Not definitely, but know when to use them and when not to. I wouldn't put anything center, that's where some drums, the bass, and the vocals have to live, so for separation put them 70-80% and 100% on each side (or you could do both at 100% but the guitars won't seem as 'wide', if you're doing harmonies or noticeably different parts keep them separated). Try getting the character of the sound, not necessarily the gain you think you'll want to hear, as you'll think you're hearing more gain as you double or triple track. I usually run things through a preset compressor because I'm lazy and I don't know much about EQ myself. Someone else will have stuff to say about the EQ and specific compressor things, I just go by the Sneap C4 settings (which I've lightened up on and extended to a lower range, but otherwise know nothing about) and Slipperman's EQ chart (do a Google or a forum search).
Kev, they're like the underpants gnomes, but even more confused - they carry around 1010LTs and put them in the homes of randomly chosen people for little or no apparent reason, not having discovered the magical 2nd step between useless nonsense and profit. I guess if it needs explaining it's lost - I was simply assuming that a guy using Cool Edit and a Pod wouldn't be using that if he had spent much time with the fancy pro gear so I doubted that he'd do better than USB. Oh well.
ADDED: Hex made some good points, but with the EQ cutting off low end try not to cut off the fundamental of the lowest note on your guitar - I personally wouldn't cut below 50 because I have a 7 string tuned to Bb and I want to keep that fundamental, but generally there isn't much but noise and bandwidth hogging below that or in the extreme high ends. Google the frequency of the note you tune to (as in "frequency C#") and figure out what it should be (keep in mind that lowering by an octave is equivalent to halving the frequency; you're used to tuning to an A440 but the A string on your guitar, tuned two octaves lower, is actually 110Hz, so if all you find is above, say, 150Hz, cut it in half and then try cutting things a few Hz below that). Granted, even if you cut the fundamentals all the harmonics will be there, so you'll still know it's lower, but for guitar you're not going to kill any sound equipment keeping all of your range intact (9-string bass, on the other hand...). Mesa (Dual Rec, typically) and 5150 is one of those 'perfect match' setups that's used all over the place; Mesa and Krank is also growing more common. Again, use different takes, not the same track over and over on both sides (on one side do at least two tracks unless you can't play tight enough), otherwise you're defeating the purpose.
Jeff
