electric guitar

bestnottoknow · Post by **bestnottoknow** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:38 pm

Whats do you guys like to do when recording an electric guitar. Do you mic amps or go DI. What kind off mics do you guys like to use?

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:48 pm

I mostly mic the amp unless (like recently) I'm going for that odd distorted DI sound. As for mics, I'm pretty sure every mic I own, plus all or most of the ones from the studio I used to work at have been in front of a guitar amp, seriously!

weatherbox · Post by **weatherbox** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:05 am

Man, anything. Usually amped. Often will split signal out to a Super or Vox or something sort of clean when a dude hooks up his Marshall Quadruple Lead JCM5000 with 2x412s loaded with the cheapest speakers on earth, as those guys invariably have the gain on 9, the master on 2, and won't touch the EQ. And play shitty sounding Les Pauls. Hello, mud!

With guys who have decent sounding amps, have put more thought into what they sound like than how badass their amp rig looks, and actually care, it's fun. My usual elecguit mics are Shure SM7, Royer 121, AT 4047, Audix I5, C&T Naked Eye. I know with typically one or two of those mics, I can have a sound that anyone'll like. I'll also throw on an oddball mic, or sometimes a second-call dynamic just to see if something great happens. Main thing with an amp is get it off the floor, it tightens up a lot when it's up on a stand or chair.

Sometimes I plug direct, too, and not to reamp. I just like guitars plugged right in. I have two pres that sound really good in a bad Jesus and Mary Chain sorta way with guitars straight in and a little too loud. Sometimes I double things with a Tonelab. Modelling boxes work well for doubling because they sound nothing like real guitars and the frequency ranges don't clash. They have that weird hypercompressed tone that fits in well as a double track.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:32 am

Believe it or not, I actually use a SansAmp for its original purpose- to record guitars direct. I also use it to play live at theater gigs.

I use it more as a speaker emulator than trying to get the right overdrive, but then again, I do that with my regular amps (I use pedals for anything other than clean). Having a Maxon pedal compressor in front is crucial for maintaining a feel (and not clipping the front end of the SA). The Bassman setting and dipswitches are crucial in getting a good low end sound, which is great for what I do since I use baritones and detuned electrics all the time. I also use my Groove Tubes Ditto DI box- seems to smooth it out.

That being said, I can't wait to try out my PR40 mic this winter when I get my studio repatched/rewired.

fillmoresound · Post by **fillmoresound** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:21 am

both. little labs makes that badass distro box, and run 3 heads/combos at once between gobos, in own rooms, whatever. royers, 57s in and outta phase and a/b em all.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:31 am

There's some known sm57 haters around here (hello, drumsound), but you've heard a 57 right up on a guitar amp a million times on records, and there's not much tweaking to get it sounding familiar. That's a great, and affordable, place to start.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:17 pm

mjau wrote:There's some known sm57 haters around here (hello, drumsound), but you've heard a 57 right up on a guitar amp a million times on records, and there's not much tweaking to get it sounding familiar. That's a great, and affordable, place to start.

What's not to hate?

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:28 pm

drumsound wrote:
mjau wrote:There's some known sm57 haters around here (hello, drumsound), but you've heard a 57 right up on a guitar amp a million times on records, and there's not much tweaking to get it sounding familiar. That's a great, and affordable, place to start.
What's not to hate?

Cheap, durable, works?

If I could only choose one mic I'd prefer to mic everything with a 414 instead of a 57, but that would put me in the predicament of not micing more than one thing..

I like MXL small diaphram condensers of the same price, they're the only other cheap mics I like to use. They beat 57s for several things I use them for. but they still don't work to an acceptable quality on everything, where the 57s will.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:32 am

Just did a session with 2 smallish Garnet amps (maybe 15 watts into 12 inch speakers) and an old Traynor Guitar mate. The Traynor got a EV 664, the two Garnets had a 57 and an Apex 205 ribbon. The pres were from an old Soundcraft 1S board.
Everything sounded great.
The Garnets are a breeze. You could put a tin can and string in front and they'd sound good. The Traynor can alternate between way too bright or boomy in the lows. The 664 dealt with both very well.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:35 am

P.S. if you're looking for something other than an SM57 try an EV 635a. It's omni and can sound great on electric guitars. I sometimes find 57's boxy sounding, 635a's are a little more open.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:13 am

junkshop wrote:P.S. if you're looking for something other than an SM57 try an EV 635a. It's omni and can sound great on electric guitars. I sometimes find 57's boxy sounding, 635a's are a little more open.

amen!

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:16 am

junkshop wrote:P.S. if you're looking for something other than an SM57 try an EV 635a. It's omni and can sound great on electric guitars. I sometimes find 57's boxy sounding, 635a's are a little more open.

I'm the same way with my beyer m69. The anti-57 dynamic mic.

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