80s shred

  • I love 80s shred, it's great.


    I've found some pretty good profiles that get the Kemper into the right ballpark, but earlier today I watched this...


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLmKK5p9E80


    ...and thought it sounded amazing. So I dug out my old Yamaha THR10X, used the settings mentioned at the end of the video and got this incredible sound. Not only did it sound awesome but the notes just flowed and it made shredding much easier than with the Kemper. In fact tricky licks that I'd struggle to play normally were a piece of cake.


    So my question is - how can I get my Kemper to sound like this and have the same ease of playability?


    I used to have a MESA Dual Recto and the solo tones on that were always a bit harsh and staccato, the Kemper is nothing like that, but I've never come across a profile that is quite as easy to play as this THR10X sound. Any suggestions? Thanks!

  • Actually, after a bit of searching, I've found a brilliant Kemper 80s shred tone - it's SPLAWN NITRO on the Rig Exchange. Add a nice splash of reverb and delay, tweak the EQ a bit and you get a fantastic (shred-tastic?) sound that combines everything you want - screaming highs, extra-chunky palm mutes, really good artificial harmonics and (best of all) it's buttery-smooth so fast notes flow nicely together. Think George Lynch, meets Warren DeMartini meets Jake E. Lee (but better). I've been delighting the neighbours with it for a couple of hours and I'm sure they love it. Definitely worth checking out!


    BTW I'm running it from my PowerRack directly into a Genz-Benz 2x12 and that might be part of it, but it's probably the best shred solo sound I've found in MANY MANY years. Awesome!

  • I also rave about the Nitro for some time now..


    Btw..what guitar/PUs are you using?The profile I use (from FastRedPonyCar) likes the P90 on my Gibson Special and the Injectors on my Custom strat.But not vintage SCs and high output HBs..


    Anyway.


    Splawn "got it right"..what great amps.

  • Profiling the THR is a bit of a special case as 1) the speakers aren't guitar cab speakers, and not "full FRFR" either, as far as I remember. It's the cab simulation giving you the cab sound. You'd be micing that up with an extra mic. That's one consideration. Then 2) The headphone out (only output unless used as USB interface) is relatively weak. Profiling through that directly in order to avoid micing can give out too much noise and/or not enough volume for kemper to resume profiling. I've gotten it to work after some experimenting and boosting the signal.


    Then again it's possible to mod this amp for an extra line out that can even be run to guitar cabs, as it includes the solid state power amp. One could do this in conjunction with turning the cab sim off via a special android app, all to the best of my memory. If my aim was to profile the THR as well as I could there's a chance that's what I'd try to do -- try to get the best possible profile of the direct, non-cab sim tone. The cab sim of THR, while feeling guitar to play through with the specific THR speakers, is pretty underwhelming for recording in my case.


    Then again when I profiled THR miced up I wasn't so happy with the results either. That could be due to me dialing in a lot of "master vol" (essentially power amp distortion) with the THR, which maybe confused kemper. Settings themselves could come into play.


    Provided all that above, I've just kept the THR as a practice amp and record with kemper or axe fx, if not with real amps.

    The bonanza

    Edited once, last by Dimi84 ().

  • Yes, it's FastRedPonyCar's Splawn Nitro profile - that's the one, it's awesome!


    I've been using it with my Music Man Axis and PRS Custom 24

  • Fast red pony car youtuber definitely has his own "thing" going on with his profiles, in a positive sense.

    For sure. I guess some people would hate his Splawn Nitro profile, but if you love 80s hair metal shred then it's superb. One point about it - he has a YouTube video demoing it and, I'll be honest, he doesn't really do it justice. If I'd watched that I wouldn't have bothered trying it, but I'm SO glad that I did! You know when your guitar tone is just so good that it inspires you to play more and better? It's one of those!

  • For sure. I guess some people would hate his Splawn Nitro profile, but if you love 80s hair metal shred then it's superb. One point about it - he has a YouTube video demoing it and, I'll be honest, he doesn't really do it justice. If I'd watched that I wouldn't have bothered trying it, but I'm SO glad that I did! You know when your guitar tone is just so good that it inspires you to play more and better? It's one of those!

    Yea, I had the same feeling when I first played that profile. Just playing for a while without thinking of much else. That "inspired bonanza" bonanza :)

    The bonanza

  • For sure. I guess some people would hate his Splawn Nitro profile, but if you love 80s hair metal shred then it's superb. One point about it - he has a YouTube video demoing it and, I'll be honest, he doesn't really do it justice. If I'd watched that I wouldn't have bothered trying it, but I'm SO glad that I did! You know when your guitar tone is just so good that it inspires you to play more and better? It's one of those!

    Strange enough I don't like this profile with my humbucker "shred axes"(sounds less exciting) including a custom shop ESP superstrat-shred beast made for me in the late 80s..which is so 80s that even Nigel would be afraid to surpass any speed limit with it..anyway..

    I love this profile for doing "vintage strat sounds on crack"..like playing Voodoo child a little bit "more weird.."?(

    ...which means extreme pinch harmonics,extreme wah use "and stuff"....stomp section (OD and EQ) always "on"..


    As you said..it has "screaming highs"(I have call it "hysteric highs" some time ago) fat mids and very "vivid" 3D like bass..very interesting indeed.Like a plexi on weird drugs..8o

  • Actually, after a bit of searching, I've found a brilliant Kemper 80s shred tone - it's SPLAWN NITRO on the Rig Exchange. Add a nice splash of reverb and delay, tweak the EQ a bit and you get a fantastic (shred-tastic?) sound that combines everything you want - screaming highs, extra-chunky palm mutes, really good artificial harmonics and (best of all) it's buttery-smooth so fast notes flow nicely together. Think George Lynch, meets Warren DeMartini meets Jake E. Lee (but better). I've been delighting the neighbours with it for a couple of hours and I'm sure they love it. Definitely worth checking out!


    BTW I'm running it from my PowerRack directly into a Genz-Benz 2x12 and that might be part of it, but it's probably the best shred solo sound I've found in MANY MANY years. Awesome!

    MikeStoner what's the name of the author for that Nitro profile? Can't find it.

    Rik


    Kemper toaster >Kemper remote> 2 x Alto TS310 powered speakers Furman M-8XAR

  • All fine dear friends..but..My ESP was made in the custom shop in Duesseldorf/Germany by the hands of a mad japanese technician(this guy could not talk a word English or German)..of course this shop does not exist anymore.But if anything in this world (beyond the sunset strip and japanese rock-arenas) can be named "really 80s"..well this little shop definitely is still on top of the list..the true temple of "heroes in tight pants"!!!:P


    So don't mess with me..^^;)

  • All fine dear friends..but..My ESP was made in the custom shop in Duesseldorf/Germany by the hands of a mad japanese technician(this guy could not talk a word English or German)..of course this shop does not exist anymore.But if anything in this world (beyond the sunset strip and japanese rock-arenas) can be named "really 80s"..well this little shop definitely is still on top of the list..the true temple of "heroes in tight pants"!!!:P


    So don't mess with me..^^;)

    As an ESP user you made me curious. A pic of that guitar please. :thumbup:

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau