A better sound ?

I've done direct and by mic here at home.  Each has a place.  It really depends upon the guitarist.  Guitar rig on a well-recorded guitar part works fine for most songs.  And as you suppose, it is a lot more trouble (and loud!) to mic an amp.

From your avatar I guess you play the guitar, so it is basically up to your style.  Some guys need their amp and know exactly how to use it.  That works great, and the v-20 and a 57 ought to do a good job capturing it.  MOre exoteric gear would be nice, but not necessary.  On the other hand I've just plugged direct w/ some guys and it is nice to control the "tone" via guitar rig or other sim.

I guess I"m not helping w/ the above - but basically having the amp option would be good.  You might find you like guitar rig better, but you can still practice w/ the amp if you don't use it record.

@

And if I had my druthers I'd have a Hi-Watt 100W, an original 5150 (both with their matching bottom cabs) and a Fender Twin. That would pretty cover pretty much anything I wanted to do guitar wise. However that's thousands of dollars worth of gear and to get the full tone out of each I'd have the cops here in no time. I miss having an actual soundroom.

Guitarhacker


I guess I'm halfway in between that. 

I have both the sims and real a real amp. 

The amp is often too loud in the house, the sims don't sound good to me so I don't use them.

I do use a POD2... Modeled sounds with outputs that feed direct to the interface and sounds are reasonable live and recorded.  Love my POD2

         I had a POD2 and sold it, again I thought the sound just wasn't there, close but not quite, I know millions of guitar players 
         use it, but I'm looking to get a full, real sound (I know that's subjective) a modern guitar sound, similar to a chimes sound !
                 

This is a tough question to answer, given the answer is so subjective to the individual.  Guitar amp sims have come a long way and depending on the type of tones you're looking for - they can be quite useful.  If you're looking for super high gain or super clean - some amp sims can pull those off relatively well.  If you're looking for a warm, organic, vintage tube sound, that may be more challenging IMO.

Personally, I have both, but always wind up mic'ing up my cabinets for permanent tracks.  I use various amp sims while I'm working out solos, because they're easier and quicker than mic'ing up a cabinet - playing around with mic positioning for an hour to get teh right tone (Mic position is SO important and makes a huge difference.  Improper positioning can make your amp sound terrible) - whereas an amp sim is just plugin and go.  SIMs are also tremendously flexible to listen back - changing settings, changing amps, changing EQ, Gain, effects, etc to see what works with your tune.  Whereas with a mic'd up cab, you can obviously add effects and EQ, etc.. but you're not gonna get a track recorded with a cranked up high gain Marshall to suddenly sound like a chimey Fender, which  you can do with an amp sim.  Once I work out what kind of sound works for that particular tune, I then record my amp for the final take.

That said, amp sims just don't cut it for me.  No matter how much I try, they still sound like sims and don't have the warmth and harmonic depth of a true amp and cabinet.  Ultimately you should try both and see how you feel.

Hope that helps.
Russ

Guitarhacker


I guess I'm halfway in between that. 

I have both the sims and real a real amp. 

The amp is often too loud in the house, the sims don't sound good to me so I don't use them.

I do use a POD2... Modeled sounds with outputs that feed direct to the interface and sounds are reasonable live and recorded.  Love my POD2

 
This is exactly where I am with recording guitar. My POD X3 gets the bulk of the load, but I also use real amps on occasion. I can usually dial in anything I want with the POD. I did have a problem with clean headroom on the POD and POD2, but with the X3 that problem no longer exists for me.

If you want a real sound... use a real amp and learn the proper ways to mike it up. 

I have heard some pretty amazing guitar sounds with all sorts of real amps from the huge stacks miked up to using a tiny Pignose amp with a 57 stuck in the grill. 

I like the POD because I'm lazy. Not having to deal with setup of mics and waiting till the house is quiet is a real plus in my book. 

I agree with CJ in #11.... excellent point. The same guitar, sounding the same, will not sound the same in many cases in two different songs. Same thing with plugs... I ALWAYS have to tweeze something in the sound to get my guitar to set properly in a mix from one song to the next.