having problems micing a vox ac15 amp

A

Aware

New member
using a sm57 and 58 i tried close micing at an angle then a few feet away and with the sm58 in the back but i cant get capture the sounds i can hear from the amp...i use a tokai 335 guitar....im lookin to record a kings of leon type tone , a warm jazzy break up sound.....

Im recording into a zoom mrs1200 multitracker, i ve tried placing the a,p in various rooms but all i manage to record is a flat toneless sound similar to that when u DI a guitar straight in.

can anyone help.....

thankds
 
Aware said:
using a sm57 and 58 i tried close micing at an angle then a few feet away and with the sm58 in the back but i cant get capture the sounds i can hear from the amp...i use a tokai 335 guitar....im lookin to record a kings of leon type tone , a warm jazzy break up sound.....

Im recording into a zoom mrs1200 multitracker, i ve tried placing the a,p in various rooms but all i manage to record is a flat toneless sound similar to that when u DI a guitar straight in.

can anyone help.....

thankds
Click to expand...

bumpty bump
 
Thats because the sound you hear has the rooms natural reverb. You needput the mic where your ear is. The problem though is that a 57 and 58 are not the best for long range work, but should still work okay for the time being. Get a LD type mic of some sorts in the future and mix it in with the close mic'd 57 and you will be able to get a sound somewhat close to what you hear.

If you put your ear where the mic is, that is ruffly what it will sound like. So put your ear next to that speaker and that is the harsh sound you are supposed to get, it ain't the mics fault.


Also, try adding some reverb after tracking.


But for serious tone, put that amp in the shower and have yourself a blast. :D
 
Outlaws said:
Thats because the sound you hear has the rooms natural reverb. You needput the mic where your ear is. The problem though is that a 57 and 58 are not the best for long range work, but should still work okay for the time being. Get a LD type mic of some sorts in the future and mix it in with the close mic'd 57 and you will be able to get a sound somewhat close to what you hear.

If you put your ear where the mic is, that is ruffly what it will sound like. So put your ear next to that speaker and that is the harsh sound you are supposed to get, it ain't the mics fault.


Also, try adding some reverb after tracking.


But for serious tone, put that amp in the shower and have yourself a blast. :D
Click to expand...


thanks mate......but could you suggest an "LD mic" ive not actually heard of one of those before.

thanks again
 
Aware said:
thanks mate......but could you suggest an "LD mic" ive not actually heard of one of those before.

thanks again
Click to expand...


I used a Rode NT1 or NT2, I forget, but it was a nice mic. $200.

There are so many mics out there now that you just have to go and buy one and use it becuase everyone and their mother will suggest a different mic.
 
If you can get a hold of an Audio Technica 4033, I like these a lot on electrics. Not an LDC (MDC), but it works.
 
The AC15 is a pretty in your face sounding amp when recorded. Outlaws is right when he talks about the room sound being added. The mic choice is not as big a factor in recording this amp as mic placement is. Find where you like the sound of the amp and put the mic right where your ear is.

The AC15 is a great amp, but its touchy and can be hard to record because it is a bit directional. That works excellent for some styles of music, but not as well for some others.

H2H
 
Codmate said:
Make sure the mic is on the edge of the speaker cone and not pointing at the center.

Also make sure the volume on the guitar is at maximum.

An NT3 as an ambient works well.
Click to expand...


Ummm.......?

The edge? There isn't a cookie cutter way to mic an amp. You still have to decide how far off center to go. You can't just always use the edge and expect it to work. The edge is woofier and the center is brighter. Thats two completely different sounds with a virtually unlimited amount of variation inbetween.

And who says the guitars volume needs to always be maxed? You never used a tube amp huh?
 
Outlaws said:
Ummm.......?

The edge? There isn't a cookie cutter way to mic an amp. You still have to decide how far off center to go. You can't just always use the edge and expect it to work. The edge is woofier and the center is brighter. Thats two completely different sounds with a virtually unlimited amount of variation inbetween.

And who says the guitars volume needs to always be maxed? You never used a tube amp huh?
Click to expand...

I always use a tube amp.

Unless you pump up the volume on the amp it won't break up.
If the tone is crappy it's often a case of not having enough signal from the instrument (or a poor choice of instrument/amp combination). The tone controls on the amp can always be changed too ;)

Micing up the center of the cone produces a horrible tinny sound (especially with an SM57) and you get low-level muddy overtones from both edges of the speaker cone. By micing the edge of the cone you emphasise the 'woof' of only one side of the cone and still get most of the center. If you want a brighter sound move the mic away from the speaker (assuming an SM57, which has a proximity effect) - you can get away with up to ten inches.

This is what I was taught about micing up guitar cabs by the engineer who worked on my band's first album anyway.
It's worked for me so far.

BTW - if you want to hear the sound, here's a track from the album:
http://tinyurl.com/bv9h4
 
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