Would anyone advise against using a large diaphragm condenser mic for recording electric guitars? (a Samson CO3)

Is that something could that potentially damage the mic?

I would be mic'ing a mesa tube amp and NOT using a lot of gain.
I have read about placing the mic at a further distance when using a condenser for mic'ing the cabinet for more or a room sound and using
a dynamic mic for the close up.

Is it just a matter of making sure the SPL level is low enough and if so is that something that I'll be able to hear through my headphones? i.e. If it is distorted or to hot a signal, then I should turn the amp down or move the mic further from the source? Or is it possible that it could as though it is at a good level but still be doing damage to the mic.

Thanks all

my rule of thumb is that if it hurts your ears then it cant be good for the mic, mainly because a good microphone should be able to withstand the same spl our ears can which i believe is around 20,000 pascals (Pa) i may be wrong though but it should be ok as long as your not being stupid with the volume, it should have something about the limitations in the manual anyway so give it a quick read through.

Thanks - I ended up buying a dynamic mic and will save the condenser for vocals which it's been better for.



I think that I will go w/ the condenser mic to mic the room when I'm using the amp - just not on the grille.

Thanks for the info tho!!

yeah man thats alot better to do especially for recording distorted guitars, if you have a spare dynamic try using both, the most common method is to place one touching the center of the cone and then to place another angled towards the center of the cone from one side so it is parallel with the cones angle. that way you get the sound coming from the front and also how it would sound spreading from the sides. also if you want some really heavy sounds try sticking one at the back of the cab to get the lower end frequencies, hope it helps and you get some good sounds

simple solution is use 1 sm57 and find the sweet spot of the speaker and stick the mic there (which is about the same size as an SM57). If you need a thicker sound, record a second track.

i've found that sticking a SM57 at the front of an amp (i.e. fender blues) slightly off axis to the centre of the cone, while placing a large diaphragm condenser at the open backing pointing towards the speaker about 2-3'' away picks up the brightness at the front, and big low end tones at the back...

room mics never hurt as well!