So you have Rocksmith, but maybe there’s some other stuff you might want to purchase to improve your rockin’ experience?
Here’s some products that we feel confident endorsing for your future Gear Acquisition moments…
Note: the following links are affiliate links, if you buy something after following a link from here, TRR gets a small commission. None of the actual products listed are sponsored, they are the suggestions of TRR staff.
DI Box
A foolproof way to split your guitar signal to an amp and to your console / computer – and here is the key part – without introducing a ground loop problem that a Y splitter can. A similar way to do this is with a dedicated AB/Y pedal – But the “default” choice one of those is $100 – this DI is only $10 and is passive, but you can spend 20x as much on a DI Box that – for these purposes at least – does the exact same thing.
You will need a Female XLR to Female 1/4 adapter to use the DI correctly, these are not a particularly common adapter, but even the extra $7 needed still brings the split to an amp solution in under $20
Connect your guitar to the input jack of the DI, connect your amp to the PAROUT using a regular guitar cable then connect the XLR-1/4 adapter into the Balanced Out (XLR) jack and your real tone cable into the adapter. Flick the ground lift switch if necessary and you can lower your ingame players guitar volume when you want to hear your playing from your amp, or raise it up when you don’t want to use your amp.
Radial Bigshot ABY
For those with a bit higher budget, and the desire for a longer term option, the Radial Big Shot AB/Y is the “industry standard” choice for splitting a guitar signal. It costs 10x what the DI box method does and is excessive for just Rocksmith needs, but when you progress from the bedroom to a real stage, you won’t need to replace this bit of gear.
VARIGRIP
Are you planning on being away from your Guitar or Bass for an extended period of time? Don’t lose that finger strength with this hand exercise device from D’Addario.
USB Breakaway Connectors
You’d be surprised how often somebody mentions that they lost this piece of their RealTone Cable, either in a move, or their dog ate it… Either way it’s an universal piece of hardware for all platforms!
String Cleaner
Clean those strings up a bit would ya?
Multi-tool
Here’s a great tool for those monthly (or weekly) tune ups of your axe
Peg Winder / String Cutter
Changing strings made easy, there’s a bass version available as well!
Pick Maker
Are you always running out of Guitar Picks? Make your own!
Headphones
For Rocksmith we recommend avoiding USB headsets, or expensive “beats” type ones…
Digitech Drop Pedal
Want to play the @AmonAmarthBand Pack on your E Standard guitar strung with 008 gauge strings? Get a new guitar, or get a Digitech Drop Pedal. Set the pitch shift, hit the stomp and your guitar is now in C Standard. – It won’t change for Drop D, since that is just 1 string that changes and this shifts the entire guitar signal – and you’ll want to be using headphones so the sound of the guitar in the room isn’t disconcerting. Just about every Rocksmith Streamer on Twitch has one of these!
Are you thinking about getting the iOS version of Rocksmith when it becomes available, but don’t have an interface for your Apple device? Check these options out.
Lightning to USB “Camera Adapter” – plug in your RealTone Cable or another USB interface that works on iOS and play Rocksmith. This one doesn’t have a power port however.
Slightly more expensive USB3 option – but also has a lightning power port so you can play while charging your iOS device too.
iRigHD2 – totally portable option, should be about the best audio expereince possible short of using the camera kit and a RealTone Cable – Lightning connector.
iRig Stomp – can be battery or ac powered, great option for a semi permanent setup (Rory uses this one), only major downside is that it connects to the iOS device via a TRRS (headphone port) connection. So if your device doesn’t have a headphone port, then this is of no use to you at all.
Both of those iRig devices above can also function as signal splitters for sending your guitar signal to 2 sources – like in the DI Box suggestions above, to Rocksmith and your amp. They also have a side benefit of working quite well with a cheap app (RiotFX – $0.99) on iOS to be able to do the same job as a pitch shift pedal (Digitech Drop).
Guitar Capo
Do you still not have one of these? You are missing out on a bunch of fun Rocksmith arrangements (and possibly songs).
Guitar Stands
“Too many Guitars!” is never a problem, but you may need a way to store and display them…
Microphone Mode (Console)
Are you trying to play acoustic on Rocksmith, just get this. Don’t go fancy for your console, this is all you need (note: feature is still wonky on PS4) with a mic stand…
PS4/Xbox One USB Audio Dongle
This will allow you to still use stereo output from a PS4 or Xbox One for users that don’t have an optical option.
Wireless Setup
You trying to be a rock star? Ok, well it’ll cost ya!
What other gear would you recommend for the Rocksmith community to pick up? Let us know in the comments below!
Way late to the party here, and this may end up being a dumb question, but what am I connecting the 3.5mm headphone jack to in order to use headphones? Just bought the Drop pedal, figured I’d try just playing as normal (I tend to crank the sound up anyway), but wanted a backup plan.
