Advise for "smoothening out" profiles

    I'm a little overwhelmed when it comes to settings like reverb and delay on profiles.


    For example, a lot of the new Lasse Lammert profiles sound great for rhythm, but they're not as good for lead. I thought adding some reverb and delay would give them more of a fluid feeling, but just wound up with something that sounded like it was made in a cavern :?


    How about some helpful tips and tricks? Perhaps an example featuring one of Lasse's profiles and how you would tweak it to behave better for soloing.


    Cheers :thumbup:

    I think the best approach to turn a good a hi gain rhythm sound into a nice lead sound is to severly boost the mids, cut the bass a little and add some gain and delay. But mids are the most important thing by far. The problem is that not all profiles work equally good when you boost the mids. Using mics like the SM57 that Lasse uses mainly, have a very special mid signature with a lot of rather narrow "humps" in the frequency range. When boosting the mids the sound often gets a little nasal or "boxy" since those characteristics are stressed even more. Using profiles that were done with condensers are often a little more forgiving when you really push a range on the tonestack.

    Lasse made the majority of profiles in his Rig Pack specifically for metal rhythm guitar (except the Liquid Leads one, obviously), as he stated in the pdf.


    as tylerhb said, you'll want something more midrangey for lead. My first idea would be to turn down the definition parameter on Lasse's profiles and maybe add some mids with the tonestack.
    searching for 'lead' in the Rig Exchange returns plenty of profiles, like:


    • Engl Savage60

    • JMP1 PREAMP OD2 LEAD

    • MESA MARK IV LEAD3

    • GP1000LEAD

    • VAI.GOD

    • Marsh. YJM100 Lead


    etc.


    experiment and have fun!

    give also a try to the lead booster and pure booster , I often use them for leads, they are a great addition to get a cool rhythm rig sound right for the leads aswell.


    Also allow some time to craft a good sound with amp ( clarity & definition) and cab parameters (character & F shifting). If you're still not satisfied, change the cab ( I keep some of them only for leads)


    There is a example of this process on the rig EX, check my JTM30 profile on the rig ex for rhythm then use Lead ACDC HB ( same profile , but tweaked quite a bit to get a good lead ) : one amp, same setup , two very distinctive tones


    .. and try also Poulin Legion Solo rig - maybe change in A slot to gate 2:1.. tweak it to your taste.. maybe you will like this rig a lot.. ;)

    Thanks, everybody. Some good stuff in there. I think I've been overkilling it with the delays and 'verb. Keep the suggestions coming.


    Quote from tylerhb

    ... severly boost the mids, cut the bass a little and add some gain and delay. But mids are the most important thing by far. The problem is that not all profiles work equally good when you boost the mids.....


    Hmm, haven't really worked with the amp controls too much. Been tweaking the amplifier controls mainly. I'm a little leery of making digital sounding tones, which is why I'm looking for "out of the box" solutions. As in out of the Kemper, directly to me with as little interference too much. :thumbup:


    Quote from DonPetersen


    Lasse made the majority of profiles in his Rig Pack specifically for metal rhythm guitar (except the Liquid Leads one, obviously), as he stated in the pdf.... My first idea would be to turn down the definition parameter on Lasse's profiles and maybe add some mids with the tonestack. Searching for 'lead' in the Rig Exchange returns plenty of profiles...


    That's the feeling I got from Lasse's tones. They're superb for rhythm, I was unable to tweak them in a way that the tone remained natural and not artificial, if that makes sense. Mid and definition parameters sounds like a good place to start. I can't believe I haven't explored the rig exchange thoroughly yet. But with over 3000 profiles, I just find it so daunting. I have found a couple of cool tones though :)


    Quote from nakedzen


    What I do is just switch to the neck pickup and turn my tone knob down.


    That's a cool idea. I'm really fond of using my neck pickup when I'm playing clean tones, but with higher gain, I always find it sounds a bit honky. I'm stuck with the bridge pickup by default, partially because I can't keep switching in-between with the kind of stuff I'm playing.


    Quote from waraba


    Give also a try to the lead booster and pure booster , I often use them for leads, they are a great addition to get a cool rhythm rig sound right for the leads aswell. Also allow some time to craft a good sound with amp ( clarity & definition) and cab parameters (character & F shifting). If you're still not satisfied, change the cab ( I keep some of them only for leads)


    Jeez, I really need to start messing with the Kemper. I dunno, I guess I'm one of the guys everyone talks about. You know, takes Kemper out of box, plugs in, doesn't stop to tweak, still thinks it kicks ass. :whistling:



    Quote from Hallan


    .. and try also Poulin Legion Solo rig - maybe change in A slot to gate 2:1.. tweak it to your taste..


    Check. I need to start looking through the rig exchange. I mean, what is this inertia I feel when I'm in front of the Kemper. I just don't want to do anything but play guitar, I have no time for anything in-between. Like I'm paralysed with fear or something.


    "Don't turn the Kemper knobs, or they'll fall off, your LEDs will die, it will explode in your face." Gah.


    Then again, perhaps if I don't touch it, it will remain minty fresh for my whole life. :love:

    you should try to get one single profile you really dig and stick to it for an hour just adjusting the basic parameters , with almost no FXs ( only verb ), there are several people here that did some gigs with just one profile.


