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Ampless Practice

#42
I use a Lexicon Alpha interface into my iMac and typically garage band. I have mainstage and use that for my synth but I'm not a fan of their bass amp models. My VT bass deluxe is a nice sounding preamp and that sounds close to my ampeg rig. I don't notice too much difference in sound going between the two. My headphones are open back AKGs and they're comfortable to wear for a couple hours at a time.
 
#45
eriky4003 said:
Old schooler here. I have a small mixing board which receives a signal from my stereo amp which I mix with my bass and use headphones.
Click to expand...

This is what I will do if I practice in my studio and have access to the mixer. Typically just through a compressor as a front end then an eq and possibly other effects if needed and then into the mixer. That makes it easy because I can also listen to something along with the instrument.

Otto
 
#47
When I was a pup and still lived at home, out of necessity I did the ol' "chin on the upper bout" bone conduction routine late at night.

Nowadays I just use the headphone out on my class D head into older AKG K240's, one side slightly off monitoring YT on cheapo computer speakers. Keeps the volume down and I hear pretty much my regular bass tone.
 
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#48
Vox Amplug user here but if I'm not lazy I take my GK MB200 out of my gig bag, plug it in and go headphones into that. I do have to say thought that the best practice tool to have around is an ABG on a stand. I bought one of craigslist for a steal and it probably gets the most play in the house because I can just pick it up and play.
 
#49
I use a Mackie 402. Kind of a Swiss Army knife small mixer. Yuou can plug straight in, use a di if you want, and mix in a computer, iphone, whatever. Drives a pair of headphones pretty well.
 
#50
My own feeling is that your amp is just as much a musical instrument and part of your sound as your electric bass is. So by the same token, what we refer to as "the bass" is actually the player + the bass guitar + the amp.

I think you really need to practice and rehearse as much as possible on what you're actually going to use when you play "for real." Headphone amps are great for technical practice. I use an Ampeg SCR/DI for that or when I don't want to power up my main rig. But when you're working on nailing down your whole sound, you need to play your amp as much as you need to play your bass.

Old joke: A grossly overweight guy approaches the check-in attendant back in the old days when airlines still used to ask you for your approximate weight before boarding. The attendant asks him for his weight. Fat guy responds: "Naked or fully dressed?" The boarding attendant looks up with a long suffering expression on her face and replies: "That depends on how you're planning on flying with us today, sir."

I see amps (and practicing with them) the same way. 'Practice' and headphone amps are convenient and useful tools. But they're only part of the full equation.

Or so I think anyway. YMMV.
 
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#53
40Hz said:
I think you really need to practice and rehearse as much as possible on what you're actually going to use when you play "for real."
Click to expand...

I'm totally the opposite. I've found that doesn't work for me at all. Some places I play with only a DI, with different sound people every time etc. I never know for sure WHAT I'm going to sound like. Rooms are different. Heck I can go to rehearsal, same amp, same everything and it sounds different from one week to the next depending on what everyone else is doing. The amp I use at rehearsal is different from where I play with only a DI, which is different from my gig rig, which sounds different at home from wherever I end up. I get a call once in a while and show up and play on someone elses gear.

I stick to the same bass (I have an L &M 2500), but everything else varies. I practice on flats, rounds, different eq settings, headphone amp, practice amp, gig amp, beater amp, compression/noncompression, effects/noeffects. Or nothing at all. Once in a while when I play I can't hear myself very well at all which I need to be ready for as well.

I rarely practice on my gig rig.
 
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#54
klokker said:
I play quite a bit unplugged.


I'm totally the opposite. I've found that doesn't work for me at all. Some places I play with only a DI, with different sound people every time etc. I never know for sure WHAT I'm going to sound like. Rooms are different. Heck I can go to rehearsal, same amp, same everything and it sounds different from one week to the next depending on what everyone else is doing. The amp I use at rehearsal is different from where I play with only a DI, which is different from my gig rig, which sounds different at home from wherever I end up. I get a call once in a while and show up and play on someone elses gear.

I stick to the same bass (I have an L &M 2500), but everything else varies. I practice on flats, rounds, different eq settings, headphone amp, practice amp, gig amp, beater amp, compression/noncompression, effects/noeffects. Or nothing at all. Once in a while when I play I can't hear myself very well at all which I need to be ready for as well.

I rarely practice on my gig rig.
Click to expand...

