Guitar tone

[Jason Lowe]

hey guys-
im extremely frustrated i can not get a good distortion tone.
ive tried micing my 120w crate half stack with a sure 57 in a dead room, messed with all the Eq's on that with no luck. Went directly in thru a Boss gt-6 got even worse results...
i using a les paul, so i know its not my guitar. Is it just the amp?
Because it sounds perfect before i get it into pro tools.
ever after i EQ it, it sounds messy, and nothing like how it does straight out of the amp.
should i invest in a marshal, or some kind of better mic?
thanks,
jason

[Jason Lowe]

im using a 002, and a cheap cable..thats probably it isnt it?
im going to upgrade to an HD soon...and with that, and a better cable, i would see a dramatic increase right?
...F

[Bastiaan]

Walk around the amp while playing it. Maybe its too lud, maybe its not loud enough. The Shure SM57 makes the sound slightly mellower, so look for a place where it is a little bright for your own ears. I get nice results with the 57 on axis with the fibre of the speaker in the middle of the speaker. EQ on the guitaramp will sound better as EQ in ptle...

[where02190]

im using a 002, and a cheap cable..thats probably it isnt it?
im going to upgrade to an HD soon...and with that, and a better cable, i would see a dramatic increase right?
...F

Cheap cable for what? cheap calbing is always going to deteroirate your sound, however the 002 is a great unit, and should yield you great sounds if the proper techniques are followed. Have you tried anotehr mic, maybe your 57 is funky? Also mic placement is key, move the mic around until you find the best placement.

[jjhuntfox]

A few months back I got to demo a whole bunch of different mics from Guitar Center. The best mic for a distorted guitar tone that I tried was the Blue Blueberry. It sounded sooooo gooood. They arn't cheap so I don't know if it is an option for you. I didn't have unlimited amounts of money when I decided what mics to buy from GC so I didn't buy the Blueberry. It didn't work for me on vocals and only really seemed to shine on distorted guitar. I bought the dragonfly instead. I does fine for me but most of my guitar playing isn't distorted. I know the SM57 is a great mic, been used for lots of guitar cabs, and butt loads of people swear by it, but for me I don't usually like it on guitar. It usually sounds like an SM57 and that sound is colored and lack personallity.... at least for me.

Good luck.

John