Quote:
Originally Posted by
Robert Randolph
➡️
I have multiple rigs that I'm perfectly happy with and a decent selection of guitar with varying pickup types and arrangements. I've tried a couple pre-amps that I have and a few germanium boosters (that I use with my amps). I've also tried a bunch of equipment that musicians bring in.
If I can get a sound I like with one of many amps, then I should be able to get something acceptable with an amp sim theoretically. However everything I've tried fails short.
So if you think S-gear is awesome and basically infallible, great. You're not going to help me much then.
edit: Think of it this way: I hate coffee. I'm not looking for opinions from people that like coffee on how they like their coffee, what coffee they like, and how I clearly just haven't had the right kind of coffee or prepared it correctly. I'm looking for opinions from people that have figured out how to tolerate being in the same room as a cup of coffee. Replace coffee with amp sim.
So, this is one of those sorts of questions where there isn't a binary answer.
That being said, one of the biggest source of confusion with sims (including Kemper) is that the end result is supposed to sound like your guitar through a cabinet.
It is not.
Sims are supposed to make your signal sound like it went through a cabinet that was mic'd and fed through a mixing console. The difference is not remotely subtle.
Sims have been used by producers for years to make records that you've undoubtedly heard and loved. Now, would these same producers cop to using such voodoo instead of mic'ing a cab? Probably not... It's worth keeping in mind that that you are the reason your amp sim isn't producing the sound you want... Whether it be through unrealistic expectations, bad sims, or engineering.
Is there a reason you want to use an amp sim? Recording at home/neighbors, lack of recording gear, etc?
There are more than a few online articles on how to make a good amp sound great, but they usually boil down to eq cuts. Putting a pedal in front of your interface, putting some hair on your signal through a mic pre's DI... There's a bunch of things you can do to make that signal sound more realistic.
There are some folks here who are reliably expected to chime in on a thread like this and give their opinion that all sims are evil and that nothing beats playing loud through an amp and mic'ing a cab. I shan't argue that point. I will however urge you to pick one sim and really dig in, play with eq, compression before and after the sim and discover for yourself that you can indeed get great tone through products like these... As they say, 10,000,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong.