jam track playback

doug174

Blues Newbie
Can anyone provide info on how to play back jam tracks at home through a guitar amp? What hardware is required?
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
That is going to vary greatly by what your amp is. So will the quality of the results. A lot of newer modeling amps have a line in or even bluetooth. Something like a Boss Katana, Yamaha THR, or a Mooer White Hornet will do it for a very reasonable price.

Traditional amps and their speakers are going to distort the sound substantially and will generally be harder to feed. You will probably be better off with a separate speaker. Computer or studio monitors or just a home stereo or simple Bluetooth speaker will all get the job done.
 

Zzzen Dog

Blues Junior
I just use a bluetooth speaker with my iPhone. Plenty loud enough for playing at home.

I've got both the Jam apps from Truefire, as well as YouTube and of course the tracks in the various courses of Griff's. All play well through the iPhone. Truefire allows me to download tracks and the In The Mix stuff for offline, which is helpful for when WiFi or the internet gets glitchy.
 

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
I've used basic computer speakers to play tracks and the amp for the guitar, but they were always two separate things.

But when I set up a DAW, everything changed. With an interface (Focusrite), I discovered a whole variety of ways to play and when I switched from stock computer speakers to studio monitors and a sub, I now have a whole bunch of options.
  • I can have the tracks and the amp play separately
  • I can play them together at low or high "room" volumes (via the Line Out in my amp).
  • I can play at any volume anytime if I use headphones
  • I can vary the guitar volume in the monitors so that I can either be "in" or "out" of the mix to whatever level I want.
If I want I can even plug my phone into the computer through Bluetooth or USB if I wish to further expanding my audio sources.

My monitors are Presonus Eris 8's with a Presonus 8" Sub which give me anything from bedroom to small club volumes and of course any recording is just a few clicks away.

Yes, there are costs involved, but I think the "Bang-for-the-Buck" payoff is well worth it!
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
JP, I didn’t want to overwhelm the guy, but I can’t disagree with you too much! I personally use a Focusrite 6i6 to mix guitar and backing tracks as well. The backing tracks come from my laptop, the guitar signal comes from a modeler (Atomic Amplifire 6) and then I monitor with headphones off the front of the Focusrite or with a CLR off the back, both with independent volume knobs which is super convenient. Going from playing along to recording is basically as simple as opening up Reaper.

Keep in mind, there isn’t a “real” guitar amp involved in this chain at all, but with something like a Suhr Reactive Load IR, I could play my tube amps in place of the modeler.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Might help if you tell us more about what you are trying to do.
Play at home alone
Jam with friends
Play out in a bar...
All different answers to your question.
 

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
JP, I didn’t want to overwhelm the guy, but I can’t disagree with you too much! I personally use a Focusrite 6i6 to mix guitar and backing tracks as well. The backing tracks come from my laptop, the guitar signal comes from a modeler (Atomic Amplifire 6) and then I monitor with headphones off the front of the Focusrite or with a CLR off the back, both with independent volume knobs which is super convenient. Going from playing along to recording is basically as simple as opening up Reaper.

Keep in mind, there isn’t a “real” guitar amp involved in this chain at all, but with something like a Suhr Reactive Load IR, I could play my tube amps in place of the modeler.

I totally get what you're saying and these days no one really "needs" an amp at all.
In fact, before I bought my new amp, I had no Line Out on the amp I was using, so I would simply plug my guitar into my pedal chain and then the pedals into my Focusrite and then into my DAW and everything worked fine.

My new amp has a Line Out (which for me was a "must have") and one of the major reasons I like it is that if I want to play loud, I can kill the signal to the Focusrite and just have the track play through the monitors (which are in front of me) and the guitar comes through the amp (which is behind me).
This way I can play to the the track and I hear the amp through its speaker with all of its nuance, which of course sounds more "real".

But when things get quiet (like late at night), I can do the same thing by lowering the amp volume (along with the track volume) and balance the guitar and the track through the monitors so that they are both at more of a "bedroom" level , or I can just kill the amp volume altogether and pop on the headphones.

I'm not suggesting than any one way is better than another.
I just like to have a variety of options instead of any kind of "either/or" setup.
 
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