How do YOU record guitar?

[Paul Vnuk Jr.]

Since July is our guitar recording issue at RECORDING Magazine, and I know we have a lot of guitar players here.

 

What is your preferred method of guitar recording? Do you use a tried and true SM57 in the speaker cone of your favorite amp? Are you an amp sim fan? Have you dipped into the waters of re-amping?

 

Let's talk tracking guitar!

[Dave Bryce]

I do it several ways.

 

I have a Line6 HX Stomp that's probably the solution I use most...but I'm also fond of micing the Princeton or the Vox AC15.  

 

For amp recording, I tend to use a Soundelux U195 back a ways, with an SM57 right up on the amp. 

 

dB

[Paul Vnuk Jr.]

My only studio amp is a Princeton. It’s a surprisingly versatile amp. . 

[Dave Bryce]

17 hours ago, Paul Vnuk Jr. said:

My only studio amp is a Princeton. It’s a surprisingly versatile amp. . 

 My AC15 has a Blue Alnico speaker, so it's got an even more different sound than the Princeton's Celestion.

 

I have a Supro 8 Blues King as well, and a Line 6 Spider 3....but I almost always use either the Princeton or the Vox...or both. 😁

 

dB

[Paul Vnuk Jr.]

I dream of a Supro someday. 

[Dave Bryce]

On 7/14/2023 at 6:39 PM, Paul Vnuk Jr. said:

I dream of a Supro someday. 

  

When I want to play guitar live, I like to use the Supro and my Tele. 

 

dB

[Anderton]

Always direct, with the rare exception of acoustic guitar and ukulele. I can't do multiband distortion with amps! Well I guess I could, but what a hassle it would be. I'd need to put the amps in different rooms to get sufficient separation, set up four mics...I get a headache just thinking about it.

 

And although I suspect this will upset some people, I get a better overall sound from sims than I do with amps...although it takes as much work to wrestle a sim into shape as it does to mic an amp, maybe more.

[Bill Stunt]

For guitar cabs, I use an EV 666 dynamic mic and one of 3 different ribbon mics-the choice dependent on the tone I'm trying to capture. Either an RCA BK5 a NAD-2 RSM (modified with a Samar transformer)  and, lately most often, with a Stage Right LR=100 active ribbon mic that I learned about by monitoring this forum!  Thanks.  It's a really great sounding mic.

In my studio I have 3 tube amps. An Excelsior Americana built in the 60's by Sano, a Univox U-155R of the same era and a Traynor YA-2B Bass Mate from the early 70's. They all sound great. The Excelsior Americana is great for...well Americana tunes and for jangly tones. The Univox is like a poor man's Fender Deluxe. It has a lovely tone and a really sweet Jensen speaker. Traynor is a Canadian company. There early stuff was great...very Fender like. I use the Bass Mate for both bass and for crunchy full bodied guitar tones. I do go direct quite often when I'm tracking myself. I've use a Roger Linn designed Adrenalinn stompbox. It has very playable and believable amp sims. I love that thing to death. I've had it for years and one of the cool things about it is Roger Linn sells upgrade kits. I have an early model but its been upgraded to the latest version. The upgrade is super simple...you swap out a couple of chips on the circuit board! The kit include the tool to pry out the original chips. The new ones just get pressed into the board.  No soldering. I would say the Adrenalinn has been the secret sauce on a lot of tracks I've recorded. I guess not so secret anymore.

[Bill Stunt]

I haven't looked at the manual for the Adrenalinn in years. I did last night. I had completely missed that Craig was one of the authors.

Adrenallinn Man.pdf

[murphybridget]

Absolutely stoked for the guitar recording issue! Personally, I adore the authenticity of miking up my amp with an SM57 – classic vibes. Lately, I've been experimenting with amp sims too, they're a game-changer. Re-amping's on my radar too. Let's dive into this awesome discussion!

[Paul Vnuk Jr.]

On 8/1/2023 at 1:37 PM, Anderton said:

Always direct, with the rare exception of acoustic guitar and ukulele. I can't do multiband distortion with amps! Well I guess I could, but what a hassle it would be. I'd need to put the amps in different rooms to get sufficient separation, set up four mics...I get a headache just thinking about it.

 

And although I suspect this will upset some people, I get a better overall sound from sims than I do with amps...although it takes as much work to wrestle a sim into shape as it does to mic an amp, maybe more.

 

This makes sense––especially with the whole Adrenalinn connection 😀

[KuruPrionz]

Always direct in for electric guitars. I will probably duplicate the keeper tracks and use plugins if the song calls for it. Current favorite amp plugins are the Chandler GAV19T and Fuchs Overdrive Supreme. I like IK Multimedia's Leslie plugin. I use other plugins if they seem to support the music. One track off to the left a bit with an amp sim and a duplicate track off to the right with a bit of the Leslie (no amp sim) can sound wide and glorious without much tweaking. 

 

Bass - I've been using a Tech 21 Q-Strip to EQ going in, it's a fantastic little box. I might dupe that track too and high pass the dupe track, add some amp distortion and mix just a bit of that underneath to provide clarity. 

 

I'm open to other experiments, the right way to do things is what sounds good. 

[Bill Heins]

Guitar to Line6 Pod XT(in bypass mode) to Mackie CR1604VLZ to Quantum 2626. I use a doubleneck for recording so 6 string mono and 12 string stereo. Everything is ITB, Guitar Rig, Amplitube, etc. but I find myself grabbing the PA plugs the most! I record by pickup...for the 6 string it's bridge Hard Left,combo Hard Right, Neck Center( subject to change depending on how I feel). With the 12 string it the same except Left and Right are usually set to 67-70 or so. Center channels are lower in volume but I use them to thicken! I play each guitar part part seperately and vary the amp sims on the channels. My favorite rock bands are dual guitar groups

 

Bill