I hear ya. Thatās why I said, āIf youāre just getting started, an amp is the simple way to go. You plug in, play with knobs and youāre off and runningā
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I hope this helps!
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And yet this is exactly what I do with an AI also
Except I can get amps for free or a fraction of the cost of physical ones
Take a look at a Blackstar ID Core 10 V4. Check out the Youtube reviews on it. Iāve just bought one and it is fantastic. Has all the features and different effects I could possibly want and at the press of a button reduces the sound to only 1W without loss of the sounds dialed in.
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I totally, utterly, and completely understand. I think that some people are more prone to that for sure - one hour practice session becomes 45 minutes of faffing as you say, and then 15 minutes of kind of practicing and then you pat yourself on the back for sticking to your goal of practicing an hour a day. Not good.
I was a percussionist growing up and taught high school drumlines for a decade. There was a huge difference between the guys who would hit the pad and bust their butts week in and week out, vs. those that were clearly more interested in collecting percussion instruments and being the āgear guyā who knew every new catalog front to back. āUm, I donāt think another splash cymbal on your drumset is going to help your timing any Mike.ā
But am I going to faff around? Haha, of course I am - but I donāt plan on spending money on this just to stare at my phone and swipe though an app all day long either.
a real amp does not need a computer
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And whats that supposed to mean its 2025 not 1965
it seems you do use a computer with your real amp alsoā¦
it works without !
This set up is to play on Yousician
YS needs the computer , not my amp !
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This isnāt my debate obviously. I donāt even have a dog, let along a dog in the fight so to speak, butā¦
Although itās amazing to me that all of this is possible as you describe it being, the thing that I think about is the barrier to entry for a beginner, such as myself, to a pure PC system.
With a modeling amp I believe I could have it on my doorstep tomorrow, download the app, and be playing by the end of the evening. But with a pure PC setup (sorry I donāt know how else to refer to it) I wouldnāt even now where to begin. It wasnāt until your 3rd message or so that I figured out that AI was āaudio interface.ā Iāve watched plenty of YouTube videos where folks are using a system like yours, and it sounds great! I really have a difficult time having any opinion on it, because it all goes over my head (as a complete beginner).
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I will 100% take your word for it. If thatās indeed the case, then yes, it sounds absolutely doable.
Can I ask a really dumb question though? Are you sitting at your computer while youāre playing?
It would be helpful if the OP gave an indication of their budget for their first electric guitar and amp?
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Wow, what a wonderfully thorough reply!
This suggests that you want to invest usefully rather than just test the waters. This is pretty much the path I took after my test-the-waters leap. The item(s) you select here to plug your guitar into should be something that you are willing to learn, is expected to be as complete as you need, and last a long time. You will learn better what you really like as you gain some time with your guitar and gear, but you will also see that your goals will move around a bit as you discover what is hard for you and what is easy for you. I recommend erroring on the side of a little too much if your budget is ok to support that. It can save you from wishing and waiting later.
I strongly recommend you take a look at the Practical Music Theory course. The first part of it is free, then you pay to go deeper. It was clear to me that I wanted to go deeper within just a few modules. This will help answer a lot of your questions about how music is structured. It is NOT tied to the PLAY coursework beyond being useful to know in some places. No need to try to keep the two courses coordinated. The amp you select is not terribly influential here.
I agree quite a lot. My initial attempts were on sub-par gear and that did not last long. I could not figure out how to make some sounds, had to fight dodgy software, that kind of thing. I later bought a better guitar and Spark amp (first gen). It was a wonderful leap, but only took me a few months of trying to force the Spark into sounding āgoodā before I was not happy with it. Some of the features were laughable, like the note guessing algorithm - it was wrong 99% of the time.
I started to research options and decided that I was probably better off with a processor and powered cabinet over a bunch of pedals and clean amp. Cost, variety, and physical volume were better with the processor. This is the kind of trade-off you will want to think through.
I like to play about TV volumes. My wife and I migrate to opposite sides of the house when I want to play, she wants to listen to TV/podcasts, or I switch over to headphones. I use headphones often first thing in the morning as well as later at night when she is in bed.
This suggests enough variety to learn what goes into a signal chain, what sounds you like, and how to create those sounds. This means a lot of pedals and a couple different amps, software and plug-ins with some kind of studio monitor speaker, or a multi-effects processor and powered āflatā amp. Making this decision is much of what was discussed above. Trying lots of things out by way of the pedal and amp method gets expensive unless you like to buy and sell stuff. The software method is less expensive and allows you to try a lot of things, but I did not like the sound of it compared to a proper guitar amp. Going the route of an effects processor and flat response amp will sound good, but cost more than the software method. I personally went with the effects processor and would buy it again if anything happened to it. I think it sounds better than the software into monitor speakers and is more versatile than an amp and pedals for my use and learning.
EDIT ā i forgot to add the modeling amps to the list above. The advantage to those is that they are generally made for small footprints and come with enough features to fiddle with that you can learn something about guitar gear. I think they fall short on the gimmick software to help new players (coughā¦ Spark) and sometimes rely on the software too much. The Katana is larger (which I like the sound of) and has pretty good comments from folks, but so did the Spark, and I thought it was not good at all. Best to listen for yourself, side-by-side if you can.
I like the sound of a room filled with books. 
one last item:
I have found that I like the sound of a larger speaker and one built specific for guitar. It just sounds more like what I expect. All speakers seem to sound a bit better a bit loud, but the full-range of a studio monitor seems more dead than alive like a guitar cabinet.
