Always experimenting - I find recording at high volume to be challenging - I don't have a control room, and as a player, I prefer to be next to the amp anyway, but the result is that I can't hear what the recording sounds like until well after I'm done playing (and unplug the computer and converter, and go upstairs to my "mixing room", etc.). I don't even bother with headphones (except as ear protection, which I really should be doing all the time, but didn't do here) - the level of the amp completely overpowers what I could be hearing in the headphones, even if they're "isolating"
Here's my JMP with the mic:
Guitar: Gibson SG Supreme - 57 Classic bridge pickup, guitar volume 9, tone 10 ->
-direct - 20 foot cable ->
Amp: 1971 JMP Lead - into the top I input, with the bottom I and top II input bridged with a coil cable
-presence 0
-bass 6
-middle 7.2 ish
-treble 4
-volume I 5.9 ish
-volume II 5.9 ish ->
Cabinet: Marshall 1960A, Celestion G12T-75s (stock cabinet from 1986) ->
Microphone: Sennheiser MD421-U5 pointed at 90 degrees at upper left speaker about halfway
between center and edge, about an inch from the grill cloth ->
Preamp: API 3124+
- no pad
- gain about 9 o'clock (which probably corresponds to about 2 out of 10) ->
Line Attenuator: Little Labs 810U8ERS at about 60% ->
Converter/DAW: Lynx Aurora 16 -> Logic @ 24/96 khz (mp3 is down-converted to 48 khz)
broke the damn E string toward the end
View attachment 2015-07-11-guitar.mp3
Anyway, I like the recording up to the point where I break the string, but it sounds somewhat different from what I was "hearing" - I put that in quotes, because the amp is putting out between 125 and 127 dB at this setting, and I was standing in front of it (the active cabinet is sitting on top of another inactive 1960, so it's about ear/eye level). In the room, things sounded punchier and more percussive (and better, in my opinion) - the 16th notes in the beginning, for instance, sounded much more staccato. But of course my ears were operating outside their designed tolerance, so I can't be 100% sure of what I was hearing. I guess it could be the mic - I like these 421 mics, but this one is old and beat up, and I can't use it on toms anymore because it rattles.
As an aside, I've sort of decided I like the JMP head through the 75 watt speakers more than I like it through the Greenbacks I got recently (which cabinet is not pictured above), but I need to experiment more. Oddly, I like my JCM 800 head (also not pictured above) better through the Greenbacks, even though I bought it new together with the cabinet pictured above (which has the 75s), so they're sort of a pair. Maybe I should swap speakers between the two cabinets - if that's reversible, I may go for it - I want to be able to restore the 1960A to be stock.