    Start with the basic gain, then EQ : bass mid treble , and stick to this setting


    then adjust the amp parameters definition & clarity , hear the subtle changes and find how you can achieve a lead sound just from those parameters and gain , the aim is to cut the mix better than with a rhythm sound.


    Once done, switch to cab parameters and adjust the character , and play with the 2 frequencies shifting , once again hear the changes and the differences in tone , they can be huge with the F shifting. If it sounds like crap , you'll have to find the right cab ( make a collection of 5/10 cabs by exporting them from your favorites rigs ).


    Save your preset , you should have a great lead tone :)


    Once your understand this , you'll be able to survive with a single profile , no real need for new rigs ...

    Here's some quick advice that has helped me (but I've only had mine for less than a week, so take with a grain of salt):


    The first thing I'll do to soften up a tone is reduce Treble on the tonestack (bass, mids, treble, presence on bottom of the unit). If this makes things too dull, try compensating by boosting presence a bit. Mids, Treble, and Presence will all have a ratio that makes for a really, really sweet spot, but you gotta play around to find.


    If you still can't get there, use a graphic or studio EQ in the "X" slot. That should give you that last bit of control you need to get your EQ sweet spot.


    Once you have that basic sound, you can start trying to tweak the distortion sound. There's many good ways to do this on the Kemper. My bread and butter is to add an EQ before the amp. I find a boost around 250-500 HZ can fatten up the sound and get it a bit smoother. Reducing the very high end (> 3000 HZ) can also makes things smoother, but can take the life out of the tone if you overdo it. I like to set the Studio EQ's high shelf to -4 db and move the frequency from around 8000 HZ to 3000 HZ and find the sweet spot where things get smoother but still have life. Then maybe reduce the cut size - I usually end up between -2 and -4 db.


    Definition is a good parameter to mess with - turn it down a little to reduce the djenty chugga chug to the tone which will make it a bit more open for leads. Also, tube shape - the higher you go, the "softer" the distortion, but again you can lose some "life" to the tone.


    Of course expiriment with different amps and cabs. As far as the cab controls, I leave everything at 0 except maybe MILD tweaks to character. Things can get digital/artificial fast here.

    oh and as for delays, I like to keep things simple. I tend to use a small room reverb with low mix (~8 %) for rhythms just to add a little air, but for leads I prefer a large room or hall. If I'm using just reverb and no delay I set the mix a bit higher (20-30%) and time slightly longer (5 s). If I tend to use mild delays when I use them - 20% mix, 600-800 ms (audible separation between delays), and just enough decay time so that it doesn't trail off so fast it sounds artificial.


    Keep in mind the Kemper has an incredible parameter on the reverb (i think its on the verb, not the delay...but i could be wrong) that determines whether the reverb applies more to the delay trails or the signal without delay. Setting this to the middle (i think that's 0) will be even. I think the default is a bit to the right, which applies more reverb to the delay trails, which I find sounds more natural. However, it might not be what you are expecting, which leads you to boost the reverb mix to compensate. That's where you can get into trouble because it'll sound like you're not getting enough reverb at the same time as there's a lot of ambient noise to the tone. If the reverb mix just won't set right, try moving the delay/reverb balance more towards the middle position.

    Wow, all very complicated stuff. :)


    I have an easy method.
    Go to any Till's Profile, turn on some Delay already in the Profile/Rig...done, awesome lead tone. :D


    Play a backing track through your studio monitors and play some lead with it, now adjust your delay settings until the lead sits nicely in the mix.
    Try some of the Delay presets (press Delay button then use Browse knob)...when you find a preset that works well take note of the settings and how the delay was created...if you tweak it then save your new settings as a new Preset.

    Quote from waraba

    ... there are several people here that did some gigs with just one profile. ...



    I am most definitely a one rig kind of guy. ^^ Now I want two rigs though, since I'd like something different for my leads, I find it's very difficult to use the same tone without stuff getting lost in the din of my mixes. Some good advice there, waraba, thanks.




    Envious that you dove into the Kemper within one week. I keep scrolling through patches and playing. I must conquer this!


    Quote from Guitartone


    Wow, all very complicated stuff.


    I have an easy method.
    Go to any Till's Profile, turn on some Delay already in the Profile/Rig...done, awesome lead tone.


    Play a backing track through your studio monitors and play some lead with it, now adjust your delay settings until the lead sits nicely in the mix.
    Try some of the Delay presets (press Delay button then use Browse knob)...when you find a preset that works well take note of the settings and how the delay was created...if you tweak it then save your new settings as a new Preset.


    That's my kind of method! Thanks, guitartone! :thumbup:

    Quote from Guitartone

    Wow, all very complicated stuff. :)


    I have an easy method.
    Go to any Till's Profile, turn on some Delay already in the Profile/Rig...done, awesome lead tone. :D


    Play a backing track through your studio monitors and play some lead with it, now adjust your delay settings until the lead sits nicely in the mix.
    Try some of the Delay presets (press Delay button then use Browse knob)...when you find a preset that works well take note of the settings and how the delay was created...if you tweak it then save your new settings as a new Preset.



    Even easier! Find Bill Ruperts Holdsworth rig and just change the amp. Instant hi gain leads. Experiment with Tills cabs for fun. :D

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

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