Well I’ve never even seen this thread (wanted to see why someone posted and what it was. I’ll look at it after this), but unless you where running your set up through a sound system and also didn’t want to bother anyone, some people run this on their computer. No one likes the sound of their laptop or desktop computer.
Yeah, I’m not even sure how I found it. Stumbled upon it and thought some of the gear suggestions were cool. Others I had already been thinking about (like the Drop). Also noticed the USB to audio dongle that I’m going to try messing with.
For those who want to play Rocksmith, but use their own amplifier instead of the simulated sounds of Rocksmith the above mentioned methods in this article are not the way to go if you want a noiseless signal.
The best method is a good ABY foot switch with a ground lift and ISO circuit to isolate and lift the ground as necessary.
A great option is the Radial Bigshot ABY.
Plug your guitar into its input
Connect the Realtone cable from Output A to your console or computer for Rocksmith
Connect Output B directly into your amp or effects then to the amp
Engage the ABY Ground Lift and ISO switches as needed to remove unwanted noise.
Rock On!
a bit pricier than our DI Box solution but thanks for posting about it!
So, exactly like with the di method suggested, but for 10x the cash expenditure?
No-one will argue a good ab/y is useful, it is the “correct” way to do the split to your own amp, but – for Rocksmith use – is overkill, hence the DI method suggested.
I jam in my garage with RS on XB1 splitting my signal to a BOSS GT-1 and then into my Fender Champion 100 solid state amp or my Carvin V3MC tube amp. I use the super cheap five dollar pigtail TS splitter and I have no problems with noise, and I play loud. (Which is why the wife relegated me to the garage.)
I’m just saying that the cheap splitter might work for people. It doesn’t always work, and when I played upstairs at home I did get hum, but I think my amp and my receiver upstairs were plugged into separate circuits whereas in the garage all my gear is plugged in to the same circuit.
That Drop is cool, it would work on any guitar. I do my lowered tunings on my Variax, which I have a lot of fun with. The Variax does have the advantage of doing drop D,Db, etc. Actually I can do open tunings on it too.
Oh, and there’s also the Roadie Tuner… It’s been recommended by a couple of famous guitarists, it feels like it can be useful with RS even if it’s quite expensive
wow, you weren’t kidding!
https://www.amazon.com/Roadie-Automatic-Standalone-Guitar-Tuner/dp/B075MDZDXM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1514872270&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=roadie+tuner&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=theri07-20&linkId=86d3e4e92b7f514d2d19bd24649847f2
Haha yeah, now that you say it, it was indeed confusing :p
What about a piezo transducer? Sounds like the cheapest solution to use an acoustic guitar with Rocksmith for those who don’t have a good microphone
You don’t really need a good microphone, you more just need to position it correctly
https://youtu.be/jZA0ykaFf6U?t=11m55s
Responding more for others to read, I realise you asked this 8 months ago.
I used a piezo for a while on my acoustic(before microphone mode), but the only way I could get the game to detect worth a damn was to route the signal via a pedal that has some kind of buffer. Not impossible by any means, but also not a $6 and done method to getting acoustic recognition.
You should do one on different stereo setups and options 🙂
Great article and a cool video. I’d recommend different headphones for bass players though. Sony has a pair for like $10 more that sound real good to me. (MDR7506).
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR7506-Professional-Diaphragm-Headphone/dp/B000AJIF4E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=theri07-20&linkId=0bad843e7e581725eacc09401f01b52d those look nice!
The Drop is awesome, but what I am really looking for is something that lets me play all of those slightly detuned (or raised tuned) songs without having to completely retune for them. All of those songs that are slightly above or below A440… I have two fixed bridge guitars but I typically use those for lower tunings, and my Floyd guitars would be a serious pain to retune for a song or two.
How about a Snark/clip on styled tuner? It’s nice to fine tune during those precious free moments in Nonstop Play.
https://www.amazon.com/Snark-SN1-Guitar-Tuner-Blue/dp/B003VWJ2K8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=theri07-20&linkId=59f6ed486fc5f149a5ee0044449d90f8 d’oh how could we forget!
I bought an Electro Harmonix Switch Blade + ABY pedal used on Kijiji for $40. Works great. Just make sure to get the Switch Blade + they also make a Switch Blade version that does AB switching it doesn’t allow you to play through both an amp and your Rocksmith game.
I need the drop pedal!!!!
I am interested in some of these products and I would like you to take commission. The problem is that I buy amazon.es, some idea? In amazon.com the shipping costs to Spain are too high and I think my amazon premium does not work.
I’d have to set up accounts on the es marketplace, so don’t worry about it. Thanks for your support!
I really want that drop pedal but with buying a house and a baby on the way, thats gotta be on hold :/