Which mic is best for micking a guitar amp with distortion?

[jarrydee]

i wish we could all change that "the 57 is the first go to mic on any budget"

there are so many mics that sound better. i understand that u have to find the right mic for the job, but the problem is no one does that they just use the first "go to" mic (the 57). i have used 57's in the past and they were never what i wanted. i've recorded heavy and soft bands and they just didn't work.

i normally use a combination of mics. the last recording i did had 4 mics with one mic being a room mic (it caused a lot of phasing and got cut out of the mix)
the other 3 mics were i believe an AT63he , a shure beta 58 and i jokingly threw my atm25 in front of it.
the mic i ended up using furthest up in the mix was the atm 25. i expected to cut it and the room mic out, but the 25 was awesome. it has so much balls......... and i didn't even worry about placement...like i said i intended to cut it, but wanted to experiment with it for you know "future use" .........it's awesome.....that mic is a freaking workhorse........it could definitley become the new sm57.....if we could only get people to get away from the 57.



basically i think with the atm25 you would get what ur looking for tone wise, but you might be able to get the sound u want from a 57. you said creed, which means you want a pretty chunky guitar sound............. the atm25 has a good amount of chunk............

this is the end of my post

Tell you what..you can all flame me if you want but I got a great sound on a cab useing a cad gxl1200 pencil mic...yes it sounded better than my 57 for that track!!

 

[jarrydee]

I'm sure the OP won't be reading this, as it's six years old...

...but it's worth mentioning that Petrucci (Dream Theater)'s go to setup these days is a SM57 and an e609 close-mic'd, with the amp in a large room, a bit off-center, closer to the back wall, if I recall right.

That said, the SM57 is so widely regarded as a great cab mic for a reason - I won't deny that there are other different/possibly better sounding options out there, but if you can't slap a SM57 in front of the cab, dial around the position a bit, and get something that when (at least) double-tracked doesn't sound totally acceptable, there's probably something wrong somewhere else in your signal chain, and I'd start by looking at how you've dialed in your amp, particularly the gain and midrange knobs.

+1..agree.....

 

[Ember]

I'm sure the OP won't be reading this, as it's six years old...

...but it's worth mentioning that Petrucci (Dream Theater)'s go to setup these days is a SM57 and an e609 close-mic'd, with the amp in a large room, a bit off-center, closer to the back wall, if I recall right.

That said, the SM57 is so widely regarded as a great cab mic for a reason - I won't deny that there are other different/possibly better sounding options out there, but if you can't slap a SM57 in front of the cab, dial around the position a bit, and get something that when (at least) double-tracked doesn't sound totally acceptable, there's probably something wrong somewhere else in your signal chain, and I'd start by looking at how you've dialed in your amp, particularly the gain and midrange knobs.

Tell you what..you can all flame me if you want but I got a great sound on a cab useing a cad gxl1200 pencil mic...yes it sounded better than my 57 for that track!!

i dont think he was saying that "there is no way anything is better than an sm57" but i think he was rather saying, "if you cant get a good sound with a 57 then something is wrong on your end."

 

[Guitarer]

I tried a 57 and an SM7b a month or so ago together and got very nice results.

57 was centered, at a 45 degree angle, about an inch away, SM7 was about a foot away, centered, on another speaker.

 

[buryher17]

Which would you say has the (cleanest, in-your-face,live) best sound for rock...
...example; Dream Theater/Creed

I would love some recommendations on miking techniques (don't be shy).

4 sm57's centered right one the left side of each cone of the cab.

amazing results. SO HEAVY

i'd LOVE to get 4 md 421's but im a 20 yr old kid in college.. i can barely afford my cheerios

 

[snellular5]

sm 57

I almost always use an SM-57 on guitar cabs, its always a safe bet and never a dissapointment. I just point inbetween the dust cap and edge of the speaker.

 

[Sonixx]

4 sm57's centered right one the left side of each cone of the cab.

amazing results. SO HEAVY

i'd LOVE to get 4 md 421's but im a 20 yr old kid in college.. i can barely afford my cheerios

let's hear it !