micing a small amp?

bsanfordnyc

bsanfordnyc

New member
Seems a consensus that the best sound for recording electric guitar is micing an amp. I have a p.o.s. Crate amp that is having problems, so I want to toss it (dramatically, out the window) and buy a better quality amp to record with. I don't need a ton of power since I don't play live, so my question is this: can I mic one of those tiny little amps and still get the good sound? I'm talking about one of those ones that go for about $70.

Beyond that, which amp would be preferred:

Marshall
Fender
Vox

???

Thanks

-Ben
 
Those little amps can be cool but it would be tough to use one as your only amp. The Fender Blues Jr is a pretty cool little tube amp. They are $300 new and you can find them for $200 used.
 
I have a Tech 21 Trademark 10 I love.

Depending on what kind of sound you are needing it has a great Fender-type clean sound and some good tubey kind of overdrive sound but lacks a little in the really high gain stuff.

For recording I generally use a lot less distortion anyway.

Got mine for $140. Has a dierct out too thats XLR at mic levevl.

-mike
 
Yeah Vox does look cool, in a retro way.

So I'm still a little confused...everyone gave a different answer.

If mic'd properly, can I get a full recorded sound out of one of those little amps? Specifically what I'm looking at is a 15w, 8" deal.

thanks again
 
My feeling is that cheap amps sound like cheap amps, whether or not they are small or large. Good amps are good amps, be they little or huge.

When recording, a small, low watt GOOD amp will give the best tone. I doubt that a crappy 15W solid state amp is going to sound great. The thing is, a 5-10W tube amp can be driven to the wall, and sound absolutely massive when recorded, because most tube amps sound best when pushed to the wall: this is not true of SS amps. Just think of it this way: how close can you stick a mic to a 100W all tube amp without killing it or getting a really muddy tone, now a 5-10W tube amp, you can still use a condensor mic within a foot of it and capture all the nuances of the tone.

I have a 5-7W all tube Garnet amp with a NOS 1950's 12" Celestion speaker that is heavenly to record... and it is for sale, but I am afraid it ain't cheap.
 
cstockdale said:
My feeling is that cheap amps sound like cheap amps, whether or not they are small or large. Good amps are good amps, be they little or huge.

When recording, a small, low watt GOOD amp will give the best tone. I doubt that a crappy 15W solid state amp is going to sound great. The thing is, a 5-10W tube amp can be driven to the wall, and sound absolutely massive when recorded, because most tube amps sound best when pushed to the wall: this is not true of SS amps. Just think of it this way: how close can you stick a mic to a 100W all tube amp without killing it or getting a really muddy tone, now a 5-10W tube amp, you can still use a condensor mic within a foot of it and capture all the nuances of the tone.

I have a 5-7W all tube Garnet amp with a NOS 1950's 12" Celestion speaker that is heavenly to record... and it is for sale, but I am afraid it ain't cheap.
Click to expand...

thanks for the response..
Quite frankly, I'm not very savvy when talking amps; I'll have to look into the differences between the tube & solid state amps. SO tube amp is the way to go, huh?
 
well, it really depends on your style, some SS amps are really nice (I would love to have a Roland JC120, for example), sadly, the only way to figure out what is the amp you want is to play a lot of them, and you have to try them for more than 2 minutes to really know how well teh amp suits you. I am sure most guitarists have bought several amps before they got the one that finally said "yeah this is it".

But, as for the small vs large amp thing that you started, quality still is the underlying issue. Cheap amps are cheap amps, be they large or small. If the tone sucks coming out of the speaker, it is going to suck on tape/DAW.
 
I've got an ac-15, a laney lc-15, and a Vox pathfinder (the amp I assume you refer to when you say vox). The pathfinder would be more than a sufficient amp and would sound a shitload better (especially in terms of plain ole' clean tone) than your crate and will only sink you $100 or so. I hear everyone saying tube this and tube that but if your taking a step up from a crate, the vox would be just fine. I'm a tube purist myself but that is not to say that I've got anything wrong with solid state amps. The vox pathfinder would be just the sort of thing your looking for and yes, fender also makes some decent cheapies if you want more of a distortion type gain.
 
just to backpedal a bit: cheap and inexpensive are not the same thing... I have played one of those Vox Pathfinders, and they are decent indeed, but I have yet to play a Crate of any sort that I liked (ie. cheap!)
 
Hey,......bsanfordnyc,....

I have a little Crate GFX or GSX (cant really remember) amp. Its only 15 watts (or is it 10???) and about as big as a shoe box!!! ha ha ha. Anyway I always thought it sounded decent.

I have since upgraded the amp situation but i keep the little guy around and jam on it from time to time. I think it was like $179.00 when I bought it.

I happen to still have a tune that I used that little amp on uploaded at soundclick. If you want you can go here...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/6/davejammusic.htm

and download the tune "Road Rage". All the guits in that tune are that little pee wee with a 57 through a Behringer mic pre. You may not like the style of tune,..but you can kinda get an idea of what a little amp might do for ya.
Of course remember most of my mixes suck!!!! ha ha ha.

Hope it helps a little.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
Hey man,..just did a little reviewing. The song "Therese" was the pee wee as well. There ya go,..."Road Rage" is just riffing and "Therese" is some lead playing I was screwin' around with. The only difference was that I used a 3000b on "Therese" and a 57 on "Road Rage".
Always good to keep notes!!!!!!!
Also,..I'd download the MP3 instead of lo-fi,..it will give you a better idea.

Later,..
Calwood
 
THanks for the input everyone...it looks like I'll probably be leaning toward the little Vox, since it had the most active support in this thread!

It should sound sweet with my Strat...
 
bsanfordnyc said:
THanks for the input everyone...it looks like I'll probably be leaning toward the little Vox, since it had the most active support in this thread!

It should sound sweet with my Strat...
Click to expand...
surely you'll try it out before buying... I've found "it sounds good to me... or I like it... or it's great" is not enough for me to buy because what I consider as good usually doesn't jive with what others consider as good... especially in the area of distortion... unless I know we both are starting from a similar reference point. A Country players view of distortion isn't close to a Metal players view... but both describe their view of tone as Great... well you know the rest. You should ask more questions.

I have a Blackface Champ Amp thats got great breakup (Distortion), but I'd never use it except for special occasions, but it's a "Great Little Amp"... IMO it's not a general purpose use amp... in fact I have several small amps and none would I consider as my everyday amp. You might, though.

Maybe you'll be lucky and find the right amp, but try as many as you can before buying. If you can, go to a Guitar Show and look and try there.
 
bsanfordnyc said:
I don't need a ton of power since I don't play live, so my question is this: can I mic one of those tiny little amps and still get the good sound? I'm talking about one of those ones that go for about $70.

Click to expand...

It's a little higher than $70, but I'd recommend the Vox Pathfinder 15. It cost me $99 and sounds far better than anything else in that price range that I've tried.
 
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