Micing Amps

[-Mm-]

G'day,
Nice forum :D
I am wondering if there is any particular way of micing up an amp to get the best result? I am using a Roland vs880, 8 track recorder, and i have to have the recording level almost up full, and my amp (Marshall G80R) is turned up pretty loud,

ta.

[EricV]

Hi there,

well, for home-recording I usually use a preamp plugged straight into the amp, but when it comes to using an actual amp head or combo...
Well, we have that in our rehearsal room. The recording device is in one room, the amp in another. I put a SM57 close to the cabinet, pointed at the edge of one of the speakers, and then there´s another mike ( in the rehearsal room / at home: another Shure, in the studio: Neumann U87 ) a bit farther away from the cabinet, as some kind of an ambient mike.
You gotta experiment with the distances of those mikes from the cab, you can get lots of different sounds that way, just by moving those mics.
If you only have one mic or one channel, use the one that is close to the speaker, pointed at it´s edge.
Maybe the pictures below, taken at a studio-session by a friend of mine, will help to see some mic-positions
Eric

http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/eric/miking.jpg

[-Mm-]

Thanks a lot. I'll try some of that out.
Alex

[Guni]

nice setup :D

Is this an Orange speaker in the pic? They are very nice speakers.

Guni

[EricV]

Those are indeed Orange cabinets with Vox Blue Alnico speakers. They sound great.
A friend of mine recently bought 2 Dynacord ( !!! ) cabs ( 4X12" ). Did ya know they even made guitar cabinets ?
Anyway, he replaced the speakers with Vintage 30s and the cabs sound good... and look GROOVY ! ( they´re orange, too )
Eric