Headphones and Sleepers

[Big Galoot]

I've been a total insomniac lately and live in an apartment with lots of angry neighbors and a fiance who isn't such a light sleeper.

I have a GK Backline 600 with the 4X10 cab, a small crate 15W practice amp and a Line 6 2X10 guitar rig. I really hate the sound of my headphones in all of those rigs, and I have really nice Bose DJ headphones.

My question is, how do I get a satisfying tone out of playing with my headphones. DO I need a DI box? Or one of those headphone personal amp things. Either way, I want to be able to plug in an iPod and jam, and not buy a new rig.

What do you all use?

[KarateKid25]

How about a Tascam Bass trainer?

[niftydog]

Any 'modelling' type pedal (like a Zoom B2) with a headphone out would be my recommendation.

And some Sennheiser HD280's!

[jgparm]

I run bass > BDDI > 2-channel Mackie mixer (less than $100) > headphones. The Mackie preamps sound pretty good to my ears, and sometimes I even skip the BDDI.

[jaseOZ]

yeah the zoom b2 is awesome for headphones practice.

I just sold it on ebay and then got a complaint from the local council so now have to play through headphones.

I bought a vox AC30 (they didn't have the classic rock one when I bought it) amplug and plug it on the end of my boss pedals or straight into the guitar. I also plug my iPod straight into it and can practice along to MP3s this way.
It sounds better than my Crate amp!

http://www.voxamps.co.uk/amplug/

I then bought some Sony MDR7506 headphones on recommendations from here and now have an amazing sounding practice set-up.

[irvinz]

hey jaseOZ, u do know that this is a bass forum right? =p

anyway, the phil jones bass buddy looks and sounds pretty awesome!

[bongomania]

I use the Phil Jones Bass Buddy for this, but it might be more than you want to spend. If you're interested though there's one in the TB classifieds.

[bass349]

I used a cheap behringer mixer for years, plugging my bass straight into one channel and mixing it with a line in from my computer. I use good headphones (beyerdynamic DT-150) and thats a good cheap (well, not the headphones) option which sounds fine.

Nowadays i plug my bass directly into my presonus firebox (audio interface) and use the headphones out from there, even if i'm not recording. It's connected to the PC, so i use the software based presonus mixer to mix between my bass and the audio coming out of my computer . I do ALL of my EB practice with headphones. Also as 99% of the recording i've done has been DI'd, i like knowing and working on how to get a good tone from just my bass and my fingers.

[GearHeadBassMan]

beyerdynamics ftw.

Actually, no, ftl, because now I can't listen to anything through any other pair of cans and it drives me crazy!

[dannybuoy]

I'm also looking into options. Zoom B2 is great but doesn't go very loud and you can't plug in an iPod. Cafe Walter headphone amp is the best in terms of transparency / sound quality but a bit bulky and hard to find. Rolls PM351 is what I'm gonna go for; it accepts a stereo bass signal and you can plug in an iPod, even a mic. I would suggest some kind of amp sim (cheapest best bets are Zoom B2 or Behringer BDI21) going into the Rolls PM351 for a bit of volume boost and mixing in with the iPod. Oh yeah, and the Korg Pandora is worth a look too.

[nemo]

http://www.zzounds.com/item--KORPX4D

Korg Pandora.

I noticed I've spent much more time playing bass at home since I purchased it.

Headphone output, drum machine with many patterns, effects cool enough to shiny up your sound, input for external sound source (iPod, etc.), tuner - all you need, imho.

For live use it would not be good enough due to slight hiss and bit cheap sounding effects, but for practicing or jamming with headphones at home or anywhere on the road it is excellent!

Check youtube for MarloweDK clips - all are recorded from his Pandora.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MarloweDK?ob=1

[dunamis]

Many good suggestions here. I use Phil Jones Bass Buddy + Sennheiser HD580's.

[5stringwonder]

Use the Bass Buddy as well. Absolutely fabulous. Need to get new headphones though. My Sennheisers are on their last leg...

[cybersnyder]

Second the Korg Pandora.

[staindbass]

sony mdr 7506 headphones. using electronic manipulation to get the headphones to sound the way you want will not be as nice as using good reproducers to make it sound good right off the bat. johnny a/ staind

[JohnDavisNYC]

the best thing is practicing acoustically and getting a round and strong sound with no amplification.

for real.

really.

for real.

just play the bass and get the wood to sound good.

john

[jaseOZ]

Originally Posted by irvinz

hey jaseOZ, u do know that this is a bass forum right? =p

anyway, the phil jones bass buddy looks and sounds pretty awesome!

hey a kiwi!

Yeah I know. OK I meant bass....and the AC30 amplug is for guitar technically but it sounds really great plugged straight into the gibson thunderbird. If you turn up the gain too far it starts to overdrive but it's really freaking loud too so you don't need to.

I come from a smallish city and the music stores are pretty lame... "we can order it for you!"....3 months later....

[irvinz]

are you in new zealand as well? =p the vox amplugs were out for about that time period in new zealand as the boss only brought in a few initially. n they sold out real fast.


to get back on track. yeah the pandora x5D is the current version i think? fun