Speaker for multi effects

MetalMike

I'm looking for suggestions for a speaker to run my effects machine through instead of an amp.

I've just started playing guitar again after a gap of 15  years.  I've held on to a Boss GT-8 and a Roland JC-120 along with an Ibanez guitar.  On a whim I bought a little practice amp a couple of weeks ago and it's got me playing again.

However, I'm now in my 40's with a Wife and three kids.  I don't have room to use the JC-120 so I'm going to sell it (how much are they worth second hand?).  Putting the GT-8 through the little practice amp doesn't sound very good at all and the little amp on it's own isn't enough as it can only give me one sound.

I used to spend hours making a patch on the GT8 using headphones only to find it sounded garbage on any amps till I tried the JC120.

Yesterday, however, I plugged the GT8 into a cheap, tiny little USB speaker just to see what happened and it actually sounded okay so I figure buying a speaker/monitor/pa/frfr (I don't know what I'm talking about) would give me what I want.

It's only going to be for playing about with in the house so it doesn't need to be loud.  If I ever start thinking about bands I'd rethink gear.  I like to play along with songs off an MP3 player/iPhone so if it had an input for that too it would be nice.

I only want to spend up to £100 though.

I've been googling it all day but there's so many  which is why I've posted here.

Is something like this what I want for example: Behringer B205D Eurolive 150W PA/Monitor Speaker System 

Thanks

ICBM

If the problem is that a sound you spend time tweaking through headphones doesn't then sound good through a normal guitar amp, it's because the amp has a very different frequency response - all electric guitar amps are very far from a 'flat' or hi-fi response. The JC-120 is one of the closest, of any guitar amp - it still doesn't have a truly full-range response (no tweeters so no high treble, and it's still open-back so less really deep bass) - but it does have about the fullest, cleanest sound of any guitar amp I can think of, which is why it sounds good.

The Behringer will give you that, but even more so - it's possibly going to be *too* hi-fi and may sound a bit lifeless. It's probably worth trying a Roland Micro Cube, which is about the same price - they are a 'normal' guitar amp, but they have a JC setting and are designed to be used with headphones and an external input source as well.

The JC-120 is probably worth about £300 to £500 depending on condition and which exact version it is - the model has a long and quite confusing history! Including being made in at least four different countries. If you could sell it for a good price, would that increase the budget for the replacement amp? Although it's not bad, you can do better than the Micro Cube even in the Roland range.

John_A

For a super budget speaker I’d suggest a Db Technologies b-hype 8, there about £130 and sound great.  I’ve been using one as a personal monitor for my Helix and it’s easily loud enough to be heard over a loud drummer

MetalMike

Cheers for the responses.


I didn't plan on adding to the budget if I sold the JC120.  I was thinking more of a new guitar if I sold that

ICBM

Even if you can get up to one of the larger Cube models - 20 or above, the 10 and 15 are poor - it’s a much better sound really. They should be around your budget second hand.

LastMantra

Why don't you spend some time making patches through the amp? 

MetalMike

Just to let you know I bought the one I put in the link and it sounds really good.  It's tiny and light so I can take it around the house easy too.

Now it's time to go back down the rabbit hole of the GT-8.

I see the old Boss Central website is gone and I can't find much on google that's any good.  There's videos on youtube of people with patches for the GT-8 and some of them are awful and the people playing the guitar are really bad.  However, I found a guy called Scott Barnett who's done half a dozen vids on the GT-8 and I copied his 'Angus Young' patch and it's really good.  I'd love to find more like that as it's SO time consuming trying to get perfect tones on the GT-8 it's so complex.

How much better are the new versions like the GT100 etc.?  Have they come a long way since the GT-8 was first released?

gearaddict

Well done on the speaker purchase Looks cool for the money. I'm tempted to try one myself. My son has commandeered my B-hype DB8 for his drums so I was thinking of getting something like this.

Others may have more experience but I have owned the GT8, the GT10 and the GT100 and my favourite was the GT8. I thought it was the easiest to use and sounded the best. The GT1000 is probably a step ahead but a lot more money. If you aren't wed to having a Boss unit, you might want to try a Helix HX stomp or a used LT...much nicer interface and the modelling should be noticeably better.

ICBM

You could try an ME-70 or ME-80 - probably the 80, as it’s more up to date - for once I won’t suggest the ME-50 as it has no amp modelling, which you need with this sort of powered monitor.

They’re far easier to use as the parameters are all controlled by knobs. Even if you want to keep the GT-8 you could use the ME-80 as a ‘sketchpad’ - once you’ve got a good sound it should make it much easier to work out what you’re doing with the GT-8, and copy the settings, which should be at least similar.

MetalMike

What's the difference between an ME80 and a GT100?  The latter costs more so isn't it better?

Can you use two amp channels simultaneous on both?  On the GT8 I like to use two completely different amps in dual mono or stereo.

ICBM

MetalMike said:

What's the difference between an ME80 and a GT100?  The latter costs more so isn't it better?

Can you use two amp channels simultaneous on both?  On the GT8 I like to use two completely different amps in dual mono or stereo.

The big differences are that the ME series is controlled by knobs not button/scroll-wheel parameter editing, and that the effects chain is a fixed order - it's just a less complex and powerful approach, but I much prefer it... far easier to use.

I don't have one, but I'm sure the ME-80 doesn't allow two amps at the same time - there's only one amp modelling section.