Instruments
Microphone for an Electric Guitar Amp
Quick answer
Use a dynamic instrument microphone on the grille cloth, one to two inches out, aimed between the centre and the edge of the speaker cone. The real problem is not the microphone: a guitar amplifier at 95 to 110 dBA sets the floor for how quiet your platform can be.
Miking a guitar cabinet is simple and has been solved for fifty years. The difficulty in a church is never the microphone, it is that the amplifier is the second loudest thing on the platform after the drums, it points straight at the congregation from knee height, and the guitarist needs it loud enough to feel. Everything useful on this page is about managing that. Get the amplifier under control and the microphone choice barely matters. Leave it alone and no microphone will save the mix. See reducing stage volume for the wider argument.
On this page
Where to put the microphone
Position changes tone far more than model does, and the two axes are how far across the cone you are and how far back. Centre of the cone is bright and aggressive, edge is warmer and rounder, and every position between is available. Start at the halfway point and move from there.
Aiming halfway between the dust cap and the cone edge, one to two inches from the grille, is the placement that suits most church guitar sounds.
| Position on the cone | Distance from grille | Tone | Use when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre, on the dust cap | 1 to 2 inches | Brightest, most aggressive, most bite | A dark amplifier, or a guitar that needs to cut |
| Halfway between cap and edge | 1 to 2 inches | Balanced. The usual starting point. | Almost always. Start here. |
| At the cone edge | 1 to 2 inches | Warmest, rounder, less presence | A bright or harsh amplifier |
| Angled at 45 degrees | 1 to 2 inches | Between centre and edge tone, less proximity | Taming a very bright cabinet |
| Backed off | 6 to 12 inches | More room, less direct, more bleed | Rarely on a church platform. Picks up everything else. |
Pick one placement and mark the position on the cabinet with tape. A microphone that moves every week is the most common reason a guitar channel needs re-EQing every service.
What to buy
This is a job for a dynamic microphone. It has to sit an inch from a loudspeaker producing 110 dBA and it will get knocked, so a condenser is the wrong tool even where it would sound interesting.
Shure SM57 Pro XLR Dynamic Instrument Microphone
$109.00The instrument counterpart to the SM58 and the microphone most guitar amplifier sounds on record were made with. It survives the level, survives being knocked, and every engineer who visits will know what to do with it.
Best for: Guitar amplifiers, snare and anything loud that needs close miking
Check price on Amazon
AUDIX i5 Dynamic Instrument Microphone: Pro Snare Mic/Guitar Amp Microphone
$105.00An instrument dynamic with a flatter response than the SM57, which usually means less EQ to get a usable guitar tone. A good choice where the operator is a volunteer rather than an engineer.
Best for: Guitar amplifiers where less console work is the goal
Check price on Amazon
On-Stage MS7701B Euro Boom Mic Stand (For Vocal and Instrument Microphones
$31.95A boom stand, which is what actually holds a microphone at an inch from a grille cloth at knee height. A straight stand cannot reach this position and a broken one is why the microphone moved.
Best for: Holding a microphone on a cabinet without it drifting
Check price on AmazonThe real problem: an amplifier is a loudspeaker aimed at the congregation
A guitar cabinet on the floor fires at knee height straight into the first rows, and it produces 95 to 110 dBA at three feet with peaks to 120. That is louder than most churches run the whole service. The consequence is that the guitar arrives in the room twice, once from the amplifier acoustically and once from the loudspeakers, and the operator has no control over the first one. Worse, it arrives in every open microphone on the platform, which is loop gain given away for nothing.
Four fixes exist and they stack. Tilt the cabinet back on a stand or a wedge so it fires at the guitarist rather than at the congregation, which lets them hear it at a lower absolute level. Put it behind or beside the player rather than in front. Add a shield or move the cabinet off the platform entirely into a side room with the microphone in front of it. Or go direct with a modelling preamp and no cabinet at all, which is increasingly what churches choose and removes the problem rather than managing it.
Channel setup
A close miked guitar cabinet arrives at the console with plenty of level and a particular set of problems: too much energy below the guitar range, and a harsh region in the upper mids that microphones exaggerate at an inch away.
