Clean gte I can do, I am having REAL: trouble with distorted GTR.

[Jules]

I dunno, distorted gtr is not comming out to my satisfaction, I use classic mic's including the 'new classic' the Royer 121 (which is cool) I have an idea, perhpas the converter is part of the problem, bear with me here. Most times at the studio I work at I have at my disposal the following units.

Cranesong Hedd
Apogee AD8000SE

and sometimes:

888/24
888/16

I mostly use the Hedd (+ occaisionaly the Apogee) for ALL overdubs after tracking a band. I've got a sudden gut feeling that perhaps the standard 888/24 is my best bet for distorted gtr.

Anyhow it's been pissing me off for months now. Any ideas out there?

Clean I got, distorted NOT!



Jules

P.S. I dont find this stuff easy, it took me ages to get live kit & vocal sounds I was happy with! Now I am down with those, I need to get dist gtr sorted out & FAST, it's my bread & butter!

[This message has been edited by Jules (edited May 02, 2001).]

[Peter Duemmler]

To me it´s not so much the converters but more the amps/speakers/mikes and maybe preamps.
I very rarely get a great distorted guitar sound recorded with a Marshall 4*12...
My absolute favourite is an AC-30 miked with a 421, 509 or 57 into an Amek 9098 pre (into my 888-24). Mostly instant great sound.
I can´t stand those guitarists pushing bass to 11 though (the AC-30 will take care of that ;-) )... If you need more gain than the AC-30 delivers almost any stomp-box in front of it will do.

Peter

[This message has been edited by Peter Duemmler (edited May 02, 2001).]

[Peter Duemmler]

Oh, and I forgot the obvious:
Start with a great player... ;-)

Peter

[Mount Royal]

A concidence that this should come up. I'd not before made a comparison of my AC30 with Blue Bulldog speakers and the Pod Pro sounds, until this weekend. The AC30 was miked with Sennheiser e609 and 412. The mic pre was an ART Pro MPA, not a piece you'd mention at a cocktail party to impress, but credible. The Pod Pro is clocked with Nanosyncs, which you own,Jules, if memory serves. Single coil bridge was the dominant source for this particular piece.

You'd probably be able to pick the real amp with some ease, if for no other reason than the noise floor. There is a wildness to the edge of the real amp thru a blue speaker. But without doubt, the Pod Pro sounds were very good, and very easy to obtain. I preferred the Pod sounds over the Vox amp for some of the parts being played. The Pod was quite creamy at times.

This has been said before - the Pod Pro really is very credible, and super easy to dial in. If you don't have one of these units, Jules, consider getting one. For good chewy, crunchy tones, it is more than servicable. It is not a holy grail, but if I were struggling to get acceptable tones, this unit would get me in the ballpark within minutes.

A good friend and fine guitar player and producer in his own right, just did his band's last album entirely with the Pod Pro. Previously, he's been quite a tube amp elitist, and would not have entertained such a trailer park approach. His tube amp collection betters mine, which makes it embarrasing. The guitar tones on his record are really good.

This weekend I listened to Led Zepplin 2 through 6 while I was making cables. It's interesting how nostalgia colors perception. The only thing that really sounded good to me on those records were drums (very good) and bass. Page's guitar tones not so great by current standards, in my view.

Good luck Jules,

John Caldwell

[COCO]

I don't have any revelations, but lately been micing loud guitar cabinets more distantly, about a yard back, and an additional room mic. Less crunchy and more round; but I think you've tried this, Jules.
COCO

[Mike Tholen]

Les Paul-Tele-Strat
Fender Vibrolux-Marshall JCM 800
Coles 4038-RCA BK-5
Telefunken-Helios-Neve-PYE
Need more? we won't go there!(studer).
Mike

[Jim S]

Jules,

Do you have a specific amp and guitar set-up in your studio or working with whatever the guitarist brings in?

What kind of distorted tones are you going for: crunchy AC/DC or highly overdrive metal or bluesy SRV/Buddy Guy, etc?

BTW,the new H&K digital amp is supposed to be THE BOMB for modelling. It's priced around high $2k.

[snoopy]

DIst GTR on digital is tough as far as I'm concerned. My guess is that dist gtr is a harsh instrument to begin with and digital can be hash as well, thus a harsh combination

I find myself sometimes taking outa little 3k when tracking. This makes it sound dull, but by the time you have layered other guitars and added that multiband compressor in the mix it evens out rather than building up.

This may not work in all cases, but something worth considering if you're using a lot of dist guitar in a song.

[Skwaidu]

Ok, last time I got a great guitar sound, it was a Laney head with 3 channels, a cross between Mesa/Boogie(usually good) and Marshall(usually too brittle)into Marshall 4x12 and Ampeg 8x10(for Bass!). With my miking setup(close, 421, 414, 57....whatever worked for the song...) they didn't sound good on their own, but the combined sound was Huge&lovely with rich and smooth overtones.... This went "to both channels" or even triple- tracked, with assorted pedals. Of course there were some phase problems first, but I managed to sort them out.

Often a nice combo with a single 414 or 57 can sound good& big easier than a 4&12. Still, usually I have multiple amps/ cabs running simultaneously. Pedals are essential for variation... Oh, the converters were Adat M20 or some Studer 8-ch pre&conv box, nothing fancy? Just some thougts(I'm a guitar player myself, find this stuff easy nowadays)... Good luck!


[This message has been edited by Skwaidu (edited May 03, 2001).]

[Jules]

All good stuff guys - keep it coming! Thanks!


Mount Royal - is there a benefit audible externaly clocking the Pod Pro??? Have you tried it with then without?

Jules