Audio engineer guitar players...

[studio-c]

I tried #3. The results were good.

https://youtu.be/l3uDj5s05A8

I’m a bit surprised that people not wanting to color a guitarist’s sound would actually take his amp out of the equation. That’s much bigger of an issue than mic selection or placement. If he has a vintage Marshall and you’re coming off his pedal board, you’re missing much of what he is hearing and what he likes about his sound.

For bass maybe, for guitar, if they’re depending on the amp sound, I wouldn’t touch it, unless he uses his amp in absolute clean mode and depends on the pedal board for all of his tone.

[Cary B. Cornett]

I’m a bit surprised that people not wanting to color a guitarist’s sound would actually take his amp out of the equation. That’s much bigger of an issue than mic selection or placement. If he has a vintage Marshall and you’re coming off his pedal board, you’re missing much of what he is hearing and what he likes about his sound.

For bass maybe, for guitar, if they’re depending on the amp sound, I wouldn’t touch it, unless he uses his amp in absolute clean mode and depends on the pedal board for all of his tone.

For bass, the amp sound might not be as big a deal unless the player goes for extreme settings as an important part of his tone, so DI for that might be OK.

For guitar, even with a clean sound (maybe especially with a clean sound), the tone imparted by the speaker can be important to the overall color of the instrument. If you don't have time to consult with the player, the best quick safe answer is mic the amp.