Mic'ing an amp question - how loud?

[Greg_L]

I've been a direct guy for a long time, and I'm just now getting into the virtues of mic'ing my amp. I'm just wondering how loud most of yall play when mic'ing your amp. My amp is junk, so I run my processor through its clean channel and get my tone from the processor, but I'd imagine with tube or older amps you'd want to run them pretty loud to get that saturated tube sound. I've been doing pretty good by keeping it at a moderate volume that doesn't piss off the family or neighbors.

So, how loud do yall record and why?

 

[metalhead28]

Just loud enough to get the amp to sound the way I want it. That usually means rather loud for a tube amp, but I don't turn it up just for the sake of turning it up. I actually record it as quiet as I can get away with without sacrificing the sound.

 

[Micter]

I let 'er rip! I run the amp as loud as I need to. The neighbors have only complained once.

 

[jonnyc]

I let 'er rip! I run the amp as loud as I need to. The neighbors have only complained once.

My neighbors complain all the time but I put it to them like this, would you complain if I was in marching band and had to practice my Tuba on a nightly basis? If I was in a little high school band would you tell me I couldn't play? Fuck the neighbors and crank up that bitch. But to the original poster, you don't need to crank your signal that loud if your going SS, tubes however really do need to be opened up a bit more.

 

[Greg_L]

Thats what I was thinking. Theres not a tube anywhere near my amp, so I'm getting by at reasonable volumes. I'd like to get a tubed amp soon though. I guess I'll have to turn it up.

I also play the drums, and my neighbors don't complain. They actually seem to like it. I guess people don't mind drums too much if you can actually somewhat play them. I don't do it at night though.

 

[Dogman]

Mine is only loud enough to hear well....I stand about 3 feet away, and don't want to go deaf.

 

[K.P.]

knowing when to Stop with the Vol knob is just like knowing when to stop with the EQ knob...

 

[ecktronic]

I turn my amp up quite loud. Not as loud as if I was at a gig or at a practice though.
I would say turn it up as loud as your speakers will let you without the speakers overloading.
Put your ear up to each speaker at the volume you want to record at and listen to see which speaker(s) sound the best.
One of my speakers cant handle low end so it has a rumble sound so I dont use that one for recording obivously.

Eck

 

[gcapel]

Tube amps with a master volume have an advantage in recording IMO. Most of the time I can crank the pre amp channel volume and choke back on the master volume, so that the tone is there and also your not freakishly loud so you will have a moderate volume for recording. This is in my taste and not the golden rule by no means. IMO you get the best out of your mic pre at moderate volumes.

Have fun!

 

[amra]

I have always been told that with high gain stuff you should record it loud, for one to get power tube sauturation, but also for signal to noise ratio reasons as well....

 

[Greg_L]

Good food for thought. Thanks for the replies.

As I assumed, it appears to be all personal taste/equipment needs. So far, I'm finding that if I adjust my amp volume so that I only need moderate gain from the pre-amp to track at around -8db, I get better results. But I have no idea. I'm just going by what sounds good.

 

[jonnyc]

Tube amps with a master volume have an advantage in recording IMO. Most of the time I can crank the pre amp channel volume and choke back on the master volume, so that the tone is there and also your not freakishly loud so you will have a moderate volume for recording. This is in my taste and not the golden rule by no means. IMO you get the best out of your mic pre at moderate volumes.

Have fun!

I do this as well, but I've also been told that cranking the master volume produces a different tone. I record loud but not club loud.

 

[slidey]

I've been a direct guy for a long time, and I'm just now getting into the virtues of mic'ing my amp. I'm just wondering how loud most of yall play when mic'ing your amp. My amp is junk, so I run my processor through its clean channel and get my tone from the processor, but I'd imagine with tube or older amps you'd want to run them pretty loud to get that saturated tube sound. I've been doing pretty good by keeping it at a moderate volume that doesn't piss off the family or neighbors.

So, how loud do yall record and why?

I set my amp sound up whilst sitting at the control room mixer & I turn it up & tweak with the tones with a flatEQ'd mic untill it sounds right that could be from 3-number 3000 baby I do generally have a tube amp set most of the time at around 7-8 & use the guitar to clean up the tone or make it more nasty, I genrally set the guitar at around 5-6 & set the sound up from there

essentially IMHO there's no hard & fast rules to applied towards getting the tone one wants to hear

 

[punkin]

The gist seems to be, what ever it takes. With some of the high gain uber metal amps and depending upon the sound you're after, all the tone comes from the pre-amp stage and you can get away with a lower setting. I find that the tastier jazzer, classic rock stuff takes more volume to get that final tube saturation sound.

Hate to say it, but it depends.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Loud enough to make the tubes work a little but not so loud that the hum is too much. If I turn the mesa up it hums. There is a sweet spot with almost no hum but I still get the sound I want-as if I were pushing the amp.

 

[LeeRosario]

I've been a direct guy for a long time, and I'm just now getting into the virtues of mic'ing my amp. I'm just wondering how loud most of yall play when mic'ing your amp. My amp is junk, so I run my processor through its clean channel and get my tone from the processor, but I'd imagine with tube or older amps you'd want to run them pretty loud to get that saturated tube sound. I've been doing pretty good by keeping it at a moderate volume that doesn't piss off the family or neighbors.

So, how loud do yall record and why?

Depends. Alot of people overlook the acoustics of the room and go straight for loudness. If you have a shitty sounding room, then ideally, you would want to minimize the transfer of those bad acoustics into your recording. 9 out of 10 times, thats the case with project studios.


Personally, if I knew I had a room like that ahead of time, I would know that I could turn up the amp to a moderate level. I would say loud enough to get a good signal into your preamp.

Dosn't need to be loud. Loudness dosn't translate to tape like you would expect.

I feel the better deal is to have a quiet and controlled (as much as possible) environment in the first place and tracking at a resonable level. Perhaps trying a few close micing techniques and some treatments around the amp and mic to break up the echos and slapback a little more. Especially on distorted guitars.

As an engineer, you're really concerning yourself with getting an exceptional recording.

In terms of tubes, that's what the gain/drive knobs are traditionally for (if the amp is equipped with such a thing). It's like a tube pre or compressor, you can or should be able to control the input level to the tube completely independant of the output stage (aka master volume). Therefore, you can control how much you want the tube to effect the signal without getting a code Red noise alert from the government.

I think if you try out (and note) different amp levels, mic positions, rooms, and placement inside the room, you're eventually going to find something to your liking.

 

[giraffe]

loud usually (in the case of tubes+distortion), but i have a closet with a fire door on it for just such things.

don't forget the speakers, sometimes you want the sound of the speakers coming a little loose....... so for certain sounds it helps to be loud, even with a solid state amp.

 

[jamesduysen]

I like to have it cranked pretty good. If you want to track a distorted guitar your best bet is to bring down the gain because in my experience you will get some of that sound back in the process and you want to have as much tone as possible. I like to use an sm57 and a beta52 tracked to one stereo track to get the full spectrum of sound from your amp.

 

[cusebassman]

I can usually get by using a Sennheiser e609 and a condenser at about a foot with the volume turned up to the point where it is still comfortable to be in the room with the amp while my headphones are on. Of course, this is for playing jazz and folk - I'm playing Heritage guitars (an archtop and a Les Paul-style, both with similar humbucking pickup setups) through a Fender Blues DeVille, so that thing is all-tube, and can be driven pretty hard. The only gain-pushed stuff I've recorded was for an acoustic blues session, and we stuck they guy's Fender Blues Deluxe in a closet with a nice packing of comforter in front of the amp to avoid recording wall-reflection - worked pretty well.