how do you guys homerecord 100 watt amps???

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dassy

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Im having a dilema, it seems like every time i think im gonna be close to having that equipment for a geat sounding tone in recording something comes up,

well right now im confused on how to record a 100watt head going into 4x12s. this is gonna be way to loud to get that great tube sound, so how do i go about recording that? im thinking of gettin a THC hotplate. (more money i dont have) but i at least i figure i can use it for a tone tool in small gigs and practice right?

sincerly,
confused, depressed and broke
 
could you tell me a lil about the red box or sum pros and cons of whats better THC hotplate or hughes ketner?
 
Actually tiny amps give you much better recorded sound in the studio.........

You don't need 100 watt amps in the studio unless your tracking room is Carnegie Hall! ;)
 
Yeah; Jimmy Page used a 10 watt amp in the studio for all of the early led Zeppelin recordings.
 
The THD hotplate (not the THC) ;) is the one to beat.
If you like to take it one step further towards really good sound, look at the THD UniValve, which is (in not just my opinion) simply the best sounding amp ever built. It has the hotplate built-in, so you can crank the amp full-out, get "that" sound, with extremely loud or practically no volume out of the speakers, and on top of that a balanced direct out as well.
 
Come on. The BEST SOUNDING AMP EVER BUILT?

slight exageration;)

It is a nice amp but I didnt particularly care for it. On paper it should have been mine, everything I was looking for. Then I tried it extensively and it didn't floor me. And the clean sound is down right flat (which THD doesn't really deny). I guess it depends on the sound you are after.

I also like small watt amps. I have a little silvertone amp in case that sounds great for recording 2 watts.
 
buget tight

yeah but my budgets tight, i cant afford to get a 100 wtt amp and then a recording amp also, is there any way i could turn my 100 watt head into lower wattage, or is that were the hotplate comes in?

im getting so frustrated with recording, everytime i think im finally getting close to making a great sound recording, things i need keep comin up, if it wasnt for that damn undie'ing passion i have id say fuk it, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
 
with a tight budget, your options are:
--hotplate
---lots of blankets and pillows. I at time place my amp facing the back of a couch, have it on top of some cushions, cover it with a duvet and other blankets. You can stuff it in a closet, or do some sound deadening/proofing in said closet.
--line out on your amp?
--smaller cab? maybe 1x12? There are also iso cabinet contraptions that i have heard mixed things about.
--get a direct box, into your comptuer/daw, then use amp sims. Or you can do this, save some money, buy a reamp for $225 which allows you to take the direct tracks and send them through your amp at the proper levels, if you later can crank it, or isolate the sound.

I am in an apartment now, but should be moving within the year. I do a couple of things. I split the signal to my amp and into a rocktron progap (early pod like) or direct box. Then I mic the amp, record the guitar direct, and also close mic the actual guitar. The true bypass chorus pedal i use to split also reverses the phase, so no problems. This gives me - the amp sound, a 'safe' track to have later if I need to send it back out later for new sounds (or for amp sims), and a percussive unglugged guitar sound to mix in for clarity or texture. I can only occassionally crank amps, so this is my solution when I can't, and the direct track thing I try to always do just in case.
 
Dassy, for what its worth I can just explain how I record my amp. Its a 50watt marshal superlead into a 4 x 12 (30watt 12's) and is a sparrow farts difference in volume to a 100 watt marshall. Pretty feckn loud. And most of my guitar recording is done at full master volume, with preamp volume on 2 to 7. A 57 pushed through (yes torn cloth) the cloth so as to get it about an inch of the cardboard. And sometimes a rode classic valve jobbie about three foot out or 12 foot out set at cardoid. Through Joemeek VC6Q mic pre.
Now unlike your problem, being guitar sound, mine is that its hard to hear through the headphones when playing at this volume. So I use these really old but fuckn wicked sounding Coss headphones and wrap a towell around that on my head. finish of with oversized beany hat to keep it all there.
Also remember dont use as much distortion to record than you usually do. By the time its recorded, compressed, eq'd (maybe), mixed and mastered, it will be twice as fat anyway. It will take a long time to master getting a good guitar sound from pick to cd, but an amp is a much better way to go. And you already have an amp.
 
adam said:
Come on. The BEST SOUNDING AMP EVER BUILT?

slight exageration;)

It is a nice amp but I didnt particularly care for it. On paper it should have been mine, everything I was looking for. Then I tried it extensively and it didn't floor me. And the clean sound is down right flat (which THD doesn't really deny). I guess it depends on the sound you are after.

