Vox amPlug Bass Headphone Amp

RS · #1 09-08-2009, 08:51 PM

Opinions?

Fishheadjoe · #2 09-09-2009, 09:52 AM

I bought one a few weeks back. I was actually hoping to find a pair of headphones that had a built in amp, but no such animal exists, as far as I could find.
So, my alternative was/is the Vox BAss headphone amp. It works pretty well, but it's definately not a "hi fi" solution.
There are two curcuits available to the player, one straight in, one with a "compressor". The comp. signal is much louder in the phones then the straight in and does color the tone of the bass. The straight in mode give a fairly clear sound, that is useable for practicing. The batteries have a pretty good life, with the manual stating around 28 hours on a set of good AAA batteries.
It has a gain, tone and volume array for the player, I set the volume to 10 and then use the gain to maximize the tone. I set the tone knob to high, as most of my basses are active and I can dial in more bass, if I need it. However, that being said, should I dial in more bass, I have to adjust the gain, to curb distortion.
It also allows the player to hook up a MP3 player, so you can practice along with tunes, I have not used this function as of yet. Apparenetly, it can also be used to connect a bass to a sound board, using the head phone out... again, not done this yet.
I have been using this piece every day for practicing and to date am pretty happy with it.
I hope this helps!
Fishheadjoe

fishsticks · #3 09-09-2009, 10:04 AM

I have the Bass AmPlug. It works. About the size of a lighter. it runs on 2 AAA batteries. has three rollers: GAIN (input level); TONE( seems to roll off the highs); VOLUME (output volume). Also has two modes: Normal mode and Effect mode. the effect mode is a "fuzz" mode: makes the GAIN roller much more sensitive. This thing is a practice tool, not a tone monster! if you don't expect it to sound like your live rig then you wont be disappointed. it has an AUX IN jack that i plug my computer headphone out to and jam along to mp3s and whatever else my computer outputs. i use a 1/8 Inch male to male cable for that. ( http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102949 ). which can also be used from the headphone out on the AmPlug to the mic in on the computer for recording practices or output through your computer speaker system. Again NOT a tone monster but good silent practice tool.

RS · #4 10-08-2009, 11:14 AM

I picked up one of these used, and so far I am very happy with it. It does well what it says, and the tone is better than I expected (better than some crappy practise amps). As long as it doesn't break or eat batteries, I give it a thumbs up.

SBassman · #5 01-09-2010, 10:45 AM

Thought I'd add my two cents after working with it.

Overall, it's a winner for me, but there are significant pros and cons.

- The FX channel is useless in my opinion. Just noise and distortion.

- The plug-direct-into-bass design - does not work. Not for me, anyway. This thing does not lock in. It falls out constantly. I'm getting a 1/4 inch female to male short cable to fix that.

- The tone of the regular channel is - excellent. Better than any other headphone amp I have heard. Really, really good, not compromised, not this-sucks-while-practicing, excellent tone.

PaulNYC · #6 01-09-2010, 06:07 PM

Won't fit an Ibanez soundgear

Billy K · #7 01-09-2010, 09:46 PM

true ....a prob with Ibanez but a 10 inch cord male/female plug works perfect. I hang it behind the strap and it's right there to tune in or whatever.

SBassman · #8 01-10-2010, 09:57 AM

The more I play this, the more - I want it in the pedal. The tone of this thing is impressing me. Would love to have a pedal version of this that I could actually use live.

RS · #9 01-11-2010, 07:07 AM

I picked up one of these a few months ago. It is better than I excepted. The tone is better than practice amp. The aux in is very handy.

Amok · #10 11-03-2010, 03:49 PM

Just picked up one of these as an alternative to a small practise amp. This blows the doors of a 10 - 25 watt practise amp for sound quality, convenience, portability and price as long as no one else needs to hear you. The aux in mixes well and at comfortable volume levels the sound is amazing.

MNAirHead · #11 11-03-2010, 03:50 PM

I own a few of these.. you can just use the AC60 version.. I also practice with a Korg Pandora and a small recording deck.

Does what it says.. hasn't failed.

Tim