Aquired a Palmer PGA 04 now what options do I have?

[jbrown013]

I recently purchased a Palmer PGA-04 ADIG-LB (actually its still in shipping lol). I purchased this due to me having to move into a small apt from my house. I wanted to be able to still play my favorite amps but silently. This unit seemed to be one of the options available to me. One came up for sale and was a very reasonable price vs. new.

So where do I go from here? I would like to be able to listen to my playing as I play as well as record onto my pc which is XP based. I don't know a whole lot about recording and the sort and this unit is very unfamiliar to me. I have read and been told it does a good job at speaker sims etc.

So what will I need to utilize this for me? A mixer? I would like to play this into some head phones and would like to keep the budge well below 1,000 if possible including software and such.

Thanks for any advice,

Joe

 

[jmoose]

Those Palmer units are great, and yes... they do want to be plugged into a mixer or micpreamp. Its basically a giant DI that you can stuff a Plexi or whatever into without a speaker cabinet and not melt the amp.

Even a basic $99 mixer with a headphone jack is enough... or you could get some monitors and be able to listen on either headphones or speakers with the mixer.

Yet another, probably 'better' option for recording would be to get something like a Motu or Presonus firewire interface. That'll feed headphones, speakers, the computer and they usually come with recording software.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FireStuMobile/

From there its a slow uphill climb!!!

 

[jbrown013]

Where would I go from the palmer to the presonus unit cable wise? Also any recommendations on headphone and or monitors?

 

[Scott Whigham]

Your Palmer has a line level output via XLR and the Presonus (or any other pre) will have an XLR line level input. You'll just get an XLR male to XLR female cable to connect them.

As for "headphones or monitors", that's a big question and, like most in the prosumer audio space, the answer depends on us knowing more info. Are you in a good, treated room? If so, then spend money on monitors - something like the KRK Rokit 5 series or Yamahas that you can get for about $300-$500 for the pair (used is fine too). If you aren't in a well-treated room, then you probably are better off starting with a pair of open-back headphones. I like my Sennheiser 595s: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001FTVE0

 

[jbrown013]

Im in a very ill treated room lol. So head phones seem the way to go. I like the presounus sugested and will try to find one for a good price the new price isnt bad at all. I would like to have a good playback.

Whats the difference between open, closed or half closed back head phones? Also I noted that there are different ohms that each headset have does this affect anything?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Scott Whigham]

Can't say about the ohms - I knew the answer back when I was looking/comparing but have forgotten now

Open-back headphones vs. closed-back: Closed-back are great to wear while you are tracking - you get as little bleed as possible but the open-back are better for mixing/mastering work. I must say that I'm no expert though - I'm just a guitar player who, like you, started by asking forum questions and reading threads!

 

[jmoose]

Whats the difference between open, closed or half closed back head phones? Also I noted that there are different ohms that each headset have does this affect anything?

Open back cans let some 'room' sound in, while closed block out more sound... bring you 'deeper' into the sonic space. Typically the lower the ohms are the louder the phones will get compared to other headphones.

Honestly, if your starting from scratch on this stuff I'd buy the interface new from a dealer like sweetwater or Zen Pro. The free technical support for those initial baby steps is invaluable... otherwise you end up calling a local guy like me to come in, and its $45-75 an hour to sort out any issues... like why is my recording crackling/playing at half speed/this F'in thing isn't talking to this F'ing thing etc.

Specific recommendations for things like headphones & monitors are hard to make without a lot more details... its like asking a painter why they prefer 'X' brushes or blindly buying a pair of shoes and running a marathon.

Personally I hate wearing headphones and playing guitar... YMMV.

 

[gtrnstuff]

Actually it has both XLR and 1/4 outs. Not to be confused with the 1/4 speaker in and thru on the other end of the back panel.