If you start to look at individual parts like amps and pedals, you will want to get a feel for how they sound and start to identify what sound you like. Listening to Youtube videos is one way, but it becomes hard to make comparisons because there is rarely a good experiment set up. people will play different things on different gear they are comparing, they will put in different settings, making the ācomparisonā pretty uncertain. You just need to do a lot of research to get the overall feel for the gear you are looking at.
thatās my book for the day.
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I was hoping for $1,500USD done and dusted. Seemed like a reasonable albeit admittedly arbitrary starting point. Some places Iāve read suggested 50/50 spending on guitar and amp, but Iām learning more toward 67/33 at the moment. Favoring the guitar that is.
This ^^^^ Switch that 67/33 to 33/67 budget wise, especially if its your first guitar.
An expensive gtr and a poor amp will sound like a poor gtr. A half decent budget gtr and a good amp, will sound like a good guitar. You are more likely to keep the amp and replace the guitar down the road and probably more than once. Or start a stable 
Well I am a meager lifetime public librarian, so I certainly do not have money to burn, but I think itās almost comical what guitar players think is a lot of money to spend on a decent instrument. Electric guitar must be one of the least expensive endeavors, not accounting for any such āacquisition syndromes,ā Certainly buying more and more of anything gets outrageously expensive, but compare a quality guitar and amp to getting set up with a drum set of equal quality. Hereās $800 for youā¦and we donāt have any drums, stands, cymbals, headsā¦
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You can actually get a lot for that.
Regarding the amp, I know you arenāt going to be gigging, but is space an issue in your office? If it isnāt, then a more traditional āfull-sizedā amps is certainly in your budget. In fact, the smaller amps tend to be more expensive.
And full-sized amps tend to sound better because:
This! 100%
When you use a typical modeller through monitor speakers, you are not listening to something that sounds like a guitar amp: you are listening to something that sounds like a recording of a guitar amp which sounds very different from an actual amp in the room.
Most of the ādesktopā small amps will also have a similar sound. Thatās not necessarily bad, but itās not the same as how a guitar amp in a room sounds.
If you have the space for a full-sized (as in something with a 10inch or larger speaker and a reasonable sized cabinet) and the ability to play it reasonably loudly then I would look at getting something like that. It will sound so much better than a desktop amp or monitor speakers in the long run.
If you donāt want an app and want something simple, something like the Blackstar HT5R, or the Orange Crush 35. Be careful getting ālow-wattageā tube amps, because even at low-wattage, tube amps can be very loud. Having said that, there are some interesting ones around that are in your budget.
If you donāt mind an app, but prefer to focus on playing then the Fender Mustang range, Line6 Catalyst range and, of course, the Katana range are worth considering. All will give you something more like a traditional guitar app, but with a boat load of additional flexibility if, and when you want to explore it. When you donāt you can just use them as normal amps using the panel controls.
You may think that if you arenāt running it loud you wonāt need a big speaker, but thatās not true: the larger speaker also makes low volume playing sound better, and all of the above mentioned amps can play at low volume with decent tones.
If you really donāt want something this big and, assuming you are like the majority of guitar players donāt want to be tethered (both physically and functionally) to a computer, the desktop amps should be the place to look, but be aware you will be paying a premium for something that wonāt sound better than the full-sized amps.
On the other hand, desktop amps give you flexibility and versatility: typically more amps and effects than you will need, at least for the first few years. And they are very portable and can usually be Bluetooth speakers too: Iāve frequently used mine at BBQs and garden parties.
In which case, I would strong recommend the Yamaha THR10ii or THR30ii. In my view itās the best mix of ātraditionalā style amp and modeller in a small, attractive package which sounds great. If you like to mess with apps, then it has one but, if you donāt itās great without it.
And any of these will give you plenty left to get a very decent electric guitar.
Cheers,
Keith
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My point is like for likeā¦ A $1,000 guitar is going to be of the quality of a drum set at least 3x that cost.
Wow, thatās really weird. I think Iāve done a pretty good job actually of listening to what people have been saying, learning a lot from it, and responding accordingly where appropriate.
You donāt know what my point is and so youāre leaving? I thought I was pretty clear about my point, I stated it blankly. As musical instruments go, an electric guitar is a relatively inexpensive one. What can you set your kid up with if you bought a decent quality trumpet vs. a decent quality electric guitar? Iām not being controversial or provocative by saying the trumpet will set you back a fair bit more than the guitar. Talking about the prices of vintage instruments truly is missing my point, so Iām glad you recognize this.
Enjoy being āoutā and thank you for your contributions.
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I agree with this. I have nice, powered studio monitors hooked up to my computer/audio interface. Theyāre Yamaha HS8s, and they sound great for mixing, mastering, and playback of recordings. But I donāt enjoy playing guitar through them nearly as much as I like playing through a dedicated guitar amp with guitar-specific speakers. I just find a dedicated amp more inspiring.
For me, thatās what it really boils down to. The best approach is the one the most inspires you to plug in and play your guitar. (Kind of ironic that what I think of as the most important thing is also the most subjective and least worthwhile to debate about or try to quantify. Probably not helpful for the discussion, but what can you do?)
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This is a great point - I appreciate you saying it so explicitly. Whether itās this forum, other forums, Reddit, wherever you go online to ask or look for guitar recommendations lets say, the only (seemingly) useful advice anyone is willing to give is āgo to a local guitar shop and get your hands on as many guitars as you can and see what feels good to you.ā
I get it, I really do, but then it is frustrating as a complete beginner because a) I canāt play a guitar to try it out, and b) every guitar feels horrible basically. A Les Paul is like an anchor and a Strat is like a giant bar of soap squirting off my lap. I donāt know what Iām doing. So I go by recommendations, reviews, the sound I like on recordings, and aesthetics. Iām not trying to hijack my own thread, just pointing out just how right you are!
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