With the advent of the Profiler, some might think that getting the sound of a guitar amp into the digital domain is easy now, and that basically anyone can do it: just order a head from a retailer for 30 days, profile, and send it back, right? Well, this may work for some people but, to be honest, the real art in designing sounds for guitarists is about far more than just the electrical devices you happen to use.
When a great chef prepares a culinary masterpiece, they'll need knives, various other tools and of course the ingredients. But what determines the quality of the result – i.e. the plate of delicious food – is about so much more than just equipment and ingredients.
Let’s just do a breakdown of all the elements that go into making a great profile, and a great guitar sound: We start with an idea – someone needs a certain sound, and they have an idea about how they want to achieve it. A guitar sound consists of a player, a guitar, pickups, a cable, maybe a stomp box (drive, eq, buffer, etc.), an amp, a cabinet, certain speakers in that cabinet, a room for the cabinet to breathe in, the best position for that cabinet in the room, a microphone or a selection of microphones, and the positions of the microphones in front of the cabinet and in the room. Then the mic feed goes into a preamp – shall we use compression, or no compression? And what about EQ settings? So, here is your guitar sound, right? No, not yet, because now every single one of these ingredients has to be adjusted individually – and here is where the human factor kicks in.
There is at least one person that puts all the above ingredients together, and this person has to decide which guitar to use, which pickup to use, define the tone settings on the guitar, and adjust the pedals in a certain manner. Then you try and listen. Maybe ask a friend, a buddy, an engineer? Their opinions are important, as is their taste, and where they are coming from.
Now, you get where we are going here – this guitar sound you are about to profile already consists of so much more than just an amp and the Profiler. If you were to provide the same set of gear to various people you will likely get very different sounds from each of them – because it is the human factor that determines the kind of sound that will end up in a profile. And then, even after all of this, you will still only have a raw profile – you won’t have a Rig yet. Now, you need to decide what kind of further tone-shaping should happen. Let’s not get into the unique possibilities with the Profiler to fine-tune profiles with the amp parameters, here. That is a whole other dimension. So, let's just skip to the conclusion: A great guitar sound is about the cook(s) that put the environment together, select and adjust the ingredients and – last but by no means least – the players themselves. How someone works the strings with a pick, a tap, a strum and with what kind of guitar… you get the idea.
This is why we are so excited about the new Kemper Profiler Michael Britt Rig Pack, because Michael Britt is known the world over for his great sounding, tasty Rigs. Available for you to download immediately – visit the download section on the Kemper website and check it out: https://www.kemper-amps.com/downloads
About Michael Britt:
Michael Britt – guitarist of the renowned country band Lonestar – has become one of the go-to guys for Profiler users in search of outstanding and simply musical Profiles. Michael’s no-nonsense attitude and careful tone-sculpting skills have created some of the most satisfying tones available anywhere, or, in his own words: "I strive to capture and create great tones so that anyone can get those same sounds onstage and in the studio."
Here is the list of MB Rig Pack’s included Profiles/ Rigs
Rig Name Name of profiled amplifier*
MB – /13 JRT9/15 4 M Divided by 13 JRT9/15
MB – /13 JRT915 84 3 Divided by 13 JRT9/15
MB – /13 LDW39 2.2- Divided by 13 LDW39
MB – 3P Britt Solo- 3rd Power Dream Weaver prototype
MB – 3P Plexi Klon 2.1- 3rd Power Dream Weaver prototype
MB – 56 Fan Pro 8* Fender Pro '56
MB – 56 Fan Twins j5 R Fender Twin
MB – 62 Band Mister ROTO- Fender Bandmaster
MB – 62 D'Lux 6 Fender Deluxe '62
MB – 65 Champion 5 3 Fender Champ '65
MB – 65 Fan BM Tim Fender Bassman '65
MB – 69 Mars 50 9 3 Marshall JMP 50 1987
MB – 69 Mars 50 V3T Marshall JMP 50 1987
MB – 70 Mars SL 3 Marshall Super Lead 100
MB – 74 Champion 3 Fender Champ '74
MB – 79 Mars MP 3 Marshall JMP 50 1987
MB – Bleatch Fire 45 Tim-Bletchley Belchfire 45
MB – Bogus Spirit B 8 Boggy Soul 30
MB – C Ton SRV 5 S Ceriatone Overtone Special
MB – Car Slant 6V 1- Carr Slant 6V
MB – Colony 2 9 Heritage Colonial
MB – Dirt Shirt Lo 3 Friedman Dirty Shirley
MB – Dr. X Crash 2 3 Dr.Z Z Wreck
MB – Dumb ODS FB3 Dumble Overdrive Special
MB – Fried Man 4 Friedman Brown Eye
MB – Fux FH50 Cln 2 B 2 Fuchs Full House 50
MB – Fux FH50 OD 2 Bst Fuchs Full House 50
MB – Guy Ton V30 B3 Guytron GT 100
MB – Headstrung Queen*- Headstrong Lil King
MB – Kranker Rev Jr 1 8 Krank Rev Jr
MB – Little Water 22 3 Little Walter 22
MB – Marlon A 1 Wizard Modern Classic
MB – Mars J800 1 5 2 Marshall JCM800 100W
MB – Mars Silvie Jubi 1 8 Marshall Silver Jubilee RI
MB – Mars Silvie Jubi 2 6 Marshall Jubilee 2553 1987
MB – Mars TM45 SAO 2 Britsound JTM45 Tribute
MB – Matchbox JJ 3- Matchless John Jorgenson
MB – Metropol 2203 1 4 Metropoulos 2203 100W
MB – More Gain SW 2 Morgan SW50R
MB – Pea V Mace 1 4 Peavey Mace
MB – Polly Ton MB N6 Polytone Mini Brute 3
MB – Rock Woman 3 2 Scholz Rockman Sustainor
MB – Sold Ammo 1 7 Soldano Hot Rod 50
MB – Tweed Champ 4 5F1 Champ clone
MB – Vibr. Queen F1 Fender Vibro-King
MB – Victor V50 2 6 Victory V50 Earl
MB – Voice Ace 30 4 Klon Vox AC30TB
MB – Voice Ace 50 K2 Vox AC50
MB – Voice NT 5 Vox Night Train 15
MB – X-it X50S 3- XITS X50S
*All product names and company names are trademarks of each respective holders. Kemper GmbH is not associated or affiliated therewith. These product names are used solely for purpose of identifying the specific products, Kemper Profiler has been operating with.