No good Iron Maiden profile available?

  • Hi,


    I've been searching on the forum and found a few post about the Iron Maiden sound but I could find a good profile.
    Yes they play Marshalls (JMP1 and JCM800 I think) but so far a real good Kemper profile could not be found.


    I'm especially interested in their sound on Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son and Somewhere In Time albums.
    Very middy, with lots of delay and chorus.


    I tried to make one myself but it's very difficult to get their sound.


    Has anyone build a Kemper Rig for this sound?


    Thanks in advance.

  • Seventh Son and Somewhere In Time is not Marschalls ;)


    They are recorded with Gallien Krueger solidstate amps.
    http://www.thenostalgiashop.co…einstrumentadverts018.jpg


    Actually, I have a GK amp at home right now, borrowed of a band. However, no matter how I tweak it, I cannot get the sound close to any of the albums. Actually, miced up, it sounds BAD, plain and simple. With direct in and use of IR cabs, I can get usable sounds.


    However, the GK I have at the moment is far from the above picture, but I believe it's the same amp section, tho :D
    http://i68.tinypic.com/152hmj5.jpg
    I think the "suckyness" of this amp comes from the 10" speakers, but not sure.
    The idea was to reamp a band I'm producing an album for at the moment, they wanted to get close to that exact Somewhere In Time tone.
    IMPOSSIBLE with stock speakers, absolutely impossible.


    I had to line the signal, then use Ozone EQ match to get somewhere close, :thumbup: however, I didn't go 100% on the EQ match, just 50% or so to keep a somewhat "unique" tone

  • Wow that sound you really put some effort in it.
    Do you have any soundclip available with your current sound?

  • Wow that sound you really put some effort in it.Do you have any soundclip available with your current sound?

    Here's an attempt at profiling the Gallien Krueger and I played a "sort of almost 2 Minutes To Midnight" riff :D

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    This amp just sounds so muffled at boring. It's nothing like the epic tone of Somewhere In Time.
    It doesn't have the same bite at all. Sure I have different guitar and pickups than Adrian (for example) but it's not terribly different.
    Tried a lot of microphone positions and nothing worked to get it right.


    Would be interesting to run the amp section through a combo power section going to a 4x12 Marschall cab, I could try it but since it's not my amp I wont do it, they are also getting the amp back soon since the album production is mostly finished.

  • Here's an attempt at profiling the Gallien Krueger and I played a "sort of almost 2 Minutes To Midnight" riff :D

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    This amp just sounds so muffled at boring. It's nothing like the epic tone of Somewhere In Time.
    It doesn't have the same bite at all. Sure I have different guitar and pickups than Adrian (for example) but it's not terribly different.
    Tried a lot of microphone positions and nothing worked to get it right.


    Would be interesting to run the amp section through a combo power section going to a 4x12 Marschall cab, I could try it but since it's not my amp I wont do it, they are also getting the amp back soon since the album production is mostly finished.

    I like the sound! Nothing wrong with that, really! But like you side it still miles away from their sound.
    But we have to realize that the sound we're looking for is the sound after mixing and producing so maybe that's not really fair.
    Besides that IM uses quite a lot of delay and chorus (and compression too I think).

  • btw.
    just because the recording of an album coincided with an endorsement deal, doesn't mean that only the new amps were used.
    many bands and producers have 'secret weapons' or just long time favorites that are used because they simply get the job done.


    but then, I don't know much about Iron Maiden or anything about how they recorded, but I found that claims like "they used this amp for this record" are often over-simplified and not true.

  • copy the link "www...blablabla...jpg"click the "picture" icon in the menu bar (6th from the right)
    paste url
    click ok or insert (buttons are in german here) ;)

    Hmmm, I did exactly that but it didn't work... I will try again:


    [Blocked Image: http://www.thenostalgiashop.co.uk/photos/1.822872moreinstrumentadverts018.jpg]


    Now it worked. Oh well, I must have done something wrong in the process :sleeping:

  • btw.
    just because the recording of an album coincided with an endorsement deal, doesn't mean that only the new amps were used.
    many bands and producers have 'secret weapons' or just long time favorites that are used because they simply get the job done.


    but then, I don't know much about Iron Maiden or anything about how they recorded, but I found that claims like "they used this amp for this record" are often over-simplified and not true.

    Yup, they were actually using GKs on these two albums (and live for that matter). They have a very distinctive sound


    I mean I shouldn't expect to get an identical sound from a 2x10 combo but it's not even close. :S

  • Yup, they were actually using GKs on these two albums (and live for that matter). They have a very distinctive sound
    I mean I shouldn't expect to get an identical sound from a 2x10 combo but it's not even close. :S

    most likely due to:

    • different cabs & different speakers, even speaker sizes (HUGE influence on the tone right there)
    • layering
    • EQing

    and most importantly:

    • even with the exact same gear it is almost impossible to recreate a tone of a mic'ed amp once you move the mic(s) - with a different amp and no information about the cabinet/speakers and mics used I'm not surprised, really...
  • Yup, aware of all that ;)


    But it's not even close, thats the downer.
    Haha, I felt bad about telling the guys in the band that they wont get that tone just by buying "the same kind of amp"... Especially since its different cab section :D


    The owner even told me "it sounds EXACTLY like on the record" when he played it in his room. But that doesnt even makes sense.
    No album sounds like an amp in the room... :whistling:

  • I've been playing around a lot to get to the Iron Maiden sound.
    The closest I could get so far is this sound.
    I thought to share with you guy so you can comment on it.
    I'd appreciate any tips to improve.


    Iron Maiden Kemper Profile

    External Content soundcloud.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    I used a JMP1 Rig and added a tubescreamer, chorus and delay.
    The guitar I used is a Jackson Adrian Smith signature SDX with a DiMarzio Super Distortion in bridge and SD Hotrails in neck.
    Except for the very last lead all parts were play with the bridge pickup.


    Please let me know what you think I'd appreciate any tips.

  • Not that close in my opinion... It's too "crunchy"... Way too much pick attack present.


    The sound on Seventh Son is cool and sort of unique sounding, but hard to describe. I can try :thumbup:
    It's thin, but still low-middy
    It's very soft, but still quite distorted.
    Overall, very mushed out and indirect sounding. Which I dont mean in a bad way. Excellelt tone. But very unique and probably hard to capture without the right gear. In other words: Gallien Krueger :thumbup:


    HOWEVER


    You could probably get a sort of Brave New World with the JMP-1 profile, since thats what they used for that album (at least some of them, I'm not a super expert in Maiden gear honestly)