MXL 992/993 for recording from guitar cab

G

gusfmm

New member
I've looked up all the previous treads about MXL 9xx series mics and still there is apparently very limited info (experience) with these. Please bear with me for a second and those who have tried them please give me your opinion about the suitability and quality of these condenser mics for recording from a guitar cab. In general, distorted guitar sounds and on a more limited basis, clean electric and acoustic. Guitar in all cases is processed through a tube pre-amp (Mesa), digital mFX and then tubes power amp & 3/4 open back cab (both Mesa as well).

Thanks a bunch in advance.
 
I have no experience with the above-mentioned 992 or 993 models of microphone ... but it would be my general experience that any sort of large diaphragm condenser in general will tend to reproduce unpleasant sounds when recording guitar amp of the loud, distorted variety. You might find a good dynamic or ribbon more easy on the ears in that application. Best of luck.
 
992/993 for recording guitar

I just finished a quick one song project for an alt rock band and threw MXL 990's on the guitars - didn't turn out bad at all. Don't hesitate to use a LDC on guitars, as long as they will handle the SPL's you should be fine (The 990's will handle up to 130db). Most MXL mics have a distinct bump up around 9K, so you have to play with placement to avoid a lot of high end "fizz" - especially when recording distorted guitars.

The band has the song up on their music site: www.purevolume.com/welcomingtroy

The song I just did with them is "The Crowd Will Take Us There". It was a one day thing we did so I could try some MXL 603's on drums. Both guitars (Marshall AVT w/4x12 and Carvin MTS 3200 w/4x12) were mic'ed with MXL 990's about 3-4 inches off the grille, mid way between center of speaker and edge of cone. Very minimal EQ (some low end roll-off and a sharp low-pass at around 9.5K).

Bill
 
Those mp3 are so shite quality it's impossible to evaluate that guitar tone. I'd like to say what I hear going on with it, but when the mp3 is that bad WTF can you say.

Why doesn't the band host their own tracks?
 
990/993's on guitar

You're not kidding... After they put it up I offered to do the conversion for them to have a better quality MP3 for download but they didn't want to (the song's not available on CD yet) - only wanted the on-line player version.

Regardless, those on-line players usually are a reduced bit rate deal and would make even the best project sound lo-fi.

Bill
 
vaultstudio said:
Most MXL mics have a distinct bump up around 9K, so you have to play with placement to avoid a lot of high end "fizz" - especially when recording distorted guitars.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much what I was gettin' at.
 
992/993's on guitar

I've always felt that (within reason) you can use any mic on anything - it's how long you want to dick around with placement and/or EQ and processing that really drives the decision.

So many folks just getting started look for that "silver bullet" solution to recording (insert instrument here). It's just not there... although many do swear by a 57 centered on the cone for electric guitars, which has probably ended up on more recordings than anything. Lately I've been doing rhythm guitar tracks with LDC's (A-T, Oktava, SP, MXL) and lead work with a 57 on the grill and an LDC about 5ft back.

Bill
 
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