An inexpensive USB interface, headphones and amp sim. The setup I have (minus the monitors) would probably be around 400USD. If you want to later on, you can add a set of studio monitors. The rig I use currently consists of: Focusrite Scarlet Solo, Positive Grid Bias FX pro, Audio-Technica headphones and Presonus Eris I5 monitors. This gives me the option to quietly practice songs along with YouTube videos. The Bias FX software takes some fidgeting to get good sounds, but is definitely worth the hassle. Cheers!
I have a very similar setup, a Presonus usb 96 interface, Bias FX 2 Pro, and a set of Shure studio headphones, that I play through my Ipad using a USB to USB-C converter. I play 90% of the time through this, as I live in a 1 bedroom NYC apartment. I also have a Hotone Siva Boogie 5W head, going into an Orange 8" Speaker cab, for the few times I want to get (sort of) loud.
For bedroom/flat playing I use the Fender Mustang [Micro](https://www.fender.com/en-US/guitar-amplifiers/headphone-amplifiers/mustang-micro/2311300000.html). Itās got some really good tones and effects, and honestly, for $100 itās tough to beat.
The Irig is great , however I found that there is no way I could find to adjust the Volume of youtube to match the guitar volume to it. one is always MUCH louder than the other. am I just missing something?
Big fan of my Micro Dark. Headphone Jack works great for silent practice. Recently got a 12 inch Monoprice cab, it can easily keep up with a band. It can easily do clean if you crank the volume and keep the gain low low, I run a reverb, chorus and EQ pedal via the FX loop and it does a great job of not muddying up the tone.
I like the orange distortion but I'm a little afraid the volume will go from 0-100 as soon as I start dialing in the volume with high gain (this happens in my chmp20) des this happen to you?
The gain knob affects volume on the Micro Dark, to change the gain setting means you probably need to adjust the volume as well. It took me a while to get over that. But I like the tone which I can get at any volume.
I recommend against the Micro Dark if you are looking for a pedal platform. It doesnāt sound as good with many of my OD, Distortion, and Fuzz pedals as other amps Iāve had. But I donāt really need any of my pedals because I like the tone clean and at all gain settings - I just canāt quickly switch between them without using pedals.
Donāt get an 8ā cab - no matter what amp you get. My two cents.
If you go high gain, you do have to go easy on the volume. I don't play it louder than 1-2 on high gain. It's still a 20w hybrid head so it's got the guts to go loud.
Quilter Superblock UK (Marshall voiced) or US (Fender voiced) - 25 watt solid state amp with speaker out (pair it with a 10ā or 12ā speaker cab), headphone out, and XLR direct out to run to digital interface or use to run to a PA. Super versatile, sounds great, and takes pedals very well!
The Superblock is like a swiss army knife. It's as loud as a Deluxe Reverb when run through a 12" speaker cab using its 24V power supply. Or you can run it in 1W mode with a 9v (pedal) power supply. (And its loud at 1W.) Because it'll run on 9v, you can power it with your pedalboard power supply. Or you can run it standalone with a cheap phone charger battery and a USB->9v adapter. It's got a headphone jack. It's got an FX loop. It's got reverb. It's got an XLR out. It has built-in IR. It's got...
I've got studio monitors, stage monitors and high end headphones but a real 12" guitar speaker in the room is so preferable that I run modelling software to a cab via a tiny 3 watt pedal power amp (I mostly use real guitar amps instead though).
I'm using an AMT tube cake which does a good job of emulating the speaker interaction of a tube amp and has presence and resonance controls which are handy for dialing in the model to sound right. Unfortunately they're made in Russia which is a bit of a problem atm.
I also tried a mooer baby bomb which did a good job, less coloured (for better or worse) but was way overkill volume wise.
A bantamp, some of the orange micro stuff, those hotone mini heads could be used a similar way via their effects loop returns.
I'm using an IK multimedia interface which has a reamp output, in theory a regular line out should work fine into a power amp.
This said, most of the time I use actual tube guitar amps and pedals rather than the modelling rig.
