Best Amp Option for small apartment

4

4tracker

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Guys, I need to record guitar in a small apartment with neighbors. What are my options?

I know I can try emulations, but I have in the past and they weren't quite right. I looked into building a 1 watt chime amp. I might do this. Are there any other options besides moving?
 
A one watt amp can still be loud as shit for an apartment.

You'd need to go down into microwatts, but those simply don't sound good. Or you can just record a master vol amp at very low levels and deal with the thin sound but you could potentially get into a situation where your speaker mic is picking up you hitting the strings.

Learn sims.
 
Greg_L said:
Learn sims.
Click to expand...

You did not just post that.... lol!

Yeah, either make friends with every one of your neighbors or go with an amp sim. Or record guitars at Greg's house. Or mine. :)

What type of sound are you going for? If not overdriven you can get away with less. If you want balls, you need an amp that will drive a speaker to the point of glory. That takes physical movement of the driver=loud.
 
Have you thought about an iso-cab? I've never used one and have no idea about how well or not well they work. One amp is definitely pushing it when it comes to good relations with your neighbors! LOL!
 
jimmys69 said:
You did not just post that.... lol!
Click to expand...

Lol! I'm a big fan of sims when that's what you HAVE to use. You do what you gotta do. My amp snobbery only flares up when people choose sims in lieu of real amps when they don't have to..........or they ignorantly go on and on about sims being better. That's just crazy talk.
 
XploZiveToyz said:
Have you thought about an iso-cab? I've never used one and have no idea about how well or not well they work. One amp is definitely pushing it when it comes to good relations with your neighbors! LOL!
Click to expand...

That's a good idea. One watt amp plus iso cab gets very usable results. Minerman in the tone thread has been using that very setup and getting great results.
 
Bugera makes a 5watt tube amp that attenuates down to 1watt and even .1watt. The .1watt doesn't sound very good but the 1watt is pretty good, and should be Ok in an apartment. The amp is only 150 bucks, you can find them used on Ebay for 100.00 Best small tube amp for the money I found.
 
Greg_L said:
Learn sims.
Click to expand...

Yeah I used to have a Line6 that sounded OKAY. Like you said, if in a pinch it would do. But I am working on my first serious recording and worry about the electric guitar. I've found a solution for everything else with programmed drums, keyboard emulators, DI bass, and then acoustic guitar. But the electric guitar is a problem for which I have not found a solution. I'm a HUGE J Mascis fan, so I like loud and chaotic lead guitar. Where do you guys live? Hah.

I guess I could rent a practice space for a day or two at the end and do all the guitar tracks in that time.

I have no friends out here. Got moved out to California for a job, and found it is a weird place for an east coaster to try and fit in. So going to someone's house isn't an option.
 
How do the amps that have headphones work? Is there any way to send that output into a PC instead of the phones?
Would that be a viable option?
 
Amp sims are great and very very usable. I have a shit ton of amps, and still use sims when it suits me.
 
4tracker said:
How do the amps that have headphones work? Is there any way to send that output into a PC instead of the phones?
Would that be a viable option?
Click to expand...

You'd get a better sound using a sim. You can get Amplitude 3 as a FREE download. Some Poulin sims are available for free as well.
 
XploZiveToyz said:
Have you thought about an iso-cab? I've never used one and have no idea about how well or not well they work. One amp is definitely pushing it when it comes to good relations with your neighbors! LOL!
Click to expand...

+1

When I had my setup in the living room, which is right below a paper thin ceiling with a family living upstairs, I put a miced 1x12 cab in an old (huge) freezer. The cab was connected to a Vox AC4-bl with 12AU7 tubes. Worked out really well for clean sounds!
 
4tracker said:
How do the amps that have headphones work? Is there any way to send that output into a PC instead of the phones?
Would that be a viable option?
Click to expand...

The HT 5 has a headphone out that is also "speaker emulated". This can be fed to an amp.

Dave.
 
You could take a track to somewhere else (say a studio) and actually record the guitars the way you wanted. Cost would be minimal for an hour or two of session. There are studios locally that still work in the $30-40 range. Get your amp sounding like you want it, jam the session, record everything and take it home to your own studio. Sort it out there. Most studios have some amps in house, just look around for one that has something you'd be interested in playing through.
 
On the ampsim thing, just depends on what you're after, all of 'em can be useable, & all of 'em are better at different things....I like Amplitube 3 for the "Marshall-y" sound myself, I got pretty close to the VH tone a few months ago using it, but it took a lot of futzing around with the amp, cab, & post-eq....They are useable, & are a blessing in your situation where noise is an issue....

On the other hand, while I do have a shit-load of ampsims, I'm all in with the low-watt thing....I have an Egnater Tweaker 15w head, & a Marshall DSL-1H that I use with a home-made ISO cab....I've got 3 different speakers for different tones: V30, Greenback, T-75, a Shure '57, & a couple condensor mics....The T15 is a bit louder than the Marshall (obviously, 15w >1w), but I've gotten pretty decent results using this setup....It can sound boxy, but mic placement & a little eq go a long, long way.....



Keep us posted on what you decide, & I'm sure we all can help ya dude.....
 
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