I snagged this out of EQ magazine.....
RON & HOWARD ALBERT have graced the acoustic guitar sounds of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Steve Cropper, et al. The key? According to Ron? Hardware.
“The ultimate acoustic guitar sound is a Martin D-45, preferably vintage, with bronze-wound strings. Put a Neumann U-87 into a shockmount and place it on a stand upside down, so the capsule is at the bottom — the secret is that you don’t get reflections off the metal body of the microphone that way. Set the mic on axis to the strings, as close as comfortable to the guitarist. Then, run it first through a Pultech PEQ-1A equalizer, because they have the ability to cut and boost in the same frequency range simultaneously. That’s what we do — cut and boost the highs and lows; the microphone honks the mids on its own. Then send it through a UREI 1176LN compressor. The setting will vary according to how hard the guitarist plays.
“On vocals, one longtime trick of ours has been to use dynamic microphones, like a Shure SM-7, for rock vocals. Dynamics lower the proximity effect and they tend to sit in the mix better, whereas condensers tend to pop out.”