Recording amps?

G

Grizzly_Diesel

New member
So I've been researching small "micro" amps for some time now. I am thinking there gonna be the best bang for my buck when it comes to recording and for gigging at friends house and small shows. i narrowed my choices to the bugera g5 infinium and the Hughes and Kettner tubemeister. unfortunately no music stores within 50 miles of me have either of these amps in stock to test drive. has anyone had any experience or gotten the chance to test drive one of these bad boys?
 
Re: Recording amps?

Unfortunately, no.

My main amps, however are 2W and 5W respectively and I can tell you from experience that gigging w 2W is JUST this side of unfeasible even with super efficient speakers. And 5W will be the same volume level as 2W.

However, combining them was just fine for small gigs.

So my advice is to look for something in the 12-15W range that can be scaled down for home/recording use.
 
Re: Recording amps?

You can record with any amp. The real question is the recording environment. Is it soundproof enough?
At gigs, a micro amp wont cut it because you will get swamped by the drums.
The solution is a small but portable amp. Something along the lines of a blues junior, or deluxe reverb for a fatter tone. Or if you prefer your tones marshallesque then perhaps an 18 watter.
There are pros all over the world using pedals to get a really nice overdrive tone with amps that have enough headroom for pretty much any gigging or recording situation.
Dont get too hung up on the "power tube saturation" thing.
There is nothing wrong with turning down the master on any amp and using a pedal of choice for grind at whatever volumes you need.

Also dont forget that you dont have to be tied in to using one amp for everything. There are plenty of great "in the box" solutions for direct to hard drive recording such as amplitube and guitar rig if you are under serious noise restrictions. You can keep your nice amp for live use.
 
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Re: Recording amps?

I have the 18w Tubemiester, it's okay. It has plenty of volume for gigging, and the silent recording is good, but it's tone is just ok, a little stiff and fizzy especially at lower volumes, through a decent 2x12 or 4x12 with the volume cranked up it sounds pretty good. Changing preamp tubes helped a little, haven't changed the El84s yet but it may help.
it might be worth the wait for one of the new Peavey Classic or 6505 micros
 
Re: Recording amps?

i have a bugera 333xl infinium that i use for jam sessions and gigging. but its not cutting it for recording. i want something mainly for jamming at a buddys house with a 1x12 or playing in a small bar for example with a mic'ed 1x12. i had the 18 watt H&K and the distortion just didnt cut it. im playing down tuned metal. i now have a good overdrive pedal that i think would complement the H&K nicely but its $600. i saw the h&k 5 watt for $300 and figured it would work well for what i want. plus it has an emulated XLR DI. so thats always a plus where as the bugera g5 doesnt have the XLR its just 1/4".
 
Re: Recording amps?

Grizzly_Diesel said:
i have a bugera 333xl infinium that i use for jam sessions and gigging. but its not cutting it for recording. i want something mainly for jamming at a buddys house with a 1x12 or playing in a small bar for example with a mic'ed 1x12. i had the 18 watt H&K and the distortion just didnt cut it. im playing down tuned metal. i now have a good overdrive pedal that i think would complement the H&K nicely but its $600. i saw the h&k 5 watt for $300 and figured it would work well for what i want. plus it has an emulated XLR DI. so thats always a plus where as the bugera g5 doesnt have the XLR its just 1/4".
Click to expand...

Listen, if you want to record guitar using an XLR instead of using a mic, then it would be much cheaper to just buy a USB audio interface for your computer. You can just plug the guitar directly into a good interface, problem solved. You will find all sorts of amp/cab and effects emulations with almost any recording software these days.

IMO though, if you are buying an amp to gig/play at a buddy's house anyway, then disregard the need for an XLR option on the amp. I only record using a mic on my tube amps for example. I doubt any tube amp out there has an XLR on it because it would defeat the purpose of capturing the amp's sound. If you absolutely have to record late at night or keep the volume down to have happy neighbors then just buy a good USB interface and call it a day.
 
Re: Recording amps?

Any tube amp + load -> FX Out -> Computer In -> Power Amp Sim -> IR Cabinet
 
Re: Recording amps?

