What are your favourite DI/merged profiles, and what IR's are you pairing them with?

Any chance we could start a thread listing favourite DI/merged profiles? Either commercial packs, or from Rig Exchange. Might also be interesting to know what IR's people are using with them too (if not running direct thru real cab of course)

Bit of info if you're interested: I finally started experimenting with IR's recently, and have been getting really amazing results. Have owned my Kemper for several years now, and built up a large collection of studio profiles - and though I've found some great tones, I have struggled to find certain sounds I'm after - to the point whether I was wondering if maybe I needed to change to one of the amp-modelling options out there so as to be able to dial in my own amp tones. However once I started messing around with IR's, I realised just how much the cab and speaker (and mic) choice influences the tone - turns out I did already have a whole bunch of direct profiles (which I'd previously ignored!) in various packs I'd bought over the years, and among these I found many of the tones I was after simply by combining them with various IR's. As far as IR's go, I tried packs and freebies from a few companies, and decided I liked Celestion the best - mainly the 1x12 and 2x12 open back versions - bought a whole selection, and the G12M65 gets most use, V30 and G12H75 sometimes, and the alnicos (esp Cream and Blue) suit cleaner or grainy Fender-type tones well.

Anyway, as most discussions on here seem to focus on studio profiles, thought it might be useful to start a thread specifically on DI/merged, and which companies do packs with these types of profiles in them.

I'll start with a few recommendations of ones I've had the best results with:

Live Ready Sound - have always liked their studio profiles, and most of their packs come with a good amount of DI's included - as with their studio profiles there's a wide range of tones, which does mean a bit of searching, and that maybe only a few with work with whatever pickups you use - BUT these few tend to be excellent! Great feel to these as well.

TMS - all their packs are either merged and/or include DI's of each amp setting profiled. The cabs they provide aren't bad, but for me, it was the Celestion IR's that really made them come alive. Again, not all worked for me, but those that did are top-notch. And again, great feel with these.

Choptones - was a bit on the fence about Choptones previously - had bought a few of their studio packs, and not really liked them - however maybe these just weren't their best stuff, or didn't suit my pickups, because some of my best sounds now come from their DI packs - in particular, I finally found my ideal rock tones in their Laney GH50R pack. Tons of choice, one of the best resources for DI profiles out there. Tip - listen to the audio demos for the equivalent "just play" packs to get an idea what the DI's will sound like.

Guidorist - most of his packs are merged profiles, and tho the packs are small (but also very cheap!) there are tons of great profiles to be found. Again, I didn't get on with the stock cabs, but paired with Celestion IR's they're some of my favourites - esp. the HiWatt pack - barely needed any tweaking at all, and both very versatile and unique tone (sort of a mix of Marshall and Vox)

Matt Fig - the SLX pack are some of my favourite raw, "hairy" Marshall tones, and take drive pedals great!

I also found some DI/merged profiles in packs I'd bought over the years from: Top Jimi, Reampzone, Deadlight, Rock Profiles, Pete's Profiles - I did find a few that were pretty good among these, but on comparison didn't like the tones or the feel as much as the ones I mentioned above - though of course for different pickups/tastes, you may have better results.

Please feel free to add to this thread any DI/merged profiles or packs you'd recommend, and/or if there are any profiling companies you know of that sell packs specifically of DI/merged profiles (or even just with a good amount of these included in their studio packs)

Quote from mtmartin71

I guess it depends on your sound preferences, as you say, but I've been really happy with Reampzone, Tone Junkie, and to a lesser extent, MattFig.

For context, I've shifted to mostly playing my Kemper w/ imprints through a powered Kab. I'm not gigging or jamming with others at the moment. Prior to going to the Kab, I was using MBritt profiles and my studio monitors for home use and then a CLR to monitor myself live. If I were to play that way jamming or live again, I'd probably run the MBritt profiles. Now, I'm using direct profiles from the three above and adding Ownhammer Revolution IRs...specifically the Tight 1/Full IRs of mostly the greenback, H30, and Blue speakers/cabs. I like the sound direct and of course through the Kab. So, my recommendations below are focused on the sound of direct profiles into a powered Kab vs. the full studio profiles of each.

My favs from Reampzone so far...the AD140 and JCM 800 2203. Going to try the JJ100 and Rockerverb for heavier stuff. What I like a lot about Reampzone is he publishes the settings he used to profile for Direct so I know quickly how to get to my favorite EQ spot. I like to cut the bass pretty low, push the mids a bit, and set treble/presence to taste (but ample).

