Hi everyone, I hope this is the right place to ask all these questions. Iāve spent hours browsing the community and other forums but all Iāve got are even more questions.
So: Iāve been looking at amps. I have the Fender Mustang Micro so I wonāt annoy my neighbors but Iād like to get one I can use without headphones and with a looper pedal (which I also still need). That also might make it easier to play alongside a friend via Zoom (I can only use my acoustic for that right now).
As the usual āsaleā dates are coming up, I was hoping to find something affordable. Affordable means for me around 250 euros for the amp, a looper pedal for under 100 euros should be possible (hopefully). I know, the better the amp the better the sound - but I need to be able to buy food as wellā¦
Another important factor is the size of the amp. I donāt have much space. Ideally, the amp could fit (if not in use) in your usual āBillyā bookshelf from Ikea.
As mentioned, Iāve watched lots of videos and read a lot but some things are still tricky in my mind.
A lot of people recommend the Boss Katana and Iāve watched several videos - the thing is just: Itās too big for my room. There seem to be smaller versions, but I have no idea how good they are.
Also lots of people recommend the Spark amps but then there seem to be some issues with regular looper pedals and the way the signals are processed? I know that lots of amps (also the Spark ones) have some kind of looper integrated, which is fine. I think Iād be more comfortable with tapping a pedal on the floor rather than trying to get it right with an app. Also: As Iāve got ADHD Iām easily distracted. The less I need to pick up my phone, the better.
So basically: Iāve confused myself with too much information and terminology I donāt yet understand and I hope here are some people who arenāt rolling their eyes at me (which is my fear when thinking about going to a store).
Generally speaking, if you have a modern modelling practice amp, you will need to get one with an FX loop if you want to use it with a looper and the built-in effects. This tends to limit you to physically larger and more expensive models.
The alternative is to get a simple amp without built-in effects and put effects into the front of the amp, and you can then put the looper into the front of the amp too.
If you go with this approach I would suggest using a cheap multifx pedal (Boss, Zoom, etc.) and some of these also have built-in loopers.
Regarding the Spark, there is a version which includes a looper. Thereās also the Xsonic uLooper which works on a range of different modelling amps.
Have you ever tried this? If so, was it even possible due to latency issues?
If you havenāt tried this, be prepared to be disappointed because itās very hard to keep the time over video call due to latency.
Itās not small and would need to be on sale to hit your budget but the Fender Mustang GTX50 plus GTX-7 covers most bases. The footswitch includes a looper (and tuner) and the amp has built in Bluetooth. The amp does have an effects loop.
Iām a satisfied GTX100 owner which is why I mention it.
We briefly tried it with my acoustic and it was okay-ish. The latency issue is something we didnāt think about - thatās probably what messed us up. Thank you!
From your explanations, I think a simpler amp in combination with the multifx pedal would be better - especially as the size of an amp really is an issue. Any recommendations (for the pedal as well)?
I saw the uLooper pedal in a video (Andertonās channel, I think) but it only confused me even more. Iām still trying to get my head around what is needed and what is nice to have. I really am spoiled by the headphone amp with the āplug and playā approach.
The starting point would be something like an entry-level Zoom, Valeton or Mooer pedal:
These are perfectly good starter pedals, and all include a basic looper.
Note that there are models for not much more which include an expression pedal. I highly recommend getting something with an expression pedal as itās useful for a lot of things, and is one of those things you may regret not having if you get the slightly cheaper model.
Personally, I have the Boss GT-1 which is decent. It is, however, on the older side, being launched in 2016, and you can probably get similar or even better capabilities from the ones I have linked above which are newer models.
Which is best for you? I suggest you do some research and watch some video reviews. I would say most of them will give you decent sounds and the primary difference between them will be specific capabilities (e.g. how many footswitches, how long a loop you get, whether you can do overdubs, whether they support cabinet IRs, etc.) and how easy they are to use (which, frankly, is often a personal preference thing).
Up from there, thereās something for every price range and the sky is (almost) the limit, with many āflagshipā multi-fx systems costing thousands.
The links I put in above are for Andertons, but you may want to explore local music stores.
I do have that amplifier myself and it is a great little Amp, the speaker would be adequate and is well made and the looper is very good for the price.
I do have a similar setup myself but I already had an ElectroHarmonix Looper which would blow most of your budget!
