Headphones amp

L

LeadPaint

New member
I'm looking for a way to play guitar using headphones. I play blues (clean and overdrive) and also high gain stoner metal. I've tried with my guitar into my interface (Tascam US-1800) with buffer set to the lowest option and Amplitube 3 set to the lowest quality. The metal stuff goes pretty fine, but playing blues the latency still bothers me.

• An headphone amp with speaker simulator would be great. I've found the Carl Martin Rock Bug but I find it too expensive. Are there less expensive alternatives?

• Another option might be a small amp with phones output, like those small Marshall stacks. Orange also has a mini amplifier and so do some more brands. Are these worth considering?

• Then there's also small multi effects pedals. They often have speaker simulation. Do they have noticeable latency?
 
Some of the Digitech RP's have a phones output, I have an RP155 I got when I first started home recording, Can't say I've noticed any latency with that when using phones. Plus I can load patches straight from Digitech's website using their free software. Also you can pick up a few of the older models for not a lot of cash. The only reason I don't use it now is that I have since got a H&K Grandmeister 36 and I use the red box out into my recording set up when wanting to do the silent thing.
 
Play or record? If the latter then you may just need to work on the computer. Actually it seems you have issue with your PC either way. A decent PC should be able to allow you play through Amplitude with acceptable amounts of latency.
 
jimmys69 said:
Play or record? If the latter then you may just need to work on the computer. Actually it seems you have issue with your PC either way. A decent PC should be able to allow you play through Amplitude with acceptable amounts of latency.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear on that. It's just to play late at night.


I guess my PC is pretty decent. Intel Core i5-750 2.67GHz, 8 GB RAM, Samsung 850 PRO SSD.
I've just did a test and I have found out that there is a delay of 12 ms regardless of the quality settings in Amplitube. I did this by simultaneously recording the dry signal from my guitar and the headphones output from my interface. The lowest buffer size I can choose is 49 samples. 12 ms is enough to feel slightly out of time when playing fast.
Could this be an issue with my computer?
 
I'm not sure that I believe 12ms could be all that bad. It's no worse than standing across the room from your amp. Not gonna argue with you, though. It is a bit more than I get from my US1641 even when I had it connected to the 2.8GHz dual core laptop.

I could swear I had read somewhere recently that Amplitube itself adds some amount of latency, even though it really shouldn't need to. You might just need to swap to a different amp sim. I know that PodFarm is latency free.
 
There're a squillion of them out there...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HQ0S_O2QFU

It's a rotten vid & there's delay in the audio all the way through that doesn't exist when using it with headphones etc etc.
I has one of these and it was good fun because it was small, lightweight and sounded OK. I gave it away to someone who didn't have an amp.
 
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ashcat_lt said:
I'm not sure that I believe 12ms could be all that bad. It's no worse than standing across the room from your amp. Not gonna argue with you, though. It is a bit more than I get from my US1641 even when I had it connected to the 2.8GHz dual core laptop.

I could swear I had read somewhere recently that Amplitube itself adds some amount of latency, even though it really shouldn't need to. You might just need to swap to a different amp sim. I know that PodFarm is latency free.
Click to expand...

That's a good tip, I'll try another simulator first!
 
rayc said:
There're a squillion of them out there...
[...]
Click to expand...

Somehow the Vox amPlugs never seemed good to me, but that's mainly because they looks silly with the attached plug. Do they sound okay plugged into distortion pedals?

I've also found an headphone amp made by Electro Harmonix on the page miroslav linked. Both the Vox and the EH can't seem to be used with an external power supply, but still these are affordable options.
 
I've just tried another amp simulator and again it had a 12 ms delay. But I found out that there is also a 12 ms delay without any sims. I'm going to make another thread about this.
 
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