Do Different Profilers Sound Different?

I received this question from a reader and thought it bore exploration. Certainly the market place direction is towards smaller portable devices that can be the amp, the cabinet and the microphone(s) on the cabinet that will travel in a backpack or perhaps even in a pocket on a gig bag.

All we need at a venue is a connection to an input or inputs on the PA and to plug our instrument into the device. A connection to AC power and we are good to go. At home, it is just as simple, where instead of a PA we would plug the profiler directly into an FRFR cabinet, or use headphones.

I understand that not everyone loves this idea. Fair enough, but we need only look where the industry general focus has been and continues to be to know that this is a viable space.

There’s a lot of tonal flexibility in these devices and they do provide the capability to be more than one amp, one cabinet and one microphone in a single small device. I have heard people say that the profiles don’t sound right or real, when compared to a real amp, and in a side by side live assessment this is often true even with superior profiles. However once recorded, I have not yet had the situation where a listener could tell me which one was which. Moreover, audiences generally don’t care what gear you are using, only about the music itself.

The question raised specifically was whether a Kemper sounds better than a TONEX. The answer is “it depends”. Profilers have physical and typically software controller interfaces, but when implementing a profile, the quality of the sound comes down to the quality of the profile itself, presuming that the profile playing unit has enough horsepower to do the job. Bluntly, that’s not a problem. I still run a now “vintage” Digitech 2120 that offers very rich and powerful models on what today are pretty basic chipsets and it sounds great IF the model is well done.

Profiles vs Profile Players

The same is true for the three profiler / modellers that I use regularly today which are the Neural Quad Cortex, the Kemper Stage and the TONEX pedal. If the profile is well made, the sound is terrific and the underlying profile player doesn’t make a difference to my ears. Get a poorly built profile and it will sound lousy regardless of the device. You could put any guitar in the hands of Buddy Guy and he will make magic with it. Same deal here. If you have a selection of profiles that you like, the underlying device for playback doesn’t make a difference.

Where the hardware difference does show is in the construction of the profile. The software that creates the profile is the secret sauce in the process. Kemper uses a proprietary modelling tool called Liquid that makes profiles where when you change the settings on the virtual amp when using the profile, you get what the amp really sounds like. Neural has an even more sophisticated device for their in house built profiles that physically turns the knobs on the amp itself in myriad combinations. The resulting Neural profiles are killer quality. The IKMultimedia software using the TONEX does a good job of modelling itself, but not to the level of the Neural or Kemper software.

Whether that matters in the long run to you is solely up to you based on the profiles that you prefer and what you want to hear.

So if the devices don’t impact the sound, and only the profiles do, what else goes into the choice of the profiler or modeller?

User Interfaces

That would be the user interface either on the device or in its computer software implementation. Kemper has the oldest UI on the physical device and I hear from people that it doesn’t look nice or modern. I care if it works, not if it is overly pretty and for me, it works a charm and is very straightforward. It is however quite different and from an on device perspective, the Neural Quad Cortex is the long and away winner. The TONEX pedal interface is like a multi-function pedal, very nice, but requires some finger dancing to get to all the functions. On the computer, Kemper’s Rig Manager is very straightforward but is not elegant. Works very well though once you get past the learning curve. The TONEX computer software is very nice, although the documentation is in my opinion lacking and I don’t find it particularly intuitive. Since I use the Quad Cortex’s superb on device interface 90% of the time, I have not had need to use their computer screen software much at all but when I have it unsurprisingly looks like the real device.

Wrapping Up

In the end, the device themselves only have to accurately represent whatever the profile or model defines, and that is all in the profile or model. None of them sound different or contribute to the sound coming out, as that is wholly dependent on the profile being used. The more relevant question is can you get profiles for the device you are considering that please you and is the unit or its software sufficiently easy for you to use so it’s not in your way.

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