I've just started recording and have a question

T

That_Abbott

New member
Hi everyone,

The equipment I'm using:
* Washburn acoustic guitar
* Tascam ministudio Porta 02
* Shure 58 mic (clone)
* Fender Deluxe 112 amp

I mic my acoustic but it doesn't sound very good. It's very quiet so I run the mic through my amp then to the 4-track so I can up the volume.
Should I be using a pre-amp to do this instead?
I also plan to record electric guitar and I will be upgrading to a Tascam 424 mkII or mkIII soon.

hey, thanks for any help
 
Welcome to the board. You may want to search through or post this in the analog forum. It may get answered quicker there :)
 
I'm assuming you are connecting your SM58 to your Fender Deluxe.

Running your SM58 through a guitar amp isn't a good idea for three reasons:

1 - Your mike is designed to use a balanced (3 wire) cable for noise reduction and you have probably defeated this by running it into a 1/4" guitar amp input.

2 - The impedance and gain structure of a guitar amp is not well suited for a microphone; you probabaly won't get nearly enough gain.

3 - Guitar amps are far from flat when it comes to frequency response, they have a big "hump" in the mid range that accounts for the characteristic punch of an electric guitar.

For the best results get a pre-amp, run your mike into it, then run the output of the pre-amp into the line connector on your recorder. Or as you suggested, upgrade to a recorder with built in mic pre-amps.

Welcome to the board and good luck!
 
In addition to what Phyl said you might want to get a condensor mic. You say you have a 58 clone which could be anything and believe it or not the mic does make a pretty big difference in sound quality.
 
I didn't realize that the tascam 424 mkII has a built in pre-amp.
I guess I will just buy that and forget buying a seperate pre-amp. I might pick up a condenser mic too, if one isn't too expensive.
Thanks for the advice
 
I don't know if that particular unit has a mic pre-amp either. I meant that if you're just starting out and trying to keep costs down, a recorder with a built in pre-amp is both convenient and cost effective.

Tex had a good idea as well, a SM58 will work for recording acoustic guitar, but a condenser mike will bring out more of the character of the instrument. If you buy a condenser mike, make sure your recorder has phantom power because, unlike the SM58, these mikes need phantom power to operate.
 
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