aamefford
Two Dogs
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2021
- Messages
- 411
Read the whole post if you are kinda bored. If not, skip to the TL-DR below.
I've been going down the route of the OP, in a similar fashion. I'm a new (old) player. I started with a Fender GTX100 modeler. It was really pretty darned good, and for my uses, I should have just stuck with it, but that's another story (as in - I wanted a tube amp, no, a Mesa Boogie tube amp, 'cause Santana...).
So, I got a Mkv25 combo and a wide body open 1x12 for bedroom use. Yeah, it's freakin' loud! I had the Bugera PS-1 or 2 or whatever passive attenuator, but that sounded kinda flat at the low volumes I was squeezing it down to, so then I got a Fryette PS2. That helped - now it is pretty much whatever volume I want, and sounds anywhere from decent to excellent, depending on how quiet I'm trying to ahem, play.
Sometimes, I don't want volume. Well, the Mkv25 has an internal load box, a speaker on-off switch, and headphone and direct out (with a passably decent speaker sim). Yup, a tube amp with HP out. Pretty freakin' cool! Then I wanted monitors, so I bought an inexpensive but decent pair. Then I needed to control the monitors, so I got a decent but inexpensive mixer. I run the line out of the amp into the mixer.
Then... I wanted a pedalboard only rig, since I was learning about pedals, and thought I'd cart my pedalboard downstairs (I don't...). After much waffling around, I ended up with a UAFX Dream because I stumbled on a decent deal, and it checked a bunch of my boxes - people that know more than I do like it, it has direct out, and a workaround for headphones that works for me, stereo (should that ever sound like a good idea), takes other pedals well, and I like the sound. It works into my mixer/monitor set up, into the Fryette (used as the power amp), into my Mesa either direct or 4CM, and via headphones.
Why the long story? I'm bored, and this is fresh territory for me. I like the OP's option of the Captor X. I didn't go this route, because I wanted a more variable volume - hence the Bugera and then the PS2. In retrospect, I use the monitors most of the time, so the Captor X would have worked well, and covered the same ground as the Fryette PS2 AND the Dream. I had resisted getting a mixer. It has become the traffic cop of my little studio-ette. I recommend one for this type of stuff. I went with a Behringer Flow8, inexpensive, actually pretty decent quality, and also works with one of my other fledgling hobbies - video editing and content creation with my daughter.
TL-DR - OP, I think the CaptorX, monitors and headphones are a good way to go. I'd add in a mixer if you don't have one. Yamaha makes a nice 6 channel one for pretty cheap, and the Behringer that I have is pretty decent.
I've been going down the route of the OP, in a similar fashion. I'm a new (old) player. I started with a Fender GTX100 modeler. It was really pretty darned good, and for my uses, I should have just stuck with it, but that's another story (as in - I wanted a tube amp, no, a Mesa Boogie tube amp, 'cause Santana...).
So, I got a Mkv25 combo and a wide body open 1x12 for bedroom use. Yeah, it's freakin' loud! I had the Bugera PS-1 or 2 or whatever passive attenuator, but that sounded kinda flat at the low volumes I was squeezing it down to, so then I got a Fryette PS2. That helped - now it is pretty much whatever volume I want, and sounds anywhere from decent to excellent, depending on how quiet I'm trying to ahem, play.
Sometimes, I don't want volume. Well, the Mkv25 has an internal load box, a speaker on-off switch, and headphone and direct out (with a passably decent speaker sim). Yup, a tube amp with HP out. Pretty freakin' cool! Then I wanted monitors, so I bought an inexpensive but decent pair. Then I needed to control the monitors, so I got a decent but inexpensive mixer. I run the line out of the amp into the mixer.
Then... I wanted a pedalboard only rig, since I was learning about pedals, and thought I'd cart my pedalboard downstairs (I don't...). After much waffling around, I ended up with a UAFX Dream because I stumbled on a decent deal, and it checked a bunch of my boxes - people that know more than I do like it, it has direct out, and a workaround for headphones that works for me, stereo (should that ever sound like a good idea), takes other pedals well, and I like the sound. It works into my mixer/monitor set up, into the Fryette (used as the power amp), into my Mesa either direct or 4CM, and via headphones.
Why the long story? I'm bored, and this is fresh territory for me. I like the OP's option of the Captor X. I didn't go this route, because I wanted a more variable volume - hence the Bugera and then the PS2. In retrospect, I use the monitors most of the time, so the Captor X would have worked well, and covered the same ground as the Fryette PS2 AND the Dream. I had resisted getting a mixer. It has become the traffic cop of my little studio-ette. I recommend one for this type of stuff. I went with a Behringer Flow8, inexpensive, actually pretty decent quality, and also works with one of my other fledgling hobbies - video editing and content creation with my daughter.
TL-DR - OP, I think the CaptorX, monitors and headphones are a good way to go. I'd add in a mixer if you don't have one. Yamaha makes a nice 6 channel one for pretty cheap, and the Behringer that I have is pretty decent.
