How much is too much?

1st Official Post
    The Profiler Model referred to in this thread is ...
    ☑️ Profiler Head/Rack

    Hey everyone! After using Neural Amp sims for the past 2 years for various projects of mine, mainly for convenience reasons, I want to go back to using my Kemper that's gathering dust in the corner. In the past, I have chosen an amp profile that worked with the tone I was after at the time. I know that an amp's profile is like a "snapshot" of the amp's settings if it's an Amp only profile, or a snapshot of the amp's settings and cab (cab type, speakers, mic placement, etc). My question is: How much would you adjust the amp settings (Definition, pick, clarity, EQ, etc) before the profile looses its character and starting to sound unnatural? Is there a rule of thumb for those adjustments? I am also aware that what sounds good or bad is down to personal taste and there is no right or wrong amount of parameter change, but how far do you guys go?

    I hope the above makes sense :)

    For the first 4 years of using a Kemper I stayed with third party profiles, mostly bought from Tone Junkie and Top Jimi. Apart from some subtle eq tweaks I didn’t change them much. Then I decided I wanted to create my own profiles, for the fun and satisfaction of having created all my own sounds.

    With my own profiles I do a lot of tweaking, mostly a combination of Definition and Clarity (Amp module), and Character and Pure Cabinet (Cab module), plus eq adjustments.

    For every profile I’ve created, I’ve found it’s possible to create another 3 or 4 others that sound very different but equally good, just by juggling the parameters above. Though very different, they don’t sound unnatural to me, just what that amp head would have sounded like if I’d used a different mic, or speaker cab, or mic placement, etc.

    There are no rules to this, as you’ve said, if it sounds good to you then it is good.

    I use all controls available 'till I get the sound I'm after. I don't give a ###t if it's faithfull to the original. Kemper controls can go way beyond what a normal amp can do, and that is a big plus on my book

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

    • Official Post
    Quote from tc7four

    My question is: How much would you adjust the amp settings (Definition, pick, clarity, EQ, etc) before the profile looses its character and starting to sound unnatural? Is there a rule of thumb for those adjustments? I am also aware that what sounds good or bad is down to personal taste and there is no right or wrong amount of parameter change, but how far do you guys go?

    use your ears ;)

    Quote from tc7four

    Thanks for the answers, which, in my opinion, all have a valid point. After watching some of Tone Junkie's videos on YouTube yesterday a lot of things started to make more sense. Very excited to play with my Kemper tonight!

    Had a listen to the tracks on your Soundcloud page - very impressive! Great playing, tight riffs, interesting compositional ideas.

    This! And I also like to mix a bit of the raw guitar tone into my mix to add in the clarity of my notes (even for heavily distorted tones).