guitar amp volume when recording

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:15 am

Just curious what you all do...

ubertar · Post by **ubertar** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:26 am

I said, "depends", b/c I'll set it to the volume that gives me the sound I want, and that's not always going to be the same. If I'm getting the distortion from an amp and not a pedal, I'm going to have to turn it up more to get there. I don't want to get too loud, tho', b/c my studio is in an apartment.

auralman · Post by **auralman** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:27 am

I concur. However, there are some times when a cranked Marshall stack is needed, no substitute. Then, I'll record DI and reamp in a rehearsal studio at full blast.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:32 am

Depends for me, too - whatever gets the amp to sound like I want it to, though I try to not to go full blast for the sake of my neighbors. My two main amps (a 20 watt Hiwatt and a Fender twin 12) both sound good when they're at least a little loud. On the other hand, my bass amp, a solid state SWR workingman's 15, just sounds more and more blown out the louder it gets. It stays tighter when at lower volumes.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:13 am

yeah. depends. i generally prefer 'amp cranked' distortion to pedal distortion, so sometimes the neighbors just have to suffer.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:43 am

Whatever it takes. Although, I prefer using lower power amps to get that tube distortion. At least in my room, seems the louder an amp gets the thinner the recording gets. A Gibson GA-6 and my half-watt Ruby amp sounded fuller and "louder" than a 100 watt Marshall half-stack on one recording I did.

kronosonic · Post by **kronosonic** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:02 am

all depends on the amp. a lot of tube amps require massive volume to get a good crunch sound whereas others can get that overdriven sound a much lower volumes. are pedals being used? power reductions switches? master volume? cab size and configuration? studio environment? neighbors?

lots of variables.

personally, when I'm using my Bogner I can use much lower volumes even to get good overdriven sounds because it is such a good amp. but it varies from track to track depending on what I want and what mood I'm in. sometimes you just gotta rock.

curtiswyant · Post by **curtiswyant** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:10 am

I tend to keep volumes low because I have a crappy-sounding room.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:13 am

everything 'depends' on a variety of factors.

However, for a rock kind of sound i like to crank it up to where you can see the speakers excurse a little. this is the point at which the sound will usually start to 'punch you in the chest' and you get a little compression too from the tubes and in some cases transformers.

But for a jazz session I like to keep my old fender deluxe down around 3 or 4. Open enough to get some tube amp artifacts but not enough to get the speaker excursing and the tubes clipping.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:55 am

yeah a deluxe over 4 doesn't really get a whole lot louder, just more distorted.

kdownes · Post by **kdownes** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:15 am

sometimes loud is good, sometimes quiet is good. though i prefer loud.

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:59 am

Volume = Tone, in my world.

Especially with small-watt amps (3-10 watts).

Knights Who Say Neve · Post by **Knights Who Say Neve** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:01 pm

Cranking a small-wattage amp is a great way to go- and by small I mean fender champ, pignose or the zvex nanoamp (which only gets one sound really, but its a great sound). Mic up a champ cranked, mabye with a pedal in fromt of it, and it sounds huge.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:42 pm

Totally 100% depends on the player/song/ blah blah....

Sometimes it HAS to be cranked, and then that changes the mic selection. Sometimes you can use whatever mic you think is the one you want, then tailor the amp to THAT, sometimes both, sometimes neither... I like to go with a few small amps that SOUND like they are exploding, but arent actually putting out huge SPL's. That is optimum. From there, I make adjustments.... Like an "edge of driving" tone from a twin. My twin has to be pretty loud to sound like it is on the verge of really getting gritty, especially with a strat, lets say... Even though my studio partner has an amazing '61 strat, all original, it still takes some juice to light up the twin.... That requires a different approach than say, a 70's les paul custom (mine) into a blackface princeton, or a pro junior all the way up, or a movieola half cranked, or a deluxe.... you know... all over the place.
Recording something really heavy Vs recording something more "funky" or mellow...
Guitar, like voice, really has got its own fingerprint... actually, what doesnt?

jmoose · Post by **jmoose** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:41 pm

110% depends.

Usually we're moving some air around...might not be on 11, but it's probably not something you want to be around for a long time.

If the amp is too big for the room then you can start to compress the room which is kinda weird...and if it gets too loud the diaphragms of the microphones will start to flatten out & that sounds pretty bizzare & bad too...

Going for those new high-gain 'modern' rock...LP with EMG's into a Rectumfryer kinda tone...that's a whole other thing. I never really record those amps super loud 'cause the speakers in the cab usually start to get weird & flab out.

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guitar amp volume when recording

How loud do you crank your guitar amps when recording?

guitar amp volume when recording

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