6L6GC STR-448, 445, 443, and 441...

[rarebitusa]

but none of them are really matching the response of a real speaker.

Yes been my experience to this point as well.

 

[bandit2013]

Removing the cone will not work, The spider may suspend the VC a bit but it will not prevent it from crashing into the magnet.

Recording from a speaker and mic is an art not all of us seem to understand. I have had issues when running more than one amp/cab and not having a proper sound on both. Could be the amp and cab closer to me is easier to dial in and I lose the reference for the other.

I have tried the SM57 direct with a TASCAM digital recorder, no mater what I did, that microphone colored the tone or sound was just not on par with what I wanted. That is when I got the Rivera Rock Crusher Recording attenuator. I was either overdriving the mixer input or having some issues with tone. That helped. It was not until I went from an electronic drum set to an acoustic drum set that required a full mixer and many microphones to capture each drum. That is when I discovered that some dynamic mics do not do well when there are condenser mics in the mix and phantom power is used. Bought a Focusrite Scarlette Octo Pre dynamic compressor. Never thought that would make a huge difference for recording guitar with an SM57. No need for a load box as I can do the close mic thing, run it into the Scarlette preamp and set the dynamic compression after adjusting the amps output level. That in itself got me so close to capturing the real sound I was hearing.

I then figured out the trick to use the TASCAM mixer to send to another recorder Zoom handheld unit as it had a proper output for direct insertion to my video camera. If I have the amps and cabs at the same level it works great. No more having to delete the sound track from the video and trying to synchronize the recording from the digital recorder. No DAW program either. This actually worked out great.

I was just noodling around so my playing is not at its best. Trying to match the JP2C and the BAD 100. JP2C had the STR443 tubes which I was not all that impressed with. Badlander was all stock running with the EL34 tubes. I did use the focusrite Scarlette Octo-pre and two SM57 on each cab, also blended in the Sennheiser e609 mics (not really needed). Getting the right position on the cone on the Vertical 212 is ideal but did what I could to have them located the same and at the same angle. Very close to what I am hearing in the room. There was no post processing of the sound, I may have cut the video short in places but that was it. This was just a demo comparing the two amps. Not trying to create any music here. Trust me, I have no interests in doing this, was curious to see how they compare in recording.

 

[GJgo]

What are you using these days?

For the album tone we settled on a blend of E609 at unity & SM7B at -7.5dB, NOT boosted.


This demo I did the other day is those two with just a little SM57 sprinkled in (-30dB).


If you just want a simple answer & move on- for metal go with STR445, for anything else go with SRT448. Just be careful of your colors, you CAN go too hot or too cold depending on the amp. I prefer a floor of around 23mA and a ceiling of around 38 mA for Class A/B and maybe raise that by 7 mA for Class A.

 

[rarebitusa]

For the album tone we settled on a blend of E609 at unity & SM7B at -7.5dB, NOT boosted

That was a worthwhile in the mix comparison. I'm not a metal player per say but even so that outlined the differences and I can extrapolate from there. Thanks for sharing.

 

[DECEMBER]

I ended up getting a pair of STR-441 and a pair of STR-445. Here's a comparison I did:

Mesa/Boogie 6L6GC power tube comparison. Mark V on 90W, ch 3 Mk IV mode. EMG 81X, drop-C. EQ in the loop. Recorded direct from the slave out into a mix of 5 IRs (per channel, double-tracked stereo) I made of my speakers (MC-90 + V30 left, Jensen Tornado Stealth 80 + V30 right).
The only thing that changes is the power tubes. A rimshot indicates a tube change. Order is:
1: 4 STR-440
2: Inner 2 STR-441, Outer 2 STR-445
3: Inner 2 STR-445, Outer 2 STR-441
4: Inner 2 STR-441, Outer 2 STR-440
5: Inner 2 STR-440, Outer 2 STR-441
6: Inner 2 STR-445, Outer 2 STR-440
7: Inner 2 STR-440, Outer 2 STR-445

I think the biggest difference is between the first two.