The New Tone Thread

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Lt. Bob said:
^^^^ this ^^^

All the Kemper really does is give you the tools to model your own specific amps but it's just doing what all the modeler companies do.
The big difference is that you can do the modeling yourself ..... so if Jimmy down the street has a magical sounding amp then you can go model that specific amp.

For instance Jimmy Cheik in Baton Rouge ( recently dead ) had THE best blackface Super Reverb ever made.

I mean, OMG when you'd hear it!
I can promise you ..... each and every one of you desires that Super ..... it was (probably still is) a marvel to hear ..... tone you dream of. Other Supers do not sound as good ......... so with the Kemper you could grab a model of that specific amp.

But I find it unlikely that the Kemper gives you better and more sophisticated ways of measuring and modeling an amp than the factoris that design these things have access to.
May as good but certainly not better.
So the big thing is the ability to do it yourself and model amps that you flat-out know are awesome sounding.
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Right. I've always said I want to go to a Guitar Center with a Kemper and steal the essence of every good amp in there.

But even then I'd still just use my Marshalls. :D
 
Lt. Bob said:
But I find it unlikely that the Kemper gives you better and more sophisticated ways of measuring and modeling an amp than the factories that design these things have access to.
Maybe as good but certainly not better.
So the big thing is the ability to do it yourself and model amps that you flat-out know are awesome sounding.
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This is a good point. The thing is that you don't even need to own a single amp to use the profiles.
There are thousands of profiles online from the shittiest Line 6 to the most rocking Marshall or Mesa Boogie you can find and the thing has enough storage for all of them.
So if you think about it, all Kempers are just one big network of tones. The Skynet of amplfiers!
 
More Choice, more options, less discernment, more home made/according to my earsness.
It'd be useless for me because my ears aren't good enough & I'd never be able to tweak as needed and would end up with a preset that preset concrete to most ears.
Based on the Utub stuff I heard in & around the link everything sounded super gain fizzy.
Shows you how bad my ears are.
 
rayc said:
More Choice, more options, less discernment, more home made/according to my earsness.
It'd be useless for me because my ears aren't good enough & I'd never be able to tweak as needed and would end up with a preset that preset concrete to most ears.
Based on the Utub stuff I heard in & around the link everything sounded super gain fizzy.
Shows you how bad my ears are.
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that's a very valid point.

A modeler can only sound as good as the person who tweaks it can make it sound.
 
It seems kind of backwards to me how fans of modelers are almost always after high gain sounds, which is where digital modeling really introduces it's nastiest side effects. It's like that harshness has become part of the landscape. So many people use fake amps now for their home recorded mall-metal that harsh and fizz are just accepted parts of that style. It's become part of the sound. I've always though that modelers do cleans and light crunch way better than high gain.
 
Greg_L said:
It seems kind of backwards to me how fans of modelers are almost always after high gain sounds, which is where digital modeling really introduces it's nastiest side effects. It's like that harshness has become part of the landscape. So many people use fake amps now for their home recorded mall-metal that harsh and fizz are just accepted parts of that style. It's become part of the sound. I've always though that modelers do cleans and light crunch way better than high gain.
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absolutely ..... I can get a good clean sound outta my POD or V-Amp ..... but those old modelers won't even do light distortion like a 'crunch' very well and heavier distortion is the 'bees in a can' variety. Or 'mosquito fuzz' if you prefer.

My newer Stomplab does really nice cleans but only rises to the level of 'not too bad' for distortions.
This RP360 is the latest generation of chips so I'm mildly excited about it.

Another thing in modern music is people tending to use a factory pre-set ...... they may tweak it some but they don't have a lotta amp knowledge so their tweaks aren't large and you end up with all these similar pre-set sounds getting accepted as the norm.

But when they hear a great guitar sound they will recognize that and go "Whoa, how'd you get that sound?"
I actually have guitar players come up on my gigs and compliment my sound when it's just the Stomplab into the PA which always surprises me.
I find the Stomplab's distorted sounds acceptable but no better than that ...... but I've played thru the very best amps for 50 years so I have a large knowledge base to draw from when it comes to tweaking an amp or modeler.

So I guess I'm pickier than they are.
 
Lt. Bob said:
absolutely ..... I can get a good clean sound outta my POD or V-Amp ..... but those old modelers won't even do light distortion like a 'crunch' very well and heavier distortion is the 'bees in a can' variety. Or 'mosquito fuzz' if you prefer.

My newer Stomplab does really nice cleans but only rises to the level of 'not too bad' for distortions.
This RP360 is the latest generation of chips so I'm mildly excited about it.

Another thing in modern music is people tending to use a factory pre-set ...... they may tweak it some but they don't have a lotta amp knowledge so their tweaks aren't large and you end up with all these similar pre-set sounds getting accepted as the norm.

But when they hear a great guitar sound they will recognize that and go "Whoa, how'd you get that sound?"
I actually have guitar players come up on my gigs and compliment my sound when it's just the Stomplab into the PA which always surprises me.
I find the Stomplab's distorted sounds acceptable but no better than that ...... but I've played thru the very best amps for 50 years so I have a large knowledge base to draw from when it comes to tweaking an amp or modeler.

