Shure SM 57 dead center of the driver for hard rock sound especially if you are wanting loud, hot distortion.
for a softer overdriven sound angle the mic and at place at the the top of the driver.
For a clean sound or an acoustic guitar: angle the mic and place at the bottom of the speaker.
regardless of how the mic is placed in front of the speaker it is never more than 10 inches away from the face of the speaker, because the farther away the mic is away from the speaker the more gain will have to be used in order to pickup the signal in the main mix.
Thats how I do it anyway.
I would suggest experimenting around with several different mic placements until you get the desired effect. just make sure the gain is at a good level in the main mix is the most inportant thing to remember.
EDIT: as far as amps are concerned for studio use you are not going to need a high output amp for studio use. The amp that I use in the studio is a Roland Cube 15 or the new 5 watt Blackheart tube amp with no preamps or any otheer bells and whistles just micked with the SM 57 I get excellent results from both amps however I tend to use the Roland for clean signals and the Blackheart for overdrive or distortion.
my bass head is a Ashdown Superfly DI to the mixing console.
Drums micked directly to the console. Shure Kick Mic, SM 57 for snare and 2 omnidirectional condenser mics for L and R overheads.
vocals Micked directly to the console with no Peramp, I use 48V phantom power to a MX cartioid condenser mic.
all the effects are edited in with VST,any panning is added in during the editing process.
