Recording Real guitar amps.

[Doyen Keaton]

Drums, upright Bass, acoustic, sax, voice, not a problem, but when it comes to guitar players it can be a challenge to please.... for clean to light bluesy I always use a ribbon mic, and or a stedman N90 and a class a mic pre with transformers, and Always get good results. But for distorted and Lead I have found a few mics and techniques that work well for me, the mics are a Cad D-189 and or old Turner 500 and a EV 635 omni, and a TGX-50 kick mic. these mics always give a great sound no nasal sound here, ( 57 54 or e35 can work but work you to death, putting them out of phase to find the thinest sound then putting in phase, to have a usable sound, too much work, and 421 and 609 don't work for me at all.) so to make it easy for starts put a turner or cad one straight at the speaker off center and the other at 90 deg. and say the EV omni or the tgx-50 all 5 to 7 inches from the speaker, and I like using the same speaker. use the cad turner right to left and the other mic you use straight up in the mix, it will sound like tone heaven, you can shift the right or left phase to pull the sound to one side, we wont go into playing with out of phase right now. also remember the ev omni is rolled off on the lows and above 13K sits well in the mix and always pulls in the same sound being a omni and is not affected phase wise so to speak by placement like other mics. and the TGX-50 will give so much Fat if that works with your mix. also try just the Cad and just the TGX-50 you will be Happy. Ok say you want a wide Guitar sound and you will only need one mic. Record your part with one mic, copy the track pull one to the right and one to the left and change the phase on one track, then rerecord (Play it verbatim) the same pass on a third track, and leave this take straight up in the mix. you can thank me L8R, or Let me record your next Lp. Please let me know what works for you or if this works for you as it does for me. ALso AUdioHipster Has real 140 plate reverb and old lexicon verb, and cool vintage verbs and will add any stereo verbs to your tracks from drums to voice, for a modest fee. Doyen

[Bill Whitley]

One trick I observed in the old analog days recording at Bill Lowery Mastersound studio - In the 70s guitarist were using double stack Marshalls and Orange mega amps. The producer pulled out a small Fender Champ put it outside the studio in a hallway miked it about 10 feet away and let the quitarist turn it wide open to distort. Sometimes less is more in the studio to capture and control a great quitar sound.

[Eric Snipes]

Small amps RULE! I love tracking a good sounding small amp it seems to just find its place in the mix. I have early 70s Champ and I love it,

[Steve Watkins]

I still use my little Princeton Reverb all the time. Turn it down and it's got that lovely clean "Fender-y" sound, crank it up and it grinds away.

[Steve Waide]

Don't forget the Silvertone Amps that Dan designed for Sears... They rock as well. You'll also find the Little Marshall Lead 12 Rocks it's ass off.

You can also ad this trick to small amps to make them sound bigger.... Put it in the bathroom (or other small but open sounding room) with a close mic and a room mic. I've also found that dialing back the distortion a little bit when recording will make the guitar stand out in the mix a little more.

Good tone does not mean loud!!!!