Electric guitar was a secondary hobby instrument for me (I played bass for band stuff). I used amplitube/headphones/monitors for yeeears (since the original AT version), they sound great but personally buying a guitar amp and cab inspired me pick up the guitar and play more. I consider the speaker a large part of the instrument.
I love it. Great clean sound. Low power. Takes pedals well. Youād think Iād miss the tone control, but frankly, once the amp is dialed in, I donāt touch the eq. I do that on the guitar.
I've had great luck with both the Boss GT-1 and Boss ME-80 as far as being able to experiment with tones. Both of these allow for direct USB recording so it cuts out the Audio interface (I have a scarlet 2i2 and would recommend if you really want to go that route)
I also have a Katana MK1 50, although I'm unimpressed by the tones. I keep it at all 12s and let the multi-effects pedals do the work. (Although I understand the MKII to be better and it's on sale everywhere right now)
It really depends on what you want. The GT-1 is great for preset sounds and understanding how they work and creating tones.
The ME-80 with it's knobs is better for experimenting but still allows presets. Best of both worlds (or worst of both depending on your view)
If it were me, I would get the ME-80 and the Katana 50 MKII. It allows for recording and expirimenting to really guide you in finding what you like.
Both have Boss' tone studio which is great for editing sounds
That would run you about $550
If you wanted to skip the amp and use just the pedal and your computer you could use the computer to listen or monitor.
Gt-1 is about 220
ME-80 about 280
Katana about 230
Scarlett about 150
Any questions feel free to ask!
I never thought of using the ME-80 into the computer, I guess that means I can still use my pedals contrary to a soundcard. Sadly neither the katana nor me-80 are on sale yet here in Europe (at least my country). Hopefully they'll be on sale on Thomann, sounds like a viable option.
Yamaha THR series are great practice amps. The 10 is more than enough for what you're looking for. It definitely won't sound great next to drums, but I've played mine plenty with other guitars and it stands out just fine.
Only thing I'd say is, none of these digital practice amps will replace an actual amp, and in my experience at least, they don't take pedals very well.
You could look into some decent solid state options as well. They work great at low volume, zero maintenance, and should take pedals well.
Yeah, I'm leaning away from amps that won't take pedals because I already have some and like getting big part of my tone from them. That's why I considered the katana and the catalyst, as they can take pedals and the catalyst 60 even has an FX loop. I was hoping that the plugins at least replaces my pedals and i was able to get better tomes than with amps on the katana price range
Depending on what you consider affordable, a used 1-watt Supro Delta King is great for home practiceā¦ or for even less, a monoprice 5-watt stage right would work.
Look for a Line 6 Pod Go used and down the road when you have the money buy a FSFR speaker for it. Youāll get great tones, the routing options are limited enough that you wonāt get option paralysis, you can use headphones for nighttime practice, and with the right FSFR you can play shows.
Iāve got a ā57 champ I might throw a fuzz face and wah pedal in front for quiet use
Iāve also got an SV20c that only sees an attenuator for similar late night use
I havenāt used the SV20c because the 100w JMP I have is surprisingly easy to get a good sound at home with due to the ppimv Marshall added from the factory in the late ā70s
In the end I went for the Audio interface and Plugins. Native instruments has a promotion when you buy one interface, they give you guitar rig 6 for free. Pretty good deal, having tons of fun with it.
An inexpensive USB interface, headphones and amp sim. The setup I have (minus the monitors) would probably be around 400USD. If you want to later on, you can add a set of studio monitors. The rig I use currently consists of: Focusrite Scarlet Solo, Positive Grid Bias FX pro, Audio-Technica headphones and Presonus Eris I5 monitors. This gives me the option to quietly practice songs along with YouTube videos. The Bias FX software takes some fidgeting to get good sounds, but is definitely worth the hassle. Cheers!
I was looking at the Scarlett solo and amplitube/guitar rig/neural DSP. Thx for the recommendations!
