What am I doing wrong?? - mic question

So here's the setup - my Dad and I are working on a punk song together, using amps instead of direct in. It sounds awesome in the room. But we can't record it worth CRAP. Here's the setup: 1. Behringer C1 - Phantom power good - mic in front of amps, about 2 feet away with both amps fully in its pattern. 2. UX2 - great signal on the meters - peaking around -2 or so 3. Great signal in REAPER - all meters as they should be 4. No VSTs at all turned on - just one mic, input set to MONO. 5. Great looking waves.... Yet it just sounds DISTANT - like a million miles away. Like mass phase cancellation, but with only ONE mic??? The recorded track sounds like a "reverb return" with zero dry signal, yet we're not using a reverb VST! What could we possibly be doing wrong? Everything looks perfect.... Thanks for any input, Jeremy

Some initial thoughts.... 

Maybe since both amps are going into one mic, they are phase cancelling each other. Try recording one amp and try various positions with the mic to see what happens. Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Sounds extreme to be reflections but try to minimize the room reflections anyway. Put something behind and around the mics to dampen the reflections.

Are you recording with a laptop? maybe you are recording with the built-in mic. You will see the meters moving, but the signal will sound like it's coming from a distant position. You said you set the input to mono and that's fine but maybe you need to check again that you've chosen the right soundcard.

Do you have some sealed/isolated headphones, so you can monitor the mic while moving it around, and maybe figure-out what's going on? Maybe try one amp with the mic 6-inches from the speaker? Maybe try speaking into the mic from different distances to see what happens... What are the acoustics in the room like? Maybe you can try a different room, or deaden the room by hanging-up blankets or rugs, etc. With your mic 2-feet away from the amps, I don't know why this is happening, or why the problem is so drastic... But, it's normal to hear more "room" in the recording than you hear (or notice) live. I think this is because in the live situation the room sound comes from all-around you and it's natural. When you hear the same sound/reverb coming out of monitors/speakers it can sound "wrong" and unnatural.

Any updates on what you found?

And of course nobody suggested that you might possibly have the wrong side of the mic pointing towards the amps? A very very common newb trick back in the day with Rode mics.....

A lot of times if I can't go DI I will lay a mic Over my amp so it just hangs in front of the speaker And then throw a blanket over the amp and mic. It totally seals out room noise and that natural Room reverb. Its the only way I have on a limited budget to get a nice dry signal. Or you may just have something set wrong in Reaper. Check your input options and make sure you are using the right sound card/interface option.