Finally pulled the trigger. Axe III is on the way.

B

Bradford17

Member
Good morning and Merry Christmas to you all. After many years of deliberation, I finally pulled the trigger. Axe III is on the way. I'm sure this has been discussed, so I apologize in advance, but forum life is new to me and I have never joined one before, and am trying to figure it out as I go. So, thank you for all the help. My question for all of you experts is what do you all recommend for studio monitors? Sub or no sub? What do I need to look for in them? Unfortunately, there is nowhere close to be able to really try anything other than the bottom of the barrel options at the local GC. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
 
Bradford17 said:
Good morning and Merry Christmas to you all. After many years of deliberation, I finally pulled the trigger. Axe III is on the way. I'm sure this has been discussed, so I apologize in advance, but forum life is new to me and I have never joined one before, and am trying to figure it out as I go. So, thank you for all the help. My question for all of you experts is what do you all recommend for studio monitors? Sub or no sub? What do I need to look for in them? Unfortunately, there is nowhere close to be able to really try anything other than the bottom of the barrel options at the local GC. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
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Well the first thing I would ask is what is the budget for Monitors ?

You can go for good sounding and not to much presonus for instance the Eris or the R60 or the sceptre you can get into the ADAMS or the New IK multimedia ones thats kind of mid to upper about 1500 - 2000 USD a pair .

I have a smaller room and equator 5s but if you play rock and want that low end chug I would probably recommend something like 7,s or 8,s
 
Randalljax said:
Well the first thing I would ask is what is the budget for Monitors ?

You can go for good sounding and not to much presonus for instance the Eris or the R60 or the sceptre you can get into the ADAMS or the New IK multimedia ones thats kind of mid to upper about 1500 - 2000 USD a pair .

I have a smaller room and equator 5s but if you play rock and want that low end chug I would probably recommend something like 7,s or 8,s
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I would say somewhere around $1000 give or take for a pair. I don’t want to skimp, but I don’t want more than I need if that makes sense. I was thinking 8s as well. Would you recommend a sub?
 
@Bradford17 sub can be cool just for the feel while you play, but for recording I don’t really recommend it .

For the recommendation, everyone will tell you the one they use, they are not really bad studio monitors …. Every period got their trends , before it was yamaha, then krk, now Adam is more named cause they finally release some cheap ones …

but mackie, prodipe, even some Samson are not so bad …

I have mackie hr824 mk2 pair and krk rockit 6. The krk cost 10 times less but kick ass, they are neutral and powerful .

The problem with 8 in a mix is that they often have too much bass and you can have bad surprises in other audio system.

Sometimes mixing in more cheap ones give a more realistic result as people dont listen to your music in 2000$ speakers most of the time .

If you don’t record albums, if it’s just to play with the axe, whatever you buy for 1000 will be ok
 
Thank you for the input. Do you think I’d be better off with 7s? My biggest fear is not having enough oomph in the low end and it sounding thin. I’m new to this, so I may be surprised at how little I need.
 
Merry Christmas! Congratulations on the worlds best modeler.
I think you will be happy with the 8's.
I have 7 & 8's I like the 8's a little better.
 
Merry Christmas to you as well. Thank you. I'm excited. It's something I have wanted for a long time. I just hope I'm smart enough to figure it out lol. I figured bigger would be the way to go. Im intrigued as to how it will sound through those "small" speakers. I've always been a big focal fan in other things, so hopefully even their cheapest option is still going to sound like what I have in my head. The anticipation is killing me. I dont know what I'm in for or what to expect. Slightly nervous Ha!
 
For most of my time I run my AXE FX3 through headphones, when I want that room feel I run it through some KRK Rokit 5s, and when I have an option to use them in a rehearsal room I have a Headrush 212 FRFR. My learning on that is that the size of the speaker has a very significant value as you raise the volume. The headphones and the KRK 5s are able to give me a sonic low end (guitar and bass) at say an apartment room level and I´m standing close to the source. Now, the feel of a low end (or the entire spectrum for that matter) as you bring the volume up comes short on the headphones and on the KRKs they deliver but is clear they are wearing off from forcing the speaker. Bigger speaker size allows for better sound waves that fill up rooms better. Low end needs a stronger signal to travel further.

that said, it will come down to your use case. If you have a sufficient space where you will play and you will be standing further from the sound source and you want to have the feel of the amp then bigger size speakers will most likely be the option.

my 2 cents.
 
I got a Sub recently and I think it really helps with the low end chug, and feeling more like sitting in front of a big 412 cab. I think if you are used to using a big amp setup it can help recreate some of that experience.
 
Zedhed said:
If you are playing alone, a sub may add value. But if you are mixing other instruments leave the sub territory for the kick drum, low end Bass & synth's.

Sub's can muddy up the guitar real quick in my experience.
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I agree with this, for sure.

I definitely enjoy having the sub, I’ve got a pair of Yamaha HS-5’s and there’s definitely not a lot of bass coming from 5” speakers, the sub adds some of the physical element you’d normally get from a cab. Even if it’s just lightly feeling it through the floor or that added oomph the low end puts out, even as minimal as it can be for guitar, is worth it. It’s also a lifesaver when it comes to mixing, especially when I’m putting a bunch of 808 bombs in songs.
 
Unless you play in lower tunings than standard EADGBE, E2 being the lowest which is 82.4 hertz…

A sub is unecessary IMO for listening to just guitar tones

Sure if you also use them to enjoy/mix music or down an octave from standard tuning i.e a Bass guitar (41.2 hertz) then by all means go ahead and get a sub
 
Adding to what I said if you want that guitar amp in the room sound then just get a power amp and a guitar cabinet, can’t replace them with studio monitors and sub
 
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