[Drew]

So, I just bought one of these off Vince a week or so ago. My dad has one he uses to record with, but I never liked how it sounded on my amp(s), and when tracking guitar I'd usually use a cheap SM58 Radio shack ripoff as a close mic as it seemed to give me a smoother guitar sound.
I now realize that back then (this was like years ago) I just didn't know jack shit about micing cabs. I've got a couple C1000s's that I'd been toying with as cab mics (much better than you'd expect of a small diaphram consensor) and an Audix i5 that I picked up recently that works pretty well, too, but last night I quickly mic'd up using a SM57 maybe 2" back, off axis about 45 degrees, and I gotta say, it really DOES compliment the sound of an electric guitar rather well. Compared to the SM57, the i5 is a bit brighter and has a great growl to the bass, so I'll probably use it for a lot of rhythm tracks, but for leads, the 57 has a warmer midrange and is a little smoother.


This is just some improv over a G major fruity loops backing I practice over a lot - normaly I'll add 16th note hihat fills to keep a metronome feel going. The tone in the clip below still isn't quite perfect (I'd like a touch more high end snap when I dig in), but it's one of the better mic'd up lead tones I've gotten so far.

Media Player

Click here to download.

It also has me using more gain than is typical, maybe 6 on the Nomad, for you guys who rip on me for playing too clean.

[Leon]

it's good.

it's porn music, but it's good

[nyck]

Sounds good. It sounds like a SC being used, or did you use your UV?

[Drew]

UV all the way, Blaze neck with the volume rolled back and a high-pass a la a JS series engagued. I also rolled off a few dB below 140hz or so to keep the low end from getting woofy.

And porn music it may be, but it's fun practice.

[Leon]

hey, i got nothing against porn music .

so, does the acquisition of a new mic mean you're closing in on this fabled album you're putting together?

[The Dark Wolf]

Sounds good, as usual.

[DSS3]

Yes, come to the dark side! Sounds really good! What speaker was it on? I find they compliment V30's so well that it's not even worth using any other speaker.

It's funny your analysis of the 57 and i5 is almost exactly the opposite of our findings on the Sneap forum - it tends to be that the i5 is more suited to leads as it's more open sounding in the top, but under rhythm it can sound like theres too much pressure on the mic, or the high end is just a bit too present.

The even funnier thing is that an i5 sounds almost identical to a 57 without the transformer.

[shadowgenesis]

Have you tried using both the 57 and the i5 in combination when tracking? Mic the cab with both on seperate tracks, then use the levels of each track to create a good blend of the different tones. (I dunno if everybody is already aware of that technique because it's quite common). It would seem to make sense for two rather differently voiced mics.

[Jeff]

That's all I use, at the moment anyway. I am thinking of getting an e609 too, as they sound different, but good.

[Dylan7620]

yet another testament to the great tone of the nomad. and the great tone of drew