A high pass at 100 Hz removes energy no guitar needs and cleans up the whole low end of the mix.
| Setting | Starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| High pass filter | 100 Hz | A guitar does not need this range and the bass does. Free clarity. |
| Low mid cut | 300 to 500 Hz if woolly | Where a close miked cabinet builds up |
| Harshness cut | 2 to 4 kHz, narrow, by ear | Proximity to the cone exaggerates this region |
| High shelf | Gentle cut above 8 kHz if fizzy | Amplifier hiss and pick noise live up here |
| Compression | Light or none | Most guitar amplifiers are already compressed by their own distortion |
| Phantom power | Off | A dynamic microphone does not need it and will not use it |
If the guitar channel needs large EQ moves to be usable, move the microphone before turning more knobs. Placement solves tone problems that EQ can only disguise.
What usually goes wrong
An amplifier too loud for the room, which is the root cause of most of the rest. A microphone that moves because the stand is loose or somebody pushed the cabinet, so the tone changes every week. A cabinet on the floor firing into the front rows while the guitarist, whose ears are five feet higher, says they cannot hear it and turns up. That last one is worth naming because it is so common and so easily fixed: tilt the cabinet up at the player and the volume war stops.
The other frequent mistake is close miking a cabinet in a church that does not need it at all. In a small room with a quiet service, an amplifier at a sensible level is already loud enough for the congregation without any reinforcement, and adding a microphone just adds an uncontrolled second source. Check whether the channel is doing anything before assuming it should exist, and count your real inputs with the mixer channel calculator.
How we chose
We did not test these products in person and we never claim to. Picks are researched from manufacturer specification sheets and operator manuals, FCC rules where spectrum is involved, published standards, warranty terms, and the recurring themes in verified owner reviews. Every pick is matched to a real room size, seat count or input list rather than to a price bracket, and it is placed in the tier where its capability actually belongs. Where a product is wrong for most churches we say so on the page.
Sources
- Shure published specifications for the SM57 dynamic instrument microphone
- AUDIX published specifications for the i5 dynamic instrument microphone
Frequently asked questions
What microphone should I use on a guitar amp in church?
A dynamic instrument microphone on the grille cloth, one to two inches out. A condenser is the wrong tool because it sits an inch from a loudspeaker producing 110 dBA and it will get knocked. The standard choices have been used on guitar cabinets for decades and any visiting engineer will know what to do with them.
Where exactly should the microphone point on the speaker?
Start halfway between the centre dust cap and the edge of the cone, one to two inches from the grille. The centre is brightest and most aggressive, the edge is warmest and rounder. Once you find a position that works, mark it on the cabinet with tape so it does not drift between services.
Our guitar amp is too loud for the room. What do we do?
Tilt the cabinet back so it fires up at the guitarist rather than into the first rows. That lets them hear it at a much lower absolute level, which is usually the whole problem. Beyond that, move it behind the player, shield it, put it in a side room, or go direct with a modelling preamp and no cabinet.
Should we go direct instead of miking the amp?
Increasingly this is what churches choose, and it is a reasonable answer. A modelling preamp with no cabinet removes the loudest uncontrolled source on the platform rather than managing it, gives the operator full control of the guitar level, and stops the guitar bleeding into every open microphone. Many guitarists resist it, which is the real obstacle.
Why does our guitar sound different every week?
The microphone has moved, almost certainly. An inch across the cone is an audible tone change, and a loose boom stand or a cabinet that gets repositioned will produce exactly that. Mark the cabinet position on the floor and the microphone position on the grille, and check both during setup rather than re-EQing the channel.
Does a guitar amp microphone need phantom power?
No. A dynamic microphone neither needs nor uses phantom power, and leaving phantom on will not harm it. The only reason to think about phantom on this channel is if you later swap to a condenser, which is not recommended at this distance from a loud cabinet.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published manufacturer specifications, operator manuals, FCC rules, published standards and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Sound system design, rigging loudspeakers overhead, and any electrical work are jobs for a qualified professional: have flown loudspeakers and their attachment points signed off by a structural engineer or a certified rigger, and have all wiring done by a licensed electrician to your local code. Wireless microphone rules change, so confirm the current FCC position before buying. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.