Hi All,
There are SO many profiles on Rig Manager, and even a single commercial pack can contain hundreds of profiles. I thought it would be beneficial to outline some practices to make it easier to sift through them and understand what some of the differences may be.
When you get a group of profiles I suggest you make a folder in Rig Manager just for this group, name it accordingly and sort by gain. Based on the style of music you are wanting to play at that particular time this can help narrow the search. If you have your Strat or Tele in hand you are looking for some edge of breakup start at 1 or 2 on the gain level.
Next I develop a string of techniques that helps me quickly get an idea of how the profile reacts to my playing as feel the most important aspect for me. This is can be a short series of bar chords, palm mutes, single note phrase etc. Something that you know and represents the style you play well.
Don't write off a profile completely just because you don't like it with one guitar. You may love one profile with a Les Paul but dislike it with a Strat and so on.
I believe a profile will have something you really like right away or its best to move to the next. I am not saying it has to be perfect but within a short time of playing a few chords/notes that are your ear is happy. A profile being too bright or too dark isn't exactly a problem, just grab the presence knob and make a quick adjustment. You will instantly know if the profile is worth exploring further based on how it reacts to this. If this makes an improvement, great, then you can go to the in amp settings and make some adjustments to the definition, compression and clarity. Or add a EQ in one of the post amp effect blocks to fine tune.
So now you have an idea to get started. Let's think about what is actually involved in making the profiles to see if you can find some attributes that you like to help refine the search process.
In the basic form a profile includes the amp -> speaker cabinet/speaker -> microphone. First we can think of what amps generally work best for the style you are playing, easy enough. Next what speakers generally pair with this, note, you may be surprised by matching an odd speaker with the unexpected amp. Finally what microphones compliment this setup.
There are SO many amps, cabinets/speakers and microphones that will all have their part in the final tone. Getting to know them can be fun and beneficial.
What are some of you favorite combinations?
All the Best,
LiveReadySound