best amps for recording?

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brandon.w

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Hey everyone...

I'm putting together a home studio, and have most of my recording gadgets, guitars, and effects...now I'm amp shopping.

What do you guys think some of the best amps are for recording? I'm into that vintage, kind of gritty 60s rock sound, and that clean smooth soaring *heavy* reverb...My studio setup is in a spare room that I've totally cleaned out for recording, and put foam up in. My goal is to have all the equipment needed to be able to bring in friends to jam/record/write. I've been doing nothing but direct recording with my GFX-707 so far, and now I want to get into micing amps...I have one fender frontman 25R (little thing) and a classic pignose (even tinier)...I'm looking to get at least two more guitar amps (two guitar rigs in the works) and one bass amp...my budget for each is about 500...any sugjestions?
 
Fender Twin Reverb.....

(whispers)some of the Peavey tube amps arent bad either....
 
anyway,

what you are going to HAVE to do is bring your guitar around to music stores, pawn shops,etc. and look for the amp you like....everybody has that "perfect tone" they are looking for in their head....you are the only one that can find it for you.....
 
or you can look into items like the Pod, J-Station, GT-6.......each of those give VERY resonable tones at a fraction of the price and none of the headache of micing an amp....for the pros and semi pros, micing a guitar cab is second nature...for newbies, it can be quite a challenge (just dig thru the old posts)....

if you are serious about it, make sure you find that amp with the "perfect tone", get ya a sm57, decent preamp, and have fun......
 
"the headache of micing an amp"

shame on you.........

much more fun anyway

make damn sure you push that valve amp if you go that way (I hope) and enjoy a sound thats much easier to mix.
Push the valves volume even for a clean sound too!
 
Im just a realist, sorry...yes mic'ing a good amp is very rewarding...i just see a post in his future reading "Ive got the amp, got the sm57, and my recordings still suck".....

id never give up completely micing an amp, but my J-Station gives me the wild variations of tones/amp sounds that i need without having 10 amps.....and running it thru a tube amp rocks.....
 
Hey Guys,

I agree that one can get some great sounds via mic-ing your favorite amp. But if you are like me and have a 10 month old little girl sleeping in the next room, pushing your tube amp to is G spot may not be the easiest thing to do. I use the POD 2.0 when I need to keep things down (headphone level) and have been happy with the results. I picked one up new for $249.00. Just a thought. Good luck,

Fangar
 
AMPS

I like fender amps myself but the twin is too loud for me.I use a fender super reverb or a small magnatone(5watts).The super reverb is a little different than most fenders because it runs at 2ohms(instead of 4or8 ohms)which makes the super sound different.It's only 45watts as compared to the 85watt twin so it will distort at a lower volume.I have no idea how much a used super reverb is going for now I only spent around $500 on my 1970 years ago but im sure they've gone up.Also look for a fender deluxe reverb,a pro reverb,or even an old champ(it sounds good and you can turn it all the way up with out disturbing anyone)good luck
 
what about hooking the cranked fender twin's speaker output into a DI box, then into the console? I've always wondered if this would be close to the miced sound. I have neither (yet), so can't try....
 
An old Fender Champ or Princeton. Small amps can sound HUGE when recorded. Derek and the Domino's Layla album was recorded using Fender Super Champs.
 
Depends on how you want to operate---for ease of isolation and relatively great quality, use a POD for guitar and an Avalon U5 preamp/direct box for bass. This locks you in to headphones---but that is common. Otherwise, you are spending mucho dinero on amps, mikes and running lines from other rooms---using headphones anyhow! I agree with the concept that smaller amps do well in studios---no need for a bloomin' Marshall stack!
I have had excellent luck with the Roland DB-500 for bass.

Mind you---I record in my little place with amps and we have leakage and it still is OK---just not CD quality.
 
I agree with the smaller amp approach. Best all round performers would be late 60's-early 70's Fender Deluxe Reverbs, Princeton Reverb, Tweed Deluxe, and even Champs. Any of these will deliver the goods. If I could generalize, I would say you're looking for a low to medium (5W-25W) power tube amp. Even a Super Reverb can be really loud for most home-studio situations - although its hard to beat at the bar!

Good Luck!
 
Yes, I think the new single speaker all valve amps are great. Perfect for recording. The small fenders are great and so are the new single speaker valve marshalls. I still prefer to use a 4 speaker cab driven hard with close mic and condensor further out. The condensor gets a better sound out there from 4 speakers. But we all have volume restrictions when recording. I've heard that those little Pignose amps have been used to get some of the biggest guitar sounds around. And there cheap as. Must try it soon. I hear about the benifits and convenience of using pods and other amp sims, but I just refuse to use them. And now im starting to hear people plugging there pods into valve amps. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Its like putting retreads on a Ferrari.
I always get agro feedback when I bag out the amp "SIMS"
so don't stop now guy's.
 
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