Yup. By all means treat your room if you plan to mix in there, but don't go making a dead zone just to record an amp. Again, that close mic doesn't care how lively your room is, and a room mic will care and appreciate a lively space. Use both, blend the two.
Do you have any impressions about stuff like this -
(forum won't let me post URLs; if you google "Brad's Guitar Amplifier Isolation Mark 2" it will take you to the video)
Is it just for dampening the volume for neighbors? His notes say: "Designed to reduce the volume of an amp, to isolate the sound and reduce the reverb in recording."
Do you have any impressions about stuff like this -
(forum won't let me post URLs; if you google "Brad's Guitar Amplifier Isolation Mark 2" it will take you to the video)
Is it just for dampening the volume for neighbors? His notes say: "Designed to reduce the volume of an amp, to isolate the sound and reduce the reverb in recording."
An iso cab does just that - isolates. It will be quieter for the neighbors and take the room out of the equation. For a low wattage amp, they're fine. Most of them revolve around a 1x12 design. What are you gonna do if you have a 50 or 100 watt amp? You could use a single 100 watt speaker, but they typically sound like ass in my opinion. Or you could build a gigantic iso box for your 2x12 or 4x12 cab. That's getting crazy, although I have seen homemade boxes that slip over the front of a 4x12. It was huge. Or you can just mic it in the room like normal people and not worry about all that nonsense.
Seriously bro, you're just getting started right? Don't worry about this stuff. You're stressing over minutia that really just doesn't matter that much.
Try this: Record your amp in every room of your house with a close mic right on the grill. Mark your grillcloth with tape or something so you can have repeatability with the mic placement. Keep all amp settings the same. Use the same guitar. Play the same riff. Put the amp in every room and record a 10 second clip. I'm willing to bet that each clip will sound pretty much exactly the same - not taking into account small variances with mic placement. The bottom line - the room matters very little with a cardoid dynamic close mic like an SM57, and that close mic is gonna probably be the meat of your guitar track.