I find I prefer a lower-midrange peak, but be careful not to add too much of that boominess that resides at the high-end of the bass frequencies.
Another piece of advice is to move the tone stack controls in opposite directions. For example, I may want to boost mids, so I cut bass to prevent too much lower mid-range woofiness or boominess to the tone. Similarly, you can boost treble but back off presence to get a brighter tone but without too much top-end sizzle.
Sometimes tweaking EQ leads you to believe you improved the tone, when what you are enjoying is the added volume. Try to compensate final volume every time you make an EQ change. This will keep you honest about your tweaks.
If you demo a bunch of the most praised metal profiles out there (Lasse Lammert, Ola Englund, and Keith Merrow's rig packs), you'll notice they are all very different sounding. Keith's tones are very upper-midrange focused, Ola's are kind of thin-sounding, and Lasse's are more wide-open but they cover a lot of different ground from one rig to the next. Playing solo guitar on these rigs can definitely sound very off-putting. But if you listen to any of their mixes, the tone is big and powerful and pretty natural-sounding. This just comes back to mixing, which always requires context.
So for example, if your mix has keyboards, bass, drums, and vocals, you need all the instruments to find their spot in the mix. If you EQ'ed every instrument to sound flat accross all frequencies, the resulting mix would sound awful. Everything would be "on top" of each other, and "fighting for space" in the mix. This is even more the case for heavy metal music, where the playing is fast and technical and leaves little space. But that doesn't mean boost the kick drum at X frequency, the bass at Y frequency, and the guitar at Z frequency. The numbers are arbitrary. One mix might like to emphasize bass around 200 Hz, which means the guitars will likely need to dip around there. The guitars would then have very little punch and sound very thin on their own. Another mix might emphasize bass around 100 Hz. Now there's room for the guitars to have more punch. So it's a real balancing act, and there's a reason there are people paid to professionally mix albums.
As a learning experience, I'd advise you to do the looping/reamping suggestion I mentioned above, where you can hear your guitar tone in a mix. First tweak the BMTP knobs to get the guitars to sound balanced - not too bright and not too dark with the right amount of overall midrange. Now use the Studio EQ and set one of the mid-bands to +6 db. Now sweep the frequency up and down slowly. Every now and then toggle the EQ on/off. See which frequencies help the guitars cut through and sit nicely the mix. When you've found good frequencies, you should be able to reduce the guitar volume and the mix will still be nice and full-sounding, but the guitars will have more clarity. Try the same test but use -6db; determine which removed frequencies help make the guitars clearer. This will give you starting points on how to think about EQ'ing. You may find a spot that has the biggest impact on the tone - now you have to figure out how wide/narrow and how large your boost/cut should be. Start with subtle changes.
Always remember to try toggling your EQ on/off every now and then to see what it's actually doing and how it's contributing. Also, if you are boosting a lot via an EQ effect, try turning the Volume parameter down a bit. Sometimes you THINK you like an EQ setting, but it's only because it's boosting the volume. A good EQ tweak should sound good even when it is reducing the overall volume of the guitars.
Also, you have to think about multi-tracking. Most metal rhythm guitars are double-tracked and sometimes quad-tracked. This will make a thin-sounding tone sound a bit thicker and dial back some harshness. If a tone seems a bit harsh and cold, try double-tracking it before tweaking. If you can't double-track, a frequently used trick is to use a delay with the minimum time and feedback settings to fake a 2nd guitar sound.
Remember that most bedroom tones you tweak outside of a mix tend to have more distortion and less midrange than tones that work well in a mix. Many of the guitar tracks on albums can sound a bit dull and weak on their own. This doesn't mean you should try to make your tone dull and weak; only that it gives you a starting suggestion - if your guitars sound too harsh or lack clarity in a mix, start by trying to reduce distortion and add some midrange.