good amp mic...

Hey guitar tricks forum writer people, I was wondering what amp mic you all would prefer for me. I play a Line six spyder right now. I'de like a nice Mic that packs a punch, and really resonates my Jug Jugs.

any suggestions? :confused: :confused:

The standard seems to be the Shure SM-57.At least from what ive seen anyway.Your "jug jug's" are reproduced out the P.A system,not the mic.The idea is to have a mic that is somewhat transparent.

Originally Posted by: chucklivesoninmyheartThe idea is to have a mic that is somewhat transparent.

A mic will color your sound no matter what. Also, just because you've got your amp sounding amazing, once you put a mic up to it and record, it usually wont sound much like what you hear in the room. Different placement of the mic will produce different tones as well. When mic'ing, the possiblility's are endless.

Originally Posted by: chucklivesoninmyheartThe standard seems to be the Shure SM-57.

Yep...I agree. This is overall the best mic...being versatile, relatively inexpensive, and durable as hell. Other mics are out there, but you can't go wrong with this one.

yeah, that's helpful guys, thanks.

So how about vocal mic. Like condenser mics and stuff

Condenser mics are supposedly the best, but they're also the most expensive and fragile. I dunno how familiar you are with them, but they gotta sit in a shockmount usually. Don't expect to take it to gigs or practice without risk of damage to internal parts. I'm a poor man, so I've only had limited experience with them in a college studio. On the other hand (and continuing the previous recomendation) Shure makes the SM-58 vocal mic. It's basically a 57 with a vocal screen and slightly tweaked frequencies, but with the same durability and reliability. That's not to say you couldn't use a 57 for vocals though. That mics selling point is that it's been on the President's podium for 20+ years or whatever. It's also called the workhorse of the road and studio, since you can use it from vocals to snare drums. So in the end, if you have no mics at all right now, get a Shure SM-57 to start your collection, then expand.

You can go from 100 bucks for a Behringer to 3k for a Neumann however don't expect to plug one of these suckers into your sound card as they will require +48V dc phantom power.

I have a Shure KSM44 and an AKG C414 BXL II. These are both in the 500-1000 bucks range and sound very nice for both vocals and guitar though you need to remember not to turn the amp up too loud !

You may also want to think about a preamp which you can run into an A/D converter. Again these range from a Behringer Voice master pro (at about 100 bucks) to Manley and Nerve kit at the top of the range.

I have opted for two very respectable units one tube (Avalon vt373sp in the post) and one solid state (Focusrite Platinum Voice Master Pro). These pres are great for recording vocals / bass / guitar direct.

These bits of kit are not really for road use as if Im gigging I like an SM57 to sing through / mic cabs with.

yeah, I';m just gonna use the condenser for vocal recording etc.

And I have phantom power in my board Dr. simon. but I dont know if its 48 volt. Its a 24 channel mixer so it should be able to hold any mic.

It is probably 48V dc however some supply less (like 12 or 24 V). It will say in the boards manual.

One thing to watch is some times there is just one button that will supply phantom power to all XLRs on the board. This is fine if all the mics plugged into the board require phantom power however SM57s and SM58s will make a very bad noise if you send 48v up their output !

Just a thought, how good are the pres on the mixer ?

You may get a better result by spending an extra 50 bucks on a second hand Behringer Voice Master pro channel strip. this comes with a built in de-esser and voice optimized EQ and compressor as well as a gate.

However if your desk is a Makey or similar, you probably have better pres on the desk !!

its a pretty good board.

It has a phantom power on/off for each channel. So they wont effect all of them. Built in eq on each channel (that's pretty basic). channel on/off to moniters and a seperate one for front ends etc. I'm not sure off the company and model or whatever, because its at my band room. But its a good mixer. Its made for studio mixing, not really a gigging mixer because of the size


Although it doesnt have effects, gates, compressors, etc. built into it.

do you have a link for a website that further reviews that product your suggesting.