So I guess I'm pickier than they are.
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Ha, yeah, I'd bet a lot of the modern, current home recording sim users have never, or very rarely, actually played with a real, good sounding amp. Or maybe their only amp experience is with shit amps so for them a sim is like holy grail kind of stuff. Maybe they've never had the pleasure of interacting with an amp on the ragged edge. I don't know about external stompbox type modelers, but I know that with software sim programs, they don't fucking care what guitar you use. They make everything sound the same. You can use a $100 Epiphone or a $5k PRS, your sim sound will be the same. The only difference they identify is single coil vs humbucker. I guess that's a good thing for the home recorder that doesn't know any better anyway. What bothers me about sims gaining ground is that their users are mostly philistines. I don't mind sims themselves. I don't mind tasteful use of sim technology. I totally understand that not everyone can use real amps in their environment. But to me, it's the clueless proponents of sims that makes the whole thing lame. They're not on the cusp of technology like they think they are. They're like blissfully ignorant people riding around in self driving cars.
 
Talking about sims...
The Kemper is defs a step up from the axe fx. Great little thing. Better interface too. I'm gonna trade my axefx for one.

Also used a rectifier today. Might be the best amp I've ever heard. The different voicings are all cool.
 
I put a bid on an Orange Dual Terror on ebay. They usually go on there for about £320 used. This one has a £250 starting bid, which is what I bid. If you look at completed listings, you can see that some have finished with no bids as low as £300 starting bid, so I might luck out and be the only bidder. Worth a punt and no loss to me if I get outbid.

In that Andertons video of the Kemper (I think it was linked here, probably about 200 pages ago by now!), it gives a good account of itself - they seem pretty badass. For all the amps I've bought, maybe I should have just bought once and got a Kemper!
 
jonny deep said:
I put a bid on an Orange Dual Terror on ebay. They usually go on there for about £320 used. This one has a £250 starting bid, which is what I bid. If you look at completed listings, you can see that some have finished with no bids as low as £300 starting bid, so I might luck out and be the only bidder. Worth a punt and no loss to me if I get outbid.

In that Andertons video of the Kemper (I think it was linked here, probably about 200 pages ago by now!), it gives a good account of itself - they seem pretty badass. For all the amps I've bought, maybe I should have just bought once and got a Kemper!
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Awesome. Good luck. I'm loving the resurgence that Orange is going through right now. I'm seeing them out and about more and more.
 
Cool, I think they sound awesome. I've been recording scratch tracks for a song recently and in my head it has an Orange OD sound - I've recorded it on Guitar Rig, which does sound like an Orange, but obviously a sim version.

It's three weeks to Glastonbury today, which means it's three weeks and two days until Motorhead. I only know Ace of Spades (as far as I know), but it's going to be badass.
 
jonny deep said:
Cool, I think they sound awesome. I've been recording scratch tracks for a song recently and in my head it has an Orange OD sound - I've recorded it on Guitar Rig, which does sound like an Orange, but obviously a sim version.

It's three weeks to Glastonbury today, which means it's three weeks and two days until Motorhead. I only know Ace of Spades (as far as I know), but it's going to be badass.
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I saw Motorhead a long time ago, and it was painfully loud. But it was awesome as shit. I'm seeing them in a few months myself, but their current setlist leaves me scratching my head sometimes. Of course Ace of Spades is in there, but a lot of what's commonly thought of as their best stuff is missing. I guess Lemmy is tired of his greatest hits. There's a line in Ace of Spades that goes "That's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever!" But now he's adding "But apparently I am" at the end of that line. Lol. And he says it in a way that seems like he's totally over all of this. It's kind of depressing to me actually. Like he's done all he can do to die a rock and roll death, but he's such a fucking badass that he just keeps hanging on, and he's not happy about it. Lemmy can't even kill Lemmy! :laughings:
 
jonny deep said:
In that Andertons video of the Kemper (I think it was linked here, probably about 200 pages ago by now!), it gives a good account of itself - they seem pretty badass. For all the amps I've bought, maybe I should have just bought once and got a Kemper!
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It's still not the real thing though since you don't have all the amp specific controls. If you figured out exactly what kind frequency the mid knob on a JCM 2000 does for example and the Q, you could rebuild the front panel knob by knob but otherwise you're limited to a generic EQ.
 
When I was amp-shopping last fall (which ended up the Chupa buy), I was originally gonna get an Orange OR15. While I've never played through an Orange amp, the things I've heard from them are pretty good. They've got the "british" thing goin' on, but they have their own unique vibe/sound to 'em, kinda like Marshall's high end thing, from what I can gather, Orange has the low-mid thing, right???

I'd still like to have an OR15, & I bet it'd be a killer little amp...
 
I have been primarily playing through an Orange OR100 for a couple of years now -- sounds great - has several very good sounds, actually. I think the OR15 has a similar circuit. Before that I spent a few days with a Tiny Terror - didn't like it much, and then about a year with a TH100 - that was nice, but probably better for modern metal than for what I wanted.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
It's still not the real thing though since you don't have all the amp specific controls. If you figured out exactly what kind frequency the mid knob on a JCM 2000 does for example and the Q, you could rebuild the front panel knob by knob but otherwise you're limited to a generic EQ.
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that doesn't seem right ..... as far as I've ever understood it good models cover all those factors including how the tone controls work.
 
Lt. Bob said:
that doesn't seem right ..... as far as I've ever understood it good models cover all those factors including how the tone controls work.
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Maybe if somebody has spent the time to create it in a preset but if you're just going to clone an amp yourself the Kemper doesn't have a way of knowing the panel controls. At least from what I've seen.
 
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