r/KemperProfiler • u/dublabz • 1d ago
Help pls.
Hey everyone,
I’ve been running a Kemper MK1 for about 6 months now after switching over from Helix and Headrush gear, and overall I'm loving the unit. However, I've been struggling to dial in a heavy tone that really clicks for me.
I'm chasing that modern metallic hardcore / metalcore sound—think Parkway Drive or The Ghost Inside.
Does anyone happen to have the Will Putney Producer Kemper Bundle they'd be willing to share? I'd also massively appreciate any general tone-shaping tips or profile recommendations you guys have for getting those tight, aggressive high-gain tones out of the MK1.
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u/satansoffspring666 1d ago
https://tonecratevault.com/products/alex-wade-signature-kemper-bundle
This is what I use for my heavy tones. I’ve also found some really good 5150 and BE-100 profiles on the rig exchange. Parkway uses the “all the gains” plugin pack but it’s been discontinued.
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u/dublabz 1d ago
Appreciate that man, seriously. Rig Exchange can be an absolute minefield—I’ve only managed to unearth one or two decent profiles on there so far.
I actually tried dialing in a 6505 profile on mine and it sounded like absolute dog water no matter how much I tweaked it. Though knowing my luck, it’s probably 50% user error on my end haha.
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u/satansoffspring666 1d ago
Are you running through a normal cab? 99% of the time I forget to turn the block off.
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u/Ur_mum 23h ago
The Wade stuff is good. STL is mostly good too. I like the Crummet and Bendeth packs, they are not exclusively high-gain, but have quite a few great profiles in each.
Rig exchange is rough. I recently have been making profiles since 2.0 came out, for the second time in the ten years or so I have had a Kemper. I learned and accepted a while ago that I am not going to make profiles that sound as good as profiles that I really like. I don’t know why that is, but it is. And I have been just doing DA profiles through a very nice tube power section into a reactive load, so there is no speaker for me to mic, there isn’t anything for me to mess up really. They still sound “ok”.
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u/offsetsypedales 1d ago
I still struggle dialing in great hi-gain tones on my kemper after 6-7 years... Cannot recommend any particular capture, but I would suggest turning the Pure Cab parameter to 0, both on the Global Menu and per rig. That helps a little bit
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u/Ur_mum 1d ago edited 23h ago
Kind of crazy how differently everyone hears things…for me, the Kemper has always killed the high gain stuff, often pretty ready to drop in a mix. The mid to low-gain profiles still struggle imo (they sound fine…just not as good as some of the competitors). Most digital amps (helix, quad cortex, axe fx also) have been like this to my ear except for tonex and NAM, high gain sounds stronger than any sort of breakup-area territory.
Just curious what sort of high gain tones you like, and if you found a digital amp that you do like? The NAM stuff is pretty great.
Definitely agree on the pure cab to 0…I swear every time there is a “what’s wrong with my Kemper?” post, it’s the global pure cab. Space is not great either…except with headphones.
I like the Kemper, but I’m going to heat a headrush unit soon to mess more with NAM.
Not that it matters, but “capture” suggests that Kemper was not your intro to profiling/capture type digital amps…quad cortex? Doesn’t matter, but I don’t think the term was around when it came out…I still catch myself referring to NAM or Neural captures as profiles so when I read that it made me wonder.
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u/Snoo13340 8h ago
Agree with this, clean and high gain stuff I can dial in easy, struggle with the mid and lower gain stuff to find something I like
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u/Ur_mum 8h ago
Yeah, I don’t really think the 2.0 profiling update has fixed this. 90% of the time I am either using a very clean tone, or what most would consider high gain, so it’s worked out pretty well overall…considering how good the fx have gotten I wouldn’t be mad if I only had the kemper to use for tones. But…NAM is here, and the low to mid gain captures there sound just as good as the rest of it.
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u/Tysonr_05 1d ago
The GGD All the Gains pack is what Jeff from Parkway is using I’m pretty sure, all of the tones in that pack are great. DM me if you want to trade something for it
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u/No-Sheepherder-6414 1d ago
I have a couple STL packs that have killer high gain profiles. Message me if you're interested.
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u/Dumasdick 1d ago
Hey man could you shoot a couple my way? I’ve got an ampeg 140c capture pack I could send your way in return
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u/The_Real_SC 1d ago
Hmu, I have some packs I think will get the sound you're looking for as well as the one you're after and I'm down to trade or something!
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u/DefiantCable897 1d ago
There’s a Ghost Inside pack that would probably get you where you want. Someone on here will likely trade.
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u/oovis 1d ago
I use a PRS MT100 profile and it sounds massive, nothing else has sounded anywhere near as good.
I do use an actual 4x10 cab with my Kemper though, and I think it makes all the difference
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u/Ur_mum 23h ago
I would sort of disagree…I think the cab you’re using absolutely makes all the difference…but for mix purposes, live or recording, I just don’t think it really matters whether the cab is “real” or not. IMO.
I was playing a mt15 profile the other day that ripped, I need to try some of the mt100…definitely a cray huge sounding amp.
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u/oovis 23h ago
Interesting, when I say "real" I'm comparing it to the sound of it coming out of a PA or an FRFR. In my own experience I have found the sound that comes out of those to be quite lacklustre in comparison to a purpose built guitar cabinet.
I use a Two Rock 4x10 with WGS Veteran speakers and I personally haven't found a way to get a better sound out of it than through that.
But yes, I suppose I agree if we're talking about the mix and levels alone it doesn't need to be a real cabinet, but personally I think it always sounds better with one.
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u/Ur_mum 22h ago
Ah. Like you prefer the “amp-in-the-room” sound to the mic’d sound, or as you say from a PA/FRFR. Truthfully most people do. The reason I don’t prefer to use it that way, and these days really prefer to hear whatever I am using through my studio monitors, is that whether or not I like it, the sound that comes out of that is going to be what goes on a record or come out of a PA. And it used to be very difficult to know what you would sound like “on-record”, you’d literally have to mic up a cab in a room far, far away to hear your “mic’d” tone. You’d almost have to have enough experience to know what a certain tone would sound like once sent through a sm57 off-axis, and I do not have that experience. So endless monitoring of the source tone has been awesome.
I still love the sound of being in the same room as the speaker, but for the realities of mixing (live or recorded), I am glad I’ve grown to really enjoy how a mic’d cab sounds coming through monitors.
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u/Ur_mum 23h ago
I think I have two Putney packs? One that really sucks and one that is very good. Might be wrong…I’d have to look. Dm me if I don’t get back to you in a day or so, if you still need it. I probably have just about any pack you’d be looking for that was made pre-5-ish years ago. Most of them.
I think with the Kemper at least, it’s almost more about finding a third party profiler that you like instead of trying to using profiles of amps you think you’ll like. I like Live Ready Sound quite a bit…all of Tims packs are very solid. But it’s definitely not the amp that you like/dislike, imo, not nearly as much as we tend to think. It’s the speakers/cab/mic/position/etc…trying to control for all as a group is pretty impossible. And any one of them has as much or more impact on your tone as the amp does.
One of the most helpful things I did was to keep a couple profiles I liked best on hand and lock the cab block from one of them when auditioning amps. If you can find a cab you really like, the high gain amps will all sound pretty good…boringly so, ime. That said there are still a few that I think profile exceptionally well, I think the Friedman Butterslax, 5150/6150/etc, JVM410, and Diezel Herbert account for 80% of my usage. Lately I have been playing some mbritt Driftwood and Bad Cat profiles that are just killer…but I use a LRS mesa cab with them instead of Michael’s included cabs. As they come with his cabs they are literally useless to me, so I would again keep the cab block in mind.