a mic'd up bag end S12

[IvanMike]

two days ago i finally got to have 2 tracks in a recording session, direct and a cabinet mic'ed up. i went with my instincts and chose my S12 over my S15 as the 12 seems to have a bit more midrange "mojo". later conversations with my pal mike nunno from milford music confirmed my gut feeling, the S12 is his fave cab for recording, and he has boatloads of experience.

holy crap! we were all knocked out at how much that track added to the tone. the direct track was no slouch by any means, but that mic'ed speaker just added so mich vibe to the track it was amazing. we decided to use both, but even so it seems to sound better with the mic track louder than the direct track, the direct track having more lows and highs, but nowhere near the mojo.

i think i'm going to have to start being a stronger advocate of wanting a mic track from now on.

 

[nonsqtr]

What kind of mic did you use?

 

[James Hart]

last time I was in a semi legit studio we stuck my S12 and S15 in the corners of a 10'x10' sound proof room facing each other. We stuck a condenser in the room mid way between in a 3rd corner and a 57 on the S12 close.

One of the best recorded tones I've ever had

 

[IvanMike]

What kind of mic did you use?

sm-57

next time i'm going to try and get him to close mic with a 57 and use one of his high end ribbon mics farther away in the room. he does that a lot when doing guitar tracks and blends the two to good effect.

im bugging him right now to record me a disk of jsut the two bass tracks, mic panned hard left and direct panned hard right. if he does i'll share it.

 

[43% burnt]

Very interesting. I've only recorded direct through an avalon preamp, with ok results. Next time I will have the engineer try this. It will also give me a good reason to get that Bag End cab I've has GAS over for a long time now.

 

[IvanMike]

lemme say this - i have always had excellent results recording direct, via swr, eden, alembic, demeter, and thru mic pres such as the UA and peavey knockoff of a urei preamp. so i'm not knocking recording direct - if done right it's a thing of beauty.

the addition of a mic'd cab just added a whole new dimension to the track. still, i dont think i'd rely on just a mic track, the direct track contains a lot more in it, the mic'd speaker just adds extra tonal coloration.

 

[Standalone]

I’m just gonna bump this because I feel like it, lest we forget how excellent the Bag End stuff sounds.

This thread is from shortly after I joined TB — glad I got the word on Bag End; it’s such a key part of my sound.