I vote for Les doing a mic-up-a-cab video.
Here's why that's not going to happen, and in fact,
should not happen:
1. There are engineers who've been miking speaker cabinets on major label records who do a much better job recording guitars than I have ever done. They're the experts. Much better to get their techniques and opinions, because compared to their experience, mine is extremely limited.
For example, I couldn't recognize a good metal sound because I don't listen to metal music. How would I know what works in that context?
A metalhead would probably find my advice on mic placement fairly useless. Same with someone who does funk. I don't play funk, and have no idea what to do to get a good funky sound. When I need to record a metal track or a funk track, I hire a session player, and often, I either take their advice on miking, or we go to a bigger studio
and I hire an engineer who does that stuff!
2. Every microphone is going to sound a little different, in different places on a speaker cab. My favorite microphone for guitar cab miking is the Royer R-121, just a beautiful mic for a lot of sources. This article really tells you everything you ever wanted to know how to use it - and more. There's nothing I could add:
http://www.royerlabs.com/rectips_electricguitar.html
3. Who records guitars better than Michael Wagener? Answer: No one. He's got a set of DVDs coming out.
http://www.michaelwagener.com/html/dvd.html
Here's his advice from a Mix magazine article I read back in the late 90s, and it's still pertinent:
"MICHAEL WAGENER
Since the late ’70s, Michael Wagener has earned a reputation asone of the masters of great-sounding rock recordings. Wagener, who hasamassed more than 100 album credits, may be well-known for his workproducing, engineering and/or mixing aggressive hard rock projects likeSkid Row, Extreme, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Megadeth and Alice Cooper,but he also has credits that range from Janet Jackson and Queen to ThePlasmatics. Wagener is currently producing a video called How to ReallyRecord Guitar.
“There is an important relationship between amp output and speaker wattage. I subscribe to the theory that you have to push air toget your point across. That means I will always try to use an amp with more power reserves than the RMS wattage of the speaker cab. Of course you have to be careful not to blow the cab to pieces. A tube amp ofabout 100 watts can have peaks around 250 watts, so make sure your cabinet can stand that occasional peak. Also, if you use a tube amp,that peak is liable to come smoother than or not as sudden as you would get from a transistor power amp. A tube power amp will probably giveyou a fatter, saturated sound, whereas a transistor amp will be cleaner with a bit of a harder attack.
“Another very important part of the power amp is the output transformer. The output transformer can make or break the sound of an amplifier. Once, I had to exchange a blown output transformer of agreat-sounding Marshall 100-watt top. I never got the original soundback.
“The distortion doesn’t always have to be generated in the preamp. Sometimes it’s better to keep the preamp section fairly clean and get the distortion out of the power amp or thespeaker. Speaker distortion is the smoothest distortion you can get.U nfortunately, because of the high volume, it also involves having avery good isolated studio, so the neighbors won’t get distortedas well.
“When you pick a speaker cabinet, there are a few considerations to be made. What kind of sound do you want to achieve?Are you looking for a clean sound or a distorted sound? Is the instrument going to be in the front or the back of the mix? Is it going to be doubled? Are you playing single notes or chords or both? How powerful is your amp? Can your speaker cabinet withstand the power output from the amp? Is your speaker cabinet too ‘big’ forthe amp, so it won’t push enough air? For example, a 4x30-wattcab would be a great, powerful cab for a 100-watt amp if you arelooking for a fat, distorted sound. If you are going for a cleaner sound, you might want to try a 4x75-watt cabinet on the same amp. Makesure that the impedance of the cabinet and the amp match."
This is advice I have followed, it's why I prefer to record amps with higher power than lower power, with good sounding transformers, etc. But more importantly, when you think about how much more experienced this guy is at recording guitars than I will ever be, why would anyone want to waste so much as ten seconds watching a video I did on this subject?
Sorry, I won't put that out there, my experience with it is simply too limited to be of any more use than the one Corey posted.