Mic'ing an amplifier.

fish-head

What's the story with this? What kind of mic does one need and why would you do it anywho?

John

I can't recommend a mic (cue Doctor J) but you do it because if you're playing a large venue that needs a PA because your amp isn't big enough or if you're recording the guitar generally sounds a lot better once it's gone through your amp and come out the speaker. The speaker makes a great deal of difference to your tone, just going out of a line out/headphone jack generally sounds ****e.

feylya

Why? Eh, to record the amp, to put the amp through the PA, to let the soundman mix the amp levels with the rest of the band...

I think the SM57 is the usual mic used.

david

Well most decent uni dynamic mic's should do the trick, make sure the frequency range of the mic is suited to guitar frequencies though. The Shure SM57 is designed for insts and works nicely on vocals, its cheap too at 90 quid or so. I get good results from a Beyer Dynamic M300 plain old vocal mic with my ENGL.

sei046

use an sm57, the 58s are usally good too. Mic it just off the speaker cone. If your using an amp with a direct output use it instead unless you have a nice speaker in teh amp like a 30. A lot of amps sound better Di'd through a pa or recording unless like i said it has a really great driver in it.

david

Yeah no point mic'ing if youre running an MG, it'll sound ungood no matter what you use. As sei046 said, best results are from mic'ng just off the dome at the center of the cone, full on center cone mic'ing is a bit trebbly. If you're running a digi amp like a line 6 or even behringer or some h&k's, best off using the XLR/balanced TRS DI outs.

feylya

A lot of Mesa's also have recording out's on them.

david

I bet a Mesa would sound nicer mic'd than with an onboard speaker sim out though

david

All depends on the quality of the speaker sim output i guess

feylya

Well, the MarkIV through the recording out would be pretty nice I reckon. Or the Rectumfrier recording preamp.

david

Aye, havent played any Mesa's apart from a single rec and a Nomad 4x10 combo

feylya

Karl Hungus's Nomad 45 is alright. Nice but nothing aww inspiring

david

Not made for metal methinks, tried a Thunder 50 yet?

feylya

Not yet. I'm waiting on a delivery...

david

Of an ENGL?!

Dont ya love the way most threads here turn into horrendously off topic Mesa vs. ENGL or similar threads

feylya

A delivery. No one has one afaik.

In fairness, Fish-Head's question was answered and you can be guaranteed that Eoin Madsen will arrive in soon and post some more about the subject. Even though most of the topics go off thread, I've never received a single reported post about it. Which is the nice thing about this forum.

Rustar

Adding my 2 coppers....my band never used anything but SM57's....they're highly directional with a tight cardioid pattern. I liked the directionals so much that I used one for my vocals, and it helped cut down on feedback problems.

If you're in a very high volume setting, stay away from round-heads. They're made to pick up vocals in a wide cardioid pattern and they pick up a lot of room noise as well.

-=al=-

sm57's are the industry standard.........

and my amp has a Direct line out, but micing them is usually better for live shows...

+ the closer to the center of the speakers center the more treble you'll get the further away the mode mids/bass...

recomended range is 30% away from the center of the speaker from the middle of it to the outside of it and at most a few inches away from it.......

somethin like that, feel free to correct me if im wrong

fish-head

Cheers guys.