Is it just me or do Greenbacks not record well via SM 57s/58s/7Bs?

[Peaj]

My 4x12 with G12EVH Heritage Greenbacks is a great sounding cab, but I'm finding more that 57s and it's close relatives do not do it justice. I cannot seem to get a great sound out of that combo, it's always kind of stiff sounding, filtering out the good qualities of that speaker. It's not a dislike of 57s/its close cousins, because by contrast, V30s and 57s/58s/7Bs seem to be a perfect match, it's a set-and-forget combo, you can lazily throw a Sure Dynamic mic on a v30 with minimal effort and get something usable.

I've noticed the same thing when watching YouTube demos of Greenback loaded cabinets, a single 57 on a GB always comes off nasal and stiff. The mic I use most on my cab is my Royer R10, which does a much better job of capturing the rich midrange of the speaker. If I wanna throw a double mic on a guitar track, rather than mic the same cab with a second mic, I'll run into my other 4x12 with X pattern T75 and V30s simultaneously and get that "57 top sizzle" from the other speaker and blend the two speakers.

What mics does everyone else use to mic Greenies?

[beaubrummels]

Axis / placement makes a big difference.

Put a 57 up against the grill and straight into the seam of the cone for Slash / lead tone.

Aim it at the sidewall of the speaker to soften the mids.

Aim it at the outer seam for rhythm tone. Alternatively, a Sennheiser E609 up against the grill and on the outer seam is a great scooped rhythm tone.

Another option is back the 57 away from the cab about 1-1.5 feet, and experiment with off-axis from the cone of the speaker, like dead center on the cab but not centered on one cone (assuming a 4 x 12 here)

If you have one, a U87 a couple feet back from the cab is a great all around celestion sound.

If you can’t get a good sound with any of these suggestions, I would start looking at different preamplification for the mic. It might not be the 57 that is letting you down.

[Rex_Rocker]

I've never found it hard to mic my Creambacks or the old G12EVH's I had in the cab before. Honestly, the same standard edge-of-the-dustcap position worked just fine to my ears.

Only "problem" I've had is they seem to be considerably fatter in the lows and low mids to V30's. But I just dial in the amp accordingly.

They're not as "familiar-sounding" under the mic, I'll give you that. But they sound great. Just a slightly raspier rather than bitey top-end compared to V30's. And more growly.

Now mic'ing a K100 or a T75 or something with a large dustcap... that can be more challenging.

[Bogner]

It's just you.

[LLL]

Countless legendary guitar tones came from a Greenback+SM57.

You might want to to re-think your mic preamp.

[GuitarStv]

Greenback + SM57 is a great combo!

I agree with other posters - fix your mic placement. Even changing positioning a quarter inch can make a significant difference. In my opinion, good mic placement is more important than preamps or even mic used.

[Demanic]

Large diaphragm condenser 3-4' off the cab.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

[beaubrummels]

The other possibility is the Greenbacks aren't broken in. They can sound stiff and murky/unclear if they are brand new.

[Demanic]

I love breaking in new speakers.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

[Ewizard]

A consideration perhaps. What the sound you get in the room that you are happy with, is not the same as the sound at the speaker. Think about it. When was the last time you listened to your guitar can with your head smashed against the grill? Probably never. So if you listen to the speaker just like a mic would, you can adjust the EQ to suit that listening position. The mic, for the most part, will take on the sound that is experienced at the listening position in which the mic is placed. If you are going to place the mic 1' away from the cab, you need to adjust the EQ of the cab to make that position sound good.

My approach is this:

A) Get a sound that I like hearing while playing in the room.
B) Place the mic and record or monitor the sound from another location.
C) Adjust the mic position until you get the best result you can.
D) Adjust the amplifiers EQ to polish the sound a little more.

Doing it this way should get you pretty close, pretty quick. It is mostly the mindset we have when we play. Without the bass guitar, we often utilize too much bass frequencies to make the guitar sound YUGE. With destructive interference, distance, and dampening, we also tend to have a bit too much highs than is needed. And then to get that warm nestled in feeling, we tend to scoop the mids out to help enhance the lows and highs. When you place a microphone right up on the grill, you get a crap ton of highs, a bunch of lows, and the mids just don't balance. The trick is to have only just enough bass content to make the guitar sound full, just enough highs so it doesn't sound muffled and try and leave the mids alone unless it is required to achieve the sound of the genre. Country has lots of mids, death metal has very little mids. It also helps to track the part with the other instruments playing. If the drums and bass are pretty well dialed in and the guitar is just a woofy mess in the mix, then you have some work to do.

The trick is to get the sound right at the source. Not fix it later down the chain. If the instrument sounds good initially, then micing it should be pretty simple and little placement and EQ tweaks to the guitar amp should get you 90% of the way there. If you can get to 95% or so of the desired sound before you do anything in the DAW, you are sitting pretty good.

[Rex_Rocker]

G12EVH's in an EVH 412 sound pretty good mic'd with a 57 here.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Ribbon mics do a great job at getting a warmer sound. SM57 is great at getting a more biting one. This is why they are often combined when recording electric guitars. If you’re not reamping, self-recording guitar parts can be a real drag.

I agree with the thoughts above: the first step is to make sure you have a decent, controlled space to record in. Then find the best spot in that space. Then experiment with various mics if you have that luxury; they will all pick up the room to varying degrees. The ratio of room:direct sound will have a much bigger influence on how the guitar sounds relative to the rest of the instruments than the microphone used.

[GuitarStv]

You want a bit of that bite when recording a greenback, they're a kinda mellow speaker on their own.