M Britt Profiles what am i doing wrong?

  • They (as many other commercial and non-commercial rigs do for me) hum big time, at least with my humbucking PRS's, and I can't stand hum.

    As MM says, it must be your guitar. None of my PRS hum with any of the profiles I use (including Michael's).

    I also add delay and a higher reverb mix as others have mentioned.


    The first thing I do with nearly all profiles is turn off the delay and massively reduce the reverb. Tone Junkie are particularly bad for this. By the way, I actually love their profiles and have a few packs but they use WAY too much reverb for my taste. The good news is it's dead easy to adjust that sort of stuff to taste ;)

  • As MM says, it must be your guitar. None of my PRS hum with any of the profiles I use (including Michael's).

    The first thing I do with nearly all profiles is turn off the delay and massively reduce the reverb. Tone Junkie are particularly bad for this. By the way, I actually love their profiles and have a few packs but they use WAY too much reverb for my taste. The good news is it's dead easy to adjust that sort of stuff to taste ;)

    That is exactly what I do. Most of the profilers I like the best use way more reverb than I need. That is what I LOVE about having the physical reverb knob I can twist, without going through submenus.

  • I lock the reverb to my favourite settings in Browse mode and almost no mix. Then I use morph on my favourite rigs with a dedicated expression pedal to increase the reverb mix as needed. I also use the Tuner button on the remote to switch it off when necessary.


    It's a compromise, but lets me audition different rigs with a consistent reverb.

  • Offtopic but thanks man, just got these and they are the best marshall studio profiles out there!

  • I actually find the opposite.


    I mostly use profiles I made myself (or with a friend) of our own amps.
    But I want them to sound the way I record them.


    You know how very often synth presets are all loaded with reverb and chorus so that when someone presses the button in a music store to try it, it’s all hyped sounding to impress the buyer? But in the studio, the FIRST thing I always have to have the keyboard player do is shut off all those effects.


    It’s similar with profiles.
    I actually find the MBritt profiles to sound a lot more realistic and more like what I make for myself.
    Like an amp mic’ed to sound like an amp.
    WITHOUT. the overhyped “wow look at that!” quality that a lot of profiles (especially the mega high gain ones) seem to go for.
    I also like the Dr Z official profiles for the same reason.


    It’s interesting to me that the OP said he never used a real 800.
    I wonder how much that has to do with his expectations.

  • You spelled out my FX philosophy and reasoning for it to a T, William.


    That is exactly what I do.

    I have every stomp slot disabled and locked except for the first one, which contains the wah. I just wanna hear the amp and cab. I used to do what you do guys do 'though. Headphone space is also handy for that tiny bit of air you obviously desire.


    I lock the reverb to my favourite settings in Browse mode and almost no mix. Then I use morph on my favourite rigs with a dedicated expression pedal to increase the reverb mix as needed. I also use the Tuner button on the remote to switch it off when necessary.

    Now that's just too-clever, Grant. ;)

  • As MM says, it must be your guitar. None of my PRS hum with any of the profiles I use (including Michael's)

    It's my PRS's? And my LPs hum, as does my Variax, and my previous Music Man Majesty. Even tried different cables, outlets even. They still hum and need tweaking. So I don't get it. Unless everyone is trying these out only at very soft volumes or through their DAWs only with headphones. I play in bands, they require volume, they need to sound clean. They don't without noise gates if they have much gain at all, even Michael's.


    Most comments, at least in this thread, seem to be contradictory. People have been so excited by all the new delays we got, bitch that we don't have spring reverb, and then say they disable these on all their newly loaded profiles! Make up your minds! Seems like nobody agrees with what I have to say of late, even this post I'm sure. I think I'll read but comment no further.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • It's my PRS's? And my LPs hum, as does my Variax, and my previous Music Man Majesty. Even tried different cables, outlets even. They still hum and need tweaking. So I don't get it. Unless everyone is trying these out only at very soft volumes or through their DAWs only with headphones. I play in bands, they require volume, they need to sound clean. They don't without noise gates if they have much gain at all, even Michael's.
    Most comments, at least in this thread, seem to be contradictory. People have been so excited by all the new delays we got, bitch that we don't have spring reverb, and then say they disable these on all their newly loaded profiles! Make up your minds! Seems like nobody agrees with what I have to say of late, even this post I'm sure. I think I'll read but comment no further.

    I honestly don’t get hum with any of my profiles. Do you get hum even with no guitar plugged in?


    I do get hiss without the noise gate, as I would with any amp running any amount of gain, but zero hum. Sorry to hear you’re not getting the same results. If you are getting hum and have tried multiple guitars, outlets etc it sounds as though your KPA might be faulty.