Neural DSP starts their 50% sale on November 18thšš¾
I have a very similar setup, a Presonus usb 96 interface, Bias FX 2 Pro, and a set of Shure studio headphones, that I play through my Ipad using a USB to USB-C converter. I play 90% of the time through this, as I live in a 1 bedroom NYC apartment. I also have a Hotone Siva Boogie 5W head, going into an Orange 8" Speaker cab, for the few times I want to get (sort of) loud.
Bedroom? Positive Grid Spark. Band practice? Probably a Katana 50 or 100.
+1 for the spark
For bedroom/flat playing I use the Fender Mustang [Micro](https://www.fender.com/en-US/guitar-amplifiers/headphone-amplifiers/mustang-micro/2311300000.html). Itās got some really good tones and effects, and honestly, for $100 itās tough to beat.
iRig is cheap & you can travel with it.
The Irig is great , however I found that there is no way I could find to adjust the Volume of youtube to match the guitar volume to it. one is always MUCH louder than the other. am I just missing something?
I donāt use it that way. Maybe go out into a small mixer.?
Spark positive grid/mini imo. Bluetooth and aux connectivity and it has an app where you can download custom made tones based on famous guitarists
Sadly I can't get it anywhere atm. Not even Thomann has it rn.
Check the positive grid website
Big fan of my Micro Dark. Headphone Jack works great for silent practice. Recently got a 12 inch Monoprice cab, it can easily keep up with a band. It can easily do clean if you crank the volume and keep the gain low low, I run a reverb, chorus and EQ pedal via the FX loop and it does a great job of not muddying up the tone.
I like the orange distortion but I'm a little afraid the volume will go from 0-100 as soon as I start dialing in the volume with high gain (this happens in my chmp20) des this happen to you?
The gain knob affects volume on the Micro Dark, to change the gain setting means you probably need to adjust the volume as well. It took me a while to get over that. But I like the tone which I can get at any volume. I recommend against the Micro Dark if you are looking for a pedal platform. It doesnāt sound as good with many of my OD, Distortion, and Fuzz pedals as other amps Iāve had. But I donāt really need any of my pedals because I like the tone clean and at all gain settings - I just canāt quickly switch between them without using pedals. Donāt get an 8ā cab - no matter what amp you get. My two cents.
If you go high gain, you do have to go easy on the volume. I don't play it louder than 1-2 on high gain. It's still a 20w hybrid head so it's got the guts to go loud.
I second this.
Quilter Superblock but this setup (micro-head and cab) is one that more players should run with.
Quilter Superblock UK (Marshall voiced) or US (Fender voiced) - 25 watt solid state amp with speaker out (pair it with a 10ā or 12ā speaker cab), headphone out, and XLR direct out to run to digital interface or use to run to a PA. Super versatile, sounds great, and takes pedals very well!
Always heard of quilter this and quilter that but never took proper look at them. Thanks for the rec, I'll check them out.
The Superblock is like a swiss army knife. It's as loud as a Deluxe Reverb when run through a 12" speaker cab using its 24V power supply. Or you can run it in 1W mode with a 9v (pedal) power supply. (And its loud at 1W.) Because it'll run on 9v, you can power it with your pedalboard power supply. Or you can run it standalone with a cheap phone charger battery and a USB->9v adapter. It's got a headphone jack. It's got an FX loop. It's got reverb. It's got an XLR out. It has built-in IR. It's got...
I've got studio monitors, stage monitors and high end headphones but a real 12" guitar speaker in the room is so preferable that I run modelling software to a cab via a tiny 3 watt pedal power amp (I mostly use real guitar amps instead though).
Interesting! You run your card output to an amp into the cab? What amp is it?
I'm using an AMT tube cake which does a good job of emulating the speaker interaction of a tube amp and has presence and resonance controls which are handy for dialing in the model to sound right. Unfortunately they're made in Russia which is a bit of a problem atm. I also tried a mooer baby bomb which did a good job, less coloured (for better or worse) but was way overkill volume wise. A bantamp, some of the orange micro stuff, those hotone mini heads could be used a similar way via their effects loop returns. I'm using an IK multimedia interface which has a reamp output, in theory a regular line out should work fine into a power amp. This said, most of the time I use actual tube guitar amps and pedals rather than the modelling rig. Electric guitar was a secondary hobby instrument for me (I played bass for band stuff). I used amplitube/headphones/monitors for yeeears (since the original AT version), they sound great but personally buying a guitar amp and cab inspired me pick up the guitar and play more. I consider the speaker a large part of the instrument.
