I did live recording for several years. The point was to record the sound that came out of the myriad conglomeration of pedals and fuzzboxes, through the overdriven tubes and out the maybe slightly rubbing woofer being used as a full-range.

THAT they wanted captured just the way it was, so we put a mic on it. That was high fidelity because we reproduced the mounds of crap with every tiny fly speck on it exactly where the fly had deposited it. For instance, play a Creedence Clearwater album and listen to the instruments. You'll detect some things that make you think there might be guitars in there somewhere.