Author Topic: Headphone pracitce amp (Read 199 times)

glocke · « **on:** April 24, 2007, 08:09:45 PM »

Does anyone have any recomendations for a headphone practice amp that can accept inputs (preferably RCA) from an ipod or CD player ? Or has an on deck CD player with an A-B repeat? Looking for something that sounds pretty good....Ive had a few in the past that left ALOT to be desired in sound qaulity...

alembic_doctor · « **Reply #1 on:** April 24, 2007, 08:18:05 PM »

The Tascam Bass Trainer dude. It is the Shinwiz. I've had one for a year now and it has been invaluable for learning new materail. It travels really well too. Check it out. http://www.tascam.com/Products/cdbt1mkii.html

glocke · « **Reply #2 on:** April 25, 2007, 11:19:14 AM »

does that have an A-B repeat function?

alembic_doctor · « **Reply #3 on:** April 25, 2007, 11:36:08 AM »

I believe it does. Check out the link. I don't ever use that function myself.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #4 on:** April 25, 2007, 12:11:46 PM »

Yes It does. I have the guitar version.
Jazzyvee

crgaston · « **Reply #5 on:** April 25, 2007, 01:18:11 PM »

Another vote for the Bass Trainer. It's the whippet's dinkle.

If by A-B repeat you mean you can pick a starting and ending point for a loop, then yes, it does.

bigredbass · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2007, 09:28:03 PM »

I bought the TASCAM Bass Trainer and it's just not for me ( . . .just make me an offer!). I had one of the Raven headphone rigs . . . nope.

The only thing I've been satisfied with is the rig I knew would work and put off buying for too long: Mackie VLZ1202 and A-T HD-40fs headphones.
Gets mighty damn loud and never runs out of bass. No problem patching anything into it, and once I get a proper 2.1 monitor system for it, I won't need a practice amp, either.

I was very slow to sink that much money into a 'headphone rig', but now I'm not sorry that I did. My neighbors are thrilled !

J o e y

jbybj · « **Reply #7 on:** April 26, 2007, 03:09:56 PM »

Hello Gregory, I would suggest that the key link in any headphone rig is the headphones. I picked up a cheesey little Korg bass pandora in a lot sale, that sounded like, well, stinky cheese, when used with the supplied headphones. Hooking up my Bose noise cancelling phones was like a different universe. Find killer headphones first........

bigredbass · « **Reply #8 on:** April 27, 2007, 05:16:34 PM »

JB, my experience was different: With both the Raven and the TASCAM, the internal amp to the headphones ran out of steam vis-a-vis matching levels with the recorded tunes I was playing along with. Dialing in more bass only aggravated this problem.

I would certainly agree that you need fairly serious headphones to get any accurate presentation of your bass, though.

J o e y

bigredbass · « **Reply #9 on:** April 27, 2007, 05:26:30 PM »

PS

Headphones for the battery operated devices (pandoras, Bass Trainers, etc.) need to be in the 16 to 30-something-ohm impedance range. Like their IPod and Walkman brethren, you're not talking about a lot of output, so you can 'buy' more output by getting lower-impedance 'phones. Not a problem as more and more better headphones are being built for these devices in these impedance ranges. Typical 50, 60 ohm studio cans will suck the air right out of them. 240 AKG's need not apply !

One reason I also bought the Mackie: The VLZ inputs are virtually impossible to distort even with a slapped bass, and the 1-watt headphone output allowed me to use virtually any headphone out there.

J o e y

dannobasso · « **Reply #10 on:** April 27, 2007, 09:39:59 PM »

I also applaud the Bose headphones. My Excel w/Europa guts must have a stereo jack beacuse I just plug em' straight in and play.

jazzyvee · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2007, 12:18:03 AM »

I've never tried that dannobasso, I thought you could only do that with the series basses.

Well next time I remember i will try it. I imagine powering the speakers in the headphone will drain the batteries in the bass faster though.

Jazzyvee