what monitors or speakers do you like with your amplitube 5

[Vegas101]

Everyone tell me what you use. I got a headrush 108 maybe will get two eventually as I didnt like hearing the guitar with amplitube and Axeio coming through my studio reference monitors. I feel the headrush is better. I have always been a loud tube amp guy and had the luxury of playing real amps when I WANT BUT I wanted to try to melt into the guitar modeling world and the tones recorded are amazing but I am so used to hearing real guitar amps it was a hard adjustment to hearing digital tones. I want to know what you like for speakers. I dont use the amplitube or headrush speaker playing with band just in studio and or tracking. For real band time I use real amps.

[Sharmon123@]

My monitors are cheapy 300$ Yorkvilles (X2). I mainly listen with a pair of AKG K712 Pros , the sound is superb and just a smidge of bass boost but other that that as flat as they get and open backs so all day use is no problem.

[Vegas101]

open backs ? cool I have good mixing headphones never thought of getting open back

[Sharmon123@]

I am ambivalent about the K712 Pros though , I loved my original K240s (Open backs) that they replaced after 25 years . Sometimes old school is just a comfortable pair of shoes you put on sometimes. They are better but not the same.(you get the meaning)

[dmitch]

For mixing and editing guitar recordings I mostly listen thru a pair of Yamaha HS7 near-field monitors. But when I'm just playing, I want to really feel it, and I use a pair of JBL 12" 2-way PA speakers with a couple hundred watts of PA amp behind them.

[Sharmon123@]

Update your Amp 5.5.6 to 5.6.0 , it's an improvement.

[jabryant1961]

Not to hijack this thread, but I too am looking for monitors, but I want to be able to listen while I play my guitar (and avoid having to use headphones). Will any monitors work (assuming that I am keeping the volume at a low level) or will I need to increase my $250 budget? Thanks for your help!

[Sharmon123@]

They would have to match the output requirements of whatever your line out is. 4 ohms ,8 ohms and 16 ohms are typical values. You will want active (powered) monitors not passive

[jabryant1961]

I am using the iRig HD 2 as my interface and plug my headphones into it (I will have to research the output requirements for the line out). And yes, the monitors I have been looking at are all powered.

[pllrqst]

For me, nothing really seems to beat playing guitar through a real guitar cabinet. With Tonex/Amplitube, I do this by running with cab sim disabled then through a reamp box into the effects return on an amp or direct out from an audio interface into a clean power amp + guitar speaker cabinet.

For comparison, I also have some fairly expensive studio monitors and PA speakers (Genelec 8340a monitors and QSC K12.2 PA speakers). The flexibility to use a variety of cab sims and IRs with full range speakers is definitely nice and has a big impact on the resulting sound compared to everything being run through one of my few real guitar cabinets. But, it just never really sounds and feels right to me that way. That said, a decent pair of headphones will sound "better" at the same price point than a cheap set of studio monitors. In the end, probably just takes some experimentation to see what works well for your individual tone goals and use case.

I'm lucky to have a space where nobody minds if I crank up a real cabinet any time I want

[Vegas101]

thank you all. I have come to the conclusion not to think of it as a real amp because its all Digital. That said the headrush 108 is fantastic for this over studio reference monitors. More realistic. some say its boomy ? No it's not, just adjust amp to tase and re eq some amp models and its fine. Its not a guitar cabinet or a guitar amp its all virtual. people need to get out of their way of regular guitar player thinking as when you are turning a knob on a virtual amp it isnt the same as a real amp so you have to rethink the approach. I think it's a great tool for quick playing and recording but when I track with it I make sure I AM HEARING GUITAR through reference monitors with the other tracks so its more accurate. but for simple playing loud if I want the Headrush 108 is killer. Just lift it off floor and put on a 2x4 or 2x6.

[carlaz]

For home-recording etc., I'd firstly say what everyone else says: know your speakers/headphones and know your room. And, yes, having an acoustically treated room is ideal if you are using speakers -- though I question whether this is realistic for the majority of AmpliTube users who are probably not actually operating a semi-pro -- let alone pro -- studio.

For my part, I've used the same AKG K240 MkII (semi-open-backed) headphones for more than a decade. I play guitar and bass through them, I mix my recording projects on them, I listen to music and have video conferences with them .... So, I feel like I know them reasonably well.

Then, for the last few years -- for when I'm not using headphones -- I've also used a set of IKM's iLoud Micro Speakers just sitting on my desktop, flanking my monitor. One could easily argue that they should be better isolated from the desktop surface than their built-in rubberized feet make them, and certainly one could argue that my room (which is principally a home office) should be treated (though it definitely isn't) ....

But if I want to just play through my iLoud Micros, it sounds fine. And if I want to play through my headphones, that also sounds fine. And for mixing, I just go back and forth between my headphones and iLoud Micros -- and the car stereo! -- and do the best I can (which I think is not too bad for a total amateur like myself ).

Of course, one can spend just about as much on either headphones or speakers as one wants. The sky -- and the number of internal organs you have to sell -- are the limit! But certainly if you are playing through or mixing on headphones (which effectively eliminates the room), the most important thing is probably that you know those headphones and what the music you like sounds like in those headphones.

[Vegas101]

I have to try theAKG K240 MkII never used them I use akg ath m-40 which is great but open back my give me less ear fatigue?

as far as IKMs loud micro my yamaha hs-8s are way better if I want to do that but after getting two headrush and getting them off the ground on stands thats more guitar like than any desk monitors. headphones are prob a great sound though

[carlaz]

Well, semi-open-back have very much the characteristics you would expect: they are in between open- and closed-back headphones. So they sound a bit more "natural" than closed-back headphones, but both admit and leak more noise.

I have them as a sort of "all in one compromise", though one needs to be careful when tracking vocals that they don't leak too much noise out, and if I'm playing e-drums they admit a lot of the "thwack thwack" of hitting rubber cymbals etc. with a stick.

But, for just playing guitar with headphones, I find they're OK. If I wear them for hours, then they kind of hurt my ears by crushing them slowly against the frames of my glasses but I don't usually do that.