I know I am really late in this discussion, but I wanted to put in my $.02. Presets for drums might offer a good starting point if you have a good recording, but probably still need tweaking from there. But for guitars and almost everything else, we have two major issues: First, we need to consider our source material vs the source CLA had used. Which guitar? Which amp? which setting of the amp? Mic and placement. If CLA presets for guitar sound harsh on your recording, maybe he used ribbon mics and you used a condenser (for example), which will respond totally different to eq. The tonal gammut here is endless so certainly CLA was dealing with something specific which may be worlds away from what you have. Second: EQ descisions are made relative to everything else in the mix. How bright the guitars should be before they encroach on the cymbals, how much low end before we start masking bass guitar and so on. So if CLA presets sound wrong in your mix, they probably are wrong for your mix. That doesnt mean to say your mix is wrong. Be yourself, trust yourself. Use whatever presets might work for you but dont expect to find the holy grail. Audio descisions are made for artistic reasons. If I want to be a painter, I am better off taking some painting courses rather than buying DiVincci stencils. A small measure of education is more valuable than any vintage gear. The specific gear is far less cricial than the descisions made with them.