Achieving these tones - Help needed!

    I've come a long way with this unit. When I got it I didn't click with it at all. Now I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. But, I still feel that I'm not getting the tone that I want out of it.


    Maybe you guys can help me once and for all to get me close to some of the tones that I want.


    These are the three guitars that I use mainly.


    A Fender CS 59 Strat With Custom pickups - I believe these are not very high output.


    A Fender CS 51 Limited Edition Tele - again, low output.


    I have a Gibson Les Paul 59 Reissue - medium output humbuckers.


    I want a heavy single coil sound, Nirvana/Radiohead etc (although I know that Nirvana also used humbuckers) and I'm happy to spend money on profiles to achieve the sound and send you/anyone the DI so that you can put it through your rig. I feel that with my LP I can get the kind of snarling humbucker sound that I want, mainly double tracked, but when I want that grungey, heavy, single coil sound I'm struggling a bit and it all sounds a bit lacklustre to what I want. If I use Logic Pro X VSTs I can get closer, but I expect that's because they process the sound digitally.


    Could it purely be my pickups?


    In this song I'm working on, this is the closest I could get to that snarling, single coil sound and it's not the same. If I went really overdriven it just sounded too distorted and muddy. (Skip to 2.30 for the heavier part)


    https://m.soundcloud.com/farce_bandit/take-me-home1


    In any case, Here are a couple of tones that I'm looking to achieve, or something in the same ballpark. Are these double tracked?


    Radiohead - The bends. The guitar sound is great in the beginning and has a real snarl to it. They use Strats and Teles mainly and I believe that a Strat was used here, possibly a ProcoRat OD.


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    Nirvana - In Bloom. Kurt used single coils and a DS1, along with Marshall Superleads I believe, but again, the snarl isn't there for me.


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    Could it be something as simple as the output of the pickups? Thanks.

    Edited 3 times, last by PhilUK84 ().

    I think the Bends was:


    -Tele Plus with Lace Red bridge HB
    -Marshall Shredmaster distortion pedal
    -Fender Deluxe 85 amp


    For that sound in a Kemper I'd go with a bridge HB guitar into a Marshall profile, maybe with some kind of boost in front. This TAF demo has some tones reminiscent of what you're trying to achieve:


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    Hmm. Perhaps I've been looking to get humbucker tones with low output single coils. In any case, it's forced me to learn alot about what I 'can' get out of these guitars. Lots of people say that lower output guitars give you more clarity, but I can't get a distortion that sounds clear and driven with single coils with my set up. Even using a boost/treble boost doesn't give me that snarling sound.


    I've looked into the songs a bit more in depth and it does appear that nearly all of them have humbuckers. How do humbuckers in single coil form stack up to normal humbuckers?


    What about Tom Morello, doesn't he use a stock Mexican Tele with stock single coils for all the Drop D stuff? How does he get that huge tone with such low output?

    Edited 4 times, last by PhilUK84 ().

    PhilUK84, try out one of my Mesa presets. It's on the rig exchange under user D.Randall and called RECTO/2:90 - 20. It works great for single coil grit with my strat and cleans up nicely with the guitar volume knob

    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

    Quote from drandall

    PhilUK84, try out one of my Mesa presets. It's on the rig exchange under user D.Randall and called RECTO/2:90 - 20. It works great for single coil grit with my strat and cleans up nicely with the guitar volume knob


    Okay I'll check it out. Thanks :)


    Quote from paults

    The Nirvana song has doubled guitar parts. Although the intro of their song may not have been, Radiohead typically does that, too.


    Would you say that a higher output pickup was used for it too? Humbucker/high output single coil?


    If you look at Pearl Jam, Mic McCready has huge tone and uses Strats and Teles, I can't get that kind of tone with mine and any profiles on the Kemper.

    Edited once, last by PhilUK84 ().

    Quote from PhilUK84

    Would you say that a higher output pickup was used for it too? Humbucker/high output single coil?


