Guitar amp microphone shootout+sims

[magno]

One Guitar amp, 10 mics, 3 amp sims.

Here's the mics in alphabetical order.

AKG D112
AKG D125
audio technica ATM41a
Behringer C2
Dixon MD1178
Hisonic HM-68
Neumann TLM103
Peavey PVi
Shure SM54
Shure SM57

And the simulators.

Behringer V-AMP pro
IK Multimedia Amplitube 2
Waves Guitar Amp modeler

The guitar is a '91 Ibanez 540s
Real amp is a '79 Carvin VXT100 100 watt el34
Speaker cab is 2x12 open back with original Celestion G 12-65's
Sloppy playing is by me. Excuses available upon request.

The solo clips have no fx eq or anything added to them.
The mix has the clips in the order as they are shown here.
The mics were all in the exact same spot against the grill except the condensors which were pulled back about 6 inches.

I've attached a text file with a mic legend.

Let me know what your favorites are.

[String7th]

Blind test:
a- crunchy, dynamic mic?
b- airy, sqeaky, condensor mic?
c- dark, muffled dynamic mic
d- SM57, shread-y, lots of hi-mids
e- darker, maybe d112, muffled
f- Same as A, a little more high-end
g- butthole, tin-can, hollow
h- fake? fuzzy, hollow
i- tin can but crunchy
j- Fake? muffled
k- condensor, airy
l- Condensor?
m- lower gain amp, fake

After reading results:
Awesome, I nailed the SM57.
I got 2/3 of the fakies, didn't like any of the 3 but the V-amp just sounded muffled to me, not fake.
I kinda like the ATM41a and maybe the HM-68 the best, kinda dis-heartening.
Mindblowing that the worst-sounding one was the Neumann.

[magno]

The '57 really helped to accentuate my playing faults. Deffinitely has an edginess over the other mics.
I do like the V-amp, not here, but it gets some ok sounds. I have to admit I didn't spend very much time in tweaking settings on the simulated amps. I'm sure better sounds are capable out of all of them. But who wants to be tweaking forever?I
I like the ATM41a too, I have 3 of them :}
The HM-68(a POS, dare I say "high end" karaoke mic) kinda surprised me how it sounded against a studio standard like the SM57.
The Neumann did not have a very nice day. It couldn't handle the volume.The amp was turned up to "friggin loud" and had an isolation cabinet built up around the speaker cab. I wish I had an SPL meter.
Thanks for checking it out and leaving your comments.

[brandondrury]

A, F, I, and L stood out to me. I wish the legend would have been labeled with the corresponding letters, but this gave me a bit of alphabet practice.

It's funny how none of these are known for being mega guitar mics.

I also thought it was interesting that Amplitude 2 had dramatically more low end than the D112 clip.

Cool shootout. Thanks dude.

Brandon

[magno]

Thanks for checking it out Brandon.
I'm not sure what you mean about the labeling? The text file has the corresponding letters. The list in the original post is in alphabetical order(not the order that they are played) in order to give people the opportunity to listen blind. Am I confused?
A,F,I, and L all were bought used for an average price of $30, oh wait I think the Dixon was new, maybe the average might be $5 more. How funny is that?
I should have mentioned that I had the low cut filter engaged on the mic pre. I'm not sure if this would have been noticeable in the clips here, and if it affected the low end from the D112? I'll have to check that out.
One thing I have noticed about the D112 is that it doesn't really accentuate low frenquencies, it's pretty flat . But it can handle high SPL with ease, including low frequencies. It's not a very exciting mic.
I may have boosted the low frequencies on the amp in amplitube more so than the others. I did all the sims last, it was probably the hottest day of the year. I had all the windows closed in an effort to contain noise and it was hot in the room. The tubes were trying to cook me. I made it through it with a few tho.

[magno]

SHOCKING NEWS!!!!
heheh to the few people who have looked at this thread, there may be a huge problem.
The SM57 I used here is I'm 99% "shure" a fake.
I'm trying to get hold of a known real 57 tonite so I can a/b them.
Stay tuned

[mindundermatter]

Okay, I keep meaning to come back to this thread. So here goes:

A. kind of midrangey
B. darker, but still has that midrange crunch
C. weak, thin
D. nice, full tone
E. edgy, fake-sounding (one of the sims?)
F. nice, full tone
G. very dark, no highs (D112?)
H. like a cheap solid state amp (another sim?)
I. midrangey, crunchy
J. dark, somewhat muffled
K. edgy, fake-ish (the final sim?)
L. dark, crunchy midrange
M. very dark, no highs

If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with D or F.

[mindundermatter]

Okay, I've got to get one of those Dixon MD1178s. I've never heard of it, but I apparently liked it! And of course, I liked the SM57. Wow, the Neumann did have a bad day. I too nailed two of the fakeys! Sweet.

[TapeDeck]

First time seeing this thread, so I'm trying to be fair, and not read ahead.

I'd say D, E, and H sound like they're not the amp.
H is the only one that sounds unusable to me.

[TapeDeck]

Voted SM57 as my favorite mic for this kind of playing, but I don't know for sure what is what on the clips. I think that if I were mixing these, I'd try to blend E and I together. Maybe one of the darker clips alongside.

And yes, I know I said I think E is not the Carvin.

Obviously, these tests do not tell a whole story. Amp settings, guitar settings, mic placement, etc will skew results. Still fun to read, though!

Edit: HA! 2 of 3, and on my note pad in front of me, the 3rd was "on the bubble."