I was playing guitar a few year ago and recently have decided to start playing again. Have ordered POD HD500X yesterday! Mainly going to play alone or with backtracks playing from phone or computer connected to POD HD500X. Maybe in future will also buy an electric piano to play together with my wife from time to time :)
I'm stuck with choosing an output device to buy. I'd like to spend no more than $350.
First question: combo or pair of monitors?
With monitors I can get stereo sound and I heard there are some effects which use stereo, but I'm not sure I really need this...
Second question: which particular model to choose in the price range?
Here are some options and my thoughts about them. Please note, I didn't try any of these amplifiers and monitors.
Combo amps:
* Fender Mustang II V2 40-Watt 1x12-Inch, $200. Lots of good feedback on this series on reddit. Looks like plenty of people using them and are pretty happy.
* Yamaha THR10, $300. I heard from a friend it has really great sound! But I'm not sure about this, is that it has amp modelling too. I'm buying HD500X, which does this job already, so I suppose I'll use "Flat" mode on the combo. Then why to pay for the rest?
* Line 6 Spider IV 15 15-watt 1x8 Modeling Guitar Amplifier, $100. Great reviews and very cheap. 15 watt probably will be enough to play at home?
* Line 6 Spider IV 30 30-watt 1x12 Modeling Guitar Amplifier, $200. Bigger speaker.
* Marshall MG30CFX MG Series 30-Watt, $200.
* Fender Champion 40, $180
* Orange Crush Pix CR35LDX 1x10" 35-Watt Combo w/FX Orange, $250. But I probably don't need any fx...
* Roland CUBE-10GX 10W 1x8 Guitar Combo Amp, $130
Combo amps with tubes:
* Orange Micro Terror 20-Watt Head + Orange PPC108 1x8" 20-Watt Speaker Cabinet 8-ohm Orange, $100 + $150. Tube!
* Vox VT20PLUS 20-Watt 1x8 Guitar Combo Amplifier, $180. Tube!
* Laney Amps CUB All TUBE Series CUB 10 10-Watt 1x10 Guitar Combo Amplifier, $250. Tube!
Monitors:
* KRK RP5G3-NA Rokit 5 Generation 3 Powered Studio Monitor, $300 for pair.
* JBL LSR305 5-inch Two-Way Powered Studio Monitor, $270 for pair.
* Yamaha HS5 Powered Studio Monitor, $400 for pair with cables and stands.
* Behringer Truth B1030a High-Resolution, Active 2-Way Reference Studio Monitors, $300 for pair.
In my understanding these monitors are pretty a bottom line for monitors. I don't have in plans to make recordings in nearest future. I don't even have a nice table to place them on (working on a laptop). So maybe these are other reasons to buy a better combo amp, than cheap monitors. But if only a lot of guitarist who uses POD HD500X will say that using combo with all modelling power of HD500X doesn't make sense, then I'm ready to find a good place for monitors at my place :)
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So the first questions first please: combo amp or active monitors? :)
Thanks in advance!