When purchasing an electric guitar, people wonder whether they really need to buy an amp as well. I can say for sure that you don’t need to do that.
So how do you amplify your electric guitar without an amp? There are several options available for you:
- connect your guitar to your pc/laptop
- play electric guitar with headphones
- use your home theater system to amplify your guitar
These options will keep you away from the hassle of spending additional amounts of money in order to purchase an amplifier.
How Does Guitar Amplifier Work?
Before you know how to amplify sounds in an electric guitar, you must understand what an amplifier is. The amplifier is an electronic device, which has the ability to boost electric current provided to it as the input. When you provide a sound signal with a low volume to the amplifier, the amp will boost it to a sound signal with a high volume.
People use amplifiers for many different purposes. Guitarists prefer to use them to amplify the sounds that are coming out from their electric guitars. The electric guitars don’t produce a loud volume as acoustic guitars. Hence, the guitarists come across the need to boost the volume. That’s where the amplifiers come into play. However, you don’t always need to invest money on an amplifier in order to boost your electric guitar’s volume.
Many alternative options are available to try out. Keep on reading to get to know about those alternative methods.
Connect Guitar To PC Or Laptop
These days almost every household owns a pc or a laptop. You can utilize it as an amplifier to your guitar and this what I do every day. If you have decent speakers on your computer, you can try this out without keeping any doubt in mind. You will definitely get impressed with the results that you will be able to receive.
To do that, you will need to take a ¼ inch guitar cord and connect it to the guitar interface. The other end of the guitar cord needs to be plugged into the line of the computer speakers. As the next step, you must turn on the audio interface. Once you do it, you will be able to transform your computer speakers to an amplifier.
You are encouraged to keep the volume of the computer speakers low as much as possible and start playing. Along with time, you will need to increase the volume gradually. It is also possible for you to connect your electric guitar to more than one speaker set. To do that, you just need to purchase additional wires and adapters. This will be a unique experience that you will be able to experience as a guitarist. The best thing about this technique is that it has the ability to keep you away from the frustration of purchasing an amp.
I personally use Real Tone USB Audio Cable on a daily. It has no delays or interference. I mainly use it to play Rocksmith, which is an amazing game the teaches you to play guitar and it comes with the cable! but you can use the cable to play guitar without the game, you will just need a guitar effects software.
If you are interested to know more, you can check out my post 5 Easy Ways To Play Electric Guitar Through PC/Laptop
Play Electric Guitar With Headphones
You can simply visit a local electronics shop and buy any headphones you will be comfortable for you. In order to connect the headphones to your guitar’s jack, you will need an adapter 1/4 inch male to 1/8 female
It is better if you can stand up and strap on your guitar so that you can get a comfortable experience with the guitar headphone. In addition, you need to clip the headphone to the belt. Usually, the headphones come along with these clips to make your life easier.
Once you plug the guitar headphone, reduce the volume from the volume of the guitar using the volume control on the guitar. Then increase the volume slowly until it is playable the way you like. In the meantime, you can start playing the guitar as well. While you are doing it, you can use the tone and volume controls on the guitar.
Plug Electric Guitar Into Home Stereo \ Boom Box
another option is to plug your electric guitar into a boom box or home stereo. In fact, you can connect it to any music playing device that comes along with an auxiliary input. Most of the guitarists do it because it helps them to stay away from spending money on an amp.
in most cases, you will need a 1/4 inch female to 1/8 male adapter. some home stereo will have a 1/4 inch input for your guitar cable.
Once you have the adapter, you can use it and connect your electric guitar to the auxiliary input of the boom box or home stereo. Then you should turn down its volume and start playing the guitar. While you do it, you can increase the volume slowly. Then you will be able to hear the sounds coming out of the home stereo or boom box.
Recording Electric Guitar Without Amp
So far we discussed how you will be able to play the electric guitar without using an amp. In addition, it is important to know how to record without an amp as well. That’s where you will come across the need to learn about digital to analog conversions.
When you play your guitar, the vibration of strings is picked from the pickup. In fact, the pickup is functioning as a translator. It translates the vibrations into sound signals. These sound signals are then taken into the amplifier through the guitar cable.
You can purchase a Digital Audio Workstation and record the sound that comes from the electric guitar in the form of signals.
The digital audio workstations are extremely popular among guitarists that want to record their sessions, composition or improvisations.
In a Digital Audio Workstation, you will be able to discover an audio interface. It is the main component of the device. In fact, it receives the signals coming from the electric guitar and transforms them into digital signals. These signals will then be stored or saved. That’s how you will be able to record the sound that you get from the electric guitar, without using an amplifier.
Do You Really Need A Guitar Amp?
If you are playing the electric guitar casually, you don’t really need to go ahead and spend hundreds of dollars on an amp. As you can see, a large number of alternative options are available for you to try out. You just need to take a look at these alternative options and try them out.
Even if you are going to record yourself playing the electric guitar, you don’t need to purchase an amp.
However, if you still think that you need an amp. You can defently buy a used one and I have a post that will help you do it All You Need To Know Before You Buy A Used Guitar Amp
Conclusion
Electric guitars don’t produce a loud sound like acoustic guitars. The sound produced by these guitars isn’t even audible. As a result, people who use electric guitars have come across the need to purchase amplifiers and amplify the sound that is given out. However, they will have to spend hundreds of dollars to purchase a one.
If you don’t have an amplifier, or if you cannot afford a one, there are few effective solutions available to try out. You can simply purchase headphones and connect them to your instrument using an adapter. Or, you will be able to connect the guitar to your home stereo \ boom box. It is also possible to play the guitar by connecting it to your PC or laptop.
If you want to record yourself playing the electric speaker, you are encouraged to purchase a Digital Audio Workstation. This is a small device, which can effectively help you with recording electric guitar sounds. With that, you can stay away from spending your money on an electric guitar amp.
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