Good mic for recording amps?

[miter53]

I know the SM57 is pretty ubiquitous, but what else do people like?

[jimilee]

My brother like an sm58 condenser mic. Looks like the 57.

[stecykmi]

sm58 is also a dynamic... it's the same capsule as the 57 i believe.

[jimilee]

sm58 is also a dynamic... it's the same capsule as the 57 i believe.

Yep, there are 2 versions.

[culturejam]

I use a 57 and a Sennheiser e609

[selfdestroyer]

Two SM57's for me.

Cody

[mmlee]

Depending on what kind of style, these are my go to's....
Shure SM57
Sennheiser MD421
Beyerdynamic M160
AKG 414 (... and it's many flavours...)

Been known to use quite a few others too, Royer R121, Neumann U47, Neumann U87, Shure SM7B, EV RE20, etc. etc....

To be honest a 57 will get you by the majority of the time, mic placement is almost the most important thing to get right.  So many timbres can be had from the 57 just by moving it around (off-centre, centre, on-axis, off-axis, close, far and everything in between).

[raulduke]

I use an SM57 a little of centre (almost to the edge of the cone). To my ears this gives a 'warmer' tone than directly in the middle.

Royer R121's are supposed to be amazing for mic'ing guitar cabs for recording.

Bit above my budget though...

[lincolnic]

For the money, nothing will get you farther than a 57. You'll learn a ton about mic placement, too.

At work, I'm often using a Royer or a rare old Beyerdynamic M320. Or a 57!

[midwayfair]

I prefer the E609 to the 57 (and I'm not the only one), but they're comparable. Unfortunately, my E609 took a walk sometime in the last couple months and I don't have anything recent or competent recorded with it and I haven't had the gumption or cash to replace it.

Right now at home, I've been using a small diaphram Audio Technica condenser for close micing (which is a bit dark) and a Senheiser MK4 for room or when I need a brighter mic. In combination, they sound pretty good. The best sounds I've recorded have almost all involved two microphones.

However, at the studio I record at, we used a Fathead for a while until he got a Royer R121. I've never recorded with anything better, including some Neumann stuff. It's just unbelievable ... it better be for the price. The Fathead was sort of halfway between the AT condender I'm using and a 57 in terms of tonality -- a little brighter, but not really bright.

My placement on a 1x12 is almost always 4" in from the edge of the cone and a handspan away from the speaker, which is a bit farther away than some people like.

[jtn191]

A dynamic (57 or 609) is where I'd start out with...ribbon if you want smoother, condenser if you want brighter.