    I'd say that tone is a humbucker all day long and it is double tracked left & right. Don't be fooled by what he used in the video. He also mainly used a Mesa Studio preamp, crown poweramp and Marshall 4x12s on Nevermind. The guitars were his Mustang and a Japanese Strat both with Dimarzio Super Distortion humbuckers.


    http://www.guitarworld.com/arc…obain-gear-guide?page=0,1

    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

    Maybe I should just use the single coil guitars for the more traditional blues stuff I like to play, and some of the more clean, indie stuff, and for the heavier stuff just use humbuckers. Switching guitars for the heavier and lighter parts of the songs. Does this sound more suited to the guitars and what people would normally do?


    If I were to put single coil humbuckers in my Strat/Tele would I be able to achieve the tones I'm looking at more?

    I listened to the beginning again - it also sounds like two guitars to me. One is playing lower chord inversions than the other - that is what makes it sound so big, not because of the amount of gain.


    Your Les Paul has more than enough fatness and output for that kind of sound. If you voiced the two guitars in your example song that way, they could do it with less gain, I think. One other thing to keep in mind that those two songs used a lot more compression in the mi, to make them more "in your face".

    Okay, so if I were to use my Strat, I could use different voicings and see how that changes the sound. Although, would humbuckers ultimately be the easier and more effective option?


    I could just use the Strat and Tele for more vintage stuff and lower gain/clean stuff and the LP for the heavier stuff.

    Try double tracking everything (one track left, another track right) on studio recordings. You'll be amazed how much bigger your sound gets. You can also dial in another track (mono in the center and quieter in the mix) with your LP in the chorus sections for an even bigger sound

    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

    Quote from drandall

    Try double tracking everything (one track left, another track right) on studio recordings. You'll be amazed how much bigger your sound gets. You can also dial in another track (mono in the center and quieter in the mix) with your LP in the chorus sections for an even bigger sound


    Yea I've been double tracking, it's definitely bigger but I just can't get the kind of rock tone that I wanted out of my Strat or Tele.

    Here is a good example of using my profile on the rig exchange I mentioned above with a Telecaster on one side and a strat on the other side both using single coils in the bridge position, but the double tracking effect adds the grit & beef you are looking for.


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    Like 2

    Here is one more for you (I realize these are country music and not the style you listed above), this one uses all Michael Britt profiles available from update 3.0 and using my Tele on all tracks. Point is...you can get nice, big full tones even with single coils and low gain profiles


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    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

    Thanks, I'll check that, and the other link out when I get home after my shift.


    I think that maybe I'm just looking for a humbucker sound.


    The issue I've got is, that whenever I've recorded I've used humbuckers, seeing as the bands I've been in are always QotSA kind of bands, but then when playing live sometimes I use a Tele or a Strat and the loudness makes up for the lack of gain as well as adding a boost.


    Now that I'm recording on my own a lot more and experimenting with the Kemper, I'm trying to achieve certain sounds in my head with the guitars that I have. And they are mostly humbucker style sounds, so I'm starting to question what to do with the guitars I have. So maybe I should just look into pickup changes and what functions each guitar can fulfill. But, I'll also give your suggestions about voicings and certain profiles a try.


    LP - Heavy Rock
    Strat - For a brighter rock sound, mini humbuckers and some cleans.
    Tele. keep stock for more vintage style stuff and cleans.

    Edited once, last by PhilUK84 ().

    I use humbuckers (Dimarzio Evolutions and Crunchlab) for 90% of my recordings and my single coils for country stuff I do for my buddy (heard above). The Queen of Reality TV song above has reached the final screening to be used on the TV show Nashville.

    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

    Like 1

    Here is another option to consider...I just bought one of these from Sigler Music and dropped it in one of my strats. You get Humbuckers in serial and parallel, P-90s and single coils out of one set of Duncan P-rails. It's already wired up and ready to go, all you do is soldier in the hot & ground from the jack and the ground from your trem to the volume pot. I've been playing with it for a week and it's really got it all in one package!


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    Quote from drandall

    I use humbuckers (Dimarzio Evolutions and Crunchlab) for 90% of my recordings and my single coils for country stuff I do for my buddy (heard above). The Queen of Reality TV song above has reached the final screening to be used on the TV show Nashville.


    That's amazing! Good luck, man!


    In regards to the pickguard, my Strat and Tele are both Single coil routed only. :/


    I might just get a set of the Billy Corgan bridge and neck and chuck them in the Tele if I'm not satisfied with the sound I'm getting after I've given the suggestions you guys have given me a go. It might just be too much of a vintage set up.