timgosden

I highly rate the Tech21 pedals/Sansamp Bass Driver DI in the studio. I've mic'd and DI'd most amps going with all kinds of mics and the Sansamp always sounds great. Guitar Rig, Ampltube etc. are all useful but it can often be more productive to commit to your tone as you record rather than have the option to tweak infinitely afterwards...

+1 for a Quad 405

I nearly exclusively record bands to click... even if that means mapping the tempo with different speeds for different sections. Here's why: - comping, it's much easier to put together a great take if everything is in the same place each time - editing, most commercial records are using beat detective/flex time to quantise the drummers... this means tightening up the performances. You'll be hard pushed to find many rock records where this isn't the case to a certain extent - programming, more and more bands are using tracks live or wanting to add synths/loops to their recordings... it's much easier to do this if you're using click - copy and pasting, believe it or not people DO copy and paste... often backing vocals on chorus' etc. - delays, it's much easier to get all your delay times sync'd with click. A lot of guitarists can input BPM's on their delays pedals or I'll add a delay sync'd to my DAW's tempo. Hope that helps mate, Tim