Amp question - simulated out vs. other?

R

rkmase

New member
After this question I posted a couple days ago:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=210864

I've been looking for a new combo amp. I've seen several that look nice and within my price range (like this: http://www.guitarcenter.com/shop/product/buy_marshall_mg30dfx_combo?full_sku=101704088), but after going to guitar center and checking them out, I noticed the amp output was labled "headphone/ simulated out". The rep said that this output to my PC would produce a "brittle" sound.

Being the newbie and all, can anyone explain what a "simulated out" is, why it wouldnt produce a good sound to pass through to my PC, and what I should look for instead?

Google and wiki had nothing for me, so thanks for any help.
 
The simulated output has a cheap speaker simulator circuit in it to make it more tolerable sounding.

A big part of the sound of an amp is the speaker, the actual sound of an amp without a speaker is really high endy and crappy sounding. The speaker fixes that.

Running an amp direct to a PC will not sound as good as mic'ing the speaker.
 
Farview said:
Running an amp direct to a PC will not sound as good as mic'ing the speaker.
Click to expand...

And it would also blow the hell out of your PC input :p

But on a serious note, the simulated outputs are no good, I've head some people saying they like them with distorted guitars and I have recorded decent tracks with direct guitars but micin' the amp is a much better option.


-jeffrey
 
ahh hah! lightbulb.

for some reason I just didnt understand "mic'ing the amp". NOW it all makes sense. Thanks for the help. I'll add mic preamp, and new mic to the list :g: I suppose I should have realized this wouldnt be cheap.
 
OhSh1rt said:
And it would also blow the hell out of your PC input -jeffrey
Click to expand...
Not with a simulated direct output it wouldn't. That's what it's for. Hooking the speaker output would blow up the soundcard.
 
And I know a guy who did that with a powered mixer into his laptop, he was lucky to not fry the whole thing. Fried his motherboard to some extent though, had to get a new one on the end. The funniest thing was he didn't see the problem, people like that shouldn't be allowed to own pa gear.

And yeah for studio work look for a small combo, preferably tube and mic it with an SM57. Seems to be the standard thing to do.
Its not the volume its the tone you want, remember that.

If you go for a stack or half or whatever make sure you put the thickest speaker cable in between it as you can, thick cable = thicker sound.
And please god don't use a guitar cable, thats like the worse thing you can do to an amp, potentially you can fry the amp and melt the cable.
 
That "thick cable, thick sound" thing is not true. Yes, you need speaker cable thick enough to carry the current, but the bicycle lock sized speaker cable for a 100 watt guitar head is just stupid. All the power an amp will ever have it gets from the AC outlet it's plugged into. Having a speaker cable that is thicker that the AC cable feeding the amp is a waste.

But you are right about the instrument cable thing. Instrument cables are shielded, speaker cables are not. The shielding creates a problem that can screw up the output transformer of your amp. It also negativeley effects the sound of your rig.
 
Farview said:
Not with a simulated direct output it wouldn't. That's what it's for. Hooking the speaker output would blow up the soundcard.
Click to expand...
Well technicaly in that instance you said right out of the amp, not simulated out, it was a joke mostly from me.


-jeffrey
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top