Quite Practice without Headphones

Barnezy

Any advice for a home setup that can be played quietly but still deliver a good sound? 

I live in an apartment in London and need to be conscious of neighbors when I practice. Today I was paying through my Blackstar HT1 at what I thought was a moderate level, but as you need a certain level of volume to get an ok sound, it must have been louder than thought, as the neighbours made a comment to my wife when they saw each other in the entrance. Something along the lines of “Money for Nothing was my favourite song, until I heard it 50 times today”. 

I’ve looked in to setups before and thought a software with monitors might work. The other thought is something like the small Yamaha amps or the new Katana Air. But I’m open to suggestions. 

Sporky

Why not headphones? 

ICBM

Why not just turn the amp down? It might not sound as good, but it will still probably sound as good as any other amp at a quiet volume.

Or use the clean channel and a pedal if you want an overdriven sound at lower volume than you can get a good sound with the amp's overdrive channel. I would probably choose one with at least treble and bass controls, and preferably full 3-band EQ, rather than just a tone control.

darthed1981

Vox Handbag

Katana Air

THR5/10

Blackstar ID Core

usual suspects...

Barnezy

Sporky said:

Why not headphones? 

Just not a fan of using them, but maybe I need to learn. 

Thanks guys. 

darthed1981

Barnezy said:

Sporky said:

Why not headphones? 

Just not a fan of using them, but maybe I need to learn. 

Why didn't you say so?

They usually have a little "L" and "R" to indicate left and right, so hold them in the appropriate hands, then put them over the top of your head (not in front of your eyes like Geordi La Forge).

Then plug the jack into the headphone out jack on your amp, and you are away!

ecc83

I would guess an HT-1 hits 90dB SPL at full chat but I doubt next door are getting more than 70dB through two walls? No, the level probably isn't the problem, it is the repetition and the "rock guitar" aspect that annoys. I doubt you can get any amp quiet enough to keep them happy (they should be grateful you are not learning bass!)

Take up the violin, that will REALLY piss them off!

Dave.

ICBM

Barnezy said:

Sporky said:

Why not headphones? 

Just not a fan of using them, but maybe I need to learn.

I hate playing through them too - in fact I don't even like to listen to music on them normally.

ecc83 said:

Take up bagpipes, that will REALLY piss them off! 

Corrected .

Winny_Pooh

I know its not what you asked but try a set of open backed headphones. They bleed in and out but are very comfy to listen to for long periods and less sweaty than regular phones.

skunkwerx

Barnezy said:

Any advice for a home setup that can be played quietly but still deliver a good sound? 

I live in an apartment in London and need to be conscious of neighbors when I practice. Today I was paying through my Blackstar HT1 at what I thought was a moderate level, but as you need a certain level of volume to get an ok sound, it must have been louder than thought, as the neighbours made a comment to my wife when they saw each other in the entrance. Something along the lines of “Money for Nothing was my favourite song, until I heard it 50 times today”. 

I’ve looked in to setups before and thought a software with monitors might work. The other thought is something like the small Yamaha amps or the new Katana Air. But I’m open to suggestions. 

Ugh I hate people who do that. 
Just comes across as dickish and rude. 

Just ask nicely to keep it down. 

My manager goes to me 'are you on lunch?' if I make a quick cuppa.. he knows full well I don't get a lunch break on late shifts! 

TTBZ

Now I've found some decent modelling software I'm actually quite enjoying playing with headphones. The problem with playing an amp quietly is that it sounds crap without the speaker moving a bit of air, and you can hear your un-amplified strings over the top. Headphones eliminates that by blocking it out and you get the sound of a full on amp/cab/mic/room emulation straight into your ears. You do need decent headphones though, my Grado SR80s aren't nearly as good as the Beyerdynamic DT-770 I'm borrowing.

Limehouse_Blues

Headphones dude

Tenebrous

Barnezy said:

Sporky said:

Why not headphones? 

Just not a fan of using them, but maybe I need to learn. 

Thanks guys. 

I'm with you. I've got some nice headphones (B&O H6, Philips Fidelio X2's, Sennheiser HD600s), and some pretty decent source equipment (Yamaha THR/Katana Artist), and I'd legit rather not play plugged in than play through headphones.

Thankfully, the THR10C does REALLY well at low volumes, and based on your situation, I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

Sporky

skunkwerx said:

Barnezy said:

Something along the lines of “Money for Nothing was my favourite song, until I heard it 50 times today”. 

Ugh I hate people who do that. 
Just comes across as dickish and rude. 

To be fair, if my neighbour played Money For Nothing over and over, loud enough for me to hear, they'd get more than a mildly passive-aggressive comment later. If you think the comment was rude, I'd say the action is considerably worse..  

Barnezy

Fair point. It is a pretty repetitive riff. 

I might give the open backed headphones a go. I’ve only ever had closed and the only way I can discribe it, is doesn’t feel like you connected to the sound you hear somehow. 

THR is of interest as the smaller speakers probably create less resonate sound. It’s a 1930’s building with all solid walls and concrete floors, so the sound transfer must be in the lower range. 

markblack

I had the same problem - london flat, baby.

I splashed out and bought a helix and a set of sennheiser hd 600's and haven't looked back.

The helix is amazing piece of kit - you can do sooo much with it. It also sounds great. And those headphones are open back and really comfortable for hours of playing (closed back I found a bit draining).

Personally I really like playing through headphones. But then I grew up making electronic music so headphones where the norm. 

I'd say its very hard to have an amp in a London setting you'll never get the volume to make it fun without pissing someone off.

dangriffiths

Took me about 2 weeks to to get used to playing with headphones and I absolutely love it now. No chance of annoying anyone and you can mangle the same riffs over and over again until you don’t mangle them anymore. 

I use a Kemper and some comfy headphones and get an amazing sound that I use to jam along to Spotify or YouTube mostly. 

I use closed back headphones so I can’t hear pick and string noise. It also means you can be in the same room as someone else and not wind them up. 

Worth sticking with before you rule it out for good. 

munckee

THR 5 is perfect for low volumes I can play on the middle of the night without waking up my family upstairs with wooden floor between us. 

I find having the TV on helps stopping them here repetitive riffs Being heard. 

I would get a 100 watt amp and play money for nothing outside her door solidly for hours so she understands never to mess with you, perhaps nail a dead animal to her door for effect 

Wazmeister

Kemper, or Helix. 

mrkb

Winny_Pooh said:

I know its not what you asked but try a set of open backed headphones. They bleed in and out but are very comfy to listen to for long periods and less sweaty than regular phones.

Agreed, I prefer my AxeFX through open back Sennheiser hd600s to a real valve amp in the room as the room acoustics and reverb can appear much better in headphones, and you can get a cranked amp tone at any volume.

dindude

I splashed on a Universal Audio OX and use my amp and pedalboard with headphones now - love it, as enjoyable in its own right as playing without headphones. Not the cheapest option but I simply never play if I can’t get inspired by the sound and I went through so many amp modelling solutions that just didn’t work for me. That did include the Helix Native trial but I have never owned any Helix hardware.