Best way to get guitar sounds?

[Robbie Hollywood]

How do you get your guitar sounds? What plug-ins do you guys use? I can't get Amplitude to sound good at all. Anyone got anything to recommend?

[M.Brane]

Marshall JCM800 half-stack
Mesa MkIII SimulClass
Fender Super Reverb

You could write a book on mics/placement, but the good ol' 57 has never done me wrong if the amp sounds good in the room ( and sometimes even if it doesn't!). Sometimes I'll use an omni mic though if I want a more "flat", and "open" sound with no proximity effect.

[lwilliam]

1. Start with a really good player
2. Have him/her play a quality instrument
3. Amps are best; as M. Brane mentioned, there are whole books written on mic'ing guitar amps and different types of guitar tones. I don't have the luxury of using real amps often, so I use NI's Guitar Rig2 a lot. I haven't tried Amplitube2, but do have the LE version. I like GR2 better than LE. However, the full version of Amplitube is probably in the same league as GR2.

If you don't have #1's and 2, #3 will be much more difficult.

[mahler007]

Well, I guess it sort of all depends on style and what sort of sound you're going for. You seem to have received feedback (pun intended ) from a Marshall user, so here's some advice from a Fender user

I've had very positive experiences with the following:

Clean/Light Overdrive
'79 Strat-> MI Audio Tube Zone OD/Dist.-> Fender '65 TRRI-> Royer R-121-> Summit Audio 2ba-221-> Apogee Rosetta-> PTLE

OD/Distortion
'79 Strat-> MI Audio Tube Zone-> Fender Pro Jr.-> Shure SM 57->Focusrite ISA-428-> Apogee Rosetta-> PTLE

Here's a little clip from a recent project I've been wqorking on that demonstrates both setups- the guitar in the right channel (with slide) was done with the first setup, the guitar in the left channel was done with the second setup:

guitar solo excerpt

In the first case, the Royer was about two inches from dead center of one of the speakers on the twin. In the second, the SM 57 was pointed directly at the speaker cone, about one inch away, and midway between the center of the cone and the edge of the speaker.

I don't have *the greatest* gear in the world, but it's not bad, either. FWIW, I've found that the Royer, which tends to be a little dark, works great with my Summit pre, which in spite of its being a tube pre, tends to be a little upper mid-rangey to my ears. The SM 57, which I find to be kind of gritty, tends to work nicely with my ISA 428, which I find to be relatively smooth and even. Of course, different pairings yield different results- for a super raunchy, gritty, nasty, debased sort of OD sound, I might use the 57 with the Summit on the Pro Jr., which has more balls than almost any amp I've ever heard in spite of its size. The Twin is just angelic, and using the Royer on that through the Focusrite is beautifully liquid...

Really, the thing I've learned the most is that experimentation with mic placement and combinations with different pres yields really interesting, different, and musically valuable results, depending on what you're going for... The sky's the limit...

Cheers,
Andrew

[Cam9021]

Depends on if you want electric or acoustic. Tons of different ways to do it, depending on the sound you want. I've done a Strat plugged straight into the M-Box 2 and got a decent sound, but that's the sound I was looking for. Best suggestion is a good guitarist, good mic/amp and experiment with mic location. Play with reverb, compression, and EQ to find the sound that's in your head. Also, do a search on Amazon, etc, on how to record guitars and check out the texts that are out there to get ideas. If you ask a 1000 different folks, you'll get a 1000 different ways to do it. Close micing and distant micing, stereo micing, you name it. Just depends on the sound you're looking for and how much gear you want to buy.
Dan'o

[M.Brane]

. You seem to have received feedback (pun intended ) from a Marshall user, so here's some advice from a Fender user

My Super doesn't count as a Fender?



I should add that I use very few if any plugs on my guitar tracks. I take the time to get the sound I want in tracking so I don't have to mess with it much if at all in the mix. That goes for more than guitar tracks.

I realize not everyone has the option of cranking up a good tube amp to a good volume level for tracking, but that's the way I do it. I have yet to find an amp simulator that I can deal with as a player. Many of them sound quite good, but they all feel "dead" to me. I'm spoiled.

[Dirk Reinking]

Hi,
you can get good sounds from Amplitube...if you know how the original amps sounded MIKED !!!
I used 100w Marshalls with a powerbrake as a dummyload ,between that was a 4x12 CabSim..it worked very well.
Now i use the SansAmp Bombfactory or the McDSP Chrometone plugin for guitar & bass.I cannot say that the sound is better than the real thing (whatever that is) but it isn't badder ha ! Free your mind from things like "it must be sounding like hetfield" or whatever you prefer.Search for a guitartone that fits the song.On Amplitube : try the 2x12 cabs with the chrunch setting.If you need more drive..turn the overdrive on.Hope this helps a bit.You can hear guitarsounds done with plugins on my myspace site,if you like.
peace
d

[paul_g]

Indeed, it's always best to go with the 'real deal' over a plug in, especially if you're in an environment where you can crank a an amp a bit with a Sm57. But having said that, I get good tracks w/out cranking my amps.

I too didn't hear anything decent in Amplitube... But I'm sure I didn't spend any quality time with it. Probably something from Line6 would be better? New mini-pod is out... I hear it's pretty decent. Or, try to find an old Pod 2.0 on Ebay. You may have better luck with that.

[mahler007]

My Super doesn't count as a Fender?



I should add that I use very few if any plugs on my guitar tracks. I take the time to get the sound I want in tracking so I don't have to mess with it much if at all in the mix. That goes for more than guitar tracks.

I realize not everyone has the option of cranking up a good tube amp to a good volume level for tracking, but that's the way I do it. I have yet to find an amp simulator that I can deal with as a player. Many of them sound quite good, but they all feel "dead" to me. I'm spoiled.

LOL! Apologies M.Brane- your Super Reverb does indeed count as a Fender
FWIW, I also don't tend to use many plugs on guitar tracks, other than a little delay or a reverb send.

I have tried out some amp simulators and was left kind of nonplussed. I have also tried combining a mic'd amp with a direct signal, however, and found it to be quite nice, depending on the mix. Seems like the direct signal sometimes has a really *active* thing going on in the extreme high end that gets a little lost coming from the amp- mix it in just right, and there can be a desireable kind of sparkle thing going on if you need/want it...

Cheers,
Andrew