Trouble recording distortion, please help.

[poo_noodles]

I have read many of the threads in regards to distortion. I am currently using a shure sm58 with the ball removed, amd micing my vintage 30. I am following the "less is more" philosophy of distortion for recording purposes. I still can't seem to get a decent tone though. As of now I have my distortion channel set up like this:
Gain:3 Bass:3 Mid:5 Treble:4 Volume 1(with my 100 watt rivera, 1 is loud enough) My prescence knob is about 4 after I read that presence is a bad idea.

My mic is a little off the center and is about 6 inches back, but I am still getting a problem with a clipping esque sound. It's not clipping but a really strong thing of some sort. I am going to mess with mic placement some more, but I can't figure out why I keep getting this noise.

Any suggestions? I am new to the whole recording thing and have also read about using the eq to boost certain frequencies for a stronger tone. I am not in a metal band or anything, I am looking for a decent sounding mid-gain guitar tone.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Get the amp off the floor (a chair will do nicely), get that mic closer to the grill (on or off-centre, your choice), and engage the pad on the mic pre (assuming you have one)...

It's quite likely the clipping you're getting is due to transient peaks that you don't really notice on the meters, but your pre-amp gain stage sure does! If you don't have a pad on the mic pre, then turn down the preamp gain.

 

[poo_noodles]

I run a 100 watt Rivera Knucklehead into a 2x12 Bogner-style cab, loaded with a vintage 30 and eminence v12. The cab is sitting on casters, so I have that part takken care of.

Onto the distortion, I am not clipping though. The pad switch is enabled and there is no sign of clipping on either meters from the preamp or the meters in my recording program. I can't figure it out, and it's not isolated to one speaker, maybe the mic?

 

[cellardweller]

Get the amp off the floor (a chair will do nicely), get that mic closer to the grill (on or off-centre, your choice), and engage the pad on the mic pre (assuming you have one)...

It's quite likely the clipping you're getting is due to transient peaks that you do really notice on the meters, but your pre-amp gain stage sure does! If you don't have a pad on the mic pre, then turn down the preamp gain.

I think he meant

It's quite likely the clipping you're getting is due to transient peaks that you DON'T really notice on the meters

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I run a 100 watt Rivera Knucklehead into a 2x12 Bogner-style cab, loaded with a vintage 30 and eminence v12. The cab is sitting on casters, so I have that part takken care of.

Unless the casters are a 1-2 feet high, then you DON'T have that part taken care of...

The reason you want it off the floor is to avoid early reflections from the floor that can cause sonic issues at the mic............

I think he meant.... DON'T...

Yes Callar - that's what I meant, thanks for catching that! (damn keyboards!)

 

[poo_noodles]

I put the cab on top of a chair, for the most part the crackling noise is gone. I need to work on the eq and placement now. Thanks for the advice!