  • I don't think so, the cleans are quite clean, same with low gains. Perhaps it's this "hiss" that I'm referring to, which is completely eliminated with noise gates.

    Gary ô¿ô

  • OK, I think we have been talking about different things.


    Hiss and hum are two quite specific issues.


    Hiss is the high frequency noise that you get with all high gain amps (whether real or profiled/modeled). Nothing hisses like my really Mesas at high gain ;) As soon as you turn up the gain you compress the sound and raise the entire noise floor so hiss is unavoidable. Noise gates are designed to kill that, although the way they tend to interfere with the tail on sustained notes is a bigger issue for me than the hiss. It's probably because I grew up using valve amps without noise gates so I'm used to the hiss and a natural decay to the note. Also, I like to ride the volume knob for cleaning up the sound which often confuses noise gates. I tend to switch off noise gates (even my ISP Decimator Pro Rack G) or keep them really low (like below 3 on the Kemper) because the interference on sustain and glitchy triggering is a bigger compromise to me than the hiss. Others may feel differently, particularly if playing metal with tight fast rhythm passages where the gate is actually an effect as well as a utility.


    Hum on the other hand is that low frequency (50/60hz and 100/120hz depending on country) that you get from a faulty amp or a ground loop. If you are hearing hum using a noise gate to cover it up is like trying to polish a turd. Hum needs to be removed at source as early in the signal chain as possible to avoid it being amplified even further. I genuinely hear ZERO hum in any of the profiles I have used no matter how high gain.


    If you set the noise gate in the Input section it should be global across all profiles so you shouldn't need to tweak it much on an individual profile basis. I set mine as low as I can get away with for the highest gain profiles I am likely to use then leave it alone and forget about it.

  • I just found this thread and been trying to catch up and read everything. I'll be happy to put in my 2 cents for what it's worth. First of all, I'm not offended when people don't "like" my profiles. There are lot of profiles that I've made and others that I've gotten that I don't "like" for my purposes. It's just a matter of taste and I'm super picky too, so I get it. I try to use phrases like "these didn't work for me" as opposed to "these are crap" because I know I'm not the uber-end-all for what good tone is. I just know what I like and what works for my in my situation. But I've always had the habit of making qualified statements as opposed to forceful ones, which makes me sound wishy-washy, while strong opinions get more response.


    Tone is 98% personal taste, which is why I strongly recommend to everyone who writes or comments to get my free Kemper rig pack or my free sample pack to try before spending any hard-earned money. There are so many free profiles from the Rig Exchange and all of the commercial sellers and I think a new Kemper user should try them all out before spending money and potentially being disappointed. There are so many factors that go into a successful Kemper setup and it's impossible for me or any other seller to make a one-size-fits-all solution. Everything makes a difference in the final tonal result: pickup tone, pickup output, headphones, studio monitors, FRFR cabs, guitar cabs, settings, finger attack, etc. All I can do is make it sound good to me using my setup (mainly iem's or FRFR) and my guitars. Take advantage of the freebies from everyone to see which ones line up with your sense of what sounds good on your system of monitoring with your guitars.


    As far as my profiles compared to the one in the video a few posts up. Mine have less treble overall than the one in the video clip. At lower volumes, this may translate to "dull" or "lifeless". Luckily, this can be adjusted by the olde treble knob. The Kemper in the video clearly has about 6-8db boosted on treble. I can't see the other knobs as well, so that profile has already been tweaked to the player's personal taste. For my personal taste, while it sounds good on the video, I feel like if I were to use that tone live my ears would get a bit fatigued from that much high end and I never want to run the risk of sterilizing the audience with that much high end. As volume increases, high frequencies are more efficient and become perceptively louder. With my profiles, at lower volumes I'll turn up the presence and treble a bit while I always end up backing them back to where they were at full stage volume.


    This is all just personal taste, and my preferred sounds and settings may not work for everyone. But when I profile I try to make a balanced profile and not over-eq things too much on my end so that it leaves the most room to tweak up and down for the end user. And I do try to keep my fx minimal and the reverb set to lower settings so the amp sound isn't covered up by fx, but again, personal taste in fx and those things is not universal.


    Now, without actually hearing what the OP is hearing on his system, it's hard to really make recommendations. For starters I'd say turn up the treble and presence to make it sound more "lively". My profiles are seldom described as "thin", which I usually think to mean that they're too bright and not enough bottom. Mine profiles are typically mid-heavy which can be described as "boxy" or "thick" at certain volume levels. If that's the case, a little dip around 400-500hz usually clears a bit of that up. If you need more "bite" on top, I'd start around 2-3Khz and just add a couple db. If there's too much low end, just turn down the bass knob. I don't use PureCab most of the time and I never use Space. My sensitivity settings are set to 0, and I seldom alter the Rig Volume from 0.0. If I need to level volumes between rigs I use the volume parameter in the Amp block. I might add 1-2db on the Rig Volume if it's a big solo rig.


