Ampforce One Studio
My studio is named "Ampforce One" since I have a nice selection of amps. It is a mix of modern amps and quite a few "oldtimers" and even some rare ones.
Since half of my career was playing digital amps though - I still like and use modelers.
In the beginning of my career I demoed the Line 6 POD to a small crowd at a musicstore. It was probably around late 1998. I played a VOX AC30 model/sound for the first time in my life. I remember that moment because the ampmodel sounded very different from any amp I played before. I used the "We Will Rock You" guitar theme to demo the Vox AC30 model to the participants of the workshop - and a light bulb went off! I was as surprised as the guys in the audience on how good it sounded. Btw I did not have time to prepare that workshop as someone called in sick and I jumped in - thx Mr Isler for the opportunity!). So I played Queen for Vox Amps, Still got the blues for the Soldano, Long train running for Fender clean, Metallica for the Rectifier....well I got through the workshop ok!
Not long after that I bought a "real" AC30 and was surprised on how close the POD was.
Nowadays amp models are much preciser, and you need to go a long way to achieve better sounds when recording using original amps...think of the room, the cab, the mic, the mic placement, the mic preamps, post EQ and FX etc. There is a lot of money involved using the "real" thing instead of just a preset on the modeler.
And besides the money you have to invest in analog gear, you still need experience and a lot of knowlegde to produce good guitar sounds the "old" way.
Around 1999 I got the job as clinician/product specialist for digitech/Johnson amps. This is where the POD and its rival the Johnson J-Station had their market introduction in Germany during the Frankfurt Musik Messe.
I was hooked on how different those ampmodelers made me play and sound.
And by the time the digitech GNX3000 came out - I was on my crusade to own all the amp models which were implemented in the GNX in real....that crusade is still on!
So besides all the modern and vintage amps - I use a Kemper, some older digitech units (2101 and RP 300), and here and there also some Neural amp models directly in my DAW.
Mics and Preamps
My mic selection is quite diverse but my main mics are of course a SM57, TUL G12, 421, R121 a M160 and some older Shure Unispheres. Those are all close miking options.
As larger diaphragm mics I mainly use the Austrian Audio OC818 (which I like to refer to as the Swiss Army knife of mics - which is kind of unfair because a Swiss Army knife is not known for doing precise jobs, with the OC though - you can!), an older AKG 414 and a C12 plus some U47, U67, U87 clones from Warm Audio and TUL.
For acoustics I use again the AA OC818 plus a Neumann M49 and a Gefell MV468 small condenser.
For Mic Preamps I mainly use BAE 1066D and api 312 along with the 5500 EQ. Every once in a while I use an older V72 or the Aurora Audio GTQ preamps which are rooted in the Neve family soundvise just as the BAEs.
The workspace
My monitors are Focal Trio 11 BE, along with Audeze LCD-5 headphones. I got absorbers and diffusers on the sides and above me as well as behind me, all from HOFA but my control room is a bit tricky acoustically speaking because of all the amplifiers in there, so I got the Audeze along with the Focal monitors to have better control.
I use a Neumann MT48 as audiointerface and the DAW (Logic) runs on a Apple Studio. I do not use a mixer in a conventional way, but have a Neve 8818 along with the 8804 Faderpack to submix the incoming guitar signals and to sum them up into a mono or stereo signal..
So when I mike a cab in the other room the signals travel into the mic pres from there into the Neve mixer then finally into either the 1176 by Audioscape or the Distressor. I can patch in a dbx160 if necessary and/or a Tube Tech PE 1B before that signal hits the MT48 and is converted.
My main screen is a Slate Audio Raven Touchscreen coupled with another large screen I use to display things I just need to control and not alter....
My whole studio is specialised in recording electric and acoustic guitars. But with all the mic preamps and different microphones overdubbing vocals is of course no problem.
When it comes to recording drums - I simply book another studio which has the rooms and the gear for it, or leave it up to the drummer. Gregg for example uses the Woodcliff Studio in LA close to where he lives to record his tracks.