recording a dual recitifier

[emomusician]

I just picked up a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier solo head, w/ Mesa 4 x 12 cab for 1400.00. I'm gonna be using it to record rock bands, who have less than stellar amps. How do you record tube amps, and where do you place the mic? Also, how loud does the amp need to be. I was told, you never give them as much gain as you would if you were playing a show.

 

[dalley]

tons of threads on the subject but this is what I do ...

I have a Mesa Studio .22 combo which never fails me for a good rock guitar tone. This amp is not as high gain as the recto you have, but I have the gain between 5-8 and master volume of about 3-5 on this 22 watt combo. I usually use a combo of 2 mics, the first being a Beyer M260 right up on the grill, dead on with the speaker cone. The second an MD421 or Unidyne SM57, depending on the tone I want ... about 6 inches away aimed between the middle to outside of the cone. I have found that you can get away with a bit more gain than usual using the ribbon mic because it has a vey smooth quality ... but this will be contingent on the amp used as well.

These go through my Joemeek TwinQ, with the transformer switch engaged. I'll then blend the 2 with decent results. I'll post a sample I did over the weekend in a bit ....

side note edit: I recently picked up an old Unidyne SM57 on ebay and have had great results on guitar compared to the newer 57's. It has beaten out the 421 on most dynamic guitar cab applications so far. A lot less harsh and a bit more "beef" to it. I'll post a side by side of those too if I get a chance....I was pleasantly suprised!

 

[dalley]

here is the audio file of the setup above ... guitars were double tracked, no processing ... crap it reminds me of a Ratt song from the 80's, oh well I was just messing around. I've also attached a visual reference. Hopefully this helps someone out.

http://www.sonicaudio.com/mesa.jpg

 

[Outlaws]

I just picked up a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier solo head, w/ Mesa 4 x 12 cab for 1400.00. I'm gonna be using it to record rock bands, who have less than stellar amps. How do you record tube amps, and where do you place the mic? Also, how loud does the amp need to be. I was told, you never give them as much gain as you would if you were playing a show.

You record them at whatever volume sounds good. I recall reading Weezer recorded their first album with a Marshall at about bedroom volume.

You are correct that you normally don't need as much gain as you would live. You mic it where ever the mic sounds good. The requires experimenting, but its no different than a solidstate.