    Not sure if I'm helped or hijacked the thread but just wanted to chime in. If any customers ever need to reach me directly you can email me at my site mbritt.com. Thanks!

  • One other thing I was thinking of is that if you are comparing single recorded tracks or live playing -- especially at lower volume, with album tones, you are comparing apples to elephants. The guitar tracks in albums are double or quad tracked, and have all kinds of studio wizardry applied to them.


    I haven't played a bunch of boutique amps, but I have played a Marshall Silver Jubilee and Michael Britt's Silver Jubilee profiles during the same day. They are definitely close, but I can get better tone with Britt's profiles at a lower volume level.

  • Hey Michael,


    firstly, I really respect the fact that you dont spam all the time like other vendors, and of course that you are so successful at what you do. I am sure there is a reason for that, and your profiles must have something good to be praised by so many people here.


    I have tried all your free profiles and bought your 5150 merged profiles. In fact, I always come back to check them again, because from times to times I see again so many good comments about them and think that maybe I am missing something great. I'll tell you my honest personal opinion according to my personal taste.


    The difference between your profiles and AGL's is not just a matter of EQing. They are much more responsive to my fingers, they have punch like a real amp (even through my studio monitors ) and they clean much better with the volume pot. And of course they sound like all the classic marshall tones we hear on popular records.


    That's my own problem with your profiles: It's mostly a feel problem than a tone problem...To my personal opinion, they lack punch and power. And I'm not talking only about high gain tones but about low gain and clean tones. There is no punch, power and tightness to them. And tonewise, they seem to me that they lack "character", but I believe this is more of a feel thing. I think that if it feels good and responsive at the fingers, the tone will have the "character".


    I am writing all these with all the respect, and I believe constructive criticism makes us better. I really dig you as a player too. I am not affiliated with AGL and I dont know the guy, and as I said many times, all these are just my personal opinion.

  • I'd definitely like to check them out and see how I sound on them. I can't seem to find where to purchase them. I like the video clips of them that I've seen. He may just have a different way of mic'ing the cab that yields more dynamics or something. I'm curious now. thanks!


    Mike

  • I'd definitely like to check them out and see how I sound on them. I can't seem to find where to purchase them. I like the video clips of them that I've seen. He may just have a different way of mic'ing the cab that yields more dynamics or something. I'm curious now. thanks!
    Mike

    Even though Jimmy K said "not just a matter of EQing." from my experience is really just a matter of EQing in this situation, Many of the AGL have extreme EQ from the Kemper side. There is so much bass cut and mid boast and presence cut in many of them and that's why to some who like that mid focus, they feel good.


    Your profiles are the perfect balance and from my experience if I needed to get the radical mid focus, it's just a few knobs moves and I'm there, so thank you for not doing that but instead you provided very balanced profiles that don't have the exaggerated EQ leaving room for fans of your profiles to apply the EQ to suite their own setups.


    My recommendation is keep up doing what you're doing and keep trusting your ears. Your profiles are popular with many and as you know, there's no way they will be popular with everyone. That goes without saying. Actually in some situations, I would say it's good to know and hear that there are those that don't like your profiles most likely to emphasize and confirm that it's generally for the same reasons that many others really like them, of course IMHO.

  • I'd definitely like to check them out and see how I sound on them. I can't seem to find where to purchase them. I like the video clips of them that I've seen. He may just have a different way of mic'ing the cab that yields more dynamics or something. I'm curious now. thanks!
    Mike

    @lonestargtr, to get the AGL Bloody Rocka:


    Just send 19,90 EUR by paypal to : [email protected] and write Bloody Rocka Rigs.


    The owner is working on his website, and it should go online within the next week or so (this info was from an email. I have no affiliation with the profiler).


    I haven't personally tried them yet. I'd like to check out a sample of them prior to buying them.

  • @Wheresthedug - So I did a mini-test, all amp block settings on 0, rig volume at 0 as per Michael Britt's comments above, noise gate off.


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    You or anybody else please tell me if this is hum or hiss (you may need to turn your monitors up for this, I recorded it at low volume. Guitar volume is at 10 but is not playing at all, Kemper main volume at -36, just a mic in front of speaker.

    Gary ô¿ô

    Edited 2 times, last by prsgary ().