Recording low watt guitar amps (anything different?)

[Jonesey9]

Yeah, mic placement is everything when recording ANY acoustic instrument.

I've got a Blackstar HT5 and find the best way is to get someone else to play the guitar, while I crawl around on the floor with headphones on, trying to find the sweet spot.

As Greg pointed out, very small movements can result in MASSIVE tonal differences, and you must always remember that what gets into your DAW is what the mic is picking up. This might seem obvious but the recorded signal will never be the same sound as what you're hearing in the room.

Try 2 mics - an SM57 + a condenser of some kind works well, maybe even a ribbon if you've got one - just be careful where you point the other pole

 

[Battie]

All comments duly noted and appreciated so thanks to everyone. I don’t necessarily go for “sparkling” clean, more “tube” clean, but I guess it’s good to have the option. With this in mind I probably won’t go lower that 5w.

I’m still a little bit bewildered about the recorded sound differences between a decent low-watt/10” and high(er)-watt/12”. The reason is this. In the past I’ve recorded with bigger amps. A 1973 Fender Twin (100w from memory) and a Mesa Mark III combo (also 100w?). Listening back in the control room each sounded as you’d expect. However, when it came to mixing I noticed engineers usually EQ a lot out of the guitars leaving them sounding a lot flatter and thinner when soloed but amazing in the final mix. I’m aware there may be times when a song requires a richer guitar sound (ie. where there is more emphasis on guitar with fewer instruments competing for bandwidth) but can’t this perception of space/ambience be achieved pretty well these days by using plugins with cab/mic/room modeling or a nice convolution reverb as suggested?

So headroom aside, I’m still wondering if small amps can be used effectively, just with a slightly different approach. I understand it also depends greatly on the kind of sound I’m trying to achieve. So as an attempt to explain... I like to strive for a tonally and texturally dynamic final mix, with guitars sitting in or cutting through as needed. Similar I guess in sound (not so much songwriting) to more recent non-electronic Radiohead tracks. Although, I don’t often get there of course.

Thanks again.

 

[Greg_L]

but can’t this perception of space/ambience be achieved pretty well these days by using plugins with cab/mic/room modeling or a nice convolution reverb as suggested?

Sure they can, but that's a different animal entirely.

 

[Greg_L]

Wow dude, quite a compliement coming from you, so thaaaaanks a bunch dude!!!! Don't think playing live is gonna be in my future really, you never know, but I'd doubt it very seriously....Thanks again Greg...

Haha, you're very welcome. I might be a belligerent pus-spewing dick pretty much all the time, but I happily give credit where credit is due. You do a great job and it's been cool to hear you get better and better with your gear in the tone thread. Rock on! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

 

[minerman]

I've got a Blackstar HT5 and find the best way is to get someone else to play the guitar, while I crawl around on the floor with headphones on, trying to find the sweet spot.

This is why I always record a di at the same time I record the amp'd track, so I can dial the mic in myself...Most of the time, I'm totally alone when I record, & nobody in my family here can play....at all....The di/re-amp box is a life-saver for me....

Greg: I can say without a doubt, I've improved a lot on my tones since I first went with real amps....I opened a project last night, & thought "damn the guitars sound terrible on this track" while listening...Did a little digging, & the guitars were recorded with the HT-5 way back when I first got that amp & the '57...Utterly shitty, terrible sounding guitar tracks...So yeah, I have came a long way on my recorded amp tracks, but, I do have to give you guys here a lot of credit too, I wouldn't have improved if you guys hadn't pushed me a little along the way, especially you Greg, so thanks a bunch man for the help!!!

 

[rayc]

I have a Kustom 5 watter and get some reasonable tones from it BUT I run it through a Marshall 4X12 and the one I've selected to mic of the 4 speakers in that cab has 3 mics (each a different dynamic) on it - each in a different position/orientation so that I can record all three at once and then select the one that best suits the mix.
Why 3 at once? I don't have someone to play while I crawl and with my ear I can't tell, in advance, what precise tone I really need for the track.