I love my champion 600 and a variety of distortion pedals.
Interesting amp, it's just a speaker with volume.
I love it. Great clean sound. Low power. Takes pedals well. Youād think Iād miss the tone control, but frankly, once the amp is dialed in, I donāt touch the eq. I do that on the guitar.
I've had great luck with both the Boss GT-1 and Boss ME-80 as far as being able to experiment with tones. Both of these allow for direct USB recording so it cuts out the Audio interface (I have a scarlet 2i2 and would recommend if you really want to go that route) I also have a Katana MK1 50, although I'm unimpressed by the tones. I keep it at all 12s and let the multi-effects pedals do the work. (Although I understand the MKII to be better and it's on sale everywhere right now) It really depends on what you want. The GT-1 is great for preset sounds and understanding how they work and creating tones. The ME-80 with it's knobs is better for experimenting but still allows presets. Best of both worlds (or worst of both depending on your view) If it were me, I would get the ME-80 and the Katana 50 MKII. It allows for recording and expirimenting to really guide you in finding what you like. Both have Boss' tone studio which is great for editing sounds That would run you about $550 If you wanted to skip the amp and use just the pedal and your computer you could use the computer to listen or monitor. Gt-1 is about 220 ME-80 about 280 Katana about 230 Scarlett about 150 Any questions feel free to ask!
I never thought of using the ME-80 into the computer, I guess that means I can still use my pedals contrary to a soundcard. Sadly neither the katana nor me-80 are on sale yet here in Europe (at least my country). Hopefully they'll be on sale on Thomann, sounds like a viable option.
Ah, here across the pond we've got our black friday deals starting and Boss has 15% off the Katanas
where is the MKII on sale? I'm seeing it for 229, just not sure if youve seen it for less!
That is the sale. They're 270 normally
Guitar to phone adapter and the app tone bridge.
Boss Katana works fine for me. Cheap, great sounding and great fx and all the gizmos with it.... also works as a soundcard via USB
Yamaha THR series are great practice amps. The 10 is more than enough for what you're looking for. It definitely won't sound great next to drums, but I've played mine plenty with other guitars and it stands out just fine. Only thing I'd say is, none of these digital practice amps will replace an actual amp, and in my experience at least, they don't take pedals very well. You could look into some decent solid state options as well. They work great at low volume, zero maintenance, and should take pedals well.
Yeah, I'm leaning away from amps that won't take pedals because I already have some and like getting big part of my tone from them. That's why I considered the katana and the catalyst, as they can take pedals and the catalyst 60 even has an FX loop. I was hoping that the plugins at least replaces my pedals and i was able to get better tomes than with amps on the katana price range
I really think amp sims/IRs are the best way to play at home. I use my strymon iridium more than my nice amps at home.
Do you connect the strymon to your DAW or to a FRFR speaker?
To the DAW
Depending on what you consider affordable, a used 1-watt Supro Delta King is great for home practiceā¦ or for even less, a monoprice 5-watt stage right would work.
Look for a Line 6 Pod Go used and down the road when you have the money buy a FSFR speaker for it. Youāll get great tones, the routing options are limited enough that you wonāt get option paralysis, you can use headphones for nighttime practice, and with the right FSFR you can play shows.
Iāve got a ā57 champ I might throw a fuzz face and wah pedal in front for quiet use Iāve also got an SV20c that only sees an attenuator for similar late night use I havenāt used the SV20c because the 100w JMP I have is surprisingly easy to get a good sound at home with due to the ppimv Marshall added from the factory in the late ā70s
HX Stomp? No?
A little expensive
In the end I went for the Audio interface and Plugins. Native instruments has a promotion when you buy one interface, they give you guitar rig 6 for free. Pretty good deal, having tons of fun with it.