Possibly stupid question about guitars..
Discussion
Just bought a Martin acoustic s/h from a reputable shop and I have to say I'm very happy with it, sounds great but as newbie I'm basically just learning the notes and (once again) how to read music. Played house of the rising sun tonight (albeit badly) 
Problem is, though I love the sound, the missus is getting a bit annoyed as she can't hear the telly, even though I'm in another room..
So if I get an electric, can I plug it into an amp and use headphones - will it still be audible elsewhere? Like I said, I know nowt about electric guitars..
The amps I've seen look massive, which I don't want, so can you get a reasonable quality small amp?
Problem is, though I love the sound, the missus is getting a bit annoyed as she can't hear the telly, even though I'm in another room..
So if I get an electric, can I plug it into an amp and use headphones - will it still be audible elsewhere? Like I said, I know nowt about electric guitars..
The amps I've seen look massive, which I don't want, so can you get a reasonable quality small amp?
Funnily enough I've just been practising myself and doing something similar. I've got a box that plugs into a USB port of the computer and a program called Amplitube that simulates a range of guitar amps and effects. Just the ticket for near silent practice. It's an experience that is vastly improved by a decent pair of headphones though so be warned!
Hi dfen5,
This is the setup I use currently when I don't want to annoy people with my loudness
There are a load of great budget guitars (£200-400) on the Vintage guitars website. I own both the VS6 and the V100 (;)) and they look and sound great. I haven't played the VS6 much, as I am a Les Paul fanboy! However the quality of the guitars is superb and although I thought I had a problem with it a few weeks ago it was just my laziness - I needed a string change.
As for strings, I recommend getting rid of the ones shipped as they are rubbish and putting some Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on. Not very expensive and they sound fantastic, also makes it very easy to bend strings (lead guitar technique).
I've not a lot of money so I have a budget amp, the Vox DA5. I am of course, a Vox fan so I think it sounds great, very suitable for rock music. It has quite a few different effects you can put on such as delay, reverb, auto wah etc and you can control the intensity of the effect using a little edit knob. It has pre-built in guitar sounds and you can experiment with tone and gain, sadly no EQ on it.
Fantastic amp as you can put batteries in it and go busking, but most importantly you can plug headphones into it if you have a TRS connector, cheap off Amazon. What's more you can plug an iPod or something into it (needs another TRS con) and play the backing tracks through your headphones at the same time as your guitar, which, for lack of a better word, is awesome.
As for headphones I recommend Sennheiser who do great cheap headphones. Honestly worth getting as they will enhance the sound of your playing so much. Here's a link to the ones I have which are cheap but still good. Although if you have more money it's worth getting better ones.
However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep volume to a minimum. An awful lot of people have a similar rig but use iPod headphones or similar which are dreadful. They don't isolate sound very well at all, and, as somebody studying music technology I come across a lot of people with bad hearing because of this. Don't be tight, spend the extra £10 to save your ears a lot of stress. It is worth it, the sound quality will be better too.
Have fun
This is the setup I use currently when I don't want to annoy people with my loudness
There are a load of great budget guitars (£200-400) on the Vintage guitars website. I own both the VS6 and the V100 (;)) and they look and sound great. I haven't played the VS6 much, as I am a Les Paul fanboy! However the quality of the guitars is superb and although I thought I had a problem with it a few weeks ago it was just my laziness - I needed a string change.
As for strings, I recommend getting rid of the ones shipped as they are rubbish and putting some Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on. Not very expensive and they sound fantastic, also makes it very easy to bend strings (lead guitar technique).
I've not a lot of money so I have a budget amp, the Vox DA5. I am of course, a Vox fan so I think it sounds great, very suitable for rock music. It has quite a few different effects you can put on such as delay, reverb, auto wah etc and you can control the intensity of the effect using a little edit knob. It has pre-built in guitar sounds and you can experiment with tone and gain, sadly no EQ on it.
Fantastic amp as you can put batteries in it and go busking, but most importantly you can plug headphones into it if you have a TRS connector, cheap off Amazon. What's more you can plug an iPod or something into it (needs another TRS con) and play the backing tracks through your headphones at the same time as your guitar, which, for lack of a better word, is awesome.
As for headphones I recommend Sennheiser who do great cheap headphones. Honestly worth getting as they will enhance the sound of your playing so much. Here's a link to the ones I have which are cheap but still good. Although if you have more money it's worth getting better ones.
However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep volume to a minimum. An awful lot of people have a similar rig but use iPod headphones or similar which are dreadful. They don't isolate sound very well at all, and, as somebody studying music technology I come across a lot of people with bad hearing because of this. Don't be tight, spend the extra £10 to save your ears a lot of stress. It is worth it, the sound quality will be better too.
Have fun
Edited by V100 on Tuesday 8th November 00:04
gingerpaul said:
Funnily enough I've just been practising myself and doing something similar. I've got a box that plugs into a USB port of the computer and a program called Amplitube that simulates a range of guitar amps and effects. Just the ticket for near silent practice. It's an experience that is vastly improved by a decent pair of headphones though so be warned!
I have a line 6 tone port which does the same. Awesome bit of kit but for sale now as split with misses so can play what I want as loud as I want. 
V100 said:
Hi dfen5,
This is the setup I use currently when I don't want to annoy people with my loudness
There are a load of great budget guitars (£200-400) on the Vintage guitars website. I own both the VS6 and the V100 (;)) and they look and sound great. I haven't played the VS6 much, as I am a Les Paul fanboy! However the quality of the guitars is superb and although I thought I had a problem with it a few weeks ago it was just my laziness - I needed a string change.
