There are so many subtle things that I've been discovering about getting better profiles that I decided to start keeping a notebook. I wish I had more amps at my disposal. There are so many nuances which can make a profile better, and some very surprising things too. I'll list few things I've noticed and would like to get some feedback on why these things work the way they do.
PICKUPS:
* Bright pickups with a higher output seem to push certain treble frequencies which come through with almost the screechiness of Line6 top end. Bright pickups with a lower output seems like the Kemper slightly ignores some of the low to mid midrange frequencies, and lends to a slightly more transparent low end tone.
* Medium to medium-high output A2 and A4 pickups seem to play the nicest with a variety of amps. For whatever reason, they achieve all the right frequencies whether they're mid-heavy Dimarzios or David Allen P51 Mustangs.
* A8 pickups were a great surprise. I have about 21 guitars, but only one with an A8 pickup. A8 is too powerful and thick for my tastes, but in this particular pickup which was on the thin, bright side with a vintage wind, I degaussed an A8 magnet a bit and it turned out perfect. It can sit a little lower from the strings without losing any response or pick attack. I'd say it's a medium-high output pickup probably in the range of a Tone Zone. In any case, I also profiles with a Seymour Duncan A8 with as good results, and that's a pretty hot pickup. For whatever reason, A8 seems to profile really well with different amps. It's hot enough to push the preamp, but because of it's warmth and thickness, it just seems to be a great pickup for profiling.
{A note on degaussing: I'm not a pickup expert, but have been on the Seymour Duncan board for years swapping mags in all kinds of pickups and even mismatching coils to make a hybrid. If you are interested in this, you don't have to take the pickup out of the guitar as far as I can tell. You just take a neodymium magnet and give it an even swipe across from bridge through neck pickup. You don't even have to take off the strings. The pull you feel is it degaussing the weaker magnet inside your pickup. It helps to have a small and a medium size neo wafer magnet for A2 - A5 and A8 or Ceramic, respectively. This is not a consistent process and you pretty much have to test your sound after each pass so you don't degauss too much. I've only done this a couple of times and luckily it has worked out... just in case you are into that kind of thing}.
* Ceramic and active pickups generally really push the preamp hard and seem to make profiles sound too gainy, feel greasier, and tend to give different profiles a more similar sound to where you can't tell the difference between a 6505 and a 5153. It seems like you have to fiddle more with the definition, sag, and pick settings. Adjusting them hardly makes a difference though
{I should note: I'm talking about nuance here OK, all these differences I'm observing are marginal contributing factors to profiling}
* Smoother single-coils tend to result in kind of a little more transparent, generic signal. Kinman Woodstocks + (noiseless by the way), for example, are awesome pickups, but profiling with them seems to result in a little bit dull profile. A set of Fralin Blues Specials are kind of similar in a way as in having a higher output, thicker tone, but because they have a more distinct character, they profile better than the Kinmans. Then there's the Fender Fat 50's vs. Texas Specials, so Texas Specials to me have a more unique character and seem to lend to a better sounding profile.
* TIghtness Factor: You would think that tight pickups = tight sound. Great for metal right? Well, I've noticed a few things. First of all, a few factors seem to influence this. Weaker pickups, like a P90, that have a crunchier sound than other P90s seem to come through fairly tight for whatever reason. I have a Seymour Duncan PATB-1, and if you've ever tried the parallel pickups, they have a loose feel and are on the brighter side. It's kind of like a Bareknuckle Holy Diver but not as tight. The PATB-1 is kind of crunchy or whatever you want to call it, and it profiles really well. When I profiled the P90 and PATB-1 both, the rigs worked exceptionally well with vintage and high-output humbuckers, having a nice tight low end.
* Pickups like Dimarzios which have tons of mids (not just spiky high mids like the Duncan JB, but a lot of overall mids) seem to give up pinch/tap/fret harmonics at low to higher gain levels. Profiling with a Dimarzio Norton, you get some Zakk Wylde kind of low string harmonics. EMG's do all that with gain, but when you're on lower gain profiles, it just doesn't have the same ease and authority.
