/ Register

Amp substitutes with headphones

Discussion in 'Amps and Cabs [BG]' started by alexssandro, Aug 4, 2003.

  1. Aug 4, 2003 #1
    alexssandro

    alexssandro Guest

    Jun 7, 2000
    Houston, Texas
    I'm going to be relocating to Japan soon and I won't have an amp over there. I'm in the market for a "Rockman" type thing which I can use to practice with at home using headphones. (Amps are provided at the studios when I jam, so I'm not concerned with that at the moment.) I've thought about the Bass Pod, but I was wondering if there were any other units out there. I'm not really concerned with a bunch of effects and what not. All I really want is something that gives me a few decent tones, and everything else would just be an added bonus.
     
  2. Aug 4, 2003 #2
    Lenko

    Lenko Guest

    May 3, 2003
    Slovenia
  3. Aug 4, 2003 #3
    ZoomBoy

    ZoomBoy

    Jul 24, 2000
    Sutton, Massachusetts
    I use the Cafe Walter HA-1. It's very simple (and I do mean very) but it works great for me. I use it with my laptop that way I can play along with both CDs and MP3s.

    www.cafewalter.com
     
  4. Aug 4, 2003 #4
    redneck2wild

    redneck2wild

    Nov 27, 2002
    Memphis, TN
    If you want a practice tool, you may want to look at the Portable CD players with Guitar inputs from Tascam. I purchased a Tascam CD-GT1 to replace an worn-out Ibanez Rock & Play (cassette player) a few months ago.

    The Tascam CD-GT1 is a CD Player with a guitar input. There are a number of effects built-in that are designed for guitar. It also has a built in tuner. There is both a headphone out and a Line out.

    The most impressive portion of the CD-GT1 is the CD player.
    One can slow down a song without changing the pitch - good to transcribe those hard passages.
    One can change the pitch of a song without chaning the speed - good for those songs where bands tune down 1/2 step or have other alternate tunings.
    Both the speed and pitch of a song can be changed also.
    A portion of a song can be set to loop - again good for transcribing difficult parts.

    Tascam introduced a new version of the CD-GT1 at the NAMM show designed for bass - CD-BT1. It will not be available until October though.

    Guitar Version currently available:
    http://www.tascam.com/products/cd-gt1/index.php

    Bass Version to ship in October:
    http://www.tascam.com/products/trainers/cd-bt1/index.php
     
  5. Aug 4, 2003 #5
    chardin

    chardin

    Sep 18, 2000
    Korg Pandora PX4B. Around US$200 new.
    Or last year's model, the PX3B. Musicians Fiend has them for US$120 new.

    Edit: Fixed price for PX3B.
     
  6. Aug 4, 2003 #6
    DWBass

    DWBass The Funkfather

    Jan 24, 2003
    Newport News, VA via NYC
  7. Aug 4, 2003 #7
    megiddo

    megiddo

    Apr 5, 2003
    Houston, Texas
    I'll second what redneck2wild said. I love my CD-GT1. I bought the first GT1 Guitar Center here in Houston sold, I'll be first in line when the bass version comes out. I'll give my GT-1 to my kids if they chose the dark side and get a Fender Strat.....at least it's a Fender. :D
     
  8. Aug 4, 2003 #8
    alexssandro

    alexssandro Guest

    Jun 7, 2000
    Houston, Texas
    Thanks for all your suggestions. I'll definitely need to look into the different options. (And here I was, thinking the Pod was the way to go!) The CD-GT1 seems very cool and it looks like I'll have to get the bass counterpart someday. I do have a device that slows stuff down already though. It's called the TR-400 and it's made by Reed Kotler. But it's not as user-friendly as the CD-GT1 because I have to digitally record from CD to the device. Fast forwarding and rewinding are a real pain with this device. Still, it works quite well though.
     
  9. Aug 4, 2003 #9
    dakine

    dakine Guest

    Apr 30, 2003
    San Francisco CA, USA
    You can also mod a cassette walkman to take instrument input as a practice headphone amp. I can dig up the instructions if anyone is interested.

    -David