New equipment

[ForgotenWarrior6]

First off I'd like to say I've been kind of sneaking around on this forum for awhile, listening to a lot of the mixes you guys have been posting and I'd like to they're kick ass.

But lets get down to business. I'm currently a student at my school (a music major) and I've been taking audio tech/recording classes and I love it. Everything about it is awesome. Just watching pieces of music come to life and everything. It got me thinking of starting a studio myself. I've searched this forums left and right reading on everyone's take on what they use, how they mix, etc.
I was thinking of getting the pro tools 003 setup. (the 8 channel pre amp rack mount looks very nice) I was wondering if anyone here could tell me if it's personally worth the investment. This is something I want to take seriously, so I want the best possible tones starting off. The thing is I'll probably only have a 1,500.00 dollar budget for the time being. I can get my hands on some shure PG-6 drum mics (at least I'm pretty sure thats what my buddy has) and as far as bass and guitar I was considering a product called Recabinet. http://recabi.net/site/ It seems to create incredibly brutal guitar tones for direct in. But I haven't seen many people talking about it here.
I'm currently looking for a guitar amp head too (outside my studio budget) and I was checking out the Carvin V3. It looks really versatile and has a great tone. It'd be the amp I'd use for live performances and for recording. The thing is I haven't heard a raw clip of it anywhere.

...I really didn't expect this thing to be this long, but if any one wants to help me out on this I'd really appreciate it.

-Thanks

 

[Metaltastic]

Hey dude, first off, welcome! When it comes to interfaces, personally I'd rather get an M Audio Profire 2626 and run it with Pro Tools M Powered (that is, assuming you're wedded to the PT idea) - but check out this thread for more interface info!

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/513601-getting-audiointerface-faq.html

Recabinet is pretty badass; the creator actually is a regular member here, so I'm sure he'll chime in to market his product. The Carvin V3 is a bit of an enigma to me; I was always fascinated by it (mostly by reading the description in the Carvin catalog every time I went to the crapper for like half a year ) but a) as you say, I too haven't heard any clips, and b) when I went to Winter NAMM 08 in LA, I talked to a dude who used to be endorsed by Carvin, and had like three V3's consecutively die on him, so he jumped ship! Used 5150, Krank, and oh yes, Dual Rectifier get my vote! (though IME Dual Recs don't work particularly well running direct in with impulses, which is what Recabinet is, as the tone of the amp really comes from the way the preamp and power amp interact, more so than most other amps)

 

[ForgotenWarrior6]

Yeah, I kind of am wedded to PT ether that or Logic...Seeing as how I'm not mac based it has to be PT. It's only because in my classes at school they made us use garage band-> Logic 8 -> PT and I know logic and pro tools are both capable of the same stuff...I just like PT more for some reason.. As far as the V3 goes I found clips of many amps being recorded, but not the V3! They can be found here http://www.amptones.net/2009/06/ I've actually owned a 5150 before and recorded with it at a studio (www.myspace.com/iconofentropyofficial) But I wasn't a huge fan of the fuzz that came with the distortion. I've owned a Krank before and that thing was just pure shit when we tried recording it (it was at the studio with the 5150 and the 5150 sounded a million times better) ..I've kind of always been curious about the mesa's though. I never liked their live sound but their recorded tone is godly. But I plan on getting the V3. When I get my setup I'll upload some clips for you guys so everyone can know what it sounds like. Thanks for the info man, I really appreciate it!

 

[lolzgreg]

There is no way a 5150/Krank would sound like shit unless every tube in the amp was blown/dead. Any reason one couldn't coax a good tone out of those amps through a decent cabinet would be entirely the fault of the user/operator/engineer.

Generally an amp will sound good in the room and mic'd up. You probably just don't have enough experience miking amps to get the tone you're looking for. A tubescreamer in front of the amp helps a lot in most metal music and knowing how to mic up the speaker is a huge deal as well. Always make adjustments at ear level with the speaker.

 

[ForgotenWarrior6]

It actually wasn't me doing it. It was a studio my old band went to. This guy was working out of a 25,000+ HD setup. He's been doing the album work for Alice cooper and stuff. So he knows his shit. We had the amp and everything mic'ed up fine (it was a Krankenstein by the way much worse than the revolution imo) And we just could get it to sound good. We almost found the sweet spot on it but it was wasting to much time so we switched to the 5150 which sounded really good off the bat. The only thing I kind of don't like about the 5150 is that the fuzz the distortion kind of has.. Other than that it's beautiful. But yeah, It wasn't me doing any of it so blame that guy If it were up to me I would of sat in front of the thing all day trying to find the sweet spot on it. You can check out the recordings we got finished when we went there... www.myspace.com/iconofentropyofficial The levels are kind of high... Nothing is really mixed, it was like a 10 minute mix the guy did because we ran short on time