Mic'ing guitar amps

[Andrew07]

Anybody here using condensers? I read everywhere that the pro's use the 57/421 combo but it's usually paired with a nice condenser or ribbon mic. I have been trying to use a 57 and a 421 and I keep ending up with shit

[brandondrury]

Andrew07, post some stuff. I'd like to hear where you are right now. I have the feeling that we could help each other out quite a bit.

I use something different everytime. I have used Audio Technica AT 4033s. They have a way of filling out the low mids (sometimes too much). I've had great luck with them and total hell with them. It's really a hit or miss.

I recently read that Terry Manning used a AKG 414 on one of Billy Gibbon's amps for the huge ZZ Top tone. I realze that ZZ Top doesn't have the most modern sound, but it's some of the best sounding stuff on the plent. I never had much luck with my 414 on electric guitar. I'll work on it.

I've used my AT4050 a few times. I don't remember being exstatic about the sound I was getting.

I've been writing songs with a band for about 9 monthes now (once per week). We started out with acoustic guitar and clean electric, but have progressed to full blown distortion. I've basically used the same rig: Gibson Les Paul, Rivera Knucklehead, SM 57. Since we are writing songs,the tone is not important. It's strange though. On one day, the tone will be amazing...like I nailed what I was looking for finally. Other times, it's been total crap..I mean unusable.

I'm not sure why. Granted the amp has different tone settings each time, but that's not really it. It's not like I just bumped the treble up or something. It's like the quality of what I'm capturing has been reduced somehow. I'll let you all know when I get it figured out.

Good question, by the way.

Brandon