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So I'm venturing into the world of guitar-amp miking. I've been pretty pleased with my results up until this point. I'm trying to record a fuzzy\distorted guitar. I'll get real specific about my set-up; I've tried either my Strat or PRS Korina (both P90 pick-ups) with a 30w Egnator Tweaker head, a Swollen Pickle Fuzz pedal, out of a 412 Sonic Cab.I have the tone dialed in to a preferable room sound. The amp is full blast but I have the gain turned down considerably. It's certainly fuzzy but nothing overwhelming.The most poignant thing I can say about my tone is that if I tame the fuzz anymore then I might as well not bother with the fuzz at all.At my disposal, I have a E609 and Beta57 for mics and I throw in a large diaphragm condenser just for the hell of it. My room is rather large and acoustically treated in a blankets\ mattress\foam "method to the madness" sort of way.The problem that I'm running into is that I can not contain the fuzz sound when I try to capture the tone. I can't speak for all fuzz pedals but the Swollen Pickle gives the strings and overtones a chunkier tonal quality (which I love). The thickness of the SP works awesome with solos but anything more (like a simple 1-5 power chord) is too much. The sound that I'm getting can be compared to a badly cropped photo: it's just to freaking close and I'm nowhere close to capturing the full picture.I've put the dynamic mics up on the grill and I've backed them off as far way as a foot. I've moved the condenser (Perception 220) anywhere from 3-8ft in front of the cab and I've also put it in the back.The best advice I've got is to "just give up on it". Seriously, the person wasn't being mean, he's saying that pedals such as the Swollen Pickle sound much better live than they do being captured in a studio environment. I'm fine with giving up on this endeavor but not without putting up a fight. Like I said before, I like how my amp is sounding in my room (to my own ears). I know that Steve Albini is famous for capturing instruments the way that they sound in their studio environment. While I by no means expect Albini to personally answer my post, I figured that this was an appropriate forum to turn to for advice. I'm not looking for one magical answer but any helpful suggestion would be much appreciated.

I think I can help you, but what do you exactly mean by the "full picture?" As in.. the full picture of the sound of the room? If you're pleased with the way the amp sounds in the room have your buddy play the guitar and walk around the room where it sounds good. Which is completely, if "good" is bass heavy or really roomy, or whatever, do whatever makes you happy. Put a mic (condenser preferably) there, and keep walking around the room, find another spot in the room and put a similar or the same mic there. If you can, put a pair of headphones on while your buddy continues to play and move around the close mics until it pleases you, make sure it's in phase, or out of phase if that's the thing you're going for. Blend until it makes you happy. Happy Recording.

Move the mic closer to the pedal.

Their is also the "Tech Room" section on this board. Actually, a board member found that a loop pedal with a blend helped to maintain definition when using a seriously fuzzy pedal(Tonebender).

These guys love fielding questions like this -http://messageboard.tapeop.com/Sign up/search/post a thread with your question in the "Recording Techniques" section. It's a treasure trove of recording information.

I know some people here might not go this route, but I'd try a good DI box for really fuzzy guitar. I would never record clean, overdriven or distorted guitars with a DI box, but some Fuzz pedals - especially germanium fuzzes - sound really cool when you record direct without amp.