’69 MARSH PACK – 36 Profiles

When I think of my favorite overdrive tones, I always go to early 4-input Marshalls.  They can sound smooth or angry depending on how you play them.  I've gotten to play a couple of great old Plexis over the years and I own a '72 that I've profiled frequently.  I got the opportunity thanks to good friends to profile this '69 beauty.  It has been passed between friends from Nashville to L.A. and back.  It has that crispy top end that I hear on early Van Halen records.

I wanted to capture some variety, and even though I usually use my fave 3P 212 cab, I profiled this with 4 different cabs:  3P 212 CL80, Marshall 412 w/25w Greenbacks, Marshall 412 w/30w Celestions, and my Guytron closed back 212 w/Vintage 30.  I even got a few good clean sounds on top of the great overdrive tones.  There are even a couple where I just rolled the knobs up and dialed the Variac down to brown it out a little.  Hope you like 'em.

The Heritage Amp company sprang from the Heritage Guitar Company and was based in Brentwood, TN, just around the corner from where I live.  Paul Cochrane, the designer and builder of the Tim and Timmy pedals (one of my faves if you haven't already noticed) was the amp designer and builder at Heritage amps and came up with some incredible-sounding amps.  In an effort to put all of his favorite Marshall-type flavors into one amp, he came up with the Colonial.

With switches for changing the preamp section, tone stack, rectifier section, and a knob to change the negative feedback, he could accurately capture the sounds of a '59 Bassman, JTM45, Super Bass, and Plexi.  I really don't know what took me so long to get one of these amps other than they're not on every corner.  For the money, they are hands-down the best deal on the planet if you want amazing tone.

I've never been a huge fan of a Marshall clean sound but with the US/UK switches I was able to find amazing clean sounds that bridge the gap between American and British amps.  Once you get it cranking and setting the switches to the Plexi mode it gets an amazing, creamy, bouncy, smooth overdrive.  But this thing is LOUD.  It is the loudest 50 watts I've ever heard and it's nice to be able to "tame" it by getting it into my Kemper.  I included profiles using my trusty Timmy, Archer, and Red (Col. Angus) homemade od pedal as well as a few different cabs for some tonal variety.  This amp is fast becoming one of my all-time favorites.

Colonial Pack requires 3.3 firmware and while most profiles were made using my trusty 3rd Power cabinet, the new separation algorithms make it easier to get more great sounds by switching to your favorite cabs as well.  These clips were recording into ProTools 10 using a Propellerhead Balance interface with no plug-ins or processing using my red Tom Anderson Cobra with 3 P90s.  Check out the soundclips below and as usual please excuse the sloppy playing...

Profile Pack 1 (60 profiles) seeks to recreate* a collection of boutique and vintage amps from my personal collection as well as contributions from my friends (thanks guys!).  They cover a variety of styles, from clean sounds that stay warm and full (also great for pedalboard-based set ups) to mid-gain and lead gain British sounds.  Some of these profiles have been the basis for my live presets for the past couple of years and sound great in the studio as my session buddies can attest as well.

Below are sound samples from 40 out of the 60 profiles included in the Kemper Profile Pack.  I will also include a few other variations of some of the amps, but these should give a good idea of the profile sounds. All of the snippets below were played on my red Anderson Cobra with 3 P90's.  All of the clips below were recorded directly into ProTools 10 thru a Propellerhead Balance interface.  There is no eq, compression, or plug-in on these tracks.  Please excuse the sloppiness and tuning.

Scroll down below for sound clips

Profile Pack 2 is another wide-ranging collection of boutique and vintage amps, rounding out the M Britt Profile packages.  Seeing to recreate* more great clean sounds from sought-after boutique amps as well as some higher gain amps, and a variety of British-type EL84 amps.  It also includes some Dumble tones that compare to a real Overdrive Special along with an Overdrive Supreme and an Overtone Special.

Check out Sound Samples below to hear how the profiles sound.  These samples were recorded direct to ProTools 10 via a Propellerhead Balance interface with no eq, compression, or plug-ins of any kind and then stored in the Kemper as part of this pack.

Thanks to my kind gear buddies for help obtaining some of these sounds.  Scroll down for sound clips.