Worship Profile Pack - Jesus Culture, Hillsong, Bethel

  • Hi Folks...


    This is my first post ...
    I'm from Brazil and is a joy to be part of this community.


    I'm just wondering if there are any profiles package that sounds like the ones used by guitarists of Bethel, Jesus Culture, Hillsong, among other worship bands.
    Something like what this guy has done here using mainstage ...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SBHAuZ5U34


    I believe that if there was a pro package so it would be a great acceptance and output product.


    I know some will say that every guitarist should have your sound, but how many churches play covers, this would be a shortcut to get the desired sound.


    The ideia is similar to t


    God bless you all guys

  • With all the variety of profiles available, I don't usually have much trouble getting an amp tone that I like for these songs, but yeah, getting the effects right can sometimes be difficult.

  • While im not sure about specific amp profiles, ive had several worship players tell me my reverb presets worked very well for that application. Search "MAB" on the rig exchange or search for "meambobbo kemper reverb" on google for the threads here.

  • Welcome, matholiver! I'll try to keep the language simple so it's easier to understand, mate.


    I wonder if Bert Meulendijk's pack might be just right for you. Here's my reasoning:


    Whilst Michael Britt's stuff is great for clean and crunch, you can end up spending a whole lot of money 'cause there are 6 main packs at, I think, $50 each. They might be a little bit too bass-heavy (cut the bass) and dull (boost the treble a little) too.


    Bert's $50 pack has plenty of variety - great cleans all the way up to hard rock, but no metal, which should be perfect for you.


    Bert's profiles have been expertly pre-tweaked to sit well in the mix (excellent low-cut and treble roll-off - that means not to scratchy), and this should help keep the live band's sound cleaner (less muddy).


    You'll have to programme your own effects to taste, but whether you need clean or dirty, Bert's pack will never be too "big" or heavy for church work IMHO.


    Awesome profiles from sessionplayer Bert Meulendijk

    http://www.bmprofiles.com


    Have a listen to his demos and see what you think. I've a feeling you'll agree with me.


    Good luck and God bless you too, matholiver!

  • The typical contemporary worship sound is based around four main ideas, many of which borrow from the modern ambient/post-rock scene. These are:


    1. One or more outrageously expensive amps.
    These usually consist of a boutique version of a Fender or a Vox - Matchless, Morgan, etc., and, if run in stereo, one of each type on each side. Obviously, with a single Kemper, you can only get a single amp sound, but you can still get the stereo spread by using stereo effects. For me, I like the 1965 Vox AC-30 from Pete's profiles (because that's what all these manufacturers are trying to copy anyway), as it's clean, but can be dialed up with just a slight touch of shimmer when really pushed hard. I also use a Matchless DC30 profile from time to time. It sounds a little boomier, but that plays better with single-coil guitars than the Vox. For most performances, I use my main guitar, a Parker Fly Mojo, which I can get both humbucker and single coil sounds (thank you coil tapping and versatility!).


    2. Stacked overdrive pedals.
    This is a little trickier to accomplish on the Kemper, mainly due to the diminished range of overdrive options it gives you. This is reason #2 why I use outboard effects in front, and in the loop, of the Kemper. You can do this on the Kemper, but you're going to want to dedicate either (a) a profile for each type of overdrive, or (b) use no other effects. 2-5 overdrive pedals is not uncommon. For my setup, I use three - a 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive (a nice, low-gain, handwired TS808), a Foxpedal The City (medium drive, akin to, say, a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET), and an Addrock Ol' Yeller (modded screamer). However, if it's from JHS or Walrus Audio, you're probably safe - their stuff seems to make it onto everyone's board these days, and with good reason - they sound great.


    That said, the Kemper can do this, but you're going to eat up all of your slots. I'd recommend "faking" this if you're not looking to have outboard gear by dialing up your normal clean amp, increasing the gain, and adding an overdrive in front of it. This way, you can "fake" the sound of two overdrive pedals. You'll have a hard time doing more than one and making it sound unique though.


    3. Delay
    Not as popular as it used to be, but a tool you should certainly have at your disposal. You can probably get most of the delay sounds you want out of the Kemper. I prefer either the Eventide Timefactor or the Strymon Timeline, though the Strymon El Capitan is very well favored. Strymon pedals are kind of the unspoken "this guy knows how to play guitar" pedal in worship circles, which isn't true at all, but everyone oohs and ahhs over them. Either way, the Kemper is certainly limited with its selection of delays, and having something that gives you a great, warm, tape-like sound or a shimmery (+Octave in the repeats) sound is not possible without eating up all of your effects blocks. If you can live without the ability to truly shape every facet of every delay sound, stick with a dotted 8th with about 3 repeats synced to the tempo, and you'll have the sound for 75% of worship songs. However, I'd say that #4 is more important these days than a delay, particularly if you're not a lead player, though, if you stack multiple delays, you can get some very spacious, reverby sounds too.


    4. Reverb
    This is the biggest thing, and where the Kemper really falls short. You need MASSIVE reverb sounds at your disposal for worship songs. Shimmer reverbs are getting to be hated because they were very overused for a while, but if you like that sound, throw a Boss RV-5 in the loop. If you want more control, want to do beautiful swells, have MIDI control over what presets are used, etc., you're going to need a Strymon BigSky/BlueSky, an Eventide Space, or a Neunaber Wet. You just can't get 15-20 seconds of decay out of the Kemper.


    Adding a compressor before your overdrives and an expression pedal after your overdrives (or, if you're using the Kemper's FX loop, post amp/pre-FX) will benefit your reverb as well. This gives you a strong signal going into your pedals. Swelling in your notes via the expression pedal will allow you to have instant synth pad-like swells when you need to fill space or for making more violin-esque leads. The compressor isn't essential, but you just have to be more careful about how hard you hit your strings. Cascading a delay (or multiple delays) into a Reverb will give you a really beautiful wall of sound.


