Recording a tube amp at mid to high volumes?

recording

So as you are probably aware, a proper high watt tube amp sounds better the louder you turn it up...esp if you are looking for an ACDC type tone, where the amp sounds gets a natural "crunch" when the gain is relatively low but the volume is turned up to a certain level. I've done a fair bit of recording over the years although its been a while since I last did it, and I never recorded a top class tube amp where this issue can arise.

If you were record to record such an amp with a mic right up to the cabinet the signal would be distorted in whatever DAW you are using because of the volume level...so how do sound engineers get around this? Is compression used on the input signal? Do you just place the mic far away from the amp? I imagine there must be some standard way to accomplish this?

TroutMask

I'd use a couple of mics: one tight up against the cab, another at a distance. Move them til you find a sweet spot for each mic, then you need to phase-align them.
Dynamics (like a 57, say) can handle hi SPLs s won't really distort. You then match the input gain on your pre to avoid clipped track in the DAW. Sometimes a dynamic's transformer will saturate, but that's a known property of cheap matching traffos in dynamics (57, 58 - I'm looking at you!) and part of 'the sound, as it were. Non-cheapo dynamics like RE20s don't exhibit this saturation.

Condensers probably will distort if placed right up to the cab, but that's what 'Pad' switches are for. Basically, the signal is attenuated in the mic by the strategic deployment of gain selectors before it distorts the electronics. Very useful. There is tons of stuff out there on miking guitar cabs: Tape Op and Gearslutz should turn up quite a few cool mic options. I like the early Shures myself - though they all age differently and you can get lucky (or unlucky) with a used mic. The pre amp and/or channel strip matters too, and the interaction between the mic and the channel is the other half of the recipe too.

fitz

You just turn down the gain on your mic pre.

You can also use attenuators like the THD Hotplate to crank the amp at lower speaker volumes.
This allows you to push the level on your preamp higher, which can be desirable if you're using a character pre like a Neve that saturates in a musical way.

I've had great results using a Hotplate with an AC30, an Audix i5 up close on one speaker, and an sE Electronics Titan condenser on the other speaker, either up close or backed off a bit. As TM said, just move the mics to address any potential phase issues.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

have to say , nothing like am amp up full wack on the power tubes air flapping past your ankles .

good times.

DamagedTrax

i rarely put a mic against the cab, i find the fizz is too much and i like the sound to travel thru the air a little too. i find 1 foot back from the cab gives extra weight to the sound and lets the guitar sit in the mix a little better without having to resort to room mics or reverb.

also smaller amps in the studio. i prefer to record an AC15 rather than an AC30, the fender champ is a lovely little tube amp too. driving the tube is easy and doesnt take too much volume at all.