1 Head, 2 Cabinates, Recording

[sepsis311]

Ok here is my question... When i jam with 2 cabinets out of my peavey 5150, the tone sounds completely different. I can keep the volume of the amp lower as well. I love the sound of it, its much more full. Is it "unorthodox" (i know theres no rules to recording, but recommendations could save me a lot of time) to mic one cab with an sm57, and have a condenser mic between the two amps a few feet back for a full tone? I would be panning hard left. Then i would do the same setup with a mesa head, but pan hard right. Anyone ever try anything like this?

[tsl92802]

well you have a lot of options that mostly depend on the sound you're looking to achieve...which i can only imagine is hi-gain in your face since it's a 5150 and a mesa. if that's what you're going for, i'd suggest close micing both cabs. a room mic can add an ambience that'll take away from the in your face affect. however...that's compeltely dependant on your room. for example...if you're recording in some kind of iso chamber...a "room" mic could and probably would pick up the full tone and still maintain the majority of the upfront-ness. One thing to keep in mind when close micing both cabs is there phase relationship and leakage. i'd suggest getting the cabs facing opposite each other and as far away from each other and your speaker cables will allow you. you'll most likely have to flip the phase...but really...you'll just have to meter it to see what's going on in phase land. good luck.