Can we use the pc as a amp? (for home practice)

mayday

New member
I got a yamaha acoustic electric. When I try to plug into the soundcard and play, there is no sound at all, i tried both the line-in and mic-in. However, when i use a mike, it seems to be working ok. I could also use line-in and tune my guitar using audiophonics. It's just that there is no guitar sound coming out from the speaker. Is it possible to actually get a sound from the pc directly without going thru a modeling amp?
 
Not at all...You need a Pre-amp for guitar..if you want the sound to go in to your PC...Buy a cheap mixer with 48v phantom power on and send the outs to your sound card..you will get a pretty decent sound of your guitar..
 
mayday said:
I got a yamaha acoustic electric. When I try to plug into the soundcard and play, there is no sound at all, i tried both the line-in and mic-in. However, when i use a mike, it seems to be working ok. I could also use line-in and tune my guitar using audiophonics. It's just that there is no guitar sound coming out from the speaker. Is it possible to actually get a sound from the pc directly without going thru a modeling amp?

yes its possible. i used a sound blaster live pci sound card. and i just plugged my guitar cables into the mic port using a converter. sometimes i'll play around with a software guitar effects such as guitarfx.
 
electric guitars can definitely be plugged into the pc, but i'm not so sure about acoustics.
 
Guitar to PC

It depends on your hardware and software. Some sound cards (SB audigy, extigy..) or software (cakewalk, guitar tracks...) support musical input devices or they may have built in amp simulators.

However, if your PC doesn't have the above, or if you want a good sound, you should consider a pre-amp as mentioned b4.

Another trick is to plug ur guitar into your amp and plug ur amp (head phones) to the PC (line in). Works all the time, you get your amp tones too!

Good luck!
 
Hey thanks a lot, I think maybe my pc/sound card is not suitable. Guess I'll have to get an amp somehow :?

I used to just plug in my guitar to a mic-mixer to hi-fi in the living room and it sounds good.

I dun have a mini hifi in my rm so i tot of doing it with the pc. Intending to get an electric, but guess I'll have to get an amp and factor in the cost. :D
 
It would not sound as good as a guitar amp. A guitar amp is to bring out the best sound of a guitar where other device are not. But a acoustic will not sound good on its amp. To bring out the best sound, buy condenser mic and mic it through the PA system.
 
Anyway to update, I finally got my guitar to work with my pc. However, the sound is pretty lousy. I tried using guitarfx. By putting on reverb and chorus, it sounded better but still the result is quite far away from going into the hi-fi system in my living room.

I agree that using mic is the best, but the problem is u cant move around too much if u r mic-ing. Since, I am not recording, and just fiddling with the controls, guess I wun need to get a mic yet.
 
Hi Mayday which computer speakers are you using? They might not be as good as the ones in your hifi, so maybe that could be why it doesn't sound as good too.

Btw I love the Audiophonics tuner! Been using it for a few years. It's the fastest tracking, most accurate tuner I ever seen. Only problem is I can't use it on stage!
 
yah true....my pc speaker is a crappy 2 speaker altec lansing.... now the dilemma is to buy a real guitar amp (ard 100+) or upgrade the pc speaker....but i am leaning towards the real amp :D
 
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