Puzzled

[violetmind]

I'm pretty new to the techie side of things having only gone with the basic "plug and play" approach in the past (bass straight into a combo amp).

Can anyone suggest what I should do if I need to play through a all-tube amp but only use a pair of headphones (and not through the cab)? There's no headphones option/jack available on the amp so what should I do?

Sorry for the silly question but any help would be much appreciated.

[Spinal Tapper]

Not sure about the headphones, but I've read on here to NEVER power on the all-tube heads w/out being connected to a load (aka cabs)

[BassmanPaul]

In order to use headphones with a full tube amp you HAVE to supply a dummy load. That is a big resistor capable of handling the full output of your amplifier. In reality it's a waste when you can buy a small micro mixer with a headphone jack for less than the dummy load is going to cost you. The stereo channel on the micro mixer will handle the signal from your MP3 player of choice.

Paul

[violetmind]

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

In order to use headphones with a full tube amp you HAVE to supply a dummy load. That is a big resistor capable of handling the full output of your amplifier. In reality it's a waste when you can buy a small micro mixer with a headphone jack for less than the dummy load is going to cost you. The stereo channel on the micro mixer will handle the signal from your MP3 player of choice.

Paul

Thanks Paul. Any recommendations on brand/model?

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by violetmind

Thanks Paul. Any recommendations on brand/model?

The cheapest one you can find. Even Behringer will do the job. It is for practicing not performance.

Paul

[StuartV]

The Tascam MP3 Bass Trainer works well for this and has some nice features. You can get them online for $140.

[anderbass]

Originally Posted by violetmind

There's no headphones option/jack available on the amp so what should I do?

What brand/model tube amp do you have?

If it has a preamp-out (or FX-send) jack, and separate gain and master volume knobs:
You could safely just turn the amps master volume knob all the way down (with a cab still connected) and then plug your amps pre-out signal to most any mixer connected to headphones.

If you already have an older home stereo receiver/amp with a mono operation switch, you could probably rig it up to work fine Instead of a mixer. If this receiver/amp didn't have the mono option, you could just get/build a 1/4" TS male to dual male RCA Y-cord to connect the bass amp to the receiver so both sides of your headphones would function.

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by StuartV

The Tascam MP3 Bass Trainer works well for this and has some nice features. You can get them online for $140.

And some of the micro mixers are in the $30-40 range. I bought the Tascam CD bass trainer but found the programs on my Mac easier to use. The Tascam is now a glorified headphone amp. If I had my time over I would go the micro mixer route.

Paul