No argument from me if it doesn't apply to you. Because you've raised a very valid and important point. No two situations and/or experiences are ever exactly the same. Which is why I added YMMV at the end of my earlier ramble. Although in my case, I get a pretty consistent sound from most of what I'm plugged into. Playing through a DI makes it a little more challenging if the soundguy has his own ideas which are radically different from your own. Fortunately, I'm usually able to work with (most of) them to get a sound I want to hear that also works well in the mix he/she's trying to obtain. But I also date back to the era before FOH systems were the norm. So you had to be aware of balance and room characteristics, and cooperatively work at it to get a good house sound with just a vocal PA, unmiked drums, and a big backline. Maybe it's an obsolete skillset with today's technology. But it still serves me in good stead

Either way, the best advice? Be open to suggestions. Solicit opinions. Be willing to try new and different things. But always use what works best for you.
 
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#55
i use headphones in the studio about 99% of the time ... i run a stereo line out to an older Adcom preamp for my headphone amp ... plus a sub amp and seat tactile sub ... ass bass . !

for simple practice , i have a used Tascam GB10 ... plays mp3 trks from internal SD , can record , has various fx ( which i find noisy and useless ) but the 'straight' sound is very good ...

as others have said , ... good headphones , buds , whatever , ... is key .. ! i have a couple sets of the discontinued Sony MDR-7509HD cans ... love them ..!

tried the Vox plugin thing ... didn't like plugging it straight into bass/gtr jack ... it always seemed to be in a rather dangerous spot while seated ...

also have a Blackstar Fly 3 little baby battery amp and ext spkr ... it works ok as a headphone amp ...
 
#58
40Hz said:
No argument from me if it doesn't apply to you. Because you've raised a very valid and important point. No two situations and/or experiences are ever exactly the same. Which is why I added YMMV at the end of my earlier ramble. Although in my case, I get a pretty consistent sound from most of what I'm plugged into. Playing through a DI makes it a little more challenging if the soundguy has his own ideas which are radically different from your own. Fortunately, I'm usually able to work with (most of) them to get a sound I want to hear that also works well in the mix he/she's trying to obtain. But I also date back to the era before FOH systems were the norm. So you had to be aware of balance and room characteristics, and cooperatively work at it to get a good house sound with just a vocal PA, unmiked drums, and a big backline. Maybe it's an obsolete skillset with today's technology. But it still serves me in good stead

Either way, the best advice? Be open to suggestions. Solicit opinions. Be willing to try new and different things. But always use what works best for you.
Click to expand...

Sure, hope I'm not perceieved as being argumentative. I'm a weekend warrior and play in a variety of settings and with a varity of people. Some know what they're doing, some don't. It sounds like you've been in a little more of a professional situation than I've been in. I'd like to think of my band as pretty good, but still, my experience is to prepare for the unexpected. Sometimes we have a sound person sometimes not. It's sort of a joke to me in a way, as I'm getting ready to play.........gee, what am I going to sound like tonight? I'm used to having a little, but not much control. And then there's church.........I could blow everyone away with sound one night and be tinny and next to nothing the next.

I've sort of given up on my "signature sound'. I have some basic settings, but who knows how it will come out in the wash this time? I have to prepare to adapt very quickly to some goofy thing that might come up. That's my bass world.
 
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#59
klokker said:
Sure, hope I'm not perceieved as being argumentative. I'm a weekend warrior and play in a variety of settings and with a varity of people. Some know what they're doing, some don't. It sounds like you've been in a little more of a professional situation than I've been in. I'd like to think of my band as pretty good, but still, my experience is to prepare for the unexpected. Sometimes we have a sound person sometimes not. It's sort of a joke to me in a way, as I'm getting ready to play.........gee, what am I going to sound like tonight? I'm used to having a little, but not much control. And then there's church.........I could blow everyone away with sound one night and be tinny and next to nothing the next.

I've sort of given up on my "signature sound'. I have some basic settings, but who knows how it will come out in the wash this time? I have to prepare to adapt very quickly to some goofy thing that might come up. That's my bass world.
Click to expand...

You're not being argumentative at all. It's a very good point. Most suggestions here are based on somebody else's world, not the OP's. And I'll agree you sometimes have to be willing to roll with whatever sonic situation you find yourself in and just lay down the bassline and not get too hung up on finesse or supplemental more artsy goals. :thumbsup:
 

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