Before I start, I need to say that the music played is heavy modern rock with a little commercial twist. Think Tool and Dream Theater meet the Foo Fighters! We like to be complex and heavy, but we like it when most people (not just musicians) can relate to what we are trying to express...there is always a line between the two. sometimes we can combine them, sometimes one side wins over the other.
Here is a basic view of the signal path
Guitar out into a 3 way splitter. A/B/C
A- feeds a tri/290 rig and a recto 4x12 closed mic off the cone and off center with a Royer 121.
B- feeds any number of other boogie rigs like a Quad/295 with 2x12 open back cabs and another matched pair Royer 121. It could also go into the rectifier recording pre instead of the Quad and the out to the amp and cab as mentioned above. Sometimes I'll run the recto pre direct as it was designed to do. Sometimes putting a mic on the Subway Rocket at low volume produces awesome results, or unplugging the speaker and lighting up another recto 4x12 with the little bad boy also works well.
C- I don't always use 3 chains, but sometimes I'll run into the Fractal Axe-FX II and come out in digital direct to the board. This digital box is pretty amazing on it's own, but I need tubes, and a lot of 'em
Two or three of these chains will be mixed together. Or, I'll simply use one if I like it better than a mix of 2 or 3. I like to remain constant whenever possible, but sometimes the song calls for something different because of other production things going on, like a bass track needing to be larger, or the other guitarist's production choices.
An important thing to note is mic placement. I like to use the matched pair of 121's that I have, the Royer ribbon sound is organic, but brutal! I like to close mic about a few inches off the grill, hit the outside of the speaker, not the cone and then tilt the mic downward or diagonally off-axis so the highs don't rip my face off, and I don't have to do what I refer to as "salvage EQ" later on. It is wildly important to get the best possible native sound and not have to correct it later with EQ, rather enhance it with EQ. I used to use a combination of a 414 with a 421 or 421 with a 57, but after I got the Royers I never looked back. One mic per cab and I find a great sound quickly and no phase issues to correct later on. I must be the only idiot on the planet who never liked the sound of a 57 alone.
Another important thing to note is the mic preamps used. They can color your sound just as much as the amp you plug your guitar into. In the studio, we have Avalons, Grace, and some other cool boxes, but the one I have been stuck to is the Chandler Limited TG-2 Abbey Road Special Edition. There is no EQ on it, it is just 2 channels of fatness. The Avalons are awesome for a more "sterile" (not in a bad way) sound, and I like them better for acoustic. But when it comes to crunch guitar, the Chandler rule supreme.
I like to use the Avalon mastering compressor on the guitars from time to time. I also like the Waves SSL collection for EQ and compression too if I can't get my grubby little paws on the Pultec.
As far as effects go, I use my Eventide Eclipse, and the Eventide Anthology plugin which pretty much has every Eventide box ever made in one package. Also to note there are some cool things inside Waves GTR3, especially for layering clean and semi broken up parts. They have some modern effects that give the guitar a bigger sonic landscape and provide me with production ideas that I had not considered.
I'd be interested in hearing what everyone else likes to do.
