Gear is supposed to arrive today!
I have been wanting an electric guitar amp for a long time. I want to do an entry where I compare sims to a tiny amp.
I also got a ribbon mic coming with it. I have been wanting a ribbon mic for guitars for a while. Finally coming today. Ribbons naturally roll-off high frequencies making them sound warm. They also have a fantastic range and unique shape to them. It helps to see a figure 8 when thinking Ribbon mic. They utilize that pattern for their range of picking up sound. It makes a huge difference. I have loved guitar a long time. Ribbon mics have been on the list since I’ve had recording gear. Finally getting one of my own.
The amp is a 4 watt VOX AC4C1 Limited Edition. 1 cute little EL84 tube. My favorite lead tone for a long time has been “l Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” by Blood Sweat & Tears. I learned a while back that sound is actually a tiny amp and good mic. I’m in the ballpark with the VOX AC41. The rest is in the fingers.
Blood Sweat & Tears is a cool band, by the way.
Blood Sweat & Tears is an interesting band with Al Kooper on this first album. He left, then they got David-Clayton Thomas. I watched a documentary about them touring Eastern Europe during the Cold War set up by the US government. Folks thought they were “uncool.” I love them. It’s called, “What the Hell Happened to Blood Sweat and Tears?”
They are a fun band to read about and listen to. And yeah, back on their first record, they nailed the guitar tone I like. Cool band.
Little amp big sound.
“Tiny amp huge sound,” is something I’ve been wanting to explore for a long time. I’m very excited, especially with the ribbon mic coming too.
Ribbons have a darker character to them that is often what I want for guitars. My goal lately is to work toward making sounds I like and capturing them. I don’t want to fiddle around all day on a mouse and keyboard until something sounds passable. I want to record a sound I like already, so I don’t have to mess with it so much. Ribbon is going to help there.
Key here:
New goals for me in recording.
I’m recording pleasant sounds so the computer work is kept to a minimum. I don’t enjoy mixing as much when I have to alter the recorded sound to an unrecognizable state from when it started. I hope to be more like the photographer in a sense I want to capture the moment, not beef up someone’s headphone escape ruining tunes with superfluous mixing.
I realize most folks won’t know. I realize it’s more expensive. I realize I’ll probably suck at first. I’m still pretty excited, none-the-less. Feels great. Like I said, been wanting to do this a long time. Tube amps and ribbon mics make me hawt.
Engineering is about mixing your brain and equipment for maximum results.
I’ve found going back to BS&T’s time that they used gadgets for a designed purpose, and some for a side job they did well that wasn’t in the manual. That’s ingenuity. I like when that’s going on. Tiny amp huge sound is a part of that. Ingenuity going on when mail arrives. Pretty stoked. I’ll make an entry comparing sims to the amp for fun. That would help me learn it anyway. Happy Friday.
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