New user - looking for hard rock lead tone (Shawn Lane, Guthrie Govan, etc) - Ideas?

  • I bought a Kemper because I moved and can no longer really make use of my Diesel Einstein, Diesel VH4S and other tube amps. I used to record with a Royer R121 and SM57, in front of a Diesel 4x12, through Great River preamp. But now I want to try the Kemper route - and I don't want to profile my rig, because I don't have the right environment to place a cab and mic for good profiling. I will use my tube amps when situations make it possible, but for now I just want to get up and running with Kemper.


    I am into mostly melodic instrumental rock, where my lead tone tends to be fairly high gain so I can play nice harmonics and have decent sustain. I also play a lot of clean as well. Einstein is such a great amp for heavy and clean. So I need to maintain that, but not necessarily with Einstein profile.


    I have heard some Frank Gamble stuff on Cornford amps and I think at times his tone is awesome. I also loved Nuno Bettencourt's tone on Extreme's first CD - perhaps my ideal tone to shoot for. Govan sometimes has good tone, but a little plain for my taste. I really dig Shawn Lane's tone, the way his low end has such nice definition coming through in mixes. For less heavy stuff, I tend to like Larry Carlton's tone. I think Andy Timmons also has some good tone on certain songs.


    So maybe you get the idea about the kind of tone I am into - very articulate.


    My main guitars are Suhr, with Suhr pickups (two humbuckers). Not ultra hot, but fairly hot pickups.


    Ideally, the profile would get me the sound I want coming out of my monitoring speakers. I always play and listen to myself through monitors. I always want to know how I will sound recorded.


    Not sure why I can't post on the private forum, since I just registered my Kemper. Anyway, look forward to a chat here!


    Brian