Custom order profiles online, or go to a professional studio?

    I have profiles I like, and use, and always look for others, but sometimes I simply can't get that extra few steps to make it really come to shine.
    Even wading through commercial rig packs with countless profiles of the same amp, I never find "the perfect". And oh boy, might this be a chance to find a great profile, that doesn't have the "windtunnel noise" (there's a thread or two about :D ) I can point it out directly in the process and make sure it doesn't get caught by the Kemper.
    The problem is that the amp might need to be modded or serviced to get rid of it.


    There's three options I can think of:


    1. Talk to somebody online, who has the amp (in the case Engl Savage) and a good environment and knowledge to make profiles. I will provide some
    audio samples that the person can go by. This should be a little cheaper, but I wont have access to conviniently talking to the guy making the profiles, so communication will be lacking.


    Has somebody else done this?


    2. Booking myself into a professional studio. This has it's obvious shortcomings; it will be more expensive than option 1, but I communication will be direct and there will be no misunderstandings. The other major downpoint is TIME. I dont think I can book myself for several days, and as everybody knows, when its about critical stuff like tone, sometimes you simply need time to make things work. Like... If the amp produces the "windtunnel noise", then maybe the amp has to be modded to not make that sound. And there's no time to do that stuff when you have booked a studio. If it does not have windtunnel noise then thats cool and we could focus on the important part, the tone.


    I know Steveness went to a professional studio to record "JCM800 Merged" which he then passed for free to the public.
    A very good profile, with almost no "windtunnel" noise whatsoever. Very clean!


    3. A third option would be buying myself a Engl Savage and try myself. The problem here is; it's expensive, and I'm not sure I really want to buy more amps.
    I mean, Ihave a Kemper for a reason dont I ? :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
    The downpoints of this, is that even if I buy one, I still dont have the best environment to profile in.
    I have only access to two cabs, which I'm not sure are the best suited.
    And if I made direct profiles, I'm also limited to the IR impulses I have access to on the internet; there's lot of good ones, but they are not always perfectly voiced for my needs.


    LONG THREAD so I'll leave it like this and hope for some responses. :love:

    Cederick, I know you have recorded quite a few albums mate, if you've been having trouble getting a profile you're happy with maybe going into a studio is the way forward?


    It shouldn't take an experienced engineer long to mike up your cab and get a good sound. As you know the actual profiling only takes a minute. Should it really take more than a day of studio time for one amp?


    Cheers,


    Lyndon.

    Ceddy, I don't know if you'd be able to get heavy-enough tones from these guys or whether or not you've tried any of their commercial Profiles (I haven't noticed your mentioning them), but the three I tend to recommend, Michael Britt, Guido Bungenstock and Bert Meulendijk, have minimal or no "wind-tunnel" noise AFAICR.


    Guido's stuff is probably the heaviest, but Michael Britt released some heavy packs last year, the classiest of which was the Colonial pack, IMHO; probably my fave "organic", "woody" Marshallesque tone right now. Bert's stuff is more aimed at clean through to overdriven sounds, but I'm sure that if pushed a little, you'd be able to extract something from them too. Bear in mind that Bert's are kinda carved out for mixing, so the bottom end isn't huge, and the top might require a little added bite for your purposes, but again, as I think it is for all three of these guys, it's a case of wind-tunnel be gone.


    Something for you to consider, mate. All three would be a heck of a lot cheaper than booking studio time and hiring an amp.

    Looking back to our quick "discussion" regarding whether the windtunnel comes from the amp or the cab (seems to be the AMP only), I'd say at least option 2) is a crapshoot. If it's baked into the amp, then you don't know what you're getting.


    I'd say option 1 if you can find someone who is willing to "explore" the windtunnel with you and agree to only get paid if you get rid of it (or it not being there in the amp in the first place).


    Or option 3, but maybe you can rent it somewhere? Or buy used?
    BTW, why are you set on the Engl Savage - is it because it seems like this amp doesn't have the windtunnel, or what?

    Do not do #1 because your social skills absolutely stink! I could picture you going crazy very quickly if the person you hired online does not understand your point.
    As Michael said, if possible find someone who understands your issue and is willing to help solve it with you.


    I have tried figuring it out on my own amps and making profiles. It seems to be a fine balance of headroom with gain and master volume. People tend to want to saturate the tone and crank the volume. Which in the end adds more and more windtunnel.