Guitar Guys another question

[jedimaster]

Ok so Santa squeeled that I am getting a new amp for Xmas, and I was wondering if its possible to take the crappy amp I already have and somehow gut the internals to make it a straight no effect clean amp? I have tried but even with the gain turned down and the tone adjusted up or down it still has some weird distortion to it. Just wondering if it can be gutted to a simple powered speaker.

[Rich]

Chances are the distortion is from the speaker itself being cheap and underpowered.. i doubt it will get better.

[Headhunter]

Much easier to answer that question if we knew what that crappy amp is?

Post a pic of the amp and maybe I can help.

HH

[jedimaster]

Just a cheap crappy one, it would be similar to this http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2419339

[registerfly]

probably not worth the effort...

[jedimaster]

Basically I am just building a "For fun" at home studio.

So far I have the following plan

 

I am just not too sure yet as everything is xmas gifts for various household people some myself if the ci1 will output live audio to the computer speakers. I don't think it does. I think you need to output to headphones(have) or the lineouts. That was sort of the impression I got from going through the documentation.

 

[NAW]

I stick to the acoustic.

Edited December 21, 2012 by N.A.W

[Headhunter]

One thing I have learned in buying M.I. stuff... spend a little more and get quality. Stuff like Behringer crap, will almost always have to be replaced. Once you learn more about what you like and dislike, you end up getting better stuff. Plus, the re-sale value of the crap stuff is non-existent.

So, in the medium tolong run, yoiu are better off getting quality. Re-sale value as you grow out of things is much better as well.

I don't suspect you are going to get what you want outta that First Act amp...

HH

[jedimaster]

Well that first act amp was just a toy that was leftover from the kids, so I don't really expect much from it. Actually I am happy it just turns on and makes some noise.

[Canuck]

M-audio powered monitor speakers do ok with guitar as long as you don't try to go to club volumes. I think the may be discontinued now though.

[Rich]

I stick to the acoustic.

 

Thats awesome. Truly LOL'd

[jedimaster]

Also have an acoustic but some songs are nice with the electric. And this setup also work with the acoustic plugged into the ci1 without the amp.

[Dabluz]

There are lots of nice transistor amps these days. Buy one that does not have any effects and you will save money. If it's for playing around the house, 15 watts is ample. Transistor amps in that category sell for quite low prices. For effects, buy pedals. You can get some real nice used pedals in just about any pawn shop. You can even try out the pedal before buying it.

 

If you are really looking for great tone, there is nothing nicer than a tube amp. Expect to pay at least 400 for a tube amp. If you want a clean sound....stay away from Marshall amps. I prefer using a clean sounding amp like a Vox or Fender and then dirtying the sound with effects. You just can't clean up an amp that is meant to play distorted.

 

During the 80's and 90's, few tube amps were being made but now more than half of the amps for sale in music stores are tube amps. Prices for tube amps have dropped considerably in the last 10 years.

[adolson]

If you're looking to get into recording electric guitar at home, I would toss that amp (or sell it to some poor chap) and skip the idea of recording mic'd amps entirely. Pick up something like a DigiTech RP-355 or similar. That's the one I use, and I'm very happy with the results in my songs.

 

I don't use a computer for recording, but I know guys that do and I'm sure they could do the same thing I do, which is this: record guitar clean to one track, have it route out an aux channel and into the DigiTech, the output of the DigiTech back into a second input and recorded to another track. This gives me the clean take and at any point if I need/want to redo my effects processing, I can do so without re-playing the parts, just playing the clean track out to aux, back in again.

[jedimaster]

Well the setup works out pretty good and records nicely. The way I have it rigged is the mustang 1 connected to the ci1 via the headphone jack with adapter and a patch cable to input 1 on the ci1 and then the mic hooked up to the ci1 port 2 with phanton power and mono sound on. Then I hook up some headphones to the line out and and I can hear both guitar from the amp and vocals from the mic. Open up sequel 2le and I can record and edit the tracks on there own. Now if only I could play the guitar and sing and I would be all set. Haha.

 

Btw the mustang1 sounds awesome. You can control it completely from the computer and control and download custom song specific amp setups. Really blown away by this amp. Dont get too hung up on the first act amp its the kids amp for fun, I used to have a nice fender twin tube but to be honest the sound and versatility of this mustang amp for 110 bucks is really hard to beat. I ended up getting an at 2020 mic and it also sounds really nice.

Edited December 24, 2012 by jedimaster

[jedimaster]

Here is a sample of the new setup, still learning and still hacking away. I am actually enjoying playing with all the settings, a bit too much distortion or something for this song, still got allot to learn with this new rig.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91e1VV3op9s

Edited December 30, 2012 by jedimaster

[jace]

I'm with the other 2 on getting high quality used gear for the same reasons mentioned and it's the same advice I give although almost nobody ever takes it. If you spend $500 on a used guitar, and $500 on just about any half decent, good sized (12" speaker so no bedroom amps), used fender/marshall amp, you can turn around any time later and sell them for at least what you paid no problem. Fender's have cleaner cleans, marshalls have better crunch. It seems you've have your new equipment and started playing with it already. I didn't see it mentioned but you might also want to consider getting one of those iRig or guitar pod's (i forget the actual device name but Line6 makes them). the iRig needs an ipod, ipad or iphone and the Line6 thing only needs a computer. I know a few people who have them and they sound pretty good for what they are. It's going to take a lot more hardware to get good recordings using mic's and things the way you want to.

 

That said, the last recording you made doesn't sound too bad. There isn't too much distortion in the sound, the problem is not enough string dampening with your hands, both left and right. You need to learn how to keep the string noise under control and allow strings to vibrate only when you want them to. ...and maybe pick up a metronome at some point too.

[jedimaster]

Pretty happy with stuff so far and I have yet to read a bad review on the amp the mic or the ci1. Still lots and lots of room for improvement on the actual playing though, and I can certainly live with that.