What is your preferred Alembic + Headphones setup?

[lothartu]

Sometimes playing through an amp just isn't an option for various reasons.  When you put on a set of headphones to play, what's your setup?
 
Small practice amp with headphone out?
A hang on your belt gizmo?
A dedicated headphone amp?
A small mixing board?
 
Personally I've got one of those hang on your belt gizmo's and the sounds is... ummm... lacking and I'm wondering what everyone else's setup is.
 
Anyone have a personal headphone setup that they feel does justice to their Alembic?
 
-Jim
 
(Message edited by lothartu on September 01, 2006)

[David Houck]

Jim, check out this thread wherein Joey talks about his setup.

[bigredbass]

Jim:
 
I've had the Mackie/Audio-Technica setup described in the thread Dave pointed you to for over a month now, and am VERY satisfied.  
 
I practice/play along with lots of CDs, or play along with the radio, and this rig is just super for this:  Your ears will bleed before it starts to break up, JUST my kind of setup.  There's probably any number of boards that would work for this, but I really liked the high-headroom with the VLZ preamps on the first four channels plus trim.  I can NOT think of better headphones for bass than these AT-40fs AudioTechnicas.
 
J o e y

[olieoliver]

Jim, I have a few differant setups I use with phones.  
  First I have a set of Sony MDR-V700 head phones. They're kind of pricey but they sound great. If I'm up stairs in my harley room as my wife calls it, I plug my bass straight into my E-MU 1820 which is attached to my PC. I then plug the headphones into the 1820. Super sound.
 Or If I'm in my practice room and it's getting late I'll plug the Sony head phone into the head phone out on my SWR 750 head and get another great sound.
  Or If I hapen to be in my living room late at night in my easy chair, I'll plug my headphones straight into My Series II or any of my Warwick basses (these all have 18 volt preamps and can power the phones just fine)and still get a good sound.
  I have one of those small head jammers  and I agree, the sound isn't that great. Of all the setups the EMU-1820 sound card is the best, PLUS you can record with it too!

[lowlife]

I use something simple and portable, meaning that it can fit into almost any backpak.
A Behringer 4-channel mixer and a pair or Audio Technica ATH-D40fs headphones.  Aside from just playing my bass, I can blend in the output from an FM tuner, CD player, MP3 player etc.
Most of all, the sound is close enough to my live sound.  There appears to be more than enough headroom with this mixer/preamp.  I've turned it up to dangerously loud volumes without any distortion.
 
Ellery (Lowlife)

[series_iii]

here is my practice setup.  it works well for all of my instruments (steinberger XL-2A, spyder w/ 20th anneversary electronics, 1976 series I, 1997 series II 5-string).  i spend many hours with this setup and it sounds real good.  no listener fatigue from crappy sound.
 
beyerdynamic DI770 headphones - i think these are actually DJ headphones.  but they're the only ones that i've tried that can take the beating that a bass (especially a 5-string) hands out and they sound real good.  they were kinda spendy though.  i think i gave $200 for this set at GC but they were well worth it imho.
 
CD-BT1 bass trainer.  the best bass trainer/looping gizmo that i've tried. the effects suck and it'll go through a set of batteries in about an hour (!) but it sounds great.  i've got a pandora that travels with the steinberger that's way more battery friendly but it requires an outboard music source and it's looping feature isn't that great - sound quality is pretty crappy but it works in a pinch.
 
custom built home-made-stereo-to-mono 1/4 adapter.  since the rack supply for the sereies instruments lives at the rehersal hall (and i live in an apartment for now) i run all the basses on battery power and use the 1/4 outputs.  there's a posting somewhere on the board how to make one of these.  i get a surprising amount of battery life out of the series basses but i sure wouldn't go on stage with one powered like that unless i had absolutely no other option.
 
boss tuner - i had this one for years.  i don't trust the tuner in the CD-BT1
 

[worldfamousandy]

Most of my prcticing is done au natural.  My Series 1 is loud enough without an amp, and every time I have tried phones, the cord gets in the way.
 
Andy Calder
www.andycalderbass.com

[Dale M Williams]

I use the Tascam Bass trainer a lot. The new version out CD-BT1 Mark II ($149 street price) has some good updates. I can change the tempo and key of the song, loop it, and enhance or cut out the bass line. It sounds fine with a good pair of headphones.
Dale W.

[Dale M Williams]

p.s.
The power supply for the tascam trainer is $20.
Dale W.

[dnburgess]

Dale - I just got a Tascam Bass Trainer and I find that the volume level of my S1 is very low compared with the music. I've got the Input level on max and Passive input selected.
 
What am I missing?
 
David B.

[series_iii]

there's a mix menu selection that balances the CD level and the bass level.  pushing the down button on the 4 way switch accesses this option.  give that a try.

[somatic]

Current setup is  
bass -> custom discrete preamp -> STAX SRM1 -> STAX Lambda Pro's. There's a new direct drive all tube headphone driver working on the bench that will go into a nice case and be in use soon.
 
I've had the cans for years, and they're the best, so why not use them.

[lg71]

I use the headphones 95% of the time...
Well, since having a proper amp was a NO-WAY option, I had to invest in some good headphones, so I went for the Sony MDR-7506, very light, compact + comfortable. I just snapped a pair of HD600 right in the middle, they were a bit tight so I was trying to loosen them a bit... I have to wait and see with a bit of luck I get them replaced/fixed thru warranty, they are nice to, but I prefer the 600 for composing or mixing. My complete setup/compact studio is simply/mainly a computer, a soundcard and a Bass Pod XT.

[drjenney]

I've got a new $299 Phil Jones Bass Buddy [VERY NICE] and a set of $250 Sony in ear monitors.Best rig I've found and the BB also has an input for an iPod, CD player, etc.
 
The Tascam Bass Trainer will not play CDRs, etc, so I use my Mac with a $40 piece of software called The Amazing Slow Downer. It works!
 
[My regular preamp is a Glockenkland Bass Art, so I'm kind of picky].

[lg71]

Dr Jenney, what model the Sony cans?
 
I checked the software demo, really nice, fast + efficient, great for learning fast licks...  
 
Bass Buddy looks cool, how does it sound?