New User: Recommendations for Modern Jazz Guitar Tones?

    Hey, everyone.


    I'm a brand new Kemper user; have had my new KPA for about a week now. I've been enjoying a few lovely profile packs I bought from mbritt and tone junkie. Things sound just wonderful. But, so far I haven't had a lot of luck dialing things in for the sort of tone I tend to go for. I wonder if folks might have any pointers on how I can get there.


    I mainly play jazz, and I'm trying to find rigs and settings that will help me get into that zone, tone-wise.


    In terms of what I'm going for, I'd say the closest would be stuff like Kurt Rosenwinkel, especially on albums like The Remedy. Gilad Hekselman also is wayyy up there for me. I also adore older jazz tones like Jim Hall's stuff (especially on his collab with Paul Desmond).


    Generally, looking for lots of warmth, with a fairly uncompressed sound. Usually clean, though some of the more modern stuff can edge over into edge-of-breakup territory. Smoky, woody, but still musical, if that makes any sense.


    I play a lot with low-wind humbuckers on a 335-type guitar. But I also love the sound of single-coils for jazz, a la Ted Greene, and with that in mind I spend a lot of time playing a tele, also with low-wind pickups.


    Up till now I always ran a stereo rig through two Fender Princeton Reverbs. Nothing fancy. But it could get me where I wanted to be.


    I've found a few threads around here with some jazz rig recommendations, but they've all been pretty old. I wonder if anyone has pointers to current favorites of theirs in that area? I'm happy to spend a few bucks to get great tone, though of course free stuff is also always welcome.


    Maybe also pointers on tone shaping would be helpful. I've been playing with some really nice 3rdPower and Dumble profiles from mbritt and an AC30 pack from tone junkie. Some of these actually aren't that far from what I'm after, I suspect.


    Thanks a bunch!

    -Sim

    Welcome to the forum! For your tone search, you might try using different cabs with a clean profile, of which there are many. The cab can alter the tone in ways that would be very difficult to achieve using EQ.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

    Like 2

    Hi, Sim.


    Welcome to the community and congratulations on getting your Profiler. What model did you get?


    I don't have specific recommendations for Jazz profiles but


    • Be sure to check out the fourth link⭐ below
    • In Rig Manager, search the Rig Exchange for Jazz (see image at the end of this message)

    Here is the welcome wagon of resources for you.


    ? Kemper Manuals and Quick Start guides ?

    ? Rig Manager Download and Documentation ??

    ? Kemper Tutorials & Demos (videos) ?

    ?⭐ Before you buy Commercial Rigs and Profiles check out the Rig Manager for Rig Packs and Rig Exchange

    ? Kemper FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)


    Welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper. Sounds like the fun is already going on, very good! Enjoy this incredible machine as much as most of us here do :thumbup:8)


    As I am not really a Jazz guy I can not give good advice regarding your question, others might comment here way better than I can. Anyway I'm absolutely convinced that you'll get great sound for your style out of the Kemper :)

    Wow, thanks so much for the replies, everyone! I'll start looking through these. I really appreciate it.


    ST asked which model I got...I ended up with an unpowered rack model along with the remote. I'm experimenting with two (or maybe 2.5) ways of playing through it. First, I have a pair of QSC k12 powered speakers, and those sound great. I also have a little crown power amp that I'm going to use to try monitoring through my old mesa 2x12 guitar cab, once I get the a particular cable I'm waiting on. The 1/2 method is through headphones, which sounds great.


    I'm definitely starting to see how shapeable these rigs are through the kemper's various controls. It's a bit overwhelming. But my first goal is to get one or two tones I'm happy with and just get some time under my belt playing through it.


    The wealth of free rigs is amazing. Yikes. So many options.


    Thanks again for the kind welcome.

    -sim

    Welcome to the forums!


    Best advice I could give is don't have preconceived opinions on what tube amps are good for a specific tone and just use those profiles with the Kemper. Try profiled amps that you wouldn't normally think would sound good for that type of tone, like a JTM45, you might be joyfully surprised.


    I'm using profiled amps I would have never dreamed of using. ;)

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Like 1
    Quote from BayouTexan

    Welcome to the forums!


    Best advice I could give is don't have preconceived opinions on what tube amps are good for a specific tone and just use those profiles with the Kemper. Try profiled amps that you wouldn't normally think would sound good for that type of tone, like a JTM45, you might be joyfully surprised.


    I'm using profiled amps I would have never dreamed of using. ;)

    That's great advice. In my brief time playing with the KPA so far, I've noticed exactly this. Have been having some great luck with a cleaned up mesa tone, for instance.

    Hi Sim,

    welcome to the family and a lot of fun with the Kemper Profiler. As Zappledan said you should experiment with changing the cabs. That can make a huge difference with your results.

    Kemper Head - Kemper Remote - Palmer Box with Kemper Kone - TC Electronic BAM200 - Laney LFR 112

    Like 4

    Some "Jazz"-rigs I´ve found in Rig Exchange :

    Boogie_JB

    FUCXS ODS50 CLN

    FUCXS ODS50 JAZZ

    Jazz CleanP1

    Jazzy Morgan AC20

    ZAP-Rivera 30-JAZZ


    Might work or be close enough to adjust to your liking depending on how you monitor

    your sound, guitar settings, strings and room treatment :)


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    Edited once, last by Hoki Toki ().

    Like 2

    Welcome to the forum!


    I am an infrequent poster but a frequent lurker. As a fellow who likes jazz tones and plays a Charlie Christian equipped tele or strat 100 percent of the time, I thought I would mention some freely available profiles that have worked for me.


    - Aside from about ten "polytone" profiles which can be had through the Rig Manager, here are some profiles in order from cleanest to meanest (but not really very mean at all):


    Boogiem's - "63 Vibroverb" with mids up and a Treble Booster boosting the highs (not the gain) for when I want a quick EQ change via a stomp. (My favourite free profile for years!)

    John Taylor's "Blonde Bassman 6L6GC" is a nice clean tweakable sound with a bit more 'fatness' than some BF profiles.

    Michael Britt's - "Old Fold Honky-Tonk" is a good Tweed Deluxe sound (Kenny Burrell/Grant Green pushed clean)

    Ron Jones - "The Duke" - originally had "Redwirez" cabinet but I think I paired it with "Oranje 4*12" - Really tweakable to different levels of grit. (One of my current favourites. Think of Carlton on Fagen's "Ruby Baby".)


    While obviously you have to tweak Gain and EQ a bit to be optimized for your own guitar's output and touch, these may get you into the ballpark quicker than some others.


    Dialing in the right reverb sound will also be of big important to approaching what you are used to hearing through your Princeton reverb. I pined for spring reverb for a long time (I had an old Ampeg with a great spring reverb for many years) but got so used to some settings with the Legacy Reverb that by time Spring was available on the Kemper (or when I used my Spring pedal), I found my taste had changed and I now often prefer plate and other varieties of ambience.


    My most frequent used Tweed Deluxe, "clean with hair", late-50s sound is a profile I made myself and roll back the volume on the guitar to clean up a bit, but have some grit on hand - just like you might on a conventional amp. Don't discount the power of dialing in your own sound on your Princeton and profiling it. Then you can take it any where with you - along with a host of others.