I've been on a mad amp hunt for some time now. I've tried more amps than I can recall and none have done the trick for me. I want the CLEANEST clean possible, FLAT response, and absolutely no discernable breakup or distortion. I recently started playing with my intersound IVP through one of my Behringer Studio monitors. It's DAMN close to the sound I've been looking for. Is it okay (safe) to play through a nearfield monitor? How would one mic it for live applications? I was thinking of just buying a seperate single monitor (another behri or a cheap samson ) for this purpose. Any suggestions or advice , on the cheap of course, would be appreciated.

a cheap behringer monitor is giving you a "FLAT" response? that seems pretty incredible to me.

i would think you could use something like a 1000W solid state amp of decent quality (like a crest, or crown, or QSC etc etc) and as flat a speaker/enclosure as you can find. probably something with a couple 15's, a couple 10's or 8's, and a tweeter.

but seriously, a cheap behringer monitor is giving you FLAT?!?!

"Flat" as relative term, maybe "uncolored" (as a relative term) would be a better description but "flat" or "uncolored" relative (ly) compared to a guitar amp....YES!! Yes it is. However you did'nt answer my question and your solutions are expensive (not "on the cheap")/ unattainable to me for quite some time.

Is it feasable to use a nearfield monitor in this application on a regular basis?

I'm not really sure what the motivation for a "flat" guitar sound would be? Typically, speakers in guitar cabs roll off sharply at about 3-4 kHz. Anything above that is generally string noise. If you want a 'flat' guitar sound, DIing it straight into an amp into a monitor will do this. If you're really looking for that kind of sound why do you even need the monitors? If you're playing live, just DI it straight into the desk. If you're recording, just go straight into the desk or a/d interface. Just buy some better monitors and likely find that sound you're looking for.

Oh, and pop filters.

"flat" to start off with. In other words I want the voicing to come from my preamp and guitar NOT the power or speaker. All guitar amps sound cloudy to me some and some frequency range is always trumped up or accentuated in a way that you can't seem to get around it. I want clarity without harsh treble.. I want no obvious distortion or breakup.. I want to hear each string individualy within a chord. I don't want overly exaggerated sustain.

Are you saying I can do this? Will I blow up (out, in, etc.) the monitor?

Monitors are driven by amplifiers. If the amplifier has a linear output and the speakers present a relatively 'flat' repsonse across the audible frequency spectrum, and the impedance and power ratings match, then no, you won't blow your monitors.

Hearing every note in a chord will have more to do with how your pickups are angled, what notes the body is actively resonating and what pickups you are using than just your amplifier.

i play my guitar and my bass guitar thru my behringer v-amp 2 and my behringer monitors. it works. not best tone ever but it gets the job done , specially for recording, and i still can´t afford a guitar amp.
i will not grab my monitors to a live gig. they look too fragile.

"Hearing every note in a chord will have more to do with how your pickups are angled, what notes the body is actively resonating and what pickups you are using than just your amplifier."

I have tried some many PU angles and hieghts and was'nt close to satisfied with any of the adjustments until I tried adjusting them through my monitor.
But yes I agree. I guess I have found most amps to be an impedement to the guitars (parker nightfly) natural tone. I always feel like I'm fighting and compromising with the amp. When I sound good or bad through the monitor I feel like it's me thats good or bad.

One more thing, On the IVP .. should I be using the "Main" or the "-10db" output into the monitor?

well Benjie here's how you can think about it...

you can record your guitar (or anything for that matter) and listen to it on your monitor speaker, right? so whatever volume you can monitor at safely when you're tracking guitar, or whatever volume level you can monitor at when you're playing back the guitar you've recorded... you should be able to play your guitar at that level. i'd recommend making sure you don't put a pedal with a super-hot output as the last pedal in your chain, though from what it sounds like, the only pedal you'd be using would be a tuner and maybe a compressor, so it shouldn't be a problem. or is it just the guitar into the IVP and that's it? just make sure you don't output an absurdly hot signal, i would think.

what guitar amps have you tried, specifically, that have performed so poorly? have you tried any bass amps?

BenjieLoveless wrote:I guess I have found most amps to be an impedement to the guitars (parker nightfly) natural tone. I always feel like I'm fighting and compromising with the amp.

To echo TMH, I'd say you need to try some amps. Get thee to a store that stocks Matchless, VHT, Top Hat or Bogner varieties, to name a few. That is probably what you're looking for. However, once you pick your jaw up off the floor, you will realize that you can't afford any of these amps. But at least you'll have goals.

BenjieLoveless wrote:When I sound good or bad through the monitor I feel like it's me thats good or bad.

If you're having problems at live shows, I've found that my guitar amp can sound radically different at different venues as opposed to the practice space just due to the change in acoustics. Usually a little tweaking with the presence control is necessary. You just have to have a little bit of trust that the engineer will make any necessary adjustments out front, of course.