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Hello

I was thinking today how awesome it would be to have a bass cabinet and guitar cabinet
to mic up for all my guitar and bass tracking, at the moment I go (dry) direct in to a valve preamp
and then get the sounds from a guitar amp modelling plugin

Just wondering if the DI route is what the majority of others do too?

If you were to mic up a guitar amp, would you record it dry and then get the sounds
ie, distortion etc, from a plugin? Or would that be totally defeating the purpose?

Hi, I DI.

I go through:

1. my Compressor/Limiter pedal (and sometimes my Chorus/Delay pedal) then into
2. my analogue mixing desk, then into
3. the computer....then through
4. Waves' CLA guitars plugins! Wow...

Stuart

Hey

Yeh I just got the CLA series, it was you who led me to them actually, thanks again mate,
such a great plugin

At the moment I go
1: DI into a presonus preamp
2: the Presonus is connected to a BOSS 16 track digital portable console where the track gets laid
3: I then transfer the wav files from the BOSS to my PC
4: Then import them into my Cockos Reaper project file where the CLA awesomeness awaits!!

Do you think that awesomeness would be made even more awesomeness if I miced
clean guitar from an amp and then added the CLA plugin to that sound?

mickanos wrote:4: Then import them into my Cockos Reaper project file where the CLA awesomeness awaits!!

..love that! Yes 100% true...

mickanos wrote:Do you think that awesomeness would be made even more awesomeness if I miced
clean guitar from an amp and then added the CLA plugin to that sound?

I guess you could try the amped version with the re-amping setting (in CLA guitars) off. It's kinda a constant quest for the ultimate guitar sound...
...(as you know doubt realize)...

Stuart

In order of frequency that I use (caveat: most of my stuff is pretty "clean", tho') for electric:

1) the direct/line output from a Pod Pro ... in essence a DI. I'll add reverb & compression via plugins.. sometimes some distortion via my Sonar X1's channel strip
2) An Art tube preamp (with a single 12ax7) .. if I want just a bit of grit and tube compression before going to the DAW
3) A 3-watt Blackheart Tube amp (two 12ax7's) thru a THC hotplate direct to DAW.
4) Same as #3 but thru a 12" Eminance Greenback in a openback cab, and Mic'd.
5) Finally, if I really want to p*ssoff my neighbors, then thru my refurbished 100-watt 1970 Twin Reverb.

I've AB'd the ProPro direct with the ART pre-amp, and there is slightly warmer mid-range tone with the ART.

I am a old guy ( if you consider 50s old ), so I mic a amp......

I plug into my pedalboard which consists of several overdrive / distortion pedals, a compressor, and a delay

into something like a Fender Super Reverb, a Marshall 1987, or a Roland JC120 ...

I typically mic the amp with something like a Shure SM-57, a Royer R-121, or maybe Sennheiser MD-421

I typically use either a GAP73 Pre or a channel on my old Soundcraft 800B into my DAW...

My garage home studio is fairly insulated, so volume is not usually a problem

This works for me.... but again, I am old.....

I was miking my 12" speaker with a Shure SM57, until I realized that I could not tell the difference between tracks recorded in this fashion and those I'd done direct through my POD X3L's XLR outputs, (with speaker and on-axis SM57 simulation engaged) so now I just use the POD X3L direct, unless I want natural feedback or to feel the breeze from my 4X10' cab flapping my bell bottoms. I can get just a smidge more punch and presence from my VHT Special Six for parts that are exposed and need a bit of grit and sparkle, but I don't often need that in a busy mix with drums, keys and whatnot.

I think for younger guitarists, it's probably best to get a really great tone happening in the room to help inspire the playing, but it can be tricky to translate the room sound to hard disk. When I record other guitarists, I'll often take a clean DI in addition to whatever's being amped; I can reamp later if someone changes their mind, but for myself, I almost always know exactly what I want to hear going in.

Most often I record electric guitars with a DI, or even just through the preamps in the external interface (when they don't need to stand out). And then process the signal in the box with an ampsim plug-in, mostly Amplitube and Waves GTR.

But if I'm doing sessions for others (I want to provide something others can't) or want a more pleasing tone (in the room, as Mojo says), I use my tube amp with my TC Electronic Nova System. I run the Nova into the amp, and use the line out, so I don't have to mic it. I've found that the direct out sounds really good on the Fender.

So, I think it's about having some options. I like the tone better when I'm not DI'ing, and it's also faster to dial in.

I've been using Amplitube and guitar rig for the most part. This has to do with convenience more than anything else.
I'm a purist at heart and the best sounds come from micing an amp. In my case the amp needs to be played loud to get the tones I like. I also find when the mic is set for a loud amp it doesn't pick up as much hiss etc... The down side is you need a studio setup which is conducive to this recording environment and you need a variety of mic's to capture the sound your after.
If you can mic, do it. If not, today's plugins sound darn good.
Either way, don't sweat it.

Rich.

Guitar Rig is the best-sounding plugin I've used. I will probably never be able to duplicate the sounds I can get from that plug simply because I don't have that many amp/mic combinations available. And I don't have an awesome-sounding room. There's plenty can be done with plugins nowadays - on the cheap.
For inspiring playing and creating new sounds, an amp is always better for me. But if I know what I want to track and how I want it to sound, it's going into Guitar Rig. It's just that easy. HTH