Did you listen to the individual speakers? I would think, being closer to the floor, you would have more percieved bass response. Since the guitarist is used to listening to the amp solo, this increased bass response sounds good and natural to him. That would explain his bias. The truth is, whatever sounds good is good. Also, having the mic low and out of the way should factor in a bit in a live settting...

Each of the individual speakers in a cab will sound a little different. The guitar player probably just has experience micing his cab, and knows which speaker to go for.

Also with an angled-top cab, there's more airspace behind the lower speakers I believe. Whether it sounds 'better' is purely subjective.

it really doesn't matter which speakers you mic. For a brighter sound, mic it in the middle of the cone. For a more mellow tone, mic it elsewhere on the cone.

I am another one of those picky speaker pickers. And I also usually prefer the lower speakers on my angled cab. When I record someone else's rig, I check each speaker (with iso headphones of course!) to see if I have a favorite. A lot of times I do. May not be a big difference, but every little bit helps!

as a live sound engineer, you ask him:

"can you provide me the scientific articles that state micing the bottom is better?"

then you tell him to let you do your job :D

yes, because you never know what gives you your best sound until you've exhausted all options. And the best sound might not always be the bottom speaker cone ;).

Oh, yeah, :oops: for live just do whatever works easiest. I was talking about for recording, where I think it does matter being extra picky.
But if the guy has a preference for some reason, why not? Maybe he knows he has a bad speaker or something.

LRosario wrote: as a live sound engineer, you ask him:

"can you provide me the scientific articles that state micing the bottom is better?"

then you tell him to let you do your job :D

Correction. As a "live sound engineer" its your job to give
the *musician*what HE wants, NOT what *you* want. Your
type of belief system of sound engineer etiquette is exactly
the type of ego'd out so-called "engineer" I despise. Furthermore,
no musician who hired you has to "provide" you with anything,
your "job" is to do your job: WHAT THE MUSICIAN WANTS, PERIOD.
If he says "mic my cabinet here" then you better jump or your
fired, bitch. You don't debate and ask for "scientific" proof,
thats a completely false and idiotic statement.

Jp22 wrote: [quote=LRosario]as a live sound engineer, you ask him:

"can you provide me the scientific articles that state micing the bottom is better?"

then you tell him to let you do your job :D

Correction. As a "live sound engineer" its your job to give
the *musician*what HE wants, NOT what *you* want. Your
type of belief system of sound engineer etiquette is exactly
the type of ego'd out so-called "engineer" I despise. Furthermore,
no musician who hired you has to "provide" you with anything,
your "job" is to do your job: WHAT THE MUSICIAN WANTS, PERIOD.
If he says "mic my cabinet here" then you better jump or your
fired, bitch. You don't debate and ask for "scientific" proof,
thats a completely false and idiotic statement.

exactly....the "idiotic" statement is just that. It's ment to be sarcastic.

And frankly thats your opinion. The musician can give you "input"...yes, but you come across musicians that don't know exactly how to explain what they want.

And rather than waste my time taking commands from a musician that knows nothing or very little about audio, I will (politely of course) say, "you just tell me the sound you want and I'll take care of the rest, simple?"

So rather than piss in the wind, you've saved yourself the humiliation of having a prick musician tell you "it sounds like shit" when you could of told him that a LONG time ago.

Each person has his style, mine just happens to be upfront and stubborn.

But yes, to answer your question sticker; traditionally you do what jp22 mentioned.

Don't take it upon yourself to be a stubborn/fighting smartass like me cause that dosnt work for everyone ;).

Jp22 wrote: Correction. As a "live sound engineer" its your job to give
the *musician*what HE wants.

Actually, that's the job of the monitoring engineer.

Well I think it's not as easy to knock over when the mic stand is lower rather than extended upward. I always mic the bottom speaker. With a 57.

sickyboy wrote: Well I think it's not as easy to knock over when the mic stand is lower rather than extended upward. I always mic the bottom speaker. With a 57.

Or use kick drum mic stands, which are even harder to knock over and are the perfect height for those bottom speakers. :)

Or use kick drum mic stands, which are even harder to knock over and are the perfect height for those bottom speakers. :)

Exactly.

From my personal experience as both a guitar player and a (rarlely, but still...) live mixer, it shouldn't matter all too much unless the speakers aren't identical.
Of course, in a studio situation things are quite different, but hey... for live I usually prefer being able to go for the most comfortable solution, such as the mentioned kick drum mic stand.
The perceived difference should be rather minimal (if noticeable at all) for live purposes.

I never had the pleasure of owning a setup with more than one speaker, but my dad has, and he told me the lower speaker is better for distorted sounds, while the upper speaker is better for clean sounds.

Someday, I'll have to invest in a decent amp to actually try this.

When your playing out of a 10,000 watt FOH, one would think either speaker is gonna thump. It will make a 2 dollar drum kit sound great as well

sickyboy wrote: When your playing out of a 10,000 watt FOH, one would think either speaker is gonna thump. It will make a 2 dollar drum kit sound great as well

10 kW of FOH isn't going to make a shitty drum kit better, it'll only make it louder.

~S

i cant imagine anything worse than a $2 drum kit going thru a 10kw PA anywhere near my ears...