The cheapest combo amp I know of is
You guys are amazing - thanks to all of you! Now Iāve got lots of research to do, but I think this will help me much more than any of the research before. Iāll be back with even more questions
I already got one: Any recommendations regarding cables?
But you will still need cables to connect between pedals/effects and amp. High quality cables are cheap to make, so do not spend a fortune on them thinking you are getting better: you are mostly paying for branding and snake-oil.
Having said that, many branded cables are not expensive either.
I would look to spend no more than around Ā£12 for a 10-15ft cable.
On the other hand, you can get some cheap rubbish from places like eBay and Amazon, the main issue being very cheap cables are likely to break easily. Personally I wouldnāt recommend spending less than about Ā£3-5 for a 10-15ft cable. And really thin ones, aside from being more prone to breakage, are also going to be less easy to untangle.
Other than that, probably the most significant difference between most guitar cables is the colour/style of the outside covering.
Any recommendations for the wireless options? I have no idea what I need to keep in mind with that. (Again, I feel rather stupid, but Iām very grateful for your patient answers!)
I find I prefer to use a cable between guitar and amp. Charging wireless stuff gets annoying after a few days, and I like to keep things plugged in for immedaite sit and play when I have 5 minutes.
I have the MojoDiamond listed above. I like it a lot. It sits on my desk and I can keep it on and a guitar plugged in ready to go. You will need a speaker cabinet (unpowered) for this. If you go this route, you will need to buy a SPEAKER cable. Do not buy an instrument cable for this particular connection. The wires in the instrument cable are small, so there is a lot of loss in the cable and it wonāt get very loud. Your speaker cable can be short - no need to get a 30 foot cable when 2 feet will do. When shoppping for a speaker cable look for 14 or 12 gague wire. A knowlegable seller will have that in their information on the product. Mine cost (in USD) $70 for amp, $50 for speaker, and I made the cable from parts i already had (maybe $5).
Iām trying to balance the amount of detail I write, so if you think this is the way you will go and are still confused, just ask.
thought iād throw out another option iāve been using.
Guitar into Trio+
Trio Fx out to Spark Go
Spark Go headphone out to Trio+ FX return (3.5 mm to 1/4 inch adapter required)
Trio+ out to Spark 40 clean channel.
Any tone shaping is done on the Go and it will be recorded into loop layers.
The OP might be able to use the Mustang Micro as a replacement for the Spark Go. The spark go has the advantage of being able to set the headphone out to mono. Not sure if the mustang does that or how important it is.
also go might get dementia results going from the Trio amp output straight to a Hifi stereo but iāve never tried that.
I noticed that you said in your original post that you have ADHD. If thatās the case, Iām not convinced that some of the above options are necessarily the best for you. Many of the suggestions are modelling amps with lots of effects or a simple amp coupled with a multi effects pedal that includes a looper.
It can be very distracting having a modelling amp or multi effects pedal, with almost limitless and infinite combinations of amp types, modulation etc. In practice, in can result in getting seriously distracted and playing sessions can just become playing around with different combinations of amp models and effects rather than really practicing guitar. This may not be ideal if you easily get distracted by things like your phone during practice. @Richard_close2u often reminds us on this forum that a clean sound is our friend during practice as some effects, especially overdrive and fuzz mask some of our errors. So why not keep it simple?
Given the ADHD, I would recommend a simple practice amp with one clean channel or perhaps 2 channels (clean/dirty) that sounds nice rather than something with loads of amp models and effects. Then get 1 very simple looper pedal that just does looping.
I went this route for my amp as I want to focus on practice and not messing around with lots of settings on the amp and I definitely donāt regret it. I do not have ADHD. In
my case, I bought an Orange crush 35rt but wouldnāt recommend it for quiet practice. It sounds very nice but to get a really lovely sound it has to be turned up too loud IMO and my neighbours wouldnāt be happy. But there are smaller ones like Orange crush 20rt and surely lots of other brands.
Even just investigating all this gear online is a huge distraction in itself.
Iām a biology professor and have 30 years experience supervising PhD research projects and teaching students. Several of my students had(have) ADHD and my approach when guiding them is to make as simple a path as possible for them to achieve their research goals while avoiding too many distractions that can send you off at a tangent.
With that simple set up you can already really do a lot and you can always introduce pedals later if you are interested in a certain effect.
