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Guitar Cab Mics


Tyger16

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Hey I'm running a bit of an odd set up. I've got a Fender Mustang 3 as my main amp (i use it to get the fender deluxe or fender twin sound), i then run that through a blackstar HT-Dual and a Fuzz Factory.

I'm looking for a good mic for my amp to use live. I've heard the standard choices are the Shure SM57 and the Sennheiser E602 but I'm going for a very mid range kind of tone. Not unlike bellamy's (hence why i posted this here) and was wondering if there might be a microphone better suited to my specific set up other than the standard choices.

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The microphone itself isn't going to do anything drastic to your sound.

 

SM57's are popular because they are cheap, robust and designed to be rammed up against a guitar cab.

I believe Bellamy uses a Royer R121, which being a ribbon, is a bit delicate and as such, he has to mic up a cabinet off-stage. It's popular as a studio mic for guitar amps.

 

Pointless buying a microphone solely for live use, most venues will have 57's.

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What kind of venues are you playing that you'll need to mic up a cab?

 

Everything from really shitty clubs that hold 200 people to outdoor festival type gigs where it could be a couple of thousand.

Also, I want to start mic'ing up my amp during rehearsals, getting everyone else to do the same. Then we'll just run off monitors. Beats just turning amps up till my ears bleed.

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For mid range presence your best choices are the Sennheiser MD421 or the Shure SM7.

 

Neither are crazy money and both are far more sturdy than a ribbon mic, with the exception of the mic clip mounton the 421, which I always manage to grab and release the mic.

 

There was a great mic made by the Audio-Technica, the ATM29he, I own five of them because they sound similar to the 421 but are totally bulletproof. They are my go to guitar mic and they kill on toms too. They are not made anymore but they are still in stock at someof the stores. The ATM25 is similar but not as rugged.

 

JT

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What kind of venues are you playing that you'll need to mic up a cab?

 

I mic cabs at 50 seat bars. Without a mic to the PA, you will be too loud in one spot and unheard at others.

 

I've carried my own mics for my vocal and my guitar cabs since I was 16 years old. A great mic is WAY more important than you would believe.

 

JT

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it sounds like you want something drastic altering to your sound after it's come out of the cab. Get your EQ right in the first place and a sound engineer who knows his equipment and room (and most of them will as they're "residents") will amplify it just fine.

 

If you don't sound how you want to sound at rehearsal, then you're not going to sound any better at gigs.

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I mic cabs at 50 seat bars. Without a mic to the PA, you will be too loud in one spot and unheard at others.

 

I've carried my own mics for my vocal and my guitar cabs since I was 16 years old. A great mic is WAY more important than you would believe.

 

JT

 

Yeah, I know. I'll occasionally mic up my amp if the venue is an unhelpful shape, but try to avoid it where possible. My question was more out of casual curiosity ;)

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Everything from really shitty clubs that hold 200 people to outdoor festival type gigs where it could be a couple of thousand.

Also, I want to start mic'ing up my amp during rehearsals, getting everyone else to do the same. Then we'll just run off monitors. Beats just turning amps up till my ears bleed.

 

Trying to run purely off monitors doesn't make a single bit of difference to stage volume and your sound ends up worse.

 

The best idea is to set your amp up at a sensible level relative to the drums, you shouldn't need monitors then apart from other things you want to hear. Place the amp as far away as you physically can from you and make sure the speaker(s) is angled towards roughly where your head would be.

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Trying to run purely off monitors doesn't make a single bit of difference to stage volume and your sound ends up worse.

 

The best idea is to set your amp up at a sensible level relative to the drums, you shouldn't need monitors then apart from other things you want to hear. Place the amp as far away as you physically can from you and make sure the speaker(s) is angled towards roughly where your head would be.

That works in small to medium indoor venues (depending on the amp obvs) but you've got no chance outside or in large venues... Not that you're incorrect about the relative 'acoustic' volumes but once you start needing drums in the monitors you need guitar too.

Having said that I tend to get loads of guitar anyway because my amp looks so small :awesome:

 

 

the amount of guitarists who play with their speakers pointed at their calves... GRRRR

Worse when it's the house amp and you can't do anything about it. Except kneel down, lean into it and look fucking cool.

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Arrrrgh, surely every band that comes through the venue points out the problem to the management? "your house cab is pointing at my legs, it should be pointing at my ears!" but yeh i've seen it in all sorts of venues.

 

You can get little stands for smaller cabs/combos which will raise and/or tilt the cab back

 

I think Haze was just saying there's no need to mic the cab at rehearsal

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That works in small to medium indoor venues (depending on the amp obvs) but you've got no chance outside or in large venues... Not that you're incorrect about the relative 'acoustic' volumes but once you start needing drums in the monitors you need guitar too.

Having said that I tend to get loads of guitar anyway because my amp looks so small :awesome:

 

A sensible person would have a rough idea from rehearsal on what volume to set their amp to though.

 

Never bother with monitors, regardless of the size of the venue. Large ones are nicer as the volume on stage is a lot lower.

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  • 1 month later...
The microphone itself isn't going to do anything drastic to your sound.

 

SM57's are popular because they are cheap, robust and designed to be rammed up against a guitar cab.

I believe Bellamy uses a Royer R121, which being a ribbon, is a bit delicate and as such, he has to mic up a cabinet off-stage. It's popular as a studio mic for guitar amps.

 

Pointless buying a microphone solely for live use, most venues will have 57's.

 

the R121 is one of my personal favorites, it can handle around 130db SPL no sweat - despite it being a ribbon

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