For Tone Junkie, I like the 68 Purple Plexi and the 72 Marshall Superlead. I did need to push the definition on the 68 to get it where I wanted. The 72 Marshall Superlead Jumpered profiles are really good and didn't require that much tweaking for my tastes. I've been noticing lately that TJ is seemingly moving away from Direct or Merged profiles as his last batch of packs have been studio only.

I probably need to spend more time with the MattFig profiles. He has a lot of the Marshall and Marshall flavored amps I dig, but I'm not sure of his baseline settings and I find them to be maybe a hair less lively. Probably just need to really spend time. I guess like many, if I get to what I want faster with one profile maker, I tend to stick with them. I have found some that I like though.

One thing I've realized...I should get the DI box, "borrow" a few amps, and just shoot my own direct IRs. I've done it once with a OR50 and it worked well.

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Interesting - I have two of the packs you mention above, Reampzone's Rockerverb & Tone Junkie's Purple Plexi - both sound and feel terrible thru my pickups! (Dimarzio humbucker, and single coil) Just out of interest, what pickups are you using?

FWIW, I've purchased a few more Choptones DI packs since posting, and they're fast becoming some of my favourite profiles. They need a bit of EQing to be perfect, but - unlike e.g. the two packs I mentioned in the previous paragraph - the amount of EQ needed is well within the bounds of what the kemper can do before it starts sounding un-natural.

As for the Matt Fig ones, I do quite like some of his profiles, tho overall there's quite a lofi sound to them (for want of a better adjective) that generally isn't what I'm after. I do really like his "KPA bass pack" tho (Ampeg B-15) and have made these even better (at least to my ears) combining the direct profiles he provides with Celestion Pulse 2x10 bass IR's.

Quote from mtmartin71

I'm using Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan, and Manlius humbuckers. Most are PAF range. I have one Super Distortion in there. I haven't gotten into the Rockerverb yet.

Could be the different IRs or perhaps the speakers. What were you testing it to with Direct profiles (amp/cab?)? Was your assessment of them being terrible based on Direct or studio profiles? I am using direct profiles with Ownhammer IRs and monitoring via the Kemper Kab with a few imprints. On the Tone Junkie 68 Purple Plexi, his first version didn't come out well and he released a v2. I'm using the Treble channel profiles and I had to play with the definition and the bass. I think the TJ 72 Superlead was the best direct profile, with minimal adjustments. The 68 took some more work but it's "woodier" and less gainy so they each have a place for me.

Have you tried MBritt studio profiles? Do you like those? I feel like I've dialed in my direct profiles with Ownhammer IRs to get very close to that as far as my direct sound.

Sounds like similar pickups to mine - but I didn't like either studio or direct from Tone Junkie (bought 3 packs and gone thru all the free stuff), and with Reampzone they're all merged but didn't like them with either with their cabs or mine - can't get anywhere with M Britt profiles either!! Seeing as how many people do like these profiles, I have wondered occasionally if something is wrong with my Kemper... but then there are plenty of other profiles out there that do work for me (see my original post at the top), I guess it's just down to taste. And I've noticed opinions do vary, even on M Britt, so it's not just me.

Using Celestion IR's thru studio monitors btw - have quite a wide range of their IR's now - G12M65 and G12H75 creambacks tend to be my favourites - M25 and V30 also come in handy now and then, and the alnico ones nice for cleaner/fender-y tones. Also have some York ones, but don't like these as much. Might try Ownhammer at some point tho am pretty happy with Celestion for now.

Quote from mtmartin71

Hmmm...what type of tones are you after? Do you like more sparkle? What about the low end?

Old MBritt profiles are pretty dark at low volumes. They're really meant to come alive at gig level volumes. His profile packs of the last few years are brighter, but still a little on the dark side. Tone Junkie profiles are pretty close to MBritt but I don't like them quite as much for Studio profile sounds. MBritt also has ample low end and I think the cab he uses is a big part of that. But I don't think it's too much, at least going direct to the board. Sometimes I had to cut the bass but I haven't used his profiles in a while because I'm using my Kab direct now. I found Top Jimi profiles to be thinner and not full for live/loud use. In general, I haven't really liked many of the metal profiles I tried from folks who provide those. Too much low end and too little mids but my typical amp tone is low(er) bass, ample mids, and treble/presence to taste and for the guitar/pickups...but I like some upper cut.

Part of the issue for you could be that you like that sparkle at maybe less than live volumes. In that case, you'll have to tweak further. I'm not afraid to turn the knobs and can mold some profiles my way.

You might try a Selah Sounds profile or two. They do a Single Coil and HB version of their profiles and make more tweaks across the advanced parameters. I like them for recording something to fit in a mix. Nice EQ profile for that and they sound pretty good a home jamming volume. But, I'd say they are in the MBritt/Tone Junkie universe in terms of how they're made.