Mesa has the dual Recto pre-amp, which is a recording preamp, thats what you want, is a pre-amp i think. Plus the Mesa Dual recto preamp can be run straight into an amp for traditional rack mount dual Rectifer . Not sure what other com[paneies offer a recording preamp.
i've hear that the entire amp likie a Dual rectifier head will always be better than a pre amp/ power amp , but I am totally considering the Dual R$ecto preamp to run into my 120x2 watt Peavey tube rack mount amp.
 
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Re: Recording amps?

Grizzly_Diesel said:
i have a bugera 333xl infinium that i use for jam sessions and gigging. but its not cutting it for recording. i want something mainly for jamming at a buddys house with a 1x12 or playing in a small bar for example with a mic'ed 1x12. i had the 18 watt H&K and the distortion just didnt cut it. im playing down tuned metal. i now have a good overdrive pedal that i think would complement the H&K nicely but its $600. i saw the h&k 5 watt for $300 and figured it would work well for what i want. plus it has an emulated XLR DI. so thats always a plus where as the bugera g5 doesnt have the XLR its just 1/4".
Click to expand...

Before I had the 18w H&K I had a 5w, the 18 is better if you didn't like it I wouldn't recommend the 5. knowing it's down tuned metal, I would definitely have to recommend the 6505 Mini's even if it means waiting for them to hit the stores. It has the mic simulated direct out, switchable 20w, 5w, 1w, silent output. It looks like it will be a killer little amp.
 
Re: Recording amps?

i was not aware that peavy was coming out with a 6505 mini. I am definitely gonna have to look into that. and as far as the H&K goes. i bought the 18 before before i bought my bugera. i didn't have the "right" setup so to speak for my taste. the tubemeister 36 at my local guitar center kicks ass. to my understanding the 18 was a down sized 36. so i figured with my current setup the 5 or even the 18 would work in my favor. and i ordered a focus right 2i4 a couple days ago so ill have a decent interface to work with.
 
Re: Recording amps?

I like the focusrite interfaces. I have one and they have plenty of gain on each channel for recording. Great choice!
 
Re: Recording amps?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/6505PlusMiniH

As for the H&K, I wanted the 5 so I went to the local GC to see if they had one, they didn't so I tried the 18 and really liked it. So I ordered the 5w hoping for the same sound, but I didn't really care for the tone of the 12BH7 power tube compared to the El84s, so I returned it and got the 18w, plus I can take it to gigs if I don't feel like hauling my bigger amps around. I will slightly amend my previous review, I bought a Marshall Sl5 not long after the H&K and loved it and started finding things I didn't like about the Tubemiester, however, lately I've started using the H&k again and now I like it more than the Marshall.
 
Re: Recording amps?

All these lunchbox amps are *not* for recording IMHO.

They are for actual playing without getting too loud.

If you record through a speaker simulator anyway it doesn't matter how powerful the original amp is.
 
Re: Recording amps?

uOpt said:
All these lunchbox amps are *not* for recording IMHO.

They are for actual playing without getting too loud.
Click to expand...
Huh? I'm confused. :)

The best recordings are when your amp hits the sweet spot; this is often too loud for home playing/recording, which is where the entire low wattage amp revolution came from, I believe.

This also sounds like you have never played through a really killer low wattage amp, like a Swart, Dr Z, or East.

If you record through a speaker simulator anyway it doesn't matter how powerful the original amp is.
Click to expand...
There is a vast difference in the clean headroom/recorded volume of low wattage head vs a high wattage one.
 
Re: Recording amps?

I am talking about full speaker simulation. Obviously in that case you can drive any wattage amp as much as you like.

Replacing the higher wattage amp you like with a lower amp you might or might not like better doesn't improve the situation, no?
 
Re: Recording amps?

Im not running it through any speaker simulator. im looking for an emulated di on the amp for easy recording. no mics necessary so to speak. i know recording with a mic and cab is better, a truer sound. but i dont want to mess with all that right now.
 
Re: Recording amps?

Grizzly_Diesel said:
Im not running it through any speaker simulator. im looking for an emulated di on the amp for easy recording. no mics necessary so to speak. i know recording with a mic and cab is better, a truer sound. but i dont want to mess with all that right now.
Click to expand...

Emulated cabs on amps are still way behind the times. If you're recording into a computer, you really need to use a power amp sim and cabinet IRs. There are plenty of free ones available, so there's no extra cost involved.
 
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