Tascam 414 Recording from Amp

[selfstyle]

I have been playing around with recording on my 4 track for about a year now. I've made plenty of demos for friends to listen to that I thought were beginning to sound pretty decent though trial and error. I just recently started to look up recording info online and have seen many suggestions on how to record. It seems that everyone mics the amp and records from the mic. Whether it be recording guitar, vocals, keys, etc. I always go from the line-out on my amp directly into my Tascam. Am I wrong in doing this? By doing this I find I can get my levels just right without any hissing and to where the recording sounds pretty loud and clear when listening through a car stereo. Is there any advantage to miking amps rather than plugging into the 4-track from a "line-out" on the amp? This might be a stupid question, but I'm pretty new at this. I tried miking my amp lasgt night when recording, but it just didn't sound as good.

Would appreciate a reply. Thanks

 

[lazyboy]

I suppose if you like it, then you shouldn't be told that you're doing anything wrong. That said, micing is the preferred method because it captures the tone that comes from pushing air. Otherwise, you just have an electrical circuit that tends to be harsh and brittle sounding. You'll get bright sounding clean tones going direct, but overdriven guitars sound terrible direct.

It shouldn't be any more difficult to get regular levels using a mic. You use the guitar amp for vocals too? There is a band that proudly mentions that they did that in their liner notes, but most use that only as a special effect.

The hiss that you get from micing probably has to do with the noisy mic pre's on tascam multi's (I have a 424). However, if you're happy with your sound, I won't suggest going out and buying better quality external preamps.