fingerstyle chord melody tone

    I bought my KPA in early Nov and I really love so much about it - however, I still can't quite dial in the tone that I'd like to have ... I'm playing a hollow body with a floating PU and my music is primarily solo chord melody guitar ... I'd like to get a sound that:


    1) has all 6 strings relatively equal in volume


    2) has a very warm round tone, yet with clarity so that inner moving voices aren't muddy


    3) has a sound as close to a tube amp as is possible


    I've been quite successful achieving any 2 out of 3, lol ... a good starting point for me was using one of the KPA's tube preamp profiles - from there, one would think it would fairly simple be to get what I want, yet so far, I've been unsuccessful ... I'd VERY interested in communicating with other players trying to achieve the same tone and would welcome maybe trading some profiles ... thx in advance to all ...


    -Rick

    ... for the very best in jazz education ...


    The Rick Barda School of Music


    www.drbop.com

    It's very hard to imagine a tone that someone else chases.


    My 2 cents, though, mats nermaks two rock clean profiles with just a hint of almost un- noticeable chorus in the mod slot.

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

    As a jazz player, I use clean sounds mostly. There are many great profiles out there of clean amps, everything from Fenders, the Gibson Goldie, the Henriksen jazz amp etc.. and they sound great as is, but can be tweaked to your liking. What I've found is that changing the cabinet gets me what I want. The Tills Cabinets (TILL SCHLEICHER on the rig exchange for cabinets only) can be downloaded if you don't already have them. Try a bunch of them with your tube amp profile and you'll notice a big difference. I'm not as involved with all this as many others are on the forum, and I don't quite understand it, but once I found these cabinets it really got me the sound I was looking for. I think there is another thread that talks about how most of the tone in a clean sound comes from the cabinet because there is no distortion to profile.


    Dave

    I'm not that kind of great Jazzplayer, only sometimes ;)
    but I'm often using the 9 V BJL Rig, taken from M. Wienstroers Mountain Amp for sounds like this, I also often combine it with another cab.
    Here is a short quickshot mp3 I placed in my Dropbox so you can have a listen. Guitar is a Heritage 335.
    First half is the original very tiny speaker 8' . Second half the cab is changed to the 69 cab.
    Maybe it's a good starting point.


    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12972509/Chords.mp3


    greetz
    MF

    Good tone and good playing man! :thumbup:


    I prefer the second half which is a little less boxy to my taste but I'm really not a classic jazz player. ;)

    delinquent: thx for the info - I'll check out mats nermaks profiles


    djazz: thx to you too - I'll be checking out the tills cabs today


    GuitarDroid: That sound is a little too bright for me (BTW, very nice playin'!) - but, as you start to roll off the tone knob on the guitar, that starts to get closer to the sound that I'd like (but the prob is that then the top strings start to get weaker volume-wise, and the guitar sounds unbalanced) ... I'd also like for the midrange to be full and warm (maybe a 320Hz or so bump?), as opposed to 'quacky' (less 1.2K or so) ...
    I'm still interested in hearing from any/everybody who has any ideas - thx ....

    ... for the very best in jazz education ...


    The Rick Barda School of Music


    www.drbop.com

    Edited 3 times, last by rickbarda ().

    I'd very much like to have a more extensive discussion with someone very knowledgeable about EQ (also preferably familiar with a 'standard' jazz tone), than forum messaging permits - if anyone's interested, I'd be so appreciative! ... I've owned this unit since the beginning of November and there's so much about it that I really really like - if I could just get my tone dialed in, all would be perfect, lol ...


    I'm also interested in hearing from any KPA owners in the Los Angeles area ...


    ... thx ...

    ... for the very best in jazz education ...


    The Rick Barda School of Music


    www.drbop.com

    I'm still chasing that elusive 'jazz tone' and would very much appreciate any and all help in this area - I play a D'angelico nys2 or nyl2 both with Kent Armstrong Johnnie Smith pickups - this is the sound I'm looking for:


    1) has all 6 strings relatively equal in volume


    2) has a very warm round tone, yet with clarity so that inner moving voices aren't muddy


    3) has a sound as close to a tube amp as is possible


    I've been quite successful achieving any 2 out of 3, lol ... a good starting point for me was using one of the KPA's tube preamp profiles - from there, one would think it would fairly simple be to get what I want, yet so far, I've been unsuccessful ... I'd VERY interested in communicating with other players trying to achieve the same tone and would welcome maybe trading some profiles ... thx in advance to all ...


    -Rick

    ... for the very best in jazz education ...


    The Rick Barda School of Music


    www.drbop.com

    Hi Rick, still chasing tone!


    Just a thought, balancing a warm clean tone across all six strings can be a mission. About 15 years ago I was trying to emulate John Mclaughlins tone on his recording After the Rain. I was relatively successful when I replaced the high b and e stings with next gauge heavier combined with the required reduction of the tone control and again a touch of chorus( barely noticeable).


    Good luck.

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.

    No, I think it's really about tone (EQ) - I'd like to sound, in general, as 'fat' as possible, without sacrificing the projection (balanced volume with clarity) of the top strings - at the same time I don't want those 'honky' (550Hz) overtones - and also, those notes around 5th fret, 2nd string need to sound relatively natural (not nasally or like rubber bands) - I'd like the midrange notes to be warm yet not muddied so the inner moving voices are clear - and finally, I'd like the bass notes to be tight (clarity as opposed woofiness), yet warm and full ...


    Let's take a vote - am I asking for too much, lol?


    :)
    thx

    ... for the very best in jazz education ...


    The Rick Barda School of Music


    www.drbop.com