As for strings, I recommend getting rid of the ones shipped as they are rubbish and putting some Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on. Not very expensive and they sound fantastic, also makes it very easy to bend strings (lead guitar technique).
I've not a lot of money so I have a budget amp, the Vox DA5. I am of course, a Vox fan so I think it sounds great, very suitable for rock music. It has quite a few different effects you can put on such as delay, reverb, auto wah etc and you can control the intensity of the effect using a little edit knob. It has pre-built in guitar sounds and you can experiment with tone and gain, sadly no EQ on it.
Fantastic amp as you can put batteries in it and go busking, but most importantly you can plug headphones into it if you have a TRS connector, cheap off Amazon. What's more you can plug an iPod or something into it (needs another TRS con) and play the backing tracks through your headphones at the same time as your guitar, which, for lack of a better word, is awesome.
As for headphones I recommend Sennheiser who do great cheap headphones. Honestly worth getting as they will enhance the sound of your playing so much. Here's a link to the ones I have which are cheap but still good. Although if you have more money it's worth getting better ones.
However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep volume to a minimum. An awful lot of people have a similar rig but use iPod headphones or similar which are dreadful. They don't isolate sound very well at all, and, as somebody studying music technology I come across a lot of people with bad hearing because of this. Don't be tight, spend the extra £10 to save your ears a lot of stress. It is worth it, the sound quality will be better too.
Have fun
Cheers for the info' (and to all the others that replied). Managed to find a s/h VS6 Icon (aged style - gets good reviews) local for £140 and bought a DA5 amp, cables and a pair of the £20 Sennheiser headphones from Argos.This is the setup I use currently when I don't want to annoy people with my loudness
There are a load of great budget guitars (£200-400) on the Vintage guitars website. I own both the VS6 and the V100 (;)) and they look and sound great. I haven't played the VS6 much, as I am a Les Paul fanboy! However the quality of the guitars is superb and although I thought I had a problem with it a few weeks ago it was just my laziness - I needed a string change.
As for strings, I recommend getting rid of the ones shipped as they are rubbish and putting some Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on. Not very expensive and they sound fantastic, also makes it very easy to bend strings (lead guitar technique).
I've not a lot of money so I have a budget amp, the Vox DA5. I am of course, a Vox fan so I think it sounds great, very suitable for rock music. It has quite a few different effects you can put on such as delay, reverb, auto wah etc and you can control the intensity of the effect using a little edit knob. It has pre-built in guitar sounds and you can experiment with tone and gain, sadly no EQ on it.
Fantastic amp as you can put batteries in it and go busking, but most importantly you can plug headphones into it if you have a TRS connector, cheap off Amazon. What's more you can plug an iPod or something into it (needs another TRS con) and play the backing tracks through your headphones at the same time as your guitar, which, for lack of a better word, is awesome.
As for headphones I recommend Sennheiser who do great cheap headphones. Honestly worth getting as they will enhance the sound of your playing so much. Here's a link to the ones I have which are cheap but still good. Although if you have more money it's worth getting better ones.
However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep volume to a minimum. An awful lot of people have a similar rig but use iPod headphones or similar which are dreadful. They don't isolate sound very well at all, and, as somebody studying music technology I come across a lot of people with bad hearing because of this. Don't be tight, spend the extra £10 to save your ears a lot of stress. It is worth it, the sound quality will be better too.
Have fun
Edited by V100 on Tuesday 8th November 00:04
Can't wait to plug it all together tonight for a play.
dfen5 said:
Cheers for the info' (and to all the others that replied). Managed to find a s/h VS6 Icon (aged style - gets good reviews) local for £140 and bought a DA5 amp, cables and a pair of the £20 Sennheiser headphones from Argos.
Can't wait to plug it all together tonight for a play.
Good stuff! Let me know what you think, the VS6 is an excellent guitar with really responsive pickups and a lovely neck.Can't wait to plug it all together tonight for a play.
dfen5 said:
Cheers for the info' (and to all the others that replied). Managed to find a s/h VS6 Icon (aged style - gets good reviews) local for £140 and bought a DA5 amp, cables and a pair of the £20 Sennheiser headphones from Argos.
Can't wait to plug it all together tonight for a play.
Result! I have the DA20 (bigger version of DA5) as my practice amp and I like it very much for what it is. Plenty of amp models-a few good ones with decent touch sensitivity. The Vintage VS6 is a good find. Couple of years back, I played one of those in 'vintage white' colour in a shop, but was not impressed with the finish in the neck joint. It was hanging on the shop display and had very rusty strings too, mind. But loved the colour! I recall being really drawn towards the Tokai USGs as they had better finish and feel for a slight premium. Can't wait to plug it all together tonight for a play.
Happy Rocking!
Having had an evening to 'play' with the setup I'm suitably impressed. The guitar's got a nice feel, the pick up selector makes a big difference to the sound. I'm not sure about the strings, as was mentioned, think I'll get some new quality items sorted.
I can just about replicate the sound of my acoustic for practicing but when you turn up the gain and select some of the styles and effects - Wow!
Grinning like a cheshire cat.
I can just about replicate the sound of my acoustic for practicing but when you turn up the gain and select some of the styles and effects - Wow!
Grinning like a cheshire cat.
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