I just want to start by saying I never expected this to happen. I’ve been making profiles for the Kemper Profiling Amp for almost 15 years. I’ve profiled literally hundreds of amps, many of them boutique or vintage or rare/special. My Rig Manager has so many rigs that I sometimes end up forgetting what I have. I’ve spent many years trying different profiles out on the road and always looking for that extra 2% of “better”. Then it happened.
What happened exactly? Sit back and I’ll tell you a story…
I had a guitar for sale/trade on Facebook Marketplace as I often do. I don’t consider myself a collector as much as a curator. I’m always looking for my favorite or the best of “something,” be it an amp or guitar, etc. But I have plenty of gear already so I will get rid of something to make room for the “better,” or at least that’s the goal. Sometimes I trade something and miss it terribly or am disappointed with what I receive. But such is life and I just keep trying. Back in May of this year, I had a guitar listed and I got an offer for a trade of an amp I’d never heard of for the guitar. It was called a Soultone. I did some internet research and got a little information about it and I thought, why not? It’s a Marshall circuit but with some added features (fat boost, fx loop, power scaling, master volume, and sweet reptile tolex).
Now there were a lot of things going on around this time. I was in the middle of working on my 2.0 Pack with the new Kemper 2.0 profiling system. There was also the Amigos Guitar Show in TN around that time where I picked up a new overdrive pedal (Edwards Elusive Overdrive) as well as another reptilian-themed amp (/13 CJ11). So I met up and swapped the guitar for the amp and got it home and played around with it learning the controls a bit then I started profiling it. Now if I were to say that the Kemper profiling system loved this amp, that would be a gross understatement. As it was it just sounded RIGHT to my ears. Everything I’ve always loved about vintage Marshall tone was there in spades. Bear in mind that I still own a ’68 Plexi that belonged to Eric Johnson at one point. So there was a pretty high bar for it to clear. I tried some of the new rigs out on the road and it was really nice. I ended up adding some midrange with an EQ block, probably more to fill in what I’ve been accustomed to hearing based on my previous rigs and that helped the tone in my iems onstage.
The rhythm sound was just about perfect. Then I tried the new Elusive Overdrive pedal in front of the amp so I could make some profiles that had a bit more singing sustain. The amp loved the pedal. The Kemper loved the combination. And I tried the new rigs out in rehearsals for our new tour at the end of May. After the second day of rehearsal I had already replaced half of the rigs I have programmed for our show with those amp profiles. By the end of rehearsals, anything with overdrive in our show used the Soultone profiles. On a side note, everything clean ended up using the CJ11, so everything I’ve used on the road this summer are profiles of amps I only got this Spring. So, I either wasted my time and energy for 14 years or I just got extremely lucky in Spring 2026.
Now, right about now you might be asking, how can it be so different? There are a million Marshall type amps out there and I’ve profiled a large number of them. Well, I can try to describe it but I really think it’s something you have to experience for yourself. Now the 2.0 profiling system definitely shines on these profiles and helps capture their dynamics better than the classic profiling would. The special thing I like about these rigs is the touch I’m able to capture. Play soft and it cleans up. Dig in and it can sound gnarly and angry. But it’s always smooth and the frequency response is really balanced. There’s nothing missing. There’s nothing annoying. It gains up and down beautifully even without using a Liquid Tone Stack. And the transition between cleanish to singing lead is gradual and easy to control. When I show up to soundcheck and I check my rig I just pull up almost any song preset slot and start playing and I can literally play most any song with that sound, maybe just minor gain tweaks to match the overdrive level I need but typically it’s just THERE.
I am a horrible tone-chaser, always thinking there is something better around the corner. I’ve practically stopped thinking about tones. In some ways, I feel like I won the big game. On the other hand, it’s almost sad that my tone chasing is winding down. So what do I do now? Well, I tell as many people as I can about it. Now, I know that tone is a subjective thing and that just because I love it doesn’t mean anyone else will, but I’m hoping that I’m not wrong. I’m hoping that these rigs find a home on as many Kempers as possible because I really think that anyone looking for a thick Marshall tone will love them. To me, these profiles just might be the G.O.A.T.