Amp simulator pedal to play guitar through home stereo?

[DC-Choppah]

What is a good amp simulator pedal to allow me to play my guitar through a home stereo so I can practice guitar in my office through the stereo that is in there.

A little reverb would be nice too.

I am looking for a good jazzy clean tone that sounds like a tube amp.

Any suggestions?

[Music Wolf]

I was going to suggest something like the Boss FDR-1, like the one I have sitting in my loft. OK, but nothing special, and probably made redundant by todays modellers such as the Helix. I was expecting that you should be able to pick one up for next to nothing - then I checked ebay . I'll be going up to the loft later and rescuing it along with the Sansamp original. Who'd have thought that there was a market for these 'classics'

[Wonks]

Is this a sensible route? For the cost of a decent amp sim pedal (especially one with reverb), you could get a small modelling practice amp which will sound so much better.

[ef37a]

"I am looking for a good jazzy clean tone that sounds like a tube amp."

Well if you find one DC. JUST tell me and this time next year we will both be miwyonares!

Holy Grail mate! But to be serious you need a pedal that delivers a 'speaker emulated' output. The raw output of an electric guitar is very harsh and 'fizzy'. Moreover the high frequency content (or distorted mids) can easily burn out a tweeter. This is compounded by the fact that hi fi speakers are a good 10-15dB less sensitive than guitar speakers and so you will out in a lot more watts for 85-90dB sound levels which is where you will be for a decent rock 'experience'. Emulation takes some of the HF fizz off but you still need to be careful.

Vibrato is another killer. Of woofers this time. Git speakers have very stiff, strong suspensions and do not move much for LF inputs. The high compliance, long throw cones in hi fi speaker do! They can be ripped from their suspensions or the 'spider' will suffer damage. By the same token do not, ever put bass guitar through a hi fi speaker except perhaps for the very quietest tune up or function test.

'Spam' of course forbids me to mention a manufctr of both amps and pedals with EM outputs!
@Wonks. Yes, starts with an H and ends in a one!

Dave.

[Kwackman]

Is this a sensible route? For the cost of a decent amp sim pedal (especially one with reverb), you could get a small modelling practice amp which will sound so much better.

+1 on this plan.

Maybe one of the small Roland Cubes?

[Dynamic Mike]

Check out the Boss JS10 eBand. I can't recommend it highly enough. Does everything you need and more. Patch your hifi into the JS10 and you don't need to worry.

[Wonks]

Check out the Boss JS10 eBand. I can't recommend it highly enough. Does everything you need and more. Patch your hifi into the JS10 and you don't need to worry.

£300+

You can get a full-blown Katana for less.

[Music Wolf]

I bought my son a Blackstar Fly prac amp (analogue). I was very impressed.

Around the £50 mark but, be warned, that doesn't include a power supply which would cost c£25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dffjMOOudk0

[Wonks]

I bought my son a Blackstar Fly prac amp (analogue). I was very impressed.

Around the £50 mark but, be warned, that doesn't include a power supply which would cost c£25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dffjMOOudk0

But no required reverb. Delay isn't the same thing.

[The Elf]

Any of the Digitech RPxx(x) models would do a decent job as your 'by the sofa' friend. I've got a clutch of these, from the humble RP50 to the swanky RP1000 and I know them to be great devices. No, not as sophisticated as something like the Helix, but not as far behind as you'd think for the secondhand price.

[Music Wolf]

oops, I forgot about that.

Just shove one of these in front (may need to stretch the budget)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqxTr6XydQ

[ore_terra]

this thing apparently sounds pretty good. don't own one, but a mate does and he's a lot into emulators of all price ranges (kempers, headrush, helix, etc)

https://atomicamps.com/amplifirebox/

[Dynamic Mike]

Check out the Boss JS10 eBand. I can't recommend it highly enough. Does everything you need and more. Patch your hifi into the JS10 and you don't need to worry.

£300+

You can get a full-blown Katana for less.

And a full-blown hi-fi speaker for more.

[Kwackman]

oops, I forgot about that.

Just shove one of these in front (may need to stretch the budget)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqxTr6XydQ

Or from the same maker....
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/strymon-iridium

But, as said above, a small amp would be cheaper.

[Sam Spoons]

Boss Katana 50, great sounding little electric guitar amp, the cleans are fantastic but I didn't buy it 'cos it didn't work well enough with acoustic and I wanted something that did both adequately.

