Getting a really pure sound...

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maxabillion

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Hey, this is definitely more of an open question for discussion and tips for everyone, but I was wondering the best way to get a really pure sound from my electric guitar. By "pure" sound I mean one with as little fuzz as possible, and generally just sounding like it does in the room to one's own ears. Admittedly, I'm a noob, so I probably make an innumerable amount of little technical mistakes, but it always seems like the guitar just doesn't sound quite the same on the recordings. It is always slightly fuzzed, distorted, or sounds far away. Any tips on getting the sound I feel like I'm hearing in the room to come out of the monitors? Any tips or tricks to keep it from getting distorted?

By the way, I play a gibson SG through a peavey head (I know, I'll upgrade when I get the money) and an Avatar cab with celestions. Use an SM58, an M-Audio fastrack (also something I will likely want to upgrade) and Pro tools. What is your setup? Thanks guys!
 
1) Get the sound you want out of the amp.
2) Turn the drive or distortion down a bit (you say 'clear'- which implies no distortion, is that even possible with an SG?) - you don't need as much when recording.
3) Adjust the mic accordingly to pickup the sound the best - off-axis, aimed towards edge of speaker cone, etc (theres a million threads here on this)
4) Treat the room as needed.
 
Yeah, there really isn't any tricks or secrets. Just happy accidents. Like this one -"sounds great! Now how did i do that?"
 
Haha, ya that's pretty much what I've been doing - trial and error (mostly error :/) O well, I thought maybe someone would have some good techniques like recording at low volumes, or proximity of the mic to the amp or something. I'll see if I can get a clip up here soon, and maybe somebody can guide me in the right direction. Until then, I'll be hoping for a few happy accidents.
 
If you can get a sound you like from the amp, then it sounds like something in the recording chain. Record some vocals with the exact same setup and see how that sounds.
 
DI box. Straight off the pickups through a mic pre.
 
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