Recording device for amplifier

[9VOLT1967]

I am shopping for a recording device to capture my amplifiers. My budget is around $300.00. Does anyone have any experience with these recorders? I am looking at the Zoom Q3HD and the Olympus LS-20M HD. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[billyz]

I have a Zoom H2 , it is pretty good. Light on the low end though. I think a better mic and pre to it would sound much better.

[Structo]

Do you need it to record video as well?

[sliberty]

I have a Tascam DR-07MKII, and I am really happy with it. It cost me $129 on sale ($149 reg price at GC). The built in mics work well, and the battery life is pretty darn good (about 7 hours on Alkalines).

My previous recorder was an m-audio Microtrak 2496. It recorder decently, but the battery life sucked (2 hours on non-replaceable rechargeable) and you needed a 10db pad to bring the mic levels down low enough so that it would not clip.

I use them for recording my band rehearsals, and also for throwing down in front of an amp when I am noodling and want to "remember" anything cool I come up with (which is rare ).

[Cliff Schecht]

I use a Sony Professional tape recorder and a Audio Technica stereo mic that can be phantom powered by the tape deck. Best sounding audio recorder I've used for live situations and impromptu jams. Tape is cheap, the battery life is good and the audio and stereo image that the recorder makes with a good mic placement is titties for me. Also the built in dB/battery meter help get things right and you're still recording in analog . I forget the model but here's a pic:
[img:200:111]http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/resource/audi ... alkman.jpg[/img]

[9VOLT1967]

I would prefer it to do audio and video. I am trying to do you tube videos of my amps. Thanks

[selloutrr]

$300 is going to be a hard to get you a sold audio or video capture let alone both. best advice. Google some reviews for equipment based on price up to $1000 new and then look for it used or refurbished. JVC makes a nice handheld digital camcorder that just got up dated to HiDef so the previous models are selling for cheap.

I'm not a fan of consumer audio devices they try to pack so many features into a price point they forget to make the basic audio capture feature good. most of the down fall of digital is in cheap convertors.

[xtian]

Can you already make good AUDIO recordings of your amp? It's easy to sync audio and video after shooting. I've done this before: put an SM57 on the cone and recorded into Digital Performer, shot video with iPhone, then assembled in Final Cut (or just QuickTime!).

[amplifiednation]

A few years back I was doing a ton of multi track recording with my computer and was asking these same questions. I bought one of those USB interfaces but never got it to work so I returned it, and I'm glad I did.

I would look into a decent condensor mic and just run it into a small mixer with phantom power, then out RCA to 2mm into your line in of the computer. You will be way under $300 and have way more options and a nice simple way to make music.

You can record the room, your amp, or you can line in from your amp or modeler into the mixer directly into the computer.

I'm sure there is a million ways to do this.

Sony Acid 7.0 is a good multitracker program, I have used Acid for years, and the recording program too

[amplifiednation]

Double post

[selloutrr]

Good point but you can go even simpler.
The only reason you needed phantom power (48volts) was to power the condenser microphone. A shure SM57 or dynamic microphone does not require phantom power. You could build or buy a cable that goes from female XLR to balanced or unbalance 1/8" mini so u can interface with the computer directly. If you need more gain Or the computer only excepts line level signal a mixer or stand alone preamp would work.

[Thatch]

A lot of the old portable Ampex pro Reel to Reel had preamp heads that come right out of the recorder. Stereo, uses 2 mikes, is tube and probably just needs a diode to replace the selenium. They sell on the big online auction and maybe still under $300. Tube mike preamps are the way to go since you don't need to turn it back into analog before turning it back into dig. Doing video is beyond me, but there is a lot of very good pro gear that was VHS based that is selling cheap, but if you don't have to lug it around getting the sound on that wide tape is real high quality, but I still don't think I would invest in the cameras and all the power packs and stuff it takes to run that stuff.
My neighbor is a AV guy and he used to have to lug around a couple hundred pounds of stuff to record a deposition for lawyers which is where he gets most of his work. He still uses much more than a hand held but I think his load is about a quarter of what it was 15 years ago when we moved here.
Good luck and most U Tube stuff sounds like a pile so I seldom watch it. Most IPod users probably won't be able to tell, but a musician or audio guy will. Compression is an audio disease.

Thatch

[9VOLT1967]

Well I broke down with a Zoom machine and a sennheiser 609 silver. Feedback is appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6snpZ8QhPA

Thank you all for a great forum!

[kevster]

You need to pick it FASTER, LOL.

It seems to have recorded fine, but it didn't seem very "live" if you know what I mean. Clear and balanced, yet sterile?

Did you use a limiter in front or compress it a bunch?

I'm looking at the 609 myself for an 806 cab I'm building. I'm extending the front of the cab so as to fix mount the mic in the right place. No more "tech" issues because somebody doesn't do it right...

Great playing, do you ever play any REAL thrash? LOL.

[9VOLT1967]

I didnt add any compression or anything. Only watever you tube does automatically. The mic was directly out from the center of cone. I was using a mic pre on a vintage Vestax 4 track recorder. I think it sounds ok. I think I need to hit the studio for raw recordings anyway. Thanks