Guitar Mic

[doubler]

What would be te most diverse mic to record guitar/accoustic/electric with the best quality, and what type of preamp should I run it into?

( i know this is a mater-of-opinion question, but leave your thoughts anyway, it would be appreciated, thnak you)



--skeleton master

 

[BJW]

I like a pair of MXL 603s's through my dmp-3 preamp for acoustic. You can get other uses out of them, too, like drum overheads. A pair of sd condenser's is a pretty usefull tool. I always just go with an sm57 for mic'ing electric guitar amps.

The pair of 603s's can be found for about $150 used and the dmp3 is about the same, so around $300 for the set-up. A 57 is pretty cheap - $350 could cover most basic guitar needs in my opinion. The set up is pretty cheap, so it's not going to sound incredible, but for the money I think it's a good bang for the buck. You can spend way more and get a better sound (there's always something better/more expensive in this hobby/profession).

 

[BJW]

I've also heard to get a cool electric guitar sound to mic the strings and the cab. I would think a 57 on the cab and the pair of sdc's on the strings in an x/y configuration (or even just one of them by where your pick hits the strings) might make for a cool sound. I think i'm gonna try that trick out.

 

[sile2001]

I've also heard to get a cool electric guitar sound to mic the strings and the cab. I would think a 57 on the cab and the pair of sdc's on the strings in an x/y configuration (or even just one of them by where your pick hits the strings) might make for a cool sound. I think i'm gonna try that trick out.

I believe Everclear used this technique quite a bit on their clean sounds...hmmm...I THINK it was Everclear, not sure.

 

[pdadda]

If you are just looking for one mic for both acoustic and electric, I would look into a large diaphragm condensor mic. Lots of folks seem to like the AT mics (4033 and such) around here.

 

[Dot]

Yes, AT mics would be a good choice. AT4033, AT4040, AT4050.

Pre? John Hardy M-1, Focusrite ISA.

 

[Treeline]

A LDC can work very hard for you micing amps. In one of my live sound setups we have more musician /combinations than I had gear for, so we got creative. The band uses at varying times any combination of two electric amps and one acoustic amp. Rather than rent a larger mixer and tie up mics I didn't have, I arranged the amps in a u-shaped configuration and suspended a single LDC in the center. Worked like a charm; the players heard themselves and I had good signal for the mains, BUT it required the guitar players to be able to adjust to volume balancing issues and I was limited to a "one for all, all for one" EQ at the board. Still and all, it works in a pinch.

===
// * \\​

 

[btr31]

that trick is a "cool" trick. but, it does exactly what you think it would. gives a real high end attack sound exactly like what you get when recording acoustic guitars with electric stuff. Its not nesessarily going to give you a better clean tone by micing it this way. If you listen to albums that have used this trick it becomes really obvious that they did it and where the tones are. So, the song and phrase really has to fit the tone for it to be useable.

 

[btr31]

A LDC can work very hard for you micing amps. In one of my live sound setups we have more musician /combinations than I had gear for, so we got creative. The band uses at varying times any combination of two electric amps and one acoustic amp. Rather than rent a larger mixer and tie up mics I didn't have, I arranged the amps in a u-shaped configuration and suspended a single LDC in the center. Worked like a charm; the players heard themselves and I had good signal for the mains, BUT it required the guitar players to be able to adjust to volume balancing issues and I was limited to a "one for all, all for one" EQ at the board. Still and all, it works in a pinch.

===
// * \\​

question....was this condenser in omni? from your diagram it would seem it would have to be. or you would be getting way too much of the amp in the center.