Best thing to do with your small crappy combo?

[Soundlurker]

Well, other than "throw it away" and "replace it" I would say disassemble it. To be more specific - unscrew the speaker and if the cable isn't long enough unscrew the whole preamp and power amp as well. Doing this with my 30 watt Behringer gm110 improved its sound a lot! While it's still no 5150 or Krank, a lot of the terrible harsh highs are gone. There is the risk of the mic falling over and hitting the speaker, unfortunately, but I guess some protection can be installed.
Here's the before and after comparison:
no eq
before
after

And here're the guitars mixed with drums:
a little eq + c4
mix

---
I guess removing just the grill might help but you can't put it back once you've removed it.

 

[sorceron]

i have a vox practice amp that sounds mammoth for clean tone! i miced it up for a session last week i was doing for a doom band and it sounded bigger than any other amp. for cleans anyways.

 

[Soundlurker]

I think you can also get a usable lead tone out of a small amp but when using it for rhythm guitars it just sounds...small ...and harsh most of the time.

 

[AStacy2]

I remember reading somewhere that Carcass used some small 10inch Marshall's a little bit in the mix on top of the main tracks on some of there albums for that extra gain and they sounded pretty good.

 

[Atheist]

And here're the guitars mixed with drums:
a little eq + c4
mix

wow

 

[006]

Sounds pretty wicked man!

~e.a

 

[Soundlurker]

Hey neighbour, what's up What do you mean by 'wow'?
By " a little eq + c4 " I was referring to the guitars, the mix went through a little processing in Izotope Ozone.

Edit: thanks 006! Really glad to hear it from you

 

[006]

I think he meant it the same way I meant my comment, as in really impressed by the clip.

~e.a

 

[Atheist]

Nothing much, neighbour.

Yeah,"wow" like: you got that from small behringer combo? Imressive!

 

[Ermz]

That's great man.

Made the tone sound much less distant and more in your face, as well as giving it tons of body. So what exactly did you do? Just unmounted the internals from the enclosure?

 

[Soundlurker]

Heh, just when I coun't be more sure that there's no way to make a small combo sound big...

Here's what I did:

My "amp"
---------

The thing under the speaker is just something to keep it in place.

I doubt you can guess where I'm recording my guitars unless other people have transformed their wardrobe into an isolation booth ? (and still using it as a wardrobe, btw ). Mineral wool (40mm about 35kg/m3 - didn't have enough money for more expensive wool) with some white stuff that's usually used for parquet floor on top of it (though some fabric will probably work and look better). The whole thing is just holded by some tape, so that if/when I decide to remove it i can do it in seconds.
I guess you can stick a whole 4X12 cab inside.

Here's a photo:
------------

And finally my door (same wool but covered with some cardboard: and glued to the door.

Door:
-----

And another mix, this time with more guitar tracks:
http://cmusicforum.com/sw/mix-01_r8b.mp3

 

[NathanSoulfracture]

that sounds awesome.

 

[cobhc]

Fuck me dude, that last mix actually sounds very fucking brutal.

 

[~BURNY~]

Now that's funky but the result is kind of cool and different. You could also build a custom box with larger size and better material.

 

[Soundlurker]

Costs:
Guitar (new Stagg I300 uke: ) - 145 euro
Amp (new) - 120 euro
Sm57 (second-hand) - 75 euro
Custom hand-made mic pre - 60 euro
DIY balanced cables - 10 euro
mineral wool (5 sq. m) - 8 euro

Doesn't get much cheaper I guess But I'm just starting out

 

[CJWall]

sounds pretty cool man.. not bad for what you used and you get bonus points for being creative w/what you have to work with.. :Spin: