jackson413 wrote: Should I keep the amp cranked up and drive the mic pre channels a little or alot?

Set the amp where it sounds good to you. The louder the better, but not way, way, way loud. As far as the mic pre, I (personally) like to drive them fairly hard, but keep them from clipping too much (if any most of the time). I'm using API, so there all sorts of headroom, much like the Seb's. I typically don't need to drive them into the red at all.

Is there a particular mic placement that works best for 4x12 cabs so I dont have any phase issues? ... one farther away from the cab grill than the other

I like one mic about 2 to 3 inches away from the speaker about 2 feet above the floor, and the other mic about 6 feet away, and about 5 feet above the floor. (one mic for the cabinet sound, and one mic for the room sound)

I'm recording the preamp out signal from the 5150 and mixing it in with the mic'ed tracks. is this a strange technique???

Not at all.
If it sounds good. It is good.
Since you have a 2 ch. Seb, try using two different mic's. They will both sound way different. Or if all you have are trusty ol' 57's. Try running 1 ch on the Seb real hard and the other at a lesser gain setting.
Good luck

read that you should crank up the volume as loud as possible without overloading the mics.

That is only true with some amps. I just did a session with a band that was in the vein of sevendust, we tried a lot of different heads. We ended up using 2 moded marshall JCM800's and a 5150 and a Peavey XXXL. The Marshalls as always sounded great cranked super loud but both peavy amps sounded awsome at a pretty soft volume. We had the gain cranked but the masters low. I also did a band that was pretty damn close to Killswitch Engaged and we ended using Bogner Ecstasy's and we ran them pretty soft.

A lot also depends on what speakers are in your cab. If you are using low wattage speakers they will break up with less power. To much and the speaker craps out. As far a placement it depends what kind of cab. I will post a picture from the last session if I can find one.

I'll throw this out...ALL cabinets and the resulting guitar noises coming out of them sound better, and are easier to control at a mix when they are decoupled from the floor/surrounding walls...etc.

Especially at earsplittinloudenboomer.

so is it wrong i only use one 57 all the time for guitars..hehe..i think not.

nice pics! Ill have to try the blanket over the amp and mics like pixel and davedog said. anyone have any specific tips on how to capture clear yet tight distortion sounds from the 5150 head and cab? to me it sounds better if i use the normal gain input instead of high gain.

any mic recomendations for my vmp2k to mic the cab other than sm57's...?

i also have access to a ttd hot plate attenuator...anyone have any success using one of these to record.

I always use a 421 (not in picture yet) BUT! my new favorite mic for guitar is the Senn. e609 Silver (top left Speaker).

pixelhead wrote: I always use a 421 (not in picture yet) BUT! my new favorite mic for guitar is the Senn. e609 Silver (top left Speaker).

Ditto on the 421! Rocks for me. 8-)

Hey pixelhead! your 57 looks way off axis in the pic...is that intentional? I usually stick it more in the path of the cone - or is it the photo angle?

The mics look like there are centred on each speaker cone

I tend to get out to the middle or further

why have we got a different mic on each cone ... options ?

I tend to have one mic on just one cone and say a room mic and perhaps a side cabinet/front panel off axis type mic