Well if the MT is just a headphone amp anyhow you may as well use the PC
But if I bought a cabinet with eg. an Eminence Legend 12" speaker? Do amp sims in a DAW come close to its sound?
Almost but not yet, definitely not the cheaper ones. In a few years Iām sure they will.
Studio Monitors are great (I have a pair), and after buying them, I hardly use my tube amp.
However, most of the time, I do not bother with setting up daw, simulators, etc. I just use the direct monitor option of the interface and practice with the raw guitar sound. If Iām learning a song, then Iāll open the daw and use some pedal and amp sims (I purchased full set of Bias FX2 at $90 on a Christmas discount). They are perfectly OK for practising, playing for friends and family etc.
However, it is no match for an actual amp sound. If Iām recording, or alone and want to have some fun, Iāll go for the tube amp. Thatās the best sound I have.
Amp sims can be very good, (i.e. kemper sims etc) a lot of what you hear recorded is recorded dry and simād later but all using pro tools so it depends on where your budget is etc.
Similar crossroad for me about a year ago.
Ended up settling on some decent monitors/ headphones, Scarlet 2i2 interface, Reaper, and S-Gear amp sim, which has incredible tones. Couple of mics and some other sundry stuff as well.
One huge plus is that everything in one place for practice/ playing makes it a highly efficient setup for me. More time practicing/ playing, less time fiddling about.
Am very happy with this setup.
Have an amp plug if I wanna play the electric away from the music room. Hardly use my amp anymore.
Cheers, Shane
As a general rule, amp sims donāt sound like an amp.
They sound like a recording of an amp. Which sounds different from an amp in the room with you.
Many people donāt care, and you may be one of them, but many others do.
Bear in mind also that guitar cabs and monitor speakers are designed for different things.
Decent monitors (as opposed to cheaper computer speakers) are also quite expensive, typically costing $300 upwards for a pair.
A cab for the Micro Terror will cost from about $100 depending on what you get. I have the matching Orange PPC108 for mine with an 8 inch speaker and itās decent.
I also have a Harley Benton cab with a 12 in Celestion speaker which didnāt cost much more and the Micro Terror sounds really good through that. Although, it takes up a lot more space and kinda needs to be cranked a bit to get the best from it
Thereās a role for both in my view. The ideal would be to have both, but your budget may not stretch to that.
Cheers,
Keith
1 Like
I prefer playing through an actual amp, so if it were me Iād start off with a cab. Iād eventually get the monitors, too, but more for a home recording setup than for playing through.
FWIW, I have a 1 x 12 cab with a Creamback, and also multiple combo amps, as well as a Boss GT-1000 Core and a pair of Yamaha HS-8 monitors (and other gear, of course). So Iāve played with amps and Iāve played through amp sims + monitors. Both approaches work. My preference for actual amps is just that: a preference.
My advice would be to get both, eventually. Start with a cab, then a dynamic mic, then a condenser mic, then a pair of studio monitors.
Just my $0.02.
1 Like
Thanks for the all the inputs. Not an easy choice.
Iām kind of leaning towards using a cabinet because, well, itās not simulated but the real thing. And I can move it around the apartment, while the audio interface + studio monitor is tied to where the PC is.
For recording, Iām thinking about buying a Rode videomic since I already have a MILC camera and I can use the mic for other purposes too. I am still just practicing so Iām not looking for studio quality recording equipment, not currently at least.
Now, I just need to decide on which cabinet to get for the Micro Terror. I would have liked to see a cabinet with Eminence speaker but I donāt see any locally.
I got an empty 1x12 cabinet from Seismic and put my own speaker in it. Might be an option worth considering.
Which Eminence speaker are you thinking about? I put a Cannabis Rex in my Blues Jr. and Iāve been happy with that one.
Those are good reasons.
Iām wondering a little why you are being so specific. Is it because youāve tested Eminence speakers against others, or because youāve just heard anecdotally that they are good?
Iām not saying they arenāt good, or that speakers donāt make a difference (they do). Iām just thinking that if this is your first āreal ampā experience (Iām guessing it is otherwise you probably wouldnāt have started this thread) then I would suggest itās probably not that important.
Cheers,
Keith
Some years back (10+) I had a Vox Lilā Night Train with an Eminence Cannabis Rex and I really digged that sound.
Iām more fond of southern rock sound than British rock, so I lean towards Eminence more than Celestion.
Though I did hear an awesome Celestion combination on YT: V30 + G12T-75 Creamback.
1 Like
To play a valve/(tube) amp without a speaker attached is a VERY bad thing. How do I know?
I have a tiny terror but I think the Micro might be solid state rather than valve. Eitherway there is little point in having the Micro Terror without a cab. The larger the speaker, the more air it will shift and the louder it will be. But you really wonāt get any benefit from a 12" speaker at home level - they really need to be cranked.
My logocal brain says stick with the PC but my emotional heart favours the tone of a proper amp.
Amp sims are trying to emulate the sound and tone of an amp cranked i,e. at 11 not 1. But would never sound anything like the real thing. But if you played a Marshall Plexi at home, for example, at 11 it would likely blow the windows out. Those things are painfully loud but thatās how the tone is achieved. There is also an element of speaker distortion at that volume that adds to the overall bliss.
1 Like
Preamp is tube, power amp is solid state in the Micro Terror. I never said I play it without an output.
Speaker size affects sound also, notably in the lower frequencies. Thereās a reason why everything is larger in the bass world. You can check the specs of a 10" and a 12" speaker, check the frequency range:
I donāt see a massive difference there. I have a greenback in my Blues Junior. The Orange cab has a Celestion Vintage 30 and I also have a Celestion 100w 8ā bass speaker in another cabinet. Plenty big enough for bass but all too loud for home use.
Thereās a very inexpensive Harley Benton 1x12 cab available. At its price you could buy it and swap the speaker with something else and still come out ahead. I think they also offer it loaded with a Celestion V30 (more money, of course, but still quite reasonable).
Thatās the unit I have, that I mentioned above, with the Celestion V30.
Itās amazing value for money and sounds great. I have used it with both my Bugera G5 head and my Orange Micro Terror.
Cheers,
Keith
1 Like
I just ordered an Orange Terror Stamp I plan on using with my Creamback 1x12. Sounds like a similar setup to your Micro Terror + V30 1x12. Out of curiosity, do you find the Micro Terror to be a versatile amp, or is it more of a one-trick-pony?
TBH I havenāt used the Micro Terror that much. It was part of a bundle of stuff I bought from a friend.
It was over a year ago since I last used it. My recollection is that it was fairly versatile, but I was also using it as a pedal platform with a Boss MS-3.
What I originally posted about it:
I didnāt have any difficulty getting a tone I liked from it, but I wasnāt specifically trying to match tones against anything.
Cheers,
Keith
1 Like
Thatās a US page. But yeah, I saw this one at Thomannās European page.
However, just the other day I saw a rather big discount on the BOSS Katana 212 cabinet, about $270 - my country has a VAT of 27%, without itād be about $215. Couldnāt leave it there. It might give me room in the future to experiment combining two different speakers, like eg. the V30 and the G12M Greenback.