Pushing Air - Oh what a feeling!

Most of the recording I've done has been using amp modelers and cab simulators for my guitars (Guitar Rig Pro 5.0, Amplitube 4). Because of this I've been looking at both the Kemper Profiling Amp and the Line 6 Helix and thinking about the future. Since moving into the city I've pretty much kept my amp in it's flight case just because I'm trying to keep a low profile and keep the neighbours happy.

As I was getting deeper into my interface a came on the idea that I could use the Slave out on my actual amplifier into one of the line inputs of my interface and then use a cab sim/impulses for speaker emulation (playing through my amp on low volume because of course it needs load). So I dragged it out and set it up and decided to throw a 57 on it and see how the two signals compare.

Well let's just say both of them sounded awesome -- and I forgot how much I absolutely love pushing air and playing through my amp (which I think contains part of my soul). I also threw a condenser in the room to see what that sounded like so I had at some point 3 signals going live into the box I could play with.

Hours passed as I played with abandon until my wife finally had to tell me to turn it off. Wow -- I just love live audio. There's just something magic about it all.

Here's a shot of my setup
Tracking in Studio A by Robert G, on Flickr

 

Amp sims have come along way but a great amp, mic, and pre combo is always better to me..

The hard part in low budget settings is using regular amps at sweet spot volumes without killing the neighbors.

 

So true -- plus I like to keep the under the radar so people don't know I've got a house full of gear.

 

The Kemper appears to be the flavour of the month at present.

The Marshall Code is another that has great versatility.

 

Add a ribbon mic to that setup, about 2' - 3' back from your dynamic, and you're gonna fall in love.

I use amp sims as well; but as of yet, nothing beats my Hot Rod DeVille 4x10 with a 57 up close and a ribbon mic set back a few feet.

Of course, your amp is going to play a major part in the sound. Your Boogie would probably sound great with this array.

If you're doing metal, you may want to try the Fredman Technique:



FWIW

 

Ampsims are life saver when you get a Customer with a poor sounding amp. I mostly record the amp and direct and then reamp through sims to add to the sound.

Thing is, an ampsim will sound as good as the source givin to them. If you don't have a quality preamp/Di, they won't sound as good.
When I switched from the instrument input of my audio interface to the Di of a focusrite ISA preamp, I heard a ton of differences in the sound.
I then lately made some tests with the UA 4-710 who's preamps are easy to saturate with the tube and also go great results.. (well convincing ones at least)

 

Thanks Donny -- When Royer Posted those videos (available here) with Tim Pierce mixing the ribbon with the 57 I just about flipped my lid - I got the idea that I could finally capture the sound of my amp as I heard it. It's on the list for sure. What I've done now with the slave out on the boogie is run it through the amp/speaker simulator in GuitarRig 5 Pro which also has options that simulate the Royer (or other mics) as well as different cabs/enclosure so I'm experimenting with blending my own amped 57 signal with the Simulated Royer mic'd cab and I gotta say it's awesome for what -- the Royer is on my shopping list for sure (but super happy I can at least simulate it at the moment).

The 57 on it's own has always been a little too abrasive for me and the boogie has so much warmth beyond its edge that I always felt I'd never captured it very well. I love that little Wilkinson mic clip.