Miking an amp with a condensor??

[frank_1]

I have heard that you can "blow" a condensor mic out of comission. Is that true? How loud does an amp have to be, until it burns out a condensor mic???

I see Aerosmith using condensors for there live show, what's up with that?? Fill me in boys...

 

[Guardian]

afaik

You can't burn out..but you can blow out..you can damage the diaphragm..kinda like having a piece of tissue and blowing on it so hard it makes a hole or gets broken...
..some condensers handle high SPL <volume> better than others...and what most people don't know, is you don't need to CRANK an amp up to record it..you get it just loud enough..you can even record an amp at pretty much the lowest volume and get a screaming sound..so you don't need the amp blowing a hole in the wall..most people just crank the thing tho..which can change the tonal quality some as the speaker/amp, etc, distorts..in that situation, use a mic you don't care about unless you're rich, like an sm57, and a condenser back a little bit...and are you sure you saw a condenser? The Sennheiser E609 is pretty popular and looks condenser-like..but it's a flat dynamic mic.

--Sal

 

[frank_1]

Well it looks like a condensor, forget Aerosmith, let's talk about Blink 182. In an interview with them, they had a diagram of their set up for shows, and they use Shure 44's as their mikes for their amps.

I have a Marshall V67 & 603s for condensor mikes. I was thinking of using them a little more other then my 57 and Sennheiser 421.

 

[Guardian]

try this

Turn your amp down to just loud enough where it's uncomfortable having your head around it..not LOUD, but not soft..just loud enough sorta..and close mic the speaker, off axis to the cone..maybe with like 1/2 inch between the amp and the mic, or even directly touching it. You shouldn't hurt your condenser with that at all.

--Sal

 

[Track Rat]

Check the spec sheet that came with your mics. It wiil tell you the maximum input that they'll take before they clip. Some condensors only take about 110dB, others up to around 140-150dB. I put AT-4033's in front of amps all the time. Same with AKG C-1000's.

 

[baldguy]

I've used a c1000s with pretty good results. I wouldn't recommend the 603s though. They didn't fare as well in my case. I like them on acoustic guitars and drums but not on amps.