Hi! I hope you don’t mind giving some advice on buying a desktop amp. I’m talking basically about those amp sims with full range mini-speakers. I’ve been playing for years, but I’ve been using amp sims. I’ve previously owned tube amps, but found them inconvenient for practicing and always ended up playing unplugged. I also tried vox amPlug, which was better, but I also dislike having headphones on while playing. So I primarily want a desktop amp that would inspire me to play more.
I’ve looked at various ones online (I don’t really have an opportunity to try them live), which makes a decision very hard.
My list so far:
- Yamaha THR30
- Positive Grid Spark 40
- Hotone Pulze
- Nux mighty space
I also don’t have great PC speakers, so maybe I could also use it as general speaker there. Do you have experience on any of those? Some others? Any advice?
Thanks!
Edit:
Ordered a Nux Mighty Space, it could take a week or two before it arrives. I’ll post an update once I get it. Thanks everyone!
Update?
Did a top level comment for readability. Sorry for the delay.
Update: I bought a b-stock Nux Mighty Space and it’s been working great! Just what I needed. That being said, some things I’m using more than others. Things I use:
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USB interface as a speaker for my PC. Speakers in my monitor are just trash. This is way better. It’s not stereo HiFi, but I have dedicated speakers for that.
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Wireless dongle. So convenient and makes me play more than before. A bonus is you can also have a different guitar plugged inat the same time. Not super important, but still.
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App is decent and there’s an open source alternative, making sure the amp is supported for many years.
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it’s nice that it is just a basic Bluetooth speaker when you connect to it. Haven’t used it that much, but I can see it coming in handy every once in a while.
Things I haven’t used:
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Looper - not used to it that much
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drum loops - seem basic and kind of crappy
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tinkering - I’m fairly satisfied with the presets out of the box, so I haven’t found the need to tinker too much. Perhaps occasionally gain and eq.
Things that bother me a bit:
- All the presets are too bass-heavy. There’s a global eq that can be tweaked. This bothers me on so many audio devices lately. More bass is NOT always more better. I dialed it in, but cmon. I’m not 12. The guitar is never supposed to be that boomy.
That’s it, any questions, just shoot.
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