Greetings. Guitar player here. Making the switch from amps to computer based system for practice and eventually hobby level home recording. Will be using Scarlet 2i2 interface, Blue Cat amp/effects software modeler, and Reaper.

My question is whether the speakers recommended by Sweetwater will be adequate. I want to have good practice room sound and adequate monitoring for eventual home recording. They recommended the JBL 305p MarkII 5" powered Studio Monitor at $150 each.

Will this be sufficient quality to fulfill my present needs?

I have no experience with this idea of using monitors to practice with or use for home recording. I am not interested in spending a fortune for decreasing audible results especially since this is my first foray into this area. My practice area is relatively small, not treated, and I don't need very high volume; just practice type volume that is clean and clear and pleasing with effects and sounds modified by the modeling software.

Thanks for any guidance you might be able to give me.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of the music studio addiction! Those are great choices based on your requirements. You're gonna love it! I must warn you though, that this is only the beginning....

*edit* If it were me, I would look at the MOTU M2 before pulling the trigger on the Focusrite 2i2.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M2--motu-m2-2x2-usb-c-audio-interface

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2020

I've heard great things about the Kali Audio LP-6 monitors too. But then, the monitors they've suggested should work well for your purpose, especially for now. If I'm correct, you now just need something to be able to hear yourself at the moment. Later on, you can think about investing in room treatment, and then probably higher-end monitors.
And my experience with the Focusrite 2i2 says that they work great for guitars with plugins! Just make sure to click the INST button when using it with a guitar.

Just curious, what and and cab did you use earlier? Also, if your amp has an FX loop, you can try this: Plug your guitar to your interface, and use your desired plugin. Make sure to turn off the cab simulation in the plugin. Then, plug the output of your interface to the amp's FX return. You might get interesting results!

 

Whereas only headphones are needed if you are just tracking guitar through amp/speaker sims and plugins.
Just saying.

 

This was all very helpful. Thank you.

Do I understand correctly that with the above set up, that now all audio from my computer including the guitar through the amp software, YouTube backing track videos, guitar instruction videos, will now be output back through the interface and into the monitors?

In other words all sounds from my computer will now be heard through my monitor speakers?

I am so appreciative to have some help understanding, before I purchase gear.

 

Super; thank you.

 

Firstly as a guitatist, you create your tone using three variables, guitar, amp, and cab. If you want to use software, you only have one variable and thats your guitar. You build your studio/practise room to create the best possible sound that is not coloured like a guitar cab and amp. So a scarlet would be fine, include with this a good pair of monitors, its all down to money and what you can afford. The aim would be to get a natural sound from your system without colouring the tone and not buying a system thats geared towards a guitar. You then add the various amps and cabs via the software to create the sounds you like. One of my favourite software guitar amp emulations is TH-U or Amplitube, both are very good. Also you could buy a pedal that creates cabs and amps, such as a line 6 Pod or Zoom and use this as an input into your Scarlet. Well thats my opinion and it works for me, hope it helps, there are loads of ways to do this so you will get an overload of info.

 

Okay..Ermmm...TH-U?
Now guess mine!

 

And the answer is??????

 

That setup is similar to my brothers who has just made a similar move. He loves it.

Whilst true to a point, I also agree with Mr Vai (I would of course) that most of your 'tone' comes from your fingers. Watch any of the greats playing through shite gear and they still sound like them, better sometimes.

Here's Vai's teacher in a kitchen using shite gear

 

You know me, I was just farting around because of the unclear grammar!
But out of those two it's a very definite TH-U actually! Loads of models, loads of presets.
I'm not too keen on Logic's stock Amp Designer, but the Pedalboard is alright.
I pretty much use Softube's Vintage Amp bundle for most tasks, but that's down to musical style or genre.
And recently I found Blue Cat's Destructor, and I love how you can merge different tones together! You must check that one out.
And it's how you use them. E.G. copy your take and put it through a second cab panned opposite.
None are perfect, and they all offer something a bit different as tools anyway.
Like, Ignite Amps is big and heavy sounding, and free. BIAS is free too.
I know Amplitube is probably the most widely used, but I don't really like it myself.

I think choices for tools are made on what fits the track, and then secondly what you enjoy using and are inspired by.
You're gonna have so much fun!

 

As a fellow guitarist, i can concur that 8inch speakers are a tad better for guitar then the 5inch ones, you get more of a direct feedback from your speakers, like you would get from a cab. Also i use different pedals like overdrives/delay/reverb... through my interface, but it all goes into a pre-amp pedal (wich is absolutely great),i use the AMT SS30 as a preamp, going into a GFI cabzeus, this way i have stereo effects, and can use all sorts of pedals with the preamp. I tried playing through software, but nothing beats a preamp and your own overdrives/effects. Just my 2ct

 

@dayron But OP specifically says they are moving from guitar amps to digital...
And that:

Doesn't actually need ANY acoustic volume to track up! But hey.
If OP wanted to mic up a cab and capture some room too, we wouldn't be here talking about it.
Yes, a nice pre is nice to have I admit. But 8" or 5" purely for monitoring, when the real magic is happeing ITB, seems irrelevant to what we are talking about.
If OP is recording, then OP will have studio monitors for daw, yeah?
Track up with headphones, play back through monitors.

I was thinking about this. But: monitors.
And the fact we sculpt everything to fit, within our stereophonic recording medium.
Whereas if this was for stage use, different story entirely regards frequencies and stereo.
Mono sources in mono rig, or mono sources in stereo rig with stereo fx.

I want the OP to see that there is also the way I am alluding to.
And if the OP is going to have a pair of nearfield monitors for playback and mixing (I hope so!?) then I really think that buying a single guitar monitor, just to feel at home in some way, because it won't effect the sound of the recording, is pointless.
The whole beauty of this way is that the OP still has a 'clean' take and can change amp/speaker/mic/fx settings after the fact.
Surely?

When I was part of a successful publishing deal back in the early 00s, we were quite happy if we could get away with not micing a cab up, going straight into the desk or interface, and just have some seperate monitoring fx to feel the vibe (may as well record that aux too!) and then get to work and tinker around as per usual after.
Once it's in the box, anything is possible!
And in fact, as long as the control room isn't too small, and the guitar isn't active and over powerful!, you can track up while monitoring through the nearfields anyway.

 

As a guitarist for over 50 years who switched to computer based amps my sound and tone are crucial to me. For home I use 10 inch speakers, Why ?, go to a music store and hear the difference between 5-8+10 inchers. I use Jam Origin as my host, Positive Grid Bias FX2 for the amps with soundtoys Microshift or ERS Dim-D for chorus. this sounds exactly like my original Valve Amps I don't need thousands of patches I have my own sounds. Don't have a lot of cash build your own, there are lots of vids on youtube for that, buy the speakers from a pro electronics or music store. you don't need 150w RMS speakers for home use 25-50 watts is way more than adequate for a normal sized room.

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2020

And what do you use them for? Just monitoring realtime guitar? Or you mic them up?
Your "sound and tone" that is crucial to you comes from your 10" speakers?

 

Yep. Thought as much.

 

OOps I forgot, I also have a Hotone Ampero that connects via audio cables into my Focuswrite 18i20 that I use for recording guitar alongside the Overloud TH-U, and a Fender Mustang amp that occasionally gets used for both practice and recording ( but not the cab) I have this Hard wired from the headphone socket into my Focuswrite 18i20, all this gives me a lot of variation and control. The size of the monitors isn't important, usually its to suit your room, if the room is large enough then big monitors could be used but for an average room, small near-field monitors are fine, providing both give an accurate representation of the recorded sound.