firewire should be able to transfer all signals at once you do not need to use another cable. the other port is for daisy chaining with other units, which you want to stay away from.

do yourself a favour and get an Shure SM57 pro engineers have been using these for years.

generally I mic I shure 57 off axis to the speaker, (pointed at an angle from the outside towards the centre of the cone) ane then I use a Sennheiser 421 directly in front of the cone, both mics right up against the grill. I combined those two mics together using varying degrees of each to get the right sound.

Keep in the mind if the sound sucks, change the guitar, guitar player , the amp and or settings.

i have absolutely no idea what you are doing, just that you have a setup i would love to use. some basic tips.

main thing, make sure you have good monitors! also know your monitors. mine are, uh, well medium grade headphones, but i listen to everything on them so i trust them pretty well. granted it would be much better to have a 1000$ pair, but its what i know well and can judge off of.

tone is 90% guitar, regardless of what amp you have. but you have to mess around with diff setups to know what i mean.

dont set the amp then mic it, it wont sound the same. the best way is to put your ear where the mic will be and set it that way, but a less destructive (on your ears) way is to use headphones. mic it, get a good spot on the amp, get the settings right, then ready to go.

mesa boogies have a lot of tone in them, so this ones not as relevant, but instead of EQing the mix an alternative is to EQ the effects chain (post distortion, pre cab) with something like a boss eq pedal. to make the distortion really bite (if it sounds wimpy, low gain, so on coming out of the cab) is to add an overdrive pedal (low gain hotter level) or an EQ pedal (mid boost like a gentle wah effect), it really punches the signal. the boss compressor pedal can help too on pre.

try micing a little off center, about 1/3 from the center to the outside. diffferent parts of the speaker give different characteristics. also try and reduce reflections from the floor, most combos are raised up (on a chair, stand, etc) but with a cab you can probably just do one of the top speakers (anyone comment on this? i havent messed with cabs)

as for IN the computer

contrary to the popular jpism, dont compress a distorted signal. try not to EQ it much except to make it fit in the mix better. if its interfering with vocals cut a little on one in one area and another in another, try and clear it up and make each stand out a little better. same for any instrument really. just dont go nuts and -12dB the mids out, that wont doa nything.

try slight 2dB boosts between 400 and 5k, see whats what and what could benefit the sound, if in doubt leaveit alone.

the best tone (if youre only working with one mic) is to record the same take twice exactly the same way both times. the nhard pan the takes left and right. you can even double the tracks over again, but just startw ith a single take on each side.

hard pan the main track, make lead tracks either mono centered, mono slightly off center (2 o clock or so), or one of the main tracks (left playing main part, right playing the lead). its all in creativity there and artists preference. usually center panned with some small reverb works well, it adds not only a little thickening but also gives a bit stereo presence. i like to use waves' trueverb on centered lead parts, adding in early reflections and a pinch of decay.

recording guitar

Hi Sam,

Slipperman has done a fantastic (and occasionally hillarious) job of detailing the guitar-recording process here:

http://www.badmuckingfastard.com/sound/slipperman.html

Enjoy!
cheers,
gene