Crunch tones for a Strat

Hi,

if this is the sound you are after, understood. that's brilliant! serious. who played the little file? did you?
if so, you are there already! or is this an exerpt from a you tube vid? who played it? which amp?

greetings

Hi I would try with Andy's Amp factory 1959 Bassman , very close to it ,as well as his latest pack " Fentastic " try the free demo rigs on his announcement thread.

Regarding the free ones, look at JTMs on the rig exchange and Oraakkeli's vintage packs & amps , awesome collection. There is also the tiny feet and dream delay from TAF (69' blackface) on a free rig pack from main kemper site.

the clip is nice. but to me that sounds like its recorded through a Compressor to me. or was done in post. if you listen to the way the transients sit..and the way the highs+lows are equal weight. likewise is the verb.

My guess is something like a fairchld or 1176 based. - you can do this yourself no?

Try recording a clip similar, then putting it through a comp.. (plugins) and set the attack fast and release to match the bpm of the track played.. crank the gain to about -12 DBFS and LPF it. ok it wont sound the exact same as no idea on the chain recorded - but its a head start!

Lonestar Special from Neil Connor - Rig Exchange! ( Search for LSS )

or

TA-30 from AndrewC Rig Exchange

both are outstanding and free sets of profiles

I hear a lot of compression going there.
I'm getting in that range of sound, and it can be tweaked to sound pretty darned close with the TAF Supro profile.

That's the beauty of the KPA, we have so many ways to duplicate a tone we like.

Quote from and44

the clip is nice. but to me that sounds like its recorded through a Compressor to me. or was done in post. if you listen to the way the transients sit..and the way the highs+lows are equal weight. likewise is the verb.

My guess is something like a fairchld or 1176 based. - you can do this yourself no?

Try recording a clip similar, then putting it through a comp.. (plugins) and set the attack fast and release to match the bpm of the track played.. crank the gain to about -12 DBFS and LPF it. ok it wont sound the exact same as no idea on the chain recorded - but its a head start!

• The verb is compressed?
• My guess is something like a fairchld or 1176 based. - you can do this yourself no?
• Well, me? No.
• then putting it through a comp.. (plugins) and set the attack fast
• understood. Cubase Plug-in okay?
• release to match the bpm of the track played
• where can i find a table for the concerning values?
• crank the gain to about -12 DBFS and LPF it
• Is this southern chinese?

I am sorry for all those dumb questions, but this sound is really really what i would like to play with a strat. just no idea how to reach it.
I am glad that the OP opened this thread. And i think that Andi's redplate could be a good start since it quickly became one of my faves   
Or much easier: is there somewhere a rig with at least similiar settings? thx

Hi Ger

Ok this is in no way a "to-do-list" that will get you there exact, this is simply a way to experiment with.
You will need to subsitude with what you have... as Im about to explain how to get this sort of tone..

1. Dial in the tone you are happy with, comfortable with, can be expressive with, and if applicable dynamic in content with headroom to spare.

2. From the Mic pre (in this case the Kemper) I track guitar into Hardware. - Through either a Pultec EQ/Massive passive, and set the LPF (low pass filter) to about 80hz (ish) depending on the guitar/profile/amp, and then into a Fair-child 660 Mono Compressor for a dynamic guitar, and a API 2500 for something more edgy/harder. I set the threshold to display about 1 or 2 DB gain reduction, to control and catch the peaks, but it wont be constant. - the attack wants to be fast as possible so it doesn't absorb the transients, and the release wants to match the timing of the track.. there is no BPM switch and has to be tuned by ear, and every track needs adjusting separately.. (but watch the needles move) and use common sense here.

3. Play some more, harder and softly to make sure your not actually compressing anything, as that will be bad at this point. I do this for the harmonic behavior of the old analog gear. and the weight distribution of the lows/mids. - tweek the AIR band EQ here if needed, to give a little lift, not required. as you don't want to overdo anything at this point. - and make sure the gain structure is hitting your DAW at about -12 DBFS, and your fader is at zero..

4. Print the guitar track.

5. Now you can start to simulate the tone above, assuming you tracked with verb you want, if not you can add this in post..

6. Add an EQ (before comp) to remove any room correction from the mic, or in this case the profile, if not room correction then will be harsh sounds.. this is called Surgical EQ.. the way to do this easy is to make a high Q setting (narrow band) and boost as high as you can and then run the freq range across the spectrum.. if anything stands out as being really harsh, then this is the area you want to CUT... - and also now is a good time to discuss the Q.. if You like what you hear around a freq then widen the Q, if you don't like what you hear around the freq then narrow it.. simple. and while your here you can roll off the bottom end again up until you start to loose the weight.. normally up till about 100-150hz (trck depending of course)

You will want to cut until the sound (that you picked out with the Q) has gone from the sound so maybe a few DB cut will be fine. - but use your ears and NOT your eyes..