My recollection of the Celestion IRs was that they were thinner and brighter than MBritt studio profiles or Ownhammer IRs. If you like that sound a bit, you might consider the York IRs.

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Honestly, the best way I can describe the sound I'm after is when a profile sounds at least roughly like how I would dial in the amp it's profiling - which is generally a fairly balanced tone - most amps I've used I roll the mid back to about 4, treble maybe 6-ish, and bass kind of depends on the amp, but generally between 4 and 6 - presence (if the amp has it) again varies, but usually not too far either way from 5. When I talk about profiles that don't work, I mean that they're so tonally imbalanced that they simply don't end up sounding anything like the amp they're modelling. As for types of tone, I like a broad range, as I record a variety of music and need a good range of choices (funk/rock (modern and classic)/metal/blues mainly I guess) - but many profile packs I've tried end sounding nothing like the audio demos, so it's not just that I don't like the type of tone they're seeking to recreate - I liked it in the audio demos, but then I get nothing like this type of tone thru any of my guitars. I've heard recordings people have made with M Britt where it sounds great, but thru my pickups (humbuckers or single coils), his stuff all sounds very dull, no bite, no juice. I also hate the settings he dials in... e.g. always clarity on around 3 - I find this takes all the body and grunt out of a sound - I do like this parameter, but I use it in very small amounts, usually around 0.5 does the trick. And yes, I've tried adjusting his settings, but still no luck! Really have tried everything with them, but at some point - and when others such as LRS/Choptones/TMS work great with very little tweaking - I figure I'm wasting my time. And as for this thing about M Britt sounding best at loud gig volumes... well to be fair I haven't tried it like that, but that just sounds like a cop out to me - why shouldn't it also sound good at moderate studio-recording levels? Yes, Feltcher-Munson curve etc... nope it's not that, they just don't work with all pickups.

As for York IR's, I did mention I'd tried some of these - the cheap Mesa pack, and the M25 Marshall - didn't hate them, but all came out far too boomy/muddy for my liking - and I did try them with Amplitube too, where you can dial amp settings, so it's not just that I was trying with the wrong profiles. Btw, with Celestion, I prefer the smaller cabs, so that's probably part of it. Many of my favourite guitar sounds probably were recorded with a 4x12, but if a 1x12 IR gets me closer to that sound, so be it!

Horses for courses as they say!

Quote from Heartkiller

Some of the best DI profiles I've ever gotten were from Lenz Profiles. All of his modded Marshalls are truly out of this world and required VERY minimal tweaking, and a lot of that is just preference anyway. Some really great stuff he has.

Quote from mtmartin71

Do these lean on the brighter side or darker side out of the box?

Good question - I had a listen to the demos, and they sound great - some cool amps too. However I contacted the guy who makes them, and he will neither sell the DI's separately, nor provide any samples. So am holding off for now. Honestly I don't get why some companies are so funny about providing a few free samples - if someone's just after freebies, they're not going to be buying anything anyway - but if someone's genuinely interested, they might get a new customer.

I did look up details of the pickups mentioned in the youtube video descriptions - they're DiMarzio, and quite bass heavy - so presuming these were the pickups he used to dial in the sounds, you might assume the profiles will sound brighter on more neutral pickups. But that's just a guess, really impossible to tell how any profile's going to sound thru your particular pickups before trying it. Kemper really should set up a system to demo profiles before buying!

Quote from DareRelaqz

This might sound like a stupid question but what are DI profiles used for, exactly?

Unlike a studio profile, which contains the sound of the whole signal chain (amp, the cab/speakers and mics/mic positions), a DI profile is just the amp (e.g. just the head portion) - sounds horrible on it's own, but the idea is you can either play it thru a real cab, or load an Impulse Response (which rig manager will convert to a "Kemper Cab" file) into the cab section. The benefit of this you have more control over the sound. The cab/speaker/mic/mic position choice has a huge effect on the tone, so if you find a DI profile of an amp set up at least close to how you like it, you can then pair it with any IR you like to get a whole range of tones. I've found that this is an easier and quicker way to get the tones I'm after, as opposed to scrolling thru tons of studio profiles where the cab/speaker/mic/mic position choice may or may not be to my liking. btw, a Merged profile contains a DI profile, so you can swap the cab section and get accurate results. You can also swap the cab section in a Studio profile, but here the Kemper "guesses" which portion of the sound is the amp and which is the cab - doesn't yield as good results in my experience. If you're happy with studio profiles, you can probably ignore DI's - but if you're not quite finding the tones you're after, the DI plus IR method can be quite a revelation!