Thinking about taking the plunge on the QC for home practice and recording (I’m not a gigging guitarist). My holdup is I don’t have FRFR cabs or PA’s. I do have access to some great Yamaha HS5 monitors in a small studio space . Does anyone play their QC or any other digital platform on monitors and if so, what are the pros vs. cons. Thanks!
I play it through my monitors and I love it! Amazing sound and it feels awesome. I don’t miss a FRFR cab
Haven’t played a QC through them but the HS5 was my main set of monitors for about 4 years. Worked absolutely great for accurate monitoring- especially if the room you’re in is small. The one con about them is the bass response is slightly lacking, but in a small space setting it probably won’t matter that much.
Good to know, thanks!
Appreciate that feedback. I’m likely going to try it. My space is not that big and if I ever expand, I suppose I could add a powered subwoofer. Thanks!
I have two HS7’s and the subwoofer. It feels great to me. You can always take your QC to a music store and plug it into the Yamaha speakers.
Im using a pair HS8 and it sounds great to me. Looking to add a sub.
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Thanks for that info. I like the range of the 8’s but the price of the 5’s.
Good to know. Maybe it the 7’s are the way to go. Fuller sound than 5’s, but more affordable than the 8’s. Thanks!
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I have HS8 and HS8S (sub). Sounds pretty good. Not as good as a kemper with Kabinet.
Without sub woofer they sound a bit boxy and uninspiring to play.
@ASTROFREQ , can ask you a quick (related) question. I think I have issues with my HS8S. The volume control on the back only changes the volume slightly. When on minimum (zero?), still pretty loud. Does your subwoofer mute on zero volume on the back?
Using Yamaha HS80 with neural slo100 and petrucci plugins sounds very bad. Using Yamaha DX10 sounds amazing.
So, am I correct that with a solid pair of flat/neutral studio monitors, we can better hear the actual differences in all the options for cab sims and mic placements as well as the voices of the various amps in the QC?
Seems like an FRFR cab would still add “color,” meaning the color of that cab being used. Whereas a set of neutral monitors would sound more like a recording of the original IR.
I’m not trying to get into a subjective debate over which sounds more like an “amp in the room” - I’m really trying to determine objective fidelity, meaning which sounds more like the original amp, cab sim, mic placement I have created as a preset.
Thoughts?
McJim,
You sort of answered your own question. An FRFR cab DOES have speakers that do have a sound or “color”, but so do any monitors. The bottom line is that the flatter the frequency curve is from the speaker/monitor, the MORE you are hearing the characteristics within the QC. In the end, you just have to pick something and make it sound good. Good gear CAN make that easier and less frustrating. I think you are on the right track though.
It is the same reason bigger studios might have a two or three pairs of monitors to mix between. NO monitor or speaker will give a 100% representation of what is going into it. It just isn’t scientifically possible, but we can get very close.
It’s why I think the QC should have a GLOBAL MIX, so that Bass, Mids, or Treble could be tweaked according to the room. That stuff can be tweaked on the board, but that’s another hassle. I don’t know if I’ve helped much, but those of some of my thoughts. 
Cool, thanks! I definitely get what you’re saying.