I recently picked up a Vyper15 for basically screwing around with and I noticed one could, conceivably, record through that....now to me around with the ARP....

Danny - That is great advise about setting the input level. Thank you. Makes total sense now that I think about it. That video would be much appreciated! I have only spent a couple hours trying it out but the sounds it has are pretty amazing. I really like the rack mount chorus. Max - Not trying to hijack your thread here. Trying to get that good guitar sound is exactly the path I am on right now too. Danny has been incredibly helpful in assisting me on this journey. Always receptive to what he has to say. Good luck on getting your sound. Dave

Trimph, is that a bad little amp or what? I soo need to get one. I've been meaning to for quite a while now. Not sure how the 15 sounds, but the bigger ones I've tried ripped my face off with tone. The combo (all tube) 120 and the 120 head were just unreal.

Dave: Yeah I'm hoping to have the vid ready in the next few days. I may even work on it today as I don't have to be at the studio until later tonight. Shouldn't take you long to get the feel for the Head Case suite...but the vid will definitely help you out with a few tips, tricks and I'm even doing some playing in it just to show people what and how it all works. I'm doing it all in real time, so this way the clams, errors, weird inconsistencies will come out as well...so people see that I'm not trying to push this perfect piece or deliver something that's been touched up. I want them to see the things I see when using it in Sonar. Explain the long load time, show some of the imperfections and how to get around them. It's just (to me and to Ken) the human way to go about it. :) I'll let ya know when I got something for you.

-Danny

maximumpower

i'm a firm believer in capturing the sound the way it is coming off the speaker, and the way it sounds in the room.

in other words, a bit of a 'purist' stance on electric guitar capture.

i will tame sharpness or low end with cuts if they need it....
typically, a rolloff around 75hz and cuts from 2k to 4k....


now, in terms of placement in the mix (which also includes time effects).....
i often times print my effects directly off my guitar rig, because that's they way i want them to sound.


but at least half the time, i'm recording the guitars bone dry.

i will add short slap for 'room' effect, or long delays for spacy effect, or plate reverb if i want depth.

but that's it.

usually what you hear of my guitar tracks, is more or less the way it sounded in front of the cab.

Triumph - That Viper 15 is not a tube amp, right? That wattage of amp is what I'm looking for, but I also told myself I would never buy another amp that wasn't a tube amp.. So how close does it come to that warm tube sound?

i think if you want tubes, get tubes


otherwise, just get what sounds good to you.
what's the point in having an emulation of something you can easily get to start with?

What everyone said here is great, and getting it right from the start is key.  

I will add however that often, by the time I'm done "sculpting" the sound into the mix, it sounds quite different (read:  horrible!).  A guitar tone in isolation from a mix will often NOT sound good by itself.  It will not sound like a great guitar tone necessarily.  It will have the bones of a great tone, but not be one.
In the mix, it will sound killer.  Just don't assume that a great tone for playing and listening in isolation is the same tone that will fit neatly into a mix (especially a busy one).

@Danny:...well, from my end here it is huge sounding. There are  lot of rack effects that I'm still mucking around with it and with my little 2x12 cab that I made up with a pair of Eminence speakers...OY....yep...it be doing it's job.

@dxp:  Not tube amp. 

As far as emulation vs real tube is concerned I only got this one simply because the space I'm in is really not all that conducive to the tube amps I've got now...my little Princeton amp is about the biggest that this room will take...otherwise .....

IMO, if you like what you are hearing you will play the part better... one thing for sure, with todays DAW you can do as many tracks as you want. However, if you're paying for studio time I would opt for my tone and volume being where I want it for my ears and leave the rest to the engineer cause.. like I said... I think you'll play better if you're liking the tone and feel of the guitar and amp. It is easier to add than to take away. YMMV.

...and I like Emi speakers too! I have a Texas Heat I really like and two Ragin Cajuns in a Vibrolux that are wonderful with a little tweak to the low end with a Boss Bass EQ pedal.

J

I made a few changes to get my recorded guitar tone up to snuff.

First thing was to get a better quality microphone. I picked up an AKG C-214 and a short, heavy stand.  I need to record sound clips of vintage and original amps. I'm also using an 8 channel tascam mixer from the 70's. It's the new front end for my Quad Capture. This rig is starting to produce some nice sound. I Just picked up a tweed Bandmaster so I think that will be the first project. I want to experiment with sampling and this is sort of my starter kit.

So I have a couple standard dynamics and a couple of cheap, large diaphragm condenser's. That's my budget spent for this year. Good sound clips could bring me more earnings, so I can justify the expense, but I can't let the GAS get out of control.