    ---


    So, that's kinda how I do things and approach it myself, as well as what I've observed from others. I've found this kind of setup works for everything from Hillsong United and Elevation to the more chill, acoustic stuff.


    A really great resource to find out more about Delays/Reverbs is Andy Othling's series on Ambient Guitar on YouTube, which relates very much so to worship music. Andy's toured with Future of Forestry and now plays in Archabald, both of which are not admittedly Christian bands, but have very worship-oriented songs. Check it out here:

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    Hope that helps.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

  • Just to add something to the mix... I play in a worship band, and although we play songs by Jesus culture, bethal, Hillsong etc I don't get hung up on trying to recreate their guitar sound. I create my own guitar sounds which I like, sometimes they are similar to the artists mentioned sometimes not.


    Being a musician is about being creative is it not ? As long as it sounds good and fits in with the rest of the band why not experiment with your own sound, and don't be afraid to play different parts if it fits the song. If we get hung up on playing exactly whats on the CD, and recreating the exact sounds then we may as well hang up our guitars and just play the CD.

  • I often don't like the tone in the original as much as what I can get from the KPA. I use the Morgan AC20 & Mehl profiles a lot. I can easily get a sound I like, but can't match the overdrive box tone on the originals (which is also often very nice).

  • but can't match the overdrive box tone on the originals (which is also often very nice).


    I'm just as much a fan of amp overdrive as I am using quality pedals, and, as a matter of fact, I tend to favor the latter, except in high gain scenarios. I have more control over what my gain sounds like. This is why I use 3 OD pedals pre-Kemper and basically never use the Kemper's built in DIST stomps. This sound cannot be achieved with a driven amp or Kemper's built-in stomps.


    The Kemper (and, for that matter, Fractal, Line 6, Eleven, Atomic, and any other overdrive models I've ever heard) just don't do overdrives all that well. The focus is on great amps, and the overdrive sections, which is an increasingly growing market with post-rock, ambient, and worship music, is lacking. Stacking two ODs in the Kemper stomp section just kinda results in "more" because the only real "overdrive"-style pedal is the Green Scream, which is based off a Maxon OD808. The rest are distortion or fuzz pedals.


    What we really need, not just for this scenario, but in general, are the following additional pedals/types of pedals to really have a complete collection:
    - OD based off an Ibanez TS9 or Ibanez TS9 with JHS Tri-Screamer mod
    - OD based off a modded Boss SD-1, modded Boss BD-2, or a Fulltone Fulldrive. With the Boss pedals modded, you can get a very similar sound to the Fulltone Fulldrive, which is one of the most popular overdrive pedals ever, just with different amounts of gain and saturation.
    - OD based off a Klon or Klon-style pedal for low gain stage overdrives. The JHS Morning Glory, Klon KTR, or the EHX Soul Food w/ JHS Meat & 3 Mod are all great pedals within this category, and obviously the original Klon Centaur, but I dunno who has the money to drop on one of these.


    I'm going to submit a feature request for this in a moment. But there's just no way to get a true Bethel/Hillsong-style sound without stacking overdrives.

    Guitars: Parker Fly Mojo Flame, Ibanez RG7620 7-string, Legator Ninja 8-string, Fender Strat & Tele, Breedlove Pro C25
    Pedalboard: Templeboards Trio 43, Mission VM-1, Morley Bad Horsie, RJM Mini Effect Gizmo, 6 Degrees FX Sally Drive, Foxpedals The City, Addrock Ol' Yeller, RJM MMGT/22, Mission RJM EP-1, Strymon Timeline + BigSky
    Stack: Furman PL-Plus C, Kemper Rack

  • I use a Kemper for worship quite a bit, and after listening to the OP's video in the link, a Kemper should be able to get close to the majority of those tones except for the complicated shimmer-type reverbs. In the past when I needed that sound, I just plugged in a cheap Behringer Reverb Machine pedal into the loop and got the sound from that.


    The guitar pickups are super important to these tones, most players go with a single coil or Gretsch filtertron tone. I'm using a modified Epiphone Casino Coupe with vintage Gibson mini humbuckers that does these brighter tones well.


    It also helps to have a Vox leaning profile that is set up for a little grit at full volume but cleans/brightens up as the guitar volume is turned down. I find the dynamics of the profile to be very important. My main tone is a profile of my homemade Dumble clone (Robben Ford #102) in overdrive mode with a third party IR (Ownhammer EVM12L). It just works extremely well, it gets nice and thick with smooth overdrive at full guitar volume, but cleans up with a bright tone when lightly picking.


    One of the things I like the most about the Kemper is how well it handles playing and guitar volume dynamics. Nothing comes close IME.


  • Being a musician is about being creative is it not As long as it sounds good and fits in with the rest of the band why not experiment with your own sound, and don't be afraid to play different parts if it fits the song. If we get hung up on playing exactly whats on the CD, and recreating the exact sounds then we may as well hang up our guitars and just play the CD.


    Amen to that!

  • This community is really fabulous. I will test all the tips you guys gave me.


    From my heart i want to thank you all for your time and patience to answer.

  • One amp I like for worship music , is the M Britt Guytron amp .. It is $14.99 for 30 profiles , all gain levels and all channels .. with different speakers.. 39 profiles total


    What I do is find 5 levels of gain and put it into a performance setting ..


    Start with clean profile from the amp , and then the next slot I add a bot more gain , and so forth ..


    I also run these into the Axe FX2 which gives me all of my delays or ambience etc..


    But I can see myself moving towards Strymon pedals for delay , and JHS morning Glory for drive .. rather than carrying the Axe around etc..