Recording amplified sound with on-board mic

[I.am]

Hello there...I'm wondering what peoples experiences are with recording with just the onboard mic and nothing plugged in to the unit(BR 600 in my case).

To be more specific : I sit in a chair with my acoustic guitar, place the BR 600 in front of me and record vocals and guitar using the on-board mic only. The sound quality when played back is really quite good, exceptional actually. The mic seems to be very sensitive and of a high quality.

Now, if I plug my guitar into an amp and sing into a mic(also hooked into the amp), the recorded sound quality diminishes(not that much at this point). Where the lesser recorded sound quality is really noticeable is when I add beats with an electronic drum pad(also hooked into the amp). When played back, the drums sound kind of muffled/muddy almost. How to explain...its kind of like I'm at a bar and there is a band playing. I go outside and down the road a bit and I can still hear the drums but its that kind of sound if you know what I mean, nowhere near as defined.

So I experimented with where I placed the BR600 and also made sure that the mic recorded level wasn't peaking out and to be honest, I did have some success with this. The quality is still definitely acceptable, I'm just curious if anyone has any thoughts/experience with this particular aspect of recording. I'm not expecting miracles(it is only a portable multi-track after all and not a full blown studio) but given the quality of recording with nothing plugged in, it seems like it is capable of better recordings. Cheers

EDIT:I should add that the room I'm recording in has hard flooring. I'm thinking it may have something to do with this but wanted to hear peoples thoughts.

[longjourneyhome]

Limiter on?  Check the insert effect on the mic input. Either record dry (which is what I do) or experiment with different effects. :-)

[I.am]

Thats solved the problem. Thanks man