Bored today ... mic comparison

[dalley]

I know this is highly subjective but ...

Not much to do today so I ended up screwing around trying different mics on electric guitar. I get frustrated trying to get a good electric sound sometimes and I was curious as to what other people thought. Anyway, equipment chain is:

Tex Mex Strat w/ SD hotrail bridge pickup
Marshall AVT20 (gain ~10:00, mids ~3:00)

LDC: Groove Tubes GT-66
Ribbon: Beyer M260
Dynamic: Sennheiser 421

Mackie XDR Preamps (only used because I needed 3 channels simultaneously)

Echo Layla 3G -> Sonar 5PE

I was suprised how the GT performed, I seem to like it the best. The 421 sounded brittle & thin to my ears and the Beyer sounded almost "too warm" buzzy, almost a scooped mid feel. Mics were placed about 4 inches away, pointed towards the cone.

The tune is just messing around with "Back in Black". Double tracked guitars, dry, no processing, EQ, etc. I think a big part of the problem might be the equipment itself ... namely not having a humbucker p/u and a sub par amp.

GT66
M260
MD421

[SMC Productions]

Originally Posted by dalley

Not much to do today so I ended up screwing around trying different mics on electric guitar. I get frustrated trying to get a good electric sound sometimes and I was curious as to what other people thought. Anyway, equipment chain is:

Tex Mex Strat w/ SD hotrail bridge pickup
Marshall AVT20 (gain ~10:00, mids ~3:00)

Groove Tubes GT-66
Beyer M260
Sennheiser 421
I was suprised how the GT performed, I seem to like it the best. The 421 sounded brittle & thin to my ears and the Beyer sounded almost "too warm" and buzzy. Mics were placed about 4 inches away, pointed towards the cone.

I have to agree, also....the GT kicked ass, compared to the Beyer and Senny. Of course, this kind of thing is a bit relative, as you could have moved the Beyer, and Senny around some, and probably gotten a fairly acceptable tone, but as I'm always saying about the Senny 609, compared to the SM57, I don't ever have to fuck around with the 609, just lay it across the cab, and it usually sounds like my ear, 'hears it'!
The GT sounds great. Did you try moving any of the mics, etc. after you did the initial test? Just curious.

TNX for taking the time, and posting the results...

[dalley]

Originally Posted by SMC Productions

Did you try moving any of the mics, etc. after you did the initial test? Just curious.

No ... pretty much just setup and record, which is what I wanted. If I were to record at this point with this setup, I would probably push the Senn away from the center of the cone and perhaps bump up the mids on the Beyer. And then, reposition if necessary and EQ, etc. I think the GT and the Beyer might also sound nice together, perhaps with the GT placed about 3-4 feet from the amp.

I think this sorta shows that the GT is not harsh, and has a relatively smooth top end (IMO anyway). I've never tracked distorted guitars with a LD condenser before, until today.

I also wouldn't track with the Mackie preamps. It is also amazing about gain (guitar amp)... less is definately more. Obviously an SG and a JCM800 would have been more convincing, given the song of choice...

[Micter]

I want to hear all of them together!

[Erockrazor]

Originally Posted by Micter

I want to hear all of them together!

I second that haha.

[pikingrin]

Originally Posted by Erockrazor

I second that haha.

+1 It almost seems that the three of them together would make one hell of a guitar track...

[dalley]

Originally Posted by pikingrin

+1 It almost seems that the three of them together would make one hell of a guitar track...

Here ya go ... very interesting results. I think it sounds good, they are about the same levels, mixed together. I like the "meat" of the ribbon, the presence of the 421 and the GT kinda just reinforces it.....

Ribbon / Condenser / Dynamic combo

[travelin travis]

i like the gt's sound, even over the 3 mixed. i was surprised that the md421 sounded that bad. i've heard alot of good things about that mic. i guess the application has alot to do with it though. the beyer sounds kind of muffled in comparison to the gt. have you tried the gt on a loud amp? i'm wondering how well it would handle that.

[dalley]

Originally Posted by TravisinFlorida

i like the gt's sound, even over the 3 mixed. i was surprised that the md421 sounded that bad. i've heard alot of good things about that mic. i guess the application has alot to do with it though. the beyer sounds kind of muffled in comparison to the gt. have you tried the gt on a loud amp? i'm wondering how well it would handle that.

Yeah, this was pretty much just throwing the mics on the amp, no tweaking. The freq switch on the 421 was set to "M", which if somebody can correct me if I am wrong, which is not rolling off any low end. I did however, use the low freq rolloff switch on the GT66.

Master gain on the 20 watt amp was only around 9:00, so I have yet to push serious SPL's into the condenser. At that distance, I'm not sure that I would want to.

Also noting these are 3 entirely different types of mics so they should sound different by nature. I think if I put an SM57 or a senn E609 next to the 421, it wouldnt sound as "bad"...........

BTW guys, thanks for listening

[Micter]

Originally Posted by TravisinFlorida

i like the gt's sound, even over the 3 mixed. i was surprised that the md421 sounded that bad. i've heard alot of good things about that mic. i guess the application has alot to do with it though. the beyer sounds kind of muffled in comparison to the gt. have you tried the gt on a loud amp? i'm wondering how well it would handle that.

I agree! I would say that the MD421 on the speaker and the GT66 as a room mic would be the ticket.