Kemper Output EQ

Frequencies of the Output EQ

Bass Shelf 150 Hz (steep)

Mid Peak 600 Hz

Treble Shelf 2400 Hz

Presence Shelf 10000 Hz

The Tonestack (EQ in the Stack) is different and softer. There is interaction between the controls, so there are no defined frequencies, that can be announced.

Let me say an important word, as assumptions like on this thread keeps me busy since quite a time. There were about four threads in the last too weeks where I had to disagree to assumptions made by measurements Whenever you try to visualize a sonic behavior in means of scope, waveform display or frequency plot, to derive a deeper interpretation, you are very likely to fail. What you see is rarely what you hear. Trust your ears instead! It requires an immense knowledge to make qualified measurements and assumptions to derive better information by measurements and watching the results by your eyes, that you can simply hear with your ears.

In knowledge thereof, I rarely use scopes or analyzers for my development work, as I have failed to often by interpreting what I saw, even though I probably have the background knowledge needed. Instead I use my ears every day.

Source: C Kemper

There are several related discussions that are equally interesting. Here are some examples.

This whole FRFR discussion is something, that I don't understand.

Linear speakers are never fully linear, that's true. But they try to. Modern studio monitors are very linear. I had the chance to participate in a comparison test of different studio monitors. The best of them sounded surprisingly equal, when different brands where compared.

However there is no absolute linearity, since the perceived frequency responce differs with the room we listen, and the angle to the speakers etc.

Is this a problem? Not at all. We all grew up listening to speakers here, there and everywhere, and in the car e.g. We listen to our favorite music by headphones, by kitchen radio, in our studio, by television. Some are better, some are worse. In the same way we have listened to our guitar heros. The speakers that we utilized have an impact to their studio guitar sound, as well as to the rest of the music. Did we bother? Not really. If we didn't like a speaker, it was due to the general perception of the music, not explicitly the guitar sound.

Do you guys make your own music recordings with guitar embedded? You will run into the same situation as every other recording: It will be listened to by a variety of speakers.

Now to the pure guitar sound of the Profiler, which is a studio sound. Still not a different situation. The guitar sound is colored by the speakers in the exact same way a piece of music would be colored with that guitar embedded. Would you ask for a complex EQ for correcting the frequency responce? Maybe yes. But the EQ should be set for the whole music, not just the guitar.

I am aware that many guitarists are not used to the studio sound of a guitar, even though they have listened to studio sounds all their live. Users sometimes state profiles do not sound good through their speakers. Well, that's the sound of a guitar amp in a studio, heard through your speakers. Get used to it! it's reality. Play along some music through the same speakers, and the sound will make sense.

Professional guitarists have got used to the studio sound of amps. They play in studios often, or by Inear monitors on stage. It is probably a similar situation like singers getting used to listen to their own recordings.

EQ presets for different FRFR simply do not make sense. There is no pro guitarist or producer, that has ever asked us for a complex EQ or Highcut or Lowcut or correction curves for linear speakers. They know about the everpresent relativity of frequency responces, that is colouring music in whole as well as guitar sounds in detail.

If you cannot handle linear speakers for your guitar sound, then play the profiler through a guitar speaker. But be aware that you have been listening to guitars by linear speakers for all your life, it's simply that the sound is odd to you when not embedded into music.

Source: C Kemper

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