The Tone Shepherd

The Tone Shepherd A loving guide for the P&W guitar community into tone everlasting.

08/28/2026

Part 1 | Can’t Help But Praise (Devotional)

Progress over Perfection

After journeying through the Sermon on the Mount this year, I do believe Jesus invites us onto a path with Him that CAN lead to full maturity and completeness in Him (“Be perfect” as Jesus says in Matt. 5:48) but that this is most certainly a journey, not an instant gift granted to those who say yes to Jesus.

The narrow way of Jesus is a road to travel, a process to engage in, a manner of living, a daily surrender.

In that way, we should never be comfortable where we’re at, there’s always more to grow in. But we should also not be too distressed that we’re not all the way there yet.

Learning to live in this tension is something I feel deeply in this season.

Jordan Colle

08/28/2026

Part 2 | Can’t Help But Praise (Devotional)

Raising kids is no joke. Hardest thing I’ve ever done. And I fail constantly. But I’m learning to walk with Jesus slowly, surrendering what I can day by day.

I’m learning to praise in the valley ‘cause that’s just where I am at the moment.

But I definitely know what I would be WITHOUT Jesus, and that’s a very very dark place. I thank the Lord for His constant voice in my heart that leads me home over and over again.

Thanks for this song Jordan Colle

This pack contains 17 of my favorite drive tones from 15 of my favorite pedals. Daily Driver, Lightspeed, KTR, Timmy, Be...
08/27/2026

This pack contains 17 of my favorite drive tones from 15 of my favorite pedals.

Daily Driver, Lightspeed, KTR, Timmy, Benson, King of Tone, DRV, Fake Plastic Trees, and a bunch more.

I spent a ton of time getting these right—not just the gain and EQ, but the output level too. That matters a lot with drive caps because how hard the pedal hits the amp is a huge part of the sound. If that level is wrong, the whole thing feels wrong.

These drive caps were made with a calibrated system with calibration values added in the metadata. If you're using a NAM loader that factors in calibration, these will be plug and play.

But for those devices (like the Anagram) that don't yet apply calibration data automatically, I made sure to give you all the numbers in the Read Me file to get these drives to translate to your device.

Using drive captures with NAM lets you have a whole library of great drive tones—dialed in, recallable, MIDI controllable, and ready whenever you need them.

If that sounds useful to you, NAM DRIVES VOL. 1 is up now at TheToneShepherd.com/NAM

(And as a bonus for you Tone3000 users, I included custom graphics for all of my pedals so your pedal looks as good as it sounds)

Darkglass Electronics

🐑

08/26/2026

The new Vintage Digital Verb on the QC is quite the reverb!!

It could quite possibly kick off my Modulated verb for my primary verb before the amps, keeping the Blossom after my amps.

Here you’re just hearing the Vintage Digital verb with no other wet effects on.

Using my Sig Preset as the base with the compressor on and the CD56-Neve cap that shapes my base clean tone. Amps are AC306/TB and Prosonic.

What other features are you excited about in this new 4.1.0 update?!

#410

Guitar: Voyager Custom
Pickups: Crema/Grinder

08/25/2026

New vid on YT up! Our church has been doing this song for a minute and I love it! If you’re looking for a way to combine the 3 EG parts into one…in the key of C…then this is for you.

This QC preset began its life as my Sig Preset but swapped the amps for my new Fat Jimmy JAC15 and Jimmy Jr. II (these are the “crunchy” amps from my last reel!) 🥜

Though these amps aren’t fully released yet, the QC version is up now for those who can’t not have it. At the moment, these two amps will be released as a bundle since I captured them together, at the same time, with stereo in mind. More details to come on these beauties.

Part by part breakdown and full preset walkthrough showing all effects tweaks is live on my QC Course now.

The playthrough and devotional are up on YT.

Guitar: Voyager Custom
Pickups: Crema/Grinder






08/20/2026

Using words to describe tone is weird…but to me, I think these two tones can be loosely described as “crunchy” and “smooth”. Maybe I have it backwards, but whatever 😆

I’d say the vast majority of my amps to date break up on the “smoother” end of the spectrum. But working on these new captures is opening my eyes (or ears?) to this new realm of…crunchy!

At first, I felt like I didn’t totally love it, but the more I play around with it, the more I’m falling in love.

I think there’s totally a place for both kinds of tones and neither is right or wrong, but I’m genuinely curious what your ears think about these!

These new "crunchy" caps are coming soon. Guesses welcome but will not be confirmed.

