General question about guitar recording.......

[AndyKotz]

I've grown to trust and love modeling and plugins. Simply... because of convenience and consistency. I toured and recorded with an Andy Brauer-designed, Mesa-Boogie powered, $20,000 guitar rig back in the day. I know what I like as far as tone goes but it was rare that I could record the sound I heard in my head from day to day. Frustrating as hell, it was! I could be in the studio for a week, never moving anything with regard to the mic placement, having just recorded what was a great guitar tone the day before and it would (to me) suck the very next day!!! It has to do with every variable imaginable from room temperature to karma!!

I've been playing for the last 6 years through a Line 6 Flextone III amp (Line 6 modeling) . I record with it exclusively. My tone has been on tv, in film, on my own CD and other artists CD's as well. I compromised at first, but through diligence have attained the tone I've been after quite easily and it records perfectly every time. I've been experimenting with the Native Instruments' Guitar Rig 5. Not quite comfortable just yet... but it'll come. -- Andy

My "expensive (1992) rig":



My current "rig":

[mojobone]

I'm a tube amp snob from way back, but for recording, I take a direct line from my POD X3Live into the interface. Nothing sounds/feels better than my '69 Fender Super Reverb, but the cones are paper, and humidity can sometimes cause inconsistencies, which can make overdubbing after the fact a bit of a bear. The POD X3L combination of tweakability and repeatability trumps all, for my recording needs. I've been doing this a long time, and if I can't tell the difference between my SM57 off-axis and the Line6 emulation of same, there really isn't much difference. A good plugin can deliver similar performance; most of the variables are about what and how you tweak. To get the best from an emulation, it helps to know what the real amp can do.

[GiantHeadCollective]

It all depends on the tone you are wanting.. Heavy Rock/Metal distortion can be done with plugin's really easily as some of the amps deigned for this style of music is solid state anyway. For cleans with lots of delay/chorus etc.. again plugins or Line 6 Pods are good at that.. However nothing can beat the edge of breakup/crunch sounds of a real tube amp when all its valves are glowing and the speaker is moving.. Plus there is way more response from an amp, just feels like your guitar is alive rather than hitting notes on a keyboard. That said I feel you should always look at sounds as being textures that add to the feel of a song.

[CHuckmott]

I've since switched to Amplitube. The sound quality has made ridiculous strides since I last toyed with them about 5 years ago. I don't know if I would go back to micing an amp given how you can tweak and mix things after the fact. Requires practice and working at it to get a good sound although the more I do it the more I like it. Even the pedals (distortion, OD) are good, enough so to where I don't want to bother plugging in my pedalboard. SOS magazine recommendw Softube Vintage AMp room, stripped down plug in that only includes three amps but mostly focuses instead on the quality of the amp modeling. The soundbites on their page sound fantastic. ANyone here use or has tried them?