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Moving to a smaller home studio in three weeks, I'm looking at ways to record big guitar tones without making a ruckus. I was thinking of going with a Fractal Audio AxeFX II, but spending some time on the Fractal boards led me to conclude that it was not the panacea it's made out to be: steep learnin curve, still not perfect, very expensive.

So I decided to try a Palmer PGA-04, which turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. I can't get it to clean up... It's gritty no matter how I set it. I've tried both the balanced and unbalanced outputs in both mic and line inputs, even running the output through a JDI direct box, and no joy. It sounded good with relatively high-gain sounds, but I can't get a decent clean sound to save me.

What are YOU guys using for low-volume electric guitar recording?

Sorry that this is a rec sans experience, but the hand-wired version of the Vox AC4 might just be the ticket for you. Unlike the non hard-wired version, it has a full-sized speaker; it's just low wattage and a small cabinet profile. I tried it at Bananas at Large in San Rafael and if I find I have trouble recording my hand-wired AC15 at usable volumes I may get one.

The Vox AC-series -- even the regular consumer version -- is impossible to dial a bad sound, and is easy to play clean or broken up, with a very smooth transition between the two. I find it the easiest and most flexible amp to work with of all, at different volumes, but of course I'm not going to claim it's ideal for stuff like NuMetal. It's versatile enough for country, pop, rock, etc.

Heavy-duty steamer trunk containing a small cab and microphone. Amp head outside the trunk. Small hole drilled in the trunk for the speaker cable. A couple layers of rubber exercise mats under the trunk to help keep the bass frequencies from traveling through the floor and walls.
It's a cheap iso cab that really keeps the sound down unless I crank it.
Sure, there are some resonances to deal with, and experimenting with mic placement and EQ have gotten pretty good results. I've also tried one of those mic stand-mounted shields that are sold to help isolate vocals, and I think it helps tame the sound bouncing around inside the trunk.

Mike, I've been curious about an ISO box. No point in searching the Internet for info, as there are an equal number of "works great" and "sounds boxy" posts. I have a friend who designs custom boxes for theater and church installs, and he's pretty good at figuring out how to configure baffles and damping in Oder to get the frequencies he wants from a box that has to fit a drain space. I should ask him. Thanks for the input.

I've been there a few months ago, Gravity Jim.

I've had pretty good results with Palmer PDI-09 box.
Different options, such as level and tone are available.

In my own experimentations, DDI-09 mellow setting is the way to go, but setting a 4kHz 12db/oct low-pass helps much in achieving a somewhat realistic cabinet sounding.
Serious bass boost around 100Hz and below may be needed in some cases, though.

In any live situations it gives me much better results over any poor miking.

BTW I've had very good results with a standard high quality DI and a 3kHz 24dB/oct low-pass.
In case you don't acces to a 24dB/oct low-pass, of course you may chain two 12dB/oct low-pass.
Bass boosting may help here, too.

In my experience these two work well with line and speaker level signals.
Speaker signals may exhibit some nice compression though.

Good luck, Jim! My main recommendation, if you're thinking of making your own ISO cab, is to not try to make it too small. Err on the side of too large. This may help avoid any of the boxy sound as well as allowing you more flexibility for mic placement (and possibly acoustic treatment, if you feel you need to adjust it).

I've got a Hughes Ketner Tubemeister head, built in power soak with an XLR output that works for me.

Post Script: I ended up taking Mike Beck's approach and converted half a closet into a giant ISO box. Not completely isolated, but the neighbors can't hear me and it sounds great.

I have two cabs in the "box" - an Egnater Celestion-loaded closed-back single 12" sitting on top of a oversized Mojo Eminence-loaded open-back single 12" - both facing a Sontronics ribbon mic I totally love for guitar cabs. The Egnater head sits on top of a deskside rack, my pedals sit right in front of that rack. Each cab has its own cable, which are routed under the closet door and behind the rack, where they hang on a special clip I made to hold them. Plug in, turn on, fire up the mic, and whammo. This closet actually sounds better than guitars did in my old live room, and the whole thing is as convenient as a modeler, with the advantage of letting me use my fave dirt pedals and all the programs I have stored in my Line 6 M13. Could not be happier. Best sounding guitars I ever got.

Welcome to California, Jim!

Thanks, HC! We are loving it so much.

We had to move recently to, and though it was under duress and with almost zero notice, it was all for the better as we are MUCH better set up now for recording than in the old place, and the house even has better acoustics as it has a basement (unlike most houses in California), allowing for more natural resonance of the wood floors.

One of the things we did that was very affordable and helped tremendously was to put up those acoustic curtains everywhere. It's amazing how just two layers of them can block so much sound from the neighbors and simultaneously remove standing waves from the acoustical space.

I recommend these even at lower recording volumes, but you probably already have your solution implemented by now. Still, this would be a good "upgrade" path later on.

M, I had a basement with a big control and live room with vocal booth in the last house... But, incredibly, my guitar tracks sound better recorded in this closet than ever before! It works great, and overall I really like working in this smaller space. Makes me more productive, more focused.

Awesome choice with the ISO box. I want one. Just to follow up on the thread for others that may read it in the future, I have been using the Radikal JDX for live gigging purposes and found the sound to be nearly identical to what was coming out of my 2x12. Slightly brighter, but a bit of EQ applied, identical. Its similar to the Palmer, but does require the real cab hooked up.

That being said I am thinking about getting that new Mesa Boogie box that doesn't require a real cab, can be run totally silent, soaks it all up.

Anyway, an ISO box is really the way to go if you have an amp setup you love, no doubt!

dewdman42 wrote:the Radikal JDX

You mean Radial JDX?

yes meant radial