7. When your happy with the sound you are getting at this point its time for a bit of compression, although this depends on the material. (if its heavily distorted then it will already be compressed so there really is no need. - but dynamic content then its a good idea to control the peeks once more. - so, like you did at the tracking stage, setup a comp, in my case I use the Fairchild once more or a LA2A for a more responsive structure. - set the comp so its hitting about 2 DB GR max!. (unless you want it more like the clip from SC above) then about 3 or 4 DB gain reduction..bearing in mind if you do this, again like the clip.. you will hear the verb more present and the bass vs high will be more equal. making sure your attack is still fast as possible and release this time wants to be the same as tracking, (to match what your playing)

8. Now you can sweeten to fit in the mix, I use an API 550A for guitars as its my goto external single channel EQ. (amazing) - I normally push the mids by a few DB. and lower the mud from about 200hz..that will in turn also let the bass breath a little too. I do not do anything above 2k at this point...(yet)

9. By now you will have a pretty much final tone. - only thing left is to make it work with anything you have going on. this is where the 2K and above comes into play...- I always work with vocals and guitar here, and match the 2, If Vocals are more dominant around 1/2k then I will do a few DB cut on the guitars. - if Vice Versa then I will cut the vocals at that freq range and boost the guitars.. (that freq range I mention is an example, you will need to find the right freq)

10. Im forever visiting guitars because they are heavily involved instruments in the mid range. - whatever is more important to the track is where you need to visit the EQ and Comp..
Remember.. Comp is for control and glue, and EQ is for Corrective and Creative EQ... if your Boosting a tone, and manipulating your guitar tone to something other than how you tracked, then you are doing something wrong or your source was not right.

But those simple steps will get you in the ballpark...Mixing is really about control and EQ. and how they all interlink things together...

*I repeat, this is not a Flowchat of how to achieve, its a simple list of how to go about getting such a tone as you described* it may or may not be correct, and of course there are always other ways to get there.. im simply explaining how I do things.

Good luck!
A

Try these two.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55111784/Crunch.zip

Andi,

this is incredibly generous from you. To type this guide alone has cost you a lot of time. Thanx for that.
I am trying to google all the things that i do not understand. So, here come some more general questions

• 1-3 are done before you actually record a mono or stereo track in your DAW. right?
• 4 by "print the track" you mean what actually?
• 5 now begins post-production, yeah?
• 6 surprisingly from here on it gets easier for me as an sound-engineer has showed me the surgical EQ
• 7-10 the rest is clear with only one comment: i have only the KPA, some settings of my soundcard (compressor) and cubase essential
• i cannot afford those things you mentioned. the price of this APA alone is monster!

if you find the time to answer, brilliant, if not, no harm. Thank you very much indeed.

Boy, that vid is awesome. First time I hear of Lance... brilliant! Love the tone he is getting from this Red Plate Star Dust.

Thanks for sharing!

I loaded the LSS (Lonestar) profiles but they don't show up on the kemper? I searched for Author, Amp, last update. The TA works and sounds great.

They loaded fine here, and they sound killer!

frankyn73 : thanks for the tip bro!

Quote from little_harry

Guitartone These two are really some "gems". Suddenly me Strat sounds like an full blood tele Did you tune it in by yourself? Can't find the "TELE" versions from ZAP or HAYS on the rig exchange?

I was playing my Tele when I tweaked those Profiles, so when I re named them I used "Tele" upfront.

You'll notice on the HAYS Rivera 30 I changed the cab to the Tills 1960 020, and on the ZAP JTM30 I also changed to the Tills 1960.
What I love about both those Rigs is the Stomp Compressor I added (the Kemper Compressor stomp is brilliant), and notice a bit of Compressor I added in the Amp block.

It always a good thing when a Strat sounds more like a Tele.

Quote from little_harry

But is there a way to use a compressor on the kemper to "simulate" this kind of compressor? I

Yes, this would interest me as well. The video is really great!

Quote from bigb6611

They loaded fine here, and they sound killer!

frankyn73 : thanks for the tip bro!

youre welcome -
these two sets of profiles let me realy think to buy these two amps!

At least the LSS will arrive next year in the house

Try these Strat Rigs, see if you dig any of them.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55111784/STR…%2016-52-28.zip

little_harry:
same with my kemper. Only the LSS profiles are not found on the usb stick!?
Could somebody repost the theese profiles here? Should be ok, they are on the RE. Thanks!