Playing guitar through Active monitors


mpaq
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Joined: 10/26/07
Posts: 126
mpaq
Registered User
Joined: 10/26/07
Posts: 126
04/16/2008 2:51 pm
Need to decide between buying an amp or using the money for a pair of active monitors. I never play live, all i ever do is play at home through a Pod and headphones, wired through a mixer with a PC and MAudio 24 bit card. Im learning the recording part as i go, and have Reaper installed now, but also use Audacity for its simplicity in recording. As i get into a more full featured DAW, I thought I should get a pair of monitors for mixing that I could also use for occasional amping of my guitar. Its a pain to always use headphones, not to mention the colouring of the sound.
I dont need anything major, im thinking the Yamaha HS50's. The Pod would act as my preamp to give me the cabinet emulations (i know not the best, but good place to start)....will the monitors hold up over time assuming i dont drive them too loud? My local music store cautions against this, however I have a friend who has been doing this with no problems and it sounds great. One way or the other, I will need the monitors anyway for mixing....
# 1
Kevin Taylor
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Joined: 03/05/00
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Kevin Taylor
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Posts: 4,722
04/16/2008 3:22 pm
I guess it kinda depends on whether you want to play loudly or not, and if you'll want to use the natural feedback from an amp to get some of those screaming lead sounds. An amp is responsible for a large majority of the tone you'll be getting and will actually help you improve your playing because you'll be 'getting into it' more if it sounds good through a decently loud amp.

Personally...I'd probably go for the monitors. However, only if I could get a really decent sound to begin with.
Like, I haven't used an amp to record with for years. Too much noise and too much hassle trying to mic them. But I have to use top of the line pickups in the guitar, expensive guitar cables, a Boss GT-8, Amplitube and a cabinet simulator to emulate the sound of a real amp.
The one thing that is the most frustrating is getting natural feedback on leads. You can get it on monitors but it's kind of a crap shoot as to whether it will work or not.
I used to have a pair of cheap old computer monitors that would give me screaming sustain that sounded like a Marshall stack. However, when I upgraded to a better sound system, all the sustain went away.
So here I am years later, still keeping my cheezy old speakers tucked away for when I need em.

Not sure what to suggest really. Like I said, I'd probably go for the monitors but that's because I spend a lot of time recording.
However, there's just nothing that can beat the sound of an amazing amp turned up nice and loud.
# 2
Dr_simon
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Joined: 07/06/02
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Dr_simon
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Posts: 5,021
04/17/2008 4:34 am
I use a pod a lot of the time and Kevin is absolutely right is is very different to playing through a micked amp. Which one works for you, well to be honest I thing you just have to suck it and see. Amps are a lot more responsive an have a better dynamic but require a lot more work and skill to record well. Pods are convenient and easy to use.

One word of caution, miking the monitors may produce totally uncontrollable and useless feedback which is a nightmare !
My instructors page and www.studiotrax.net for all things recording.
my toons Brought to you by Dr BadGAS
# 3
Superhuman
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Joined: 04/18/05
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Superhuman
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Posts: 1,334
04/17/2008 8:32 pm
I agree 100% - a real amp sounds and feels a lot better when tracking guitar particularly for generating natural harmonic feedback and sustain. I get zero sustain from my Tannoy Reveal monitors when recording DI but I did get good results using a high end set of Genelec's at a local studio.
One thing to consider though is that an amp will sound completely diferent in a different environment and or room. Eg, I have a cheap-ass Marshall MG100DFX - it does the job with a not too bad tone. However, I brought it to a studio once, cranked it about half way and the tone was absolutely stunning, perfect in every way, the engineer was very surprised but explained it as being a 'sweet spot' placement in the studio (in between two door ways from the control room to the live room). The same goes for monitors, their placement, height, volume, room accoustics etc. can have a massive impact on the tone and potential of achieving those sweet harmonics. Of course, the actual sound from the monitors themselves has a lot to do with it too!
A lot of people bitch about direct recording but I think it's great, no fumbling with mics and amp settings/placements - plus the tone is always the same. THe only downside as Kevin said is the lack of harmonic feedback and reduced sustain. I've owned a number of DI units (PODxt, BOSS GT-Pro, Digitech GNX) but for me, the only one that actually 'feels' like playing through a real amp is the Rocktron Prophesy II - not cheap though. It does manage to give me the feedback/sustain but not to the same degree as a real cranked amp.
# 4
mpaq
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Joined: 10/26/07
Posts: 126
mpaq
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Joined: 10/26/07
Posts: 126
04/24/2008 5:21 pm
Thank you all for the feedback. I already have a Pod, so I decided to go with monitors. After listening to several, I went with the Yamaha HS50M's since these seem to be the best value around considering the quality and relatively low price point. Would have preferred the HS80's but they were almost double, and I question whether it would be worth it just for better bass response that im not really sure I need.
# 5

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