micing amps

E

electricabanana

New member
Up till now i have been recording mostly acoustically, but i am feeling the need to freak out a bit....

I have tried various direct input setups (combinations of distortions, amp modellers, mixers) but it sounds (obviously) like shitty DI distortion. So today i miked up my amp with my two shitty mics, and the results were immediately better than DI.

My question is, is it weird to mic an amp with a condenser, and will this damage the mic? the condenser sounds way better to me, but this may be because my dynamic mic is terrible....a $20 job. would an upgraded dynamic (say a sm58) sound better than a condenser. i usually see people using dynamic mics on amps....

as far as damage goes, i dont feel any blast of air hitting the mic, and as i understand condensers wont be damaged by sheer volume. if i dont feel air is the mic okay? should i put a pop filter (translation, coat hangers and pantyhose) in to protect it anyway?
 
You can mic an amp with a condenser. It's done all the time. You won't damage it as long as you stay below the spl that the mic can take. You will find that in the manual (or online).

A 57 would sond different, you might think it's better, you might not.
 
Farview said:
You can mic an amp with a condenser. It's done all the time. You won't damage it as long as you stay below the spl that the mic can take. You will find that in the manual (or online).

A 57 would sond different, you might think it's better, you might not.
Click to expand...
The beauty of recording is that it is as much art as it is science.

Sure theres a few handy conventions to follow when you're starting out like having a 57 micing amps but when you get your grounding remember that it's all about the sound you achieve.

You can record it using whatever you want and aslong as you (the recordee) like the sound, that's all that matters.
 
A lot can depend on if you are recording one instrument or several at the same time. When recording a single instrument (you may want to move the mic back to capture more of the room sound) a condenser works great. Some combinations of mic>amp work better than others. If your cab has more than one speaker, one will always sound better (recorded) than the other. The set up that works fine for one amp may not (probably wont) work for other amps. Mic placement is critical for getting the best sound, a few inches of movement or changing the angle of the mic will make a lot of difference. Unfortunately there is no set formula that always works in every situation but with practice and experience it gets easier.
 
Condensors on amps work great!! Just dont go louder than the mic can handle (which is usually not an issue IME).
A better dynamic mic would 'probably' sound better as well (based on my experience with cheap dynamics). Beyer makes some nice dynamics, as does Sennheiser, and of course, the 57's and 58's from Shure.

I have an open back guitar combo, and Ive found that micing the front AND the back can sound great in some situations too.
 
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