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Excuse this question if its simplistic in nature to some.
I have a Comins GCS 16-1. Its really a beautiful guitar. I am playing it through a Bud 6 on a hardwood floor at bedroom levels.
Im playing the Bud with the preamp at 9 o'clock and the volume around 1-2, the EQ pretty much flat but the lowest 2 frequencies turned up a bit. The sound it okay.
I recently bought a Focusrite Solo in order to record, along with a backing track. The sound of the guitar through the Focusrite just blows me away. I can hear the subtle harmonics of the other strings along with such a beautiful tone from the notes being played The headphones im using are 20 years old. Im at work and i dont know the brand off hand but im sure i didnt spend more than $50 - $60 on them at the time.
I was under the impression neither the Bud or Focusrite colored the sound much.
My simple question.........why? Should i gravitate towards getting rid of the Bud for a different amp?
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07-07-2021 10:38 AM
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Isn't it apples and oranges to compare the built-in headphone amp of an audio interface and a gigging amp played through its cabinet? Am I missing something?
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How are you using the interface?
Are you plugging the guitar straight into it? Running the line out from the Bud into the interface? Putting a microphone in front of the Bud's speaker?
All three will give very different results.
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If you are plugging straight into the Focusrite and doing direct monitoring from the Focusrite, you are hearing the the uncolored sound of the guitar and it's pickup. Mostly uncolored, there is a preamp on the Focusrite but that is suppose to be pretty much transparent.
So, to the extent that the Focusrite sounds different I would say it's because the Bud 6 is coloring the sound.
I wouldn't let the Focusrite be what makes you want to get a different amp, get a different amp if you find one you prefer, best if you can test them side by side. Sure seems you can get good sounds out of a Bud 6. With that said, isn't the Bud 6 a bit of a specialty amp, special in that it's powerful enough to gig with and is so compact and easy to travel with whether it be an airplane, bus, or subway etc.
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I have both the guitar and headphones plugged into the interface. The laptop is also connected for the backing track.
I wish i could get that tone by using an amplifier, i guess in cannot.
Tal_175.....I started the post with ......"Excuse this question if its simplistic in nature to some".
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Is there an example of the guitar tone you are going after? A youtube of a guitarist with that tone that you could post? I'd look into what amp that person is using.
And is the amp for just playing at home or will you gig with the amp. There are some amps that don't sound that great at low volumes, and others that do a pretty good job.
Another option would be to get amplitube software and listen to your guitar thru a bunch of amp emulations to point you in the direction of what you're after and then go play the real versions of those amps in person if possible.
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Are you using an amp sim with your computer-interface playing? If so, which one? Anything you have in the signal chain could make a difference, including whatever DAW you're using.
I have a Bud (previous model to the current Bud 6) and a Heritage Sweet 16. The unadorned sound is extremely clean, almost hi-fi, and can sound sterile. One thing to try is to turn off the tweeter and boost the bass a little and the mids a moderate amount. But exercise the tone controls - they work.
Another thing to try with the Bud is to put a Joyo American Sound in front of it. With appropriate settings, the Henriksen sounds pretty much like a clean Fender Deluxe, which can be a very nice sound with an archtop. Last time I checked the American Sound was about US$40 at Amazon.
See the thread at Joyo JF-14 American Sound
Sometimes I use the amp unadorned, sometimes I use the Joyo, depending on what I want to hear that day.
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Since both are "un-color" the sound of the guitar, i was a little confused as to why they sound so different.
Thats all.
Ill play more with the settings today, if I'm not happy with the Bud, ill sell it.
I bought it for its foot print and rave reviews. Im not married to it.
Thank you for opinions.
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No amp that I have ever played through is truly neutral including the Bud. It's sound is fairly full spectrum but it definitely has a sound. The Bud is also interacting with the room and while the amp is fairly neutral, it's interaction with the room is quite extreme. Try putting the Bud on a chair and you'll hear something very different, probably with a lot less bass.
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Yes, and I would add that most (not all) guitarists desire some coloration in their amp, for instance a warmer, more full, less "clinical" sound than what you would experience going direct into an uncolored mike preamp. That is why amp simulations exist. And why tube amps remain popular.
Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
To the OP, it sounds like you like the pure unadulterated sound of your guitar. While all amps color the sound somewhat, I would suggest trying an amp made to amplify acoustic guitar, that will more closely resemble what you are hearing in your preamp. But I would caution you that not many jazz guitarists would be happy with that sound.
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If I understand the signal chain correctly, it's guitar, interface, headphones.
So, I'd suggest trying guitar, interface, amp-speaker.
And then,
guitar, interface, amp-headphones (if the amp has a headphone OUT jack).
It's possible you just like the sound thru headphones. This should pin that down.
If you have a mic and an extra amp, you can go a little further.
Try guitar, interface, amp-mic (maybe in another room), second amp (original room, with and without headphones).
I don't think I'd expect to get the same sound thru phones as thru the air in the room.
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No amp sim. Just the guitar, focusrite and headphones.
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That should be a pretty much no coloration of the sound. Originally Posted by d115
The room-sound equivalent would be a flat frequency response PA. Most people seem to find that too sterile (for want of a better way to describe the sound). Hence, amp sims.
That said, I typically record: Guitar-ME80-Focusrite 2i2- Reaper. I then usually monitor through a Little Jazz (recording engineers want to throw up when they hear me say this). Sometimes, I monitor with headphones. I mix with headphones.
The ME80 adds only reverb, and only an amount I know I'm going to want, no matter what. I can always add more with Reaper, but so far I haven't needed to.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that I'm mostly with you on this. The guitar is recorded uncolored (except for the minimal reverb) and sounds pretty good to me. I've tried it by mic'ing an amp with a Sennheiser 609, but I usually don't bother.
I've contributed to a bunch of other people's covid projects and all but one used my track without embellishment. One guy dumped a bunch of plug-ins on it.
On my own projects I sometimes adjusted EQ, usually to reduce some boomy bass. Apparently, I'm not a cork-sniffer.
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I'm still a bit confused?
Are you comparing two set ups where the first one is:
Guitar -> focusrite -> headphones
and the other one is?
guitar -> bud 6 -> headphones?
or perhaps
guitar -> bud 6 -> line out -> focusrite -> headphones?
And you think the setup without the bud 6 sounds just as good or better?
The bud 6 headphone and line out ouputs are "post EQ" and "post reverb" so its preamp and eq settings will affect the sound you hear in headphones/line-out.
Should i gravitate towards getting rid of the Bud for a different amp?
If your only use case is to play guitar with headphones, your money could be much better spent than on a >1000EUR combo amp like the Bud 6. It's almost (though not quite) like buying a car when you want a cigarette lighter.
There are a lot of preamp only products on the market with headphone and line out outputs.
They've becoming more popular the past few years since people seem to have been gravitating more towards playing guitar through their computer audio interfaces.
If you like the sound of playing your guitar through your focusrite and headphones only, neither I nor anyone else can argue how much you like it. If that's how you enjoy playing guitar, then that's probably how you should play guitar
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I'm no expert, but I think a direct guitar signal is always going to sound different that that of a guitar amp'd through a cone speaker.
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