One for recording guitarist out there!

[Dave Whyte]

Im putting together my guitar rig(again!)and Im wondering how some of you guys are putting down guitar...Im talking about electric mainly...I have a pod 2(line 6)and its 'ok' for some stuff but Im also considering using my outboard pedals...So far I have a Pro co rat)distortion),Fulltone 2 overdrive,MXR compressor,Morley bad horsie wah,Boss DD6 digital delay,Boss stereo chorus.Im interested in some of the 'boutique' pedals that are out there like stuff from Voodoo labs and Xotic(particularly the RC boost and AC boost pedals)if anyone could give me feedback on them(excuse the pun!)i.e. how they perform live aswell as in the studio...Cheers D

[White Noise 2]

I have a 'rack' full of stuff (Eventide etc) but the main tone comes from my Marshall JMP-1. I used to mic up a cab with a nice condenser mic and an SM57 but this is an awful lot of work to go to and you can end up with slightly 'honky' tone. Recently though, I've just been jamming the Marshall (DI'd) into Guitar Rig 3 and that gives me credibility of tone plus all the bizarre stuff that you get with Native Instruments GR3.

[Energie]

I mainly go direct using a Fractal Audio Axe- FX. I have found it to be the best for going direct, very versatile, and with proper settings, can sound very convincing. It also works just as a pre-amp, that you can go into a power amp and that sounds killer as well.

sometimes micing an amp is the best way to get a great tone, but you have to have a good sounding amp/cab, and use good micing/mixing techniques. It is also possible to just use Impulse responce to simulate a mic'd cab, this can also work very well.

So most of my sounds are direct from axe fx, other times I do mic up my cab and either use my amp or axe fx going into fx return and mic up.


how do you plan on running your pedals? into a amp?

[KenK]

Guitar is my main instrument.

I just plug in direct to my Mackie onyx and use Logic's Guitar Amp Pro.
Sounds pretty good to me.

This might seem "sacrilegious", but electric guitars simply don't have the kind of definition that you get w/ acoustic instruments.
Once you start using effects, this is even more the case.

I just don't think an amplified instrument is capable of producing the same quality of sound as a more complex acoustic instrument.
We use distortion and fx to make it sound like crap and it does. ;)

KenK

[wes bender]

I record all my electric tracks straight in through an older POD XT. You can get some great sounds with many of those Line 6 products. I typically add some additional EQ and compression too beef up the sound once it's recorded.

[Dave Whyte]

Has anyone recorded with Xotic rc booster and ac booster pedals?

[idragosani]

For my main guitar sound I use a Marshall 100 watt head into a variety of cabinets (a 2x12 Mesa-Boogie cabinet or a custom 2x12 cab made by Geezer sound), miked close in with a dynamic mike and a second condensor mike further back for room sound. Sometimes I will put two mikes close in, one on each speaker, and put those onto separate mono tracks. You can get a wide variety of sound just with mike placement close in -- deeper sound closer to the center of the speaker and a thinner, trebly tone further out. The condensor mike's track can be mixed to provide ambience as needed. Being a bit of a purist, I use an all analog signal chain, no digital effects at all -- and very minimal, at that, just phaser, spring reverb, compression, wah and passive volume pedal.

When recording, I occasionally will layer sounds using IK Multimedia's Amplitube and live guitar, building up the sound similar to building up an image in Photoshop or the Gimp. The live guitar mixed in with the modeled tone gives a pretty full and rich tone. Amplitube has a lot of nice effects and they are pretty useful for recording with.

[idragosani]

This might seem "sacrilegious", but electric guitars simply don't have the kind of definition that you get w/ acoustic instruments.
Once you start using effects, this is even more the case.


I think that's true if you overuse effects, especially digital effects, and distortion pedals and other analog pedals that don't provide a true bypass, they can suck your tone right out of your signal. An overdriven tube amp and a decent cabinet can bring out a lot of character to your instrument and playing. Of course, playing acoustic and playing electric are two very different playing techniques... nothing melts me more than hearing a nice classical guitar being played!

[KenK]

I think that's true if you overuse effects, especially digital effects, and distortion pedals and other analog pedals that don't provide a true bypass, they can suck your tone right out of your signal. An overdriven tube amp and a decent cabinet can bring out a lot of character to your instrument and playing. Of course, playing acoustic and playing electric are two very different playing techniques... nothing melts me more than hearing a nice classical guitar being played!
I play mostly jazz. My main performance guitar has been a Godin Multiac for nearly 10 years now. (Nylon strings)
Compared to my nice acoustic classical and flamenco guitars, any guitar that relies on an amp just doesn't have the definition of a fine acoustic instrument. This is true even w/o effects.

I've begun to experiment (or work on) amplifying my flamenco.
Haven't solved the feedback issue at "drummer volumes" yet, but what I have noticed is that this instrument, even when run through a p.u w/ assorted fx (mostly for eq, reverb and compression) has much more clarity or definition than any "electric" guitar.

KenK

[peter5992]

I'm not a recording guitarist but I like to fumble around with Guitar Rig by Native Instruments - hundreds of different amps and effects all in one piece of software. Especially nice if you like to keep your studio compact - no big amps lying around - and the amount and variety is incredible, allows you to play anything from jazz to blues to screaming metal back to gently amplified acoustic / electric. Pretty brilliant.

[Andrew Sigler]

Guitar Rig....end of story.

(IV is coming out soon...)