How much does the guitar color a profile?

    Hi guys,


    Still very new to the Kemper, and I'm currently in the process of trying to find a good handful of super high-quality profiles.
    I'm mostly looking at various commercial offerings. So far I've bought a pack from "Guidorist" (Bognar XTC) and two from "Top Jimi".
    I've also been listening to some of the Michael Britt packs, and I think I'm going to need some of those as well!


    However, so far I must say that the pack from Guidorist sounds the best with my gear. Perfect definition and bite! Just a pure pleasure to play with! ;)


    Looks like his profiles are all done using a "MusicMan Luke II" guitar - and as it happens I also play MusicMan guitars exclusively (have an original Luke, the "new" LIII and a Reflex).


    So how important is the guitar used when creating profiles of an amp?
    I'm looking for some good Marshall tones - and on one hand I hear very good things about the Marshall tones from Top Jimi, but Guidorist is also offering some nice Marshall packs, which would be profiled using a guitar very similar to mine.


    Thanks,
    Kasper

    When making profiles, the guitar matters in the same way it does with a regular tube amp - you select the settings (gain, bass, middle, treble etc) based on which guitar you're playing at the moment. Some profilers try to "cover all bases" and dial in a sound that works for both humbucker and single coil guitars, with the possible sacrifice of not necessarily being ideal for either one. Some profiles that were made for single coil guitars you may think sounds awesome with a Les Paul.


    The biggest factor is taste, really. If your tastes in guitar tone are very different from the person who initially dialed in the amp, then it won't be a fit.


    The guitar used during the refining step of the profiling process should be completely irrelevant - I guess this is what you're asking?

    Yes, I believe that's what I was asking.


    So what you're saying is that if someone went and profiled his Bognar XTC amp with a MusicMan guitar - and then again with a Les Paul - then the two profiles should sound exactly the same (although different from what the guy doing the profiles heard) when used with a third guitar? So the profile is really only a snapshot of the amp & cab, leaving the guitar pickup out of the equation?


    I just thought it would make sense if the pickup on the guitar would affect/color the profile.. but it's pretty cool if that isn't the case after all ;)

    While the guitar has no influence when 'refining' the setting of the amp matters a lot, just like in real life, you won't setup the same marshall for a strat in the same way you'd set it up for a high output Humbucker on your LesPaul.


    I took the way of profiling for each of my classic guitars in order to speed up my recording process, in order not to tweak my favorite profiles each time I swap my guitar. That's why I made a single coil pack, a HB one and even a Hollow one.


    While profiling I did concentrate on each guitar with the right settings on my amps & preamps, so it's pretty plug and play on the KPA when using my profiles with the given guitar and gain range ( I've got free demo profiles).


    That said, some profilers use the same guitar (like Mbritt with his P90) and it's a one size fits most , a good compromise, since it can match standard HB and SC pretty well.


    Watch the comments and meta datas in profiles , you'll find which pickup was used while profiling on most commercial packs.

    the guitar plays no role in the Profiling or refining process.
    All things considered, the most tone-shaping factor is the mic placement.
    Amp setting, cabinet, speakers... all this matters of course, but IMO the art of placing the right mic in the right spot for the application you're after is where 'it' happens.
    Just like when setting up a guitar tone in the studio.