Recording clean guitars...

[JuliánFernández]

Hi guys!

I was wondering what´s the role of volume when recording clean guitar tones...

Most will agree that when you´re recording distortion, most amps sound better at high volumes...

Does the same theory apply to clean tones (with ss amps)?
What do you think?

 

[antichef]

Depends on the amp -- in my limited experience, all I really have to do is get the amp sounding good in the room (irrespective of volume), and then the recording pretty much takes care of itself, provided the mics are positioned well. I have some small tube amps that sound really thin at low volumes and fill out nicely when I turn them up a some (of course, it may be a little even order harmonic distortion that's causing the fullness, even though the overall sound is still pretty clean). I'm getting to where I only use ribbon mics for clean guitars.

 

[K Road]

If you're going in clean I wouldn't bother with an amp. A pre, but only maybe. I find I get great tones with plugging the g. straight into the recorder. Depends on your axe.

Let me know if you wanna hear examples of "plugged straight in".

K.

 

[Ember]

If you're going in clean I wouldn't bother with an amp. A pre, but only maybe. I find I get great tones with pulging the g. straight into the recorder. Depends on your axe.

Let me know if you wanna hear examples of "plugged straight in".

K.

i'll take the sound of a clean vintage thousand dollar tube amp over a two hundred dollar piece of software any day.

 

[WhiteStrat]

i'll take the sound of a clean vintage thousand dollar tube amp over a two hundred dollar piece of software any day.

Actually, I'll take my $500 amp over that software. I used to go direct for clean all the time. With sims or just good preamps. The thinking was that "clean is clean." But there's a tone element to a good clean sound as well.

So now I mic it up for clean too. It's worth it to me.

 

[K Road]

i'll take the sound of a clean vintage thousand dollar tube amp over a two hundred dollar piece of software any day.

I'm not talking software here. I'm talking plugged straight into the recorder. No FX outside of a little verb.

Eg. http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=5391650&q=hi

Hear how the tone comes across in the solo.

I think a miced amp can weaken the sonic presence with clean tones. Just plug and play. Works for me.

K.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

You can certainly do it, and a number of guys have made a career around recording clean guitars primarily straight into the board - here I'm thinking of Joe Satriani.

Of course, I've always hated Satch's clean tones.

 

[Ember]

I'm not talking software here. I'm talking plugged straight into the recorder. No FX outside of a little verb.

Eg. http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=5391650&q=hi

Hear how the tone comes across in the solo.

I think a miced amp can weaken the sonic presence with clean tones. Just plug and play. Works for me.

K.

still IMHO, i'd still rather have a punchy warm tube sound compared to just DI.

 

[antichef]

Come to think of it, I did just get some keepable lead clean tracks going DI into my ART Digital MPA -- no amp model or anything in the DAW, just some reverb. There would be a 12AX7 sort of involved, but not at all the same way as in a tube guitar amp. Mostly, though, it's amp + ribbon mic + really clean pre for me.

 

[Toker41]

I hate to say it, and I know I'm gonna get stoned for it (and not in a good way), but with all my amps at my disposal (too many to list) I've found that some of the best clean tones come from my Behringer Vamp pro.

I know, I know...

...I was as shocked as the next guy. I never would have believed it. I actually bought the thing as a quick kick around for late night writing when everyone is asleep. Ended up loving the clean tones for recording. I'm not a fan of DI recording, but this thing just sounds beautiful.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Consider yourself stoned!

I don't have one (though I do have a PODxt Live & a POD 2.0) so you'll just have to ship that V-Amp off to me and let me find out for myself...

 

[mixsit]

I'm not talking software here. I'm talking plugged straight into the recorder. No FX outside of a little verb.

Eg. http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=5391650&q=hi

Hear how the tone comes across in the solo.

I think a miced amp can weaken the sonic presence with clean tones. Just plug and play. Works for me.

K.

I figure it comes back to 'how clean'. I could see that going with a tad of speaker compression and color. But it's still just a tone choice.

 

[JuliánFernández]

Guys, seems It's time to post samples...

Thanks for everyone's input...

 

[jonnyc]

still IMHO, i'd still rather have a punchy warm tube sound compared to just DI.

Absolutely. Some amps have legendary clean tones that could never be duplicated by going di. Not to mention there's just something about how a speaker moves the air. That being said going clean di isn't terrible and is often passable, much more so than trying to go di dirty.

BTW, I don't think you're going to need any outrageous volumes when using a solid state amp.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

I hate to say it, and I know I'm gonna get stoned for it (and not in a good way), but with all my amps at my disposal (too many to list) I've found that some of the best clean tones come from my Behringer Vamp pro.

I know, I know...

...I was as shocked as the next guy. I never would have believed it. I actually bought the thing as a quick kick around for late night writing when everyone is asleep. Ended up loving the clean tones for recording. I'm not a fan of DI recording, but this thing just sounds beautiful.

Hey, you're a Mesa nut, too - the Vamp isn't half bad, but try to track down a Johnson J-Station if you can. The modeling is hopelessly dated, everything is way too bass heavy, and most of the Marshalls are embarassingly bad, but I got by for most of college just using the "Blackface" (Fender), "Hot Rod" (they claim it's a Mark-IIC+, but it sounded more like a Mark-I to me), and "Rectified" (no explanation needed) models run through the 1x12 cabs to cut most of the excessive bass out.

The Blackface is still one of the most organic modeled cleans I've ever played. It was REALLY surprising. I finally just gave the thing to a buddy of mine after buying a Mesa Nomad because it could pretty much cover all of the sounds I was after from the J-Station (though in retrospect the cleans weren't quite as good, but it took me buying a Rectoverb to realize what I'd been missing), but the two Mesa models and that Fender were absolutely phenominal, once you took care of the worst of the low end.

 

[K Road]

Looks like we are going to get into another "which amp is better" debate.

How about some examples guys - together with the specific amp, how it was dialed in, mics used and FX if any. Like they say... the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

In the meantime here's a blues. Les Paul on the left / a jazz box on the right, bass in the middle. ALL plugged straight into the recorder - not even a pre on this sucker.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4925945&q=hi

K.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Looks like we are going to get into another "which amp is better" debate.

How about some examples guys - together with the specific amp, how it was dialed in, mics used and FX if any. Like they say... the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Haha, we lose nothing by posting clips, but it won't get us anywhere.

Soundclick is blocked on my office network, but you mention preferring direct because an amp can "weaken the presence of a clean tone." This is just a hunch without hearing your tone (I'll try to remember to check it out tonight from home), but something tells me we dial up VERY different clean sounds - you like a clean with a lot of brightness and a fairly sharp attack, I guess, whereas I like a darker, woodier one.

I also have a soft spot for bridge humbucker clean tones, strangely enough, into a fairly dark amp - they have a nice shimmer to them, and sound awesome layered against acoustics. I'm a big Porcupine Tree fan, if that helps...

Ultimately it comes down to "different strokes for different folks," as they say, which was sort of what I was (flippantly) getting at with my Satriani comment, above - that one of my bigger influences happens to agree with you about going direct for recording clean tones, but I myself don't care for the tones it gives.

It's not like it's invalid; it just doesn't do what I like.

That said, I'll give your clips a fair shot when I get home.