Sounds like you are all hooked up. Now the hard bit, setting gain stages. All you need to do is get the signal as hot as you can with out it clipping (over loading your input) and once you do that it is just a matter of getting a sound you like out of the pod (and rebalancing your gain stags).

As far as mics are concerned, well that is a lot more tricky. It may eventually be more rewarding however it take much more perseverance and experience to get a nice sound live with a mic.

a) what type of mic is it ? I am presuming it is a large diaphragm condenser as you mentioned a phantom power supply ! Dynamic mics like SM57s / SM58s don't need phantom power however you will need to crank your amp harder as they are less sensitive the condensers.

b) How do you intend to attach this to the computer ? What sort of preamp are you going to use ? The one built into the sound card ? What sort of sound card is it ? This type of info will help identify the weakest link in your set up. You may have been better off getting a cheap preamp with a line out rather than a phantom power supply !

c) Where are you going to record ? The acoustics of the room are all important. Recordings done in the bathroom will sound very different to ones done in the living room !

d) Where will you place the mic ? On axis off axis, makes a big difference to the sound ! A neat trick is to be able to monitor the sound you here going down onto tape using a pair of isolation headphones. This takes a lot of the guess work out of mic placement. Many people like to place an SM57 pointing directly at the top left edge of the speaker right on the grill. This is a starting point and you will have to wiggle the mic a bit to find the sweet spot !

e) what volume to record at ? remember to rebalance your EQ as you bring your volume up and down !


These are just some of the things to think about when recording with a mic, direct is much easier !

Oh yes and f) remember to enjoy your self !!!