[Andyh 56]

If its only for home /office use. The Blackstar id range not too expensive. have reverb and do a far job of clean sounds. Higher up the price food chain the Yamaha thr series.

[SecretSam]

Vox amplug range is worth a look. Not a pedal, but cheap, sounds good, and probably won't blow up your hi-fi. Probably. The output can drive headphones.

[Dr Huge Longjohns]

Yes, they're great. Cheap as chips and fine for solo noodling with headphones. I have the Vox one and its emulation is surprisingly good.

[DC-Choppah]

Any of the Digitech RPxx(x) models would do a decent job as your 'by the sofa' friend. I've got a clutch of these, from the humble RP50 to the swanky RP1000 and I know them to be great devices. No, not as sophisticated as something like the Helix, but not as far behind as you'd think for the secondhand price.

I am finding these guys for $25. And they have amp modelling and speaker cabinet modeling and reverb. Cool! So this is going to cost me less than buying a small practice amp. What could go wrong?

Blown speakers? Hmmm. I'll set the compressor on the digitech and set the EQ to take out the bottom frequencies. That should help knock down big spikes that might damage the speakers.

Am I going to blow out my speakers?!? Anybody out there doing this?!?

I am playing jazz chord solos with a hollow body guitar, medium/low volume.

BTW this is a 90W per channel Sony receiver, Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers and a powered 120 W Dayton Audio subwoofer.

[DC-Choppah]

Holy Grail mate! But to be serious you need a pedal that delivers a 'speaker emulated' output.

Right, need to have speaker emulation. Thanks for that. Looks like the Digitech does have that.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Am I going to blow out my speakers?!? Anybody out there doing this?!?

I am playing jazz chord solos with a hollow body guitar, medium/low volume.

Just bear in mind that 'medium/low volume' in the context of playing a live Solo guitar will produce peaks and transients very considerably louder than when playing mastered commercial music. Tread carefully at first, and avoid getting carried away!

[The Elf]

Any of the Digitech RPxx(x) models would do a decent job as your 'by the sofa' friend. I've got a clutch of these, from the humble RP50 to the swanky RP1000 and I know them to be great devices. No, not as sophisticated as something like the Helix, but not as far behind as you'd think for the secondhand price.

I am finding these guys for $25.

Can I have a moment's gloat and say that I found my RP50 in a local charity shop for 50p?! I also found the PSU in the grab box and so paid a pound!

Watch your speakers, though. Home hifi does not an unleashed guitar expect!

[Wonks]

So really, buy a practise amp.

[Sam Spoons]

Jazz guitar has a lot of LF energy if you follow the 'standard' technique of using the neck pickup and rolling off the tone completely. If you can do an 'Elf' and find something for 50p it's definitely worth a try but you could do a proof of concept with any non-true bypass guitar pedal and suitable lead. Jazz guitar is usually played clean so you may find you don't need amp sims just eq to get you in the ball park.

[DC-Choppah]

RP50 is in. Plugged into the stereo
Wow! This things sounds great.

At first the sound was wrong, too much bass. Sounded like a guitar plugged into the stereo even though I was using the amp modeling.

But then I learned how to turn on the speaker emulation. You have to hold down the drum buttom WHILE you power it on and it turns on speaker emulation. That makes a huge difference. Now it sounds like a guitar amp.

Here are the amp/speaker model options from the Digitech RP50 manual

The following lists what cabinet accompanies each model:
b1-b9 – Blackface – 2x12 Cabinet
o1-o9 – Boutique – Vintage 4x12 Cabinet
r1-r9 – Rectifier – Vintage 4x12 Cabinet
H1-H9 – Hot Rod – British 4x12 Cabinet
t1-t9 – Classic Tweed – 2x12 Cabinet
C1-C9 – British Combo – 2x12 Cabinet
c1-c9 – Clean Tube – British 4x12 Cabinet
s1-s9 – British Stack – British 4x12 Cabinet
U1-U9 – Crunch – Vintage 4x12 Cabinet
G1-G9 – High Gain Tube – British 4x12 Cabinet
F1-f9 – Fuzz – British 4x12 Cabinet

I am very much partial to a c5 setting. Sounds sweet for jazz guitar.
A little compression (1) and some hall reverb. Flat EQ.

Thanks Elf. I would have never thought that this ugly 80s looking thing would sound so good.

No speakers blown. I looked at the cones and with the speaker emulation on, the woofers look normal.