What mic do you like for guitar cabs?

[jtn191]

I'll add that I've used the standards: R121, U87, SM57, SM7...

And they don't really make a HUGE difference (I say this because electric guitar is mostly midrange--high end is rolled off through the transformer/speaker--low end is usually rolled off in mixing). Yeah condensers add more high end than you're used to hearing and ribbons are ideal in a lot of cases...but placement, speaker, cab, amp are a big deal. A lot of classic albums and sounds came from cheaper mics but great players and classic amps. Play around with putting the mic closer to the center of the cone, further away. Close miking is standard these days but adding some distance can be a breath of fresh air. My ideal setup is two mics in front, maybe one in back to pick up the low end better. Play around with phase-cancellation between mics for accuracy or eq'ing effect.

Cool trick I use all the time: play white noise through your amp (via computer or phone). Mic up your amp so that white noise sounds natural when recorded. Now you've got a natural sounding guitar recording. Do the same thing with multiple mics, paying close attention to where the low end goes away. Move them around until you get the thinnest possible sound, and flip the polarity switch on preamp/DAW. Bam. Now you've got some thick guitar tones.

[lars]

Shure 545, the old 70's one with 4 pin connectors.

[raulduke]

I use an SM57 pretty much 100% of the time.

Tried a few condensers and they don't really do it for me (not really high quality ones mind).

I would love to try a Royer 121 though. Those are supposed to sound fantastic on guitar cabs.

[midwayfair]

In the studio, I consistently pick a ribbon 'sort of close' (probably no closer than 8," and usually more like 12") and a condenser on the room when we do a shootout before a session. It used to be a Fathead and whatever mic we used on Jen's vocals, but now it's the complete spoilers of an R121 and a U47 clone, lucky me ... That combo seems to get just right amount of midrange and air. Though one of my favorite lead sounds on my records was ENTIRELY room, about 10' away, when we accidentally left a mic on, and one of my other favorite guitar sounds was recorded with a vocal dynamic inside a clothes drier on the other side of the basement, so I guess you could say that overall I'm not really much of a fan of close micing a speaker. They're meant to be heard across a room in any case!

I use an e609 when I (very rarely) have to mic my amps live, I just liked it better than a 57.

[jkokura]

I'll add that I've tried and been happy with many of the suggestions above - 57, 609, 906, i5, 421, etc.

I currently approach my cab miking with multiple mics. I find that I get more true sound by blending a large diaphragm condenser from between 1 and 3 feet (check for phase issues) and a dynamic on the grill. Currently, I either use a Beyerdynamic M201 or M88 on the grill, and an Audio Technica AT4040 for my dynamic mic.

I can also be happy with any one of the three alone. The key I've found is that you need to get used to what you have and know how to play to it's strengths. Lincolnlc gave me a super piece of advice when I asked him about mic placement. "Mark the spot it sounds best. I spent 20-30 minutes each session finding the sweet spot, and now it takes me less than 5 because I took the time to mark out the best placement for my mics.

Don't just buy new stuff for the sake of having new stuff, and if you want something new, try thinking outside the box, or perhaps in contrast. Getting a dark ribbon mic to accentuate your bright dynamic or your neutral condenser is a better plan than getting a second, bright dynamic mic.

Jacob

[GermanCdn]

609 and a 57 here, with an Audix cab grabber to mount.  I do on occasion leave another mic on the middle of the room (usually a large diaphragm vocal mic) to mix it, but truthfully I don't find that it does much for me.

[eldanko]

In the studio, I consistently pick a ribbon 'sort of close' (probably no closer than 8," and usually more like 12") and a condenser on the room when we do a shootout before a session. It used to be a Fathead and whatever mic we used on Jen's vocals, but now it's the complete spoilers of an R121 and a U47 clone, lucky me ... That combo seems to get just right amount of midrange and air. Though one of my favorite lead sounds on my records was ENTIRELY room, about 10' away, when we accidentally left a mic on, and one of my other favorite guitar sounds was recorded with a vocal dynamic inside a clothes drier on the other side of the basement, so I guess you could say that overall I'm not really much of a fan of close micing a speaker. They're meant to be heard across a room in any case!

I use an e609 when I (very rarely) have to mic my amps live, I just liked it better than a 57.

Absolutely digging the tone in this tune bro. Nice, airy, dimensional... exactly what I have in mind when I'm doing cleans with single coils.

[Morgan]

609 and a 57 here, with an Audix cab grabber to mount.

Do you ever have any issues with bleed through or a weak signal when using the cab grabber and 609? That's what I tend to use live and our sound guy/bass player doesn't like it too much because the mic sits too far from the grill cloth (and my amp sits right next to the drums). I often have to just drape it over the amp so the mic sits right on the grill cloth - then sound guy doesn't have to crank the gain on my channel so much.

I've been meaning to pick up an ampclamp since they have an e609 adapter that gets the mic right on the grill cloth.

[deafbutpicky]

sm57 aimed near the rim of the speaker   at some what of 45° and as close as possible  + a condenser mic ,centered, 1m  away from it where ever it sounds good in the room should do it for a 12" cab

[blearyeyes]

Lots of experience on this site. I have nothing very important to add other than "get the sound you want first" if I walk into a room and the guitar sounds great, then capturing that sound without muckin it up is what it's all about. There are so many great suggestions in all the other posts. Mic position is paramount, mic choice is relative to the situation.  The transient response of any mic determines the caricature to a great degree.. If you want to mellow out your sound large diaphragm dynamics are slow to move and can take the edge off, but so can moving the mic away from the center of the speaker.... If you want more bite then condensers which can respond faster with faster transients are the way to go.. or move your SM57 / SM7 closer to on axis...

Just know that all of that bottom end that sounds great when you play by yourself is going away to make room for a tight low mid/bottom end in the mix... but you won't really notice due to masking.

[Muadzin]

Having worked at a venue where they had both the SM57 and E609 I prefered to use the latter. Nowadays myself I prefer to go straight into the FOH via a device with cabsim output (AMT SS-30 Bulava). Did that just this weekend. Easiest changeover EVER! Soundguy happy because there's no loud guitar amp on stage, me happy all I had to do was plug in a short cable from my pedal board to a DI box, my back was happy because of not having to lug around a heavy amp, and the audience was happy as I got compliments on my sound.