TWEEDY PACK – 31 Profiles

"Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates" (Forrest Gump).  Well, in this case, mama might be referring to the BoC Pack (box of chocolates pack).  This pack contains 134 Profiles (112 studio profiles and 12 DI profiles for bass and acoustic).

After all of the other profile packs I've done, I tend to spend time looking to "fill holes" or find an amp that I've always wanted to profile.  What ended up happening was that I found myself with a lot of profiles that were kind of hard to put into a category.  They cover everything from boutique EL84 amps to funky little tweeds to acoustic preamps to a few higher gain beasts to bass amps.  Included in the BoC Pack are some samples of the amps in the Heavy Pack for those who don't want a full pack dedicated to high gain, but might have a use for a few.  It's a big pack, but I didn't feel comfortable charging any more than my usual.  

Check out the information sheet for details.

The BoC Pack contains profiles made with the 3.0 firmware and must be used with firmware 3.0 or higher.  The clips below were recorded into ProTools 10 using a Propellerhead Balance interface and a Tom Anderson Cobra with 3 P90 pickups, Ibanez Bass, and Tom Anderson Crowdster acoustic.

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.

As most of you know I play in a country band, and although I can muddle my way through a couple of different styles, playing metal is not something I'm intimately familiar with.  That's why I did a little consulting/custom profiling with my buddy Paul.  He sent me this beautiful oversized-lunchbox beast and I have to admit I had never heard of this amp.  He sent me some suggested settings and beta-tested my results and I profiled some more.

I profiled with a couple of different speakers and tried different mics and combinations.  I dialed in and refined the profiles using a Les Paul and a Knaggs Kenai.  The profiles  have a lot more gain and more edge than I'm used to and they aren't something I can use on my gig, but they are kinda addicting to play.  Also included are 5 DI profiles.  Check them out.

The 5150 came out in 1992 and it marked a departure for Eddie from the Marshalls he had used for years.  It was unlike any amp Peavey had made and had cascading gain stages that gave it more gain than any other amp on the market at the time.  Its cold biasing kept it from blowing itself up from all the power and saturation on tap.  Other high gain amps have come and gone over the years but there's still something really cool about these original models.

This particular specimen has seen a lot of work and probably melted a few faces in its lifetime.  It just goes to show how bulletproof this little beasts can be.  I profiled it my usual 3rd Power 212 cab as well as a matching, old 5150 412 with its original Sheffield speakers.  The two cabs give a nice bit of variety.  Not known for their clean tones, the 5150 is predominantly a rock beast.  The Crunch channel has more than enough gain for rock rhythms while the Lead channel goes more into the super-saturated metal world.  Even country(ish) guys like me can find some workable tones in it and it has a nice clarity that I've even used on some recordings already.

The 5150 Pack was creating using the latest 5.x firmware.  Please forgive the playing in the audio samples as many of these weren't exactly in my wheelhouse.  Thanks!