Best modern rock lead amps / profiles

  • Hello Internet! ;)

    Hello Kempers!


    I ordered yesterday a KPA so no Serialnumber/private forum for me.


    I'm new in the amp scene, cause I only used POD X3 yet.


    I'm looking for amps (the name/type of it) or profiles (good quality, not necessary for free) for strong tasty modern (80's +) heavy rock lead.

    And maybe what are the key words to find them? "High gain" is for Metal Rythm only?


    Here an example (lead guitar tone, source YouTube, frommy music-channel):

    Check the lead tone here


    Thanks so much! This forum is great!


    GOJ

  • Welcome, GOJ.


    When you receive your Kemper, install Rig Manager and check out the free Profiles before you buy anything. Sort by gain (click the "Gain" column in the application).

    Okay thanks. I will do so! But still looking for some Amp recommandations :)


    Quote

    Listened to your YouTube channel a bit - lots of great stuff in there! 8):thumbup:

    Haha thanks! then you got a good taste in music! 8):thumbup:

  • Welcome and have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper.


    For heavy tones I like the Driftwood Amps very much. The Driftwood Nightmare is a pretty versatile beast. Some good profiles out there. One in the RigExchange coming from the author mdan is one of my alltime favorites. Good to tweak and as it is a merged profile you can easily change the cabinet and thus the overall sound character. Give it a try once your Kemper arrives :)

  • Sure, welcome. Other amps? Well there are so many out there, hard to point at specific ones.


    As you are mentioning the 80s above. Soldano was a strong brand then. The SLO 100, the HR50 and more were (and are still I would guess) frequently used. Same for the rack gear like SP77, X88 from Soldano. Sweet tones for leads.


    Mesa Boogies are also well known for rock tones. I used to play Dual Rectifier (actually more for NuMetal rythm stuff) and Mark V. Those are pretty versatile and do have good and timeless lead tones as well.


    Maybe that gives you a starting point. There is no way around trying a lot of profiles. The Profiler itself and the RigExchange are full with good stuff. From there you can go further to commercial profilers if you feel the need then. Those have different styles and characteristics. Takes some time to dig the free packs of those to find what suits your needs.


    Enjoy! :)

  • GoJ,


    You might want to check out the Maestro Guido's Diezel Pauli heard here:


    External Content www.youtube.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.


    Lots of us are huge Guido fans.


    HTH,

    Jeffro

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

  • Recommend amps/profiles is like trying to describe color for a blind person. It all depends on what your ideal sound is, what guitar(s) pickups you're using. One thing that's more important than the amp is actually the cab. Cabs define more the tone than any amp does. Anyway ADA was a very popular tool during the 80's. Used for heavy rock and metal and was used on many albums and Michael Wagener was famous for using the ADA and used the same preset and all the bands/allbum sounded differently. https://bighairyprofiles.com/item/577801aacca9180cd01f890d

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

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Instead of buying the profiles right away, why u dont try to explore a lil bit of the rig exchange? There's a lot of cool stuff there, there's even a thread with hide gems into the r.e.

    But

    Take a look into jtm profiles, pretty cool stuff and some of the choptones profiles it will fit also, especially the iic+

    Cool youtube channel btw 8)

  • Recommend amps/profiles is like trying to describe color for a blind person. It all depends on what your ideal sound is, what guitar(s) pickups you're using. One thing that's more important than the amp is actually the cab. Cabs define more the tone than any amp does. Anyway ADA was a very popular tool during the 80's. Used for heavy rock and metal and was used on many albums and Michael Wagener was famous for using the ADA and used the same preset and all the bands/allbum sounded differently. https://bighairyprofiles.com/item/577801aacca9180cd01f890d

    or you could just use the real deal, as in: the very ADA MP-1 preamp Michael Wagner used. Profiled together with his Furman EQ in THE setting used on all these albums, pushing the input of the preamp.
    You don't get closer than this. ;)


    https://www.kemper-amps.com/downloads/10/Rig-Packs

  • or you could just use the real deal, as in: the very ADA MP-1 preamp Michael Wagner used. Profiled together with his Furman EQ in THE setting used on all these albums, pushing the input of the preamp.
    You don't get closer than this. ;)


    https://www.kemper-amps.com/downloads/10/Rig-Packs

    Damn I've forgotten MW's profiles. :huh::S

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

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Hey guys!


    Thank you so much for all those tips and recommandations!


    I got my kemper finally! And it's so awesome!


    I checked a lot of rigs now and I don't get those tones I want :(


    The question is now... what preeffects (stomps) and posteffects do I need to get that strong modern lead tone? I love Delay and Reverb, but I'm far away from those epic tones like here: (some more examples for what I'm trying to get)


    > YouTube: Song: Section 0:02s - 0:11s <

    or

    > YouTube: Song 2 <


    from my YouTube channel.

  • Okey I see. Well first of what pickups do you have? For that kind tone Duncan jb and a jazz in the neck will do it or Dimarzio tonezone and airnorton. A little less distortion than you think. With a little less gain, no matter if its rythm or solos, will force you to play better and you can't hide sloppy playing that's drenched in too much gain. Every note needs to be both be felt and heard. Rely on delay rather than reverb for that more of a in your face kind of tones. Reverb will push the sound into the background. I'm not sayin never use reverb but beware of what it does. Nearly all hard rock guitar solos, no matter if it's 80's or today, delay is number one.

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

    Henry David Thoreau

    Edited once, last by GearJocke ().

  • Hey thanks GearJocke!


    For the lead with that tone in the examples I linked, do I need passive high output humbuckers? Is that right?

    What about aktive humbuckers?

    How do you know what pickups to recommand me? Do you have a lot of experience with diffrent pickups?


    Thanks gain for helping!


    GoJ

  • Yes if you want more of that warmer tone you will need passive pickups. Active pickups, some love them or hate them. I like both but active won't give you that warmer sound only passive can. Passive pickups and a tubescreamer, that's how to get that 80's lead tones. Yes I have gone thru many pickups thru the years. Those pickups I already mentioned are among the most popular pickups and are used from everything from pop to metal. But of course there are others too. What guitar and pickups are you using right now?

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

    Henry David Thoreau