All amp caps can be found at thetoneshepherd.com

Guitar: Voyager Custom
Pickups: Grinder (bridge) / Crema (neck)



08/18/2026

BAD CAT ERA 30 CAPTURES

David’s rocking’ this Peavey Electronics
Patriot with my ERA SC CRM 12AX7 - 2 captures on his Quad Cortex.

ERA Captures Available Here:
https://www.thetoneshepherd.com/era

David Le is using a very basic QC preset to just highlight the natural characteristics of the amps.

You can check out his full presets with his caps on his website: Worship Guitar Sound.

———————

I captured my Era 30 on all three channels (12AX7, EF86, and Blended) through 2 different speakers—original Bad Cat Speaker & Celestion Alnico Cream—for humbuckers and single coils. I used a Shure 545SD and a Royer R-121 on all the caps run through my analog API 3122V preamp and Neve 8803 EQ.

48 Total Captures
Extended Training for TONEX
V2 for Quad Cortex
A2 for NAM (Head Only Caps Included for NAM)

Of all my amps so far, the Era breaks up in the most natural and pleasing way. It could be my favorite…could be.

12AX7 - More scooped. Less mids, higher fidelity sounding. Probably my favorite.
EF86 - Chewy mids, little more tamed on the top end, breaks up a tad earlier.
BLENDED - More gain. A rather predictable blend of the 2 channels’ EQ characteristics. This is the one you want if you like your “clean” tone dirty.

Tone Matched Amps and Presets ALMOST DONE for Helix Floor and FM9.

Proxy Clones available now, but a full ERA Preset is also on the way.

David takes his Ronin Guitars Songbird for a ride with my ERA SC BC 12AX7 - 2 captures on his Quad Cortex. ERA Captures ...
07/29/2026

David takes his Ronin Guitars Songbird for a ride with my ERA SC BC 12AX7 - 2 captures on his Quad Cortex.

ERA Captures Available Here:
https://www.thetoneshepherd.com/era

David Le is using a very basic QC preset to just highlight the natural characteristics of the amps.

You can check out his full presets with his caps on his website: Worship Guitar Sound.

———————

I captured my Era 30 on all three channels (12AX7, EF86, and Blended) through 2 different speakers—original Bad Cat Speaker & Celestion Alnico Cream—for humbuckers and single coils. I used a Shure 545SD and a Royer R-121 on all the caps run through my analog API 3122V preamp and Neve 8803 EQ.

48 Total Captures
Extended Training for TONEX
V2 for Quad Cortex
A2 for NAM (Head Only Caps Included for NAM)

Of all my amps so far, the Era breaks up in the most natural and pleasing way. It could be my favorite…could be.

12AX7 - More scooped. Less mids, higher fidelity sounding. Probably my favorite.
EF86 - Chewy mids, little more tamed on the top end, breaks up a tad earlier.
BLENDED - More gain. A rather predictable blend of the 2 channels’ EQ characteristics. This is the one you want if you like your “clean” tone dirty.

Tone Matched Amps and Presets ALMOST DONE for Helix Floor and FM9.

Proxy Clones available now, but a full ERA Preset is also on the way.

07/24/2026

Quad Cortex Tones & Song Devo | Day 9 of 9 - House of the Lord Vertical Worship

Posting nine days in a row (kinda) to show the expanded tones featured in the new Quad Cortex V2 Preset video and sharing my heart on the lyrics of the songs.

Follow me to see the rest!

—————————

Lyrics
We were the beggars
Now we're royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we're running free
We are forgiven, accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise

Colossians 1:13-14 | NIV
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Many of us may not have a "rags to riches" story to lean on as personal experience but we're all "spiritually" poor and in desperate need of the generosity of God to enter life that is truly life. The good news of the gospel isn't just that Jesus purchased your entrance into Heaven with His blood but that He showed us the narrow way to live that leads to true life and peace. This invitation is open to anyone anywhere in any circumstance and doesn't require material resources or any social position to achieve. When a community of "beggars" (those who truly know they're poor) gets together and aims their affections on God, joy is inevitable!! Next time you play this song, thank the Lord for bringing you from death to life!

The tones in this clip are made from my Signature Quad Cortex V2 Preset available at thetoneshepherd.com/quadcortex

To learn how to dial in these tones, see my Quad Cortex Course on my website!

Guitar: Fender Squire JMJM
Pickups: Silent P90's

Ushered in 20 years of marriage by each getting our first ink. Been thinking about it for years, saw the shop, and just ...
07/23/2026

Ushered in 20 years of marriage by each getting our first ink. Been thinking about it for years, saw the shop, and just jumped in. LOVE THIS GIRL SO MUCH!! Happy Anniversary Babe!!

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