Hi Alan (and everyone else here)
This is Thomas Dill writing - you asked about the process of creating the Legends sounds. Here it is…
First of all I take a type of guitar that the artist used and learn some of the licks and trademark riffs of the song (the most of them are known...) but it is not only just to play the right notes - the attack with the right hand is very important to create the sound and gain structure right. So I take a minute longer on that topic, watch YT videos and listen listen listen…
Then I am starting with the amp profile. First of all I try to take a model that the artist used. I go to the factory content and try some profiles and take the one that sounds - and feels the best for me. At that point I always listen to the original - then play the riff - listen - play again… For me it is not crucial to take a profile of the original amp type - some times it fits, sometimes not. At the end the sound should be as closed as the original and then it could be a profile of a film projector instead an amp (Jack White - the Filmo Profile from Bert Meulendijk)
Another funny story about the search for profiles… We werenˋt satisfied with the first Profile I took for the Nuno Sound. And then the guys from the testing team told me that there is a profile of „THE“ ADA preamp that Nuno Bettencourt used for the recording for Pornografitty. It is in the Michael Wagener Rig Pack - I didˋt knew that at first… so here we had to take the original!
When I m working on the Amp Profile, I start adjusting the gain, then I go to the definition parameter and set this matching to the original sound - lower settings for vintage tone, higher settings for modern tone. And after that I do some tweaks at the amp EQ. Sometimes - with the low gain fender style sounds I set the EQ to „Pre“ to hit the gain stack in a specific frequency range. There are no static rules - what works and sounds good is fine.
Step Number two is the Reverb. Which should create the same reverberation and room sound as in the recording. I am starting with a natural reverb and try to recreate the room and space. In some cases I took a different reverb (Spring Reverb - Dick Dale, Dan Auerbach) where this classical Reverb is an important effect. And especially for the Dick Dale Rig we placed the reverb in front of the stack - why? It sounds dirtier…
So when the basic sound with amp and reverb is done, I check some effects. First of all the effects which are needed for the sound - i.e. Delay for The Edge, Rotary for Soundgarden, etc. In this case I´m not committed to a specific effect that the artist used, I start with the typical effects but when something sounds better (Hyper Chorus instead of Flanger for Purple Rain) I´ll go for that. At least it should sound as close to the original as possible.
When the basic sound is set I do some finetuning with the Studio EQ placed behind the stack on the X-Module. With the EQ I make just minimal tweaks in some frequency ranges and a low and high cut to get closer to the guitar speaker sound. A guitar speaker has a limited frequency range, so I cut off the high frequencies. Just to be sure….
The Cutoff Frequency is somewhere between 6kHz and 10 kHz depending on the sound. For the Prince Sound even higher to get a bit more sparkling tone.
Then I prepare some additional effects, that you can switch on if you like - drives or booster to get a bit more gain when you play with a guitar with lower output pickups. Or another special effect that the artist often uses. For the Tom Morello Rig I tried to recreate the sounds of his pedalboard with the single effect modules.
Then I take some time to listen A/B with the original again. Always just one hour - preferably early in the morning when the ears are fresh ;-). This takes some days - some little tweaks here and there and then it is finished.
But to be honest. These Rigs are only about 60% to get the sound and hopefully some inspiration, too. The rest is in your fingers… Have fun!
Cheers
Thomas