{"id":463933,"date":"2025-07-29T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=463933"},"modified":"2025-07-29T10:43:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T08:43:47","slug":"recording-synths-through-guitar-amps-5-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/gear\/recording-synths-through-guitar-amps-5-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Recording Synths Through Guitar Amps: 5 Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can you record\u00a0synthesizers<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0guitar amplifiers<\/a>\u00a0– and what’s the point of that anyway?\u00a0We’ll show you some techniques for recording synths through guitar amps.\u00a0You’ll learn what to look out for, which\u00a0amps<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mics<\/a> to use, how to position them, and more. In the video below the article, Felix explains the individual steps.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Recording synths through guitar amps<\/h2>\n

Why is it worth recording synths through\u00a0guitar amps<\/strong><\/a>?\u00a0Why all the effort when you can simply connect a\u00a0synthesizer<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to the mixer or\u00a0audio interface<\/strong><\/a> via a jack cable?\u00a0The reason is simple: the amp, speaker, and microphone used for recording can give synthesizer sounds a whole new character. Unlike\u00a0studio monitors<\/strong><\/a> guitar amps are specifically designed to colour the sound. When recording with a microphone, the reflections of the room also become part of the sound, which is much more complex than if it were only transmitted via cable.\u00a0All of this can be used creatively in sound design and production.<\/p>\n

In our video, Felix reveals some tricks for recording\u00a0synthesizers\u00a0through\u00a0guitar amps.\u00a0For the recordings he uses the Moog Grandmother<\/a><\/strong> analogue synth, which is sent through two different amps: a Fender Twin Reverb<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and a\u00a0Harley Benton Tube15<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0.\u00a0A\u00a0Shure SM57<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and a\u00a0Royer R121<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are used as microphones.<\/p>\n

\"Moog<\/a>
Moog Grandmother analogue synth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Recording synths via Fender Twin Reverb<\/h2>\n

Important when recording synthesizers via guitar amps: The output level of the synthesizer should not be set too high because the inputs of guitar amps are designed for the low levels of electric guitars.\u00a0Therefore, only turn up the volume control of your synthesizer by about 10%.<\/p>\n

You can use the built-in equalizer of the Fender Twin Reverb to influence the sound during the recording. In addition, many guitar amps offer built-in reverb (often an analog spring reverb) that is also good for adding interest to synthesizer sounds.<\/p>\n

\"Fender<\/a>
Fender 65 Twin Reverb guitar combo amp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It depends on the correct microphone position<\/h2>\n

Where you place the microphone has a decisive influence on the sound, when recording through a guitar amplifier, and offers plenty of room for creative experimentation. If you move the microphone further away from the amplifier, the proportion of the surround sound increases. The sound is correspondingly drier close to the speaker. And if you vary the distance from the center of the speaker, you get different frequency curves. There are no fixed rules for this \u2013 anything that pleases your ears is allowed! Move the microphone horizontally and vertically, experiment with the distance and listen carefully to see how it affects the sound.<\/p>\n

\"Shure<\/a>
Shure SM57 LC dynamic mic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For even more creative possibilities, add a second microphone in a different position and record it on a second track.\u00a0Then you can later\u00a0combine the two signals in different ways in the\u00a0DAW<\/a><\/strong> and experiment with stereo effects, for example.\u00a0The signals of a cheap\u00a0Shure SM57<\/strong>\u00a0and a significantly more expensive\u00a0Royer R121<\/strong>\u00a0ribbon microphone, for example, can be creatively combined with each other.<\/p>\n

\"Royer<\/a>
Royer Labs R-121 ribbon mic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Expensive equipment? Doesn’t have to be!<\/h2>\n

In order to record synthesizers via guitar amplifiers, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive\u00a0Fender Twin Reverb<\/strong>! Very good results can also be achieved with an inexpensive tube amplifier, such as the Harley Benton Tube15<\/strong>. With this amp you can also experiment\u00a0with the EQ\u00a0and spring reverb.\u00a0So you can add a great creative option to your setup for little money.<\/p>\n

\"Harley<\/a>
Harley Benton TUBE15 Celestion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Incidentally, the guitar amplifier does not necessarily have to be used during the recording.\u00a0You can also send previously recorded synthesizer tracks (or of course any signal from your DAW) through an amp and add a new color to the sound.\u00a0This turns the amp into an external effects device that you can use creatively in every phase of a production.\u00a0The sky is the limit!<\/p>\n

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Recording synths through guitar amps: Your opinion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever tried recording your synths through a guitar amp? Which tips do you already use \u2013 and what tricks have we missed? We\u2019re excited to hear about your setups and sound experiments in the comments! \u270d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ever consider recording synths through a guitar amp? Why, you ask? This article explains and gives some tips…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":10003959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tblog_post_audio_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1083],"tags":[15884,2912,20806,20792,20796,20798,20800,20794,20802,20804,19366,8167,20788,3629,20790,20786,2585,5607,20810,5611,5893,9521,20808,3268,4968],"class_list":["post-463933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear","tag-distance","tag-mic","tag-mic-position","tag-micd","tag-micd-amp","tag-micing","tag-micing-amps","tag-miced","tag-reamp","tag-reamping","tag-rec","tag-record","tag-recordin","tag-recording-en","tag-recordingtips","tag-recordiung","tag-reverb-en","tag-room","tag-room-reverb","tag-space","tag-synthesizer-en","tag-synths-en","tag-texture","tag-tips","tag-tricks-en"],"category_colors":{"color_key":"gear","css_classes":{"text":"cat-gear","text_light":"cat-gear-light","bg":"cat-bg-gear","bg_light":"cat-bg-gear-light","border":"cat-border-gear","text_on_bg":"cat-text-on-gear"}},"reading_time":{"minutes":4,"formatted":"4 min"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463933"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10003967,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463933\/revisions\/10003967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10003959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}