I also like small watt amps. I have a little silvertone amp in case that sounds great for recording 2 watts.
Click to expand...

:) Flat and one dimensional is everything you need in a head.
Second ... which valve(s) did you try in the UV? There is a huge difference in the tonal qualities of the UV from tube to tube. Its not a "one tube fits all". We switch all the time and even use it for bass, with a differnt tube of cause
Third ... we have vintage Vox (brown AC30) new Vox, vintage Marshalls, Orange, Hiwatt to Pignose, and nothing gets used since we've had the UV, which is purely guitarists choice by the way, not mine. This is for one reason only, it sounds better.

Guitarist magazine test and review: The only 5 star rated amp, a masterpiece, one of the best amps ever.
 
No doubt, it is a nice amp. And versatile. Just not for me, and I was just responding to the best amp ever built thing. I wanted to like it desparately. I really did. I thought I could put my bassman, danelectro and silvertones on moth balls, or at least keep them for specific jobs.

I tried a el34s and 6l6s. The distrotion tones were good, the roll or rock, i forget, the lower output one, just didn't give me the clean/moderate overdriven spank/chime I was looking for. Again, when I decribed what I was looking for to THD they said the uni was not for me. I hear the bivalve would be much more up my alley.

I'd be happy to take some of those amps off your hands :D
 
:) So would a lot of other people. The last 2 amps I sold were 2 AC30's to a certain Brian from a UK band in 1984. I bought those new in 1964 and 1965, and I only sold them when I swapped some recording time for 2 the same AC's, in brand new condition. (as mine were battered to death after many years of hard forced labor!).
By the way, the Brian now uses a UV for tracking ;)
 
Options

Going back to the original poster's question, below is how I'd see the options. As I'm sure everyone appreciates, in a normal living environment, a 100-watt amp turned up to the point where the power amp distorts is really loud (so is a 50W, for that matter).

These are all in sort of the same price range. About $150-250 or so. They're all compromises! If you go into other price ranges, there are other options (the aforementioned Univalve, or an Emery Superbaby, or buy a house on 120 acres so the neighbors can't hear you).

- THD Hotplate. No, you don't get the same sound that you get by cranking the amp way up and having distorting speaker cones in the equation. But you do get something useful. It also would be useful for playing live, as a 100-watt Marshall cranked to distort may well be too loud for a small-medium sized venue. If I went this route, I might also consider a smaller speaker cab as well.

- Pod/J-Station/Sansamp/Whatever. If you want silent, I think these beat the Hotplate. As people are eager to point out, there are tonal compromises. On the other hand, you get more variety of tones to fool around with, and they're really easy to use.

- Small amp. You can actually pick up an old Fender Champ for about this price. You don't get 100 presets, but you do get a sort of classic overdrive sound. It'll still be pretty loud. The people down the block won't call the police, but the guy who's apartment is two layers of sheet rock away might. There are some other small amps around (Pignose is one). Others on here probably know a lot more about these than I do.

- Isolation box. Actually, I think these go for a fair amount more money, though I could be wrong. I suppose you might try to build one if you're sufficiently handy.
 
actually i live in a house so the loud sounds not the problem, but gettin a great tube tone is, i dont know how good the recording would be if i had the vulume full throttle screamin through a tiny SM57, or could i be wrong?
 
you could be wrong:D

that is pretty tried and true way to do it. if noise level isn't a problem, then go for it.

if you have a good sounding room you can try using some room mics, and/or moving the mics further away from the cab. when you listen to the amp you don't stick your ear right next to the speaker.
 
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