Modern guitar production gives you several ways to reach a strong tone: Fractal presets, Quad Cortex captures, Kemper profiles, NAM profiles and cabinet impulse responses. They are related, but they are not interchangeable. Choosing the right format depends on your hardware, software and workflow.
Fractal presets
Fractal Axe-Fx III Presets and Fractal FM3 and FM9 Presets are complete preset workflows for Fractal units. They can include amp blocks, cab choices, effects, routing and scene-style setups depending on the product. Use them when your rig is built around Fractal hardware.
Quad Cortex captures
Quad Cortex Captures are built for Neural DSP Quad Cortex workflows. Captures can recreate the behavior of a source tone, while presets can combine captures with broader effects and routing choices.
Kemper and NAM
Kemper Profiles are for Kemper users who need amp-style profile packs for recording or live rigs. NAM Profiles are for Neural Amp Modeler workflows, often used in software-based recording, reamping and tone testing setups.
Cabinet IRs
Cabinet IRs usually represent the speaker, cabinet and microphone part of a chain. They can be paired with amp sims, modelers, captures or profiles depending on compatibility. IR choice can strongly affect midrange, top end, low-end tightness and mix placement.
How to choose
- If you own Fractal hardware, start with the matching Fractal collection.
- If you use Quad Cortex, start with captures and presets for that ecosystem.
- If you use Kemper, choose Kemper profiles.
- If you use Neural Amp Modeler, choose NAM profiles.
- If the amp tone is close but the speaker tone is wrong, try cabinet IRs.
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