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Ampless Practice

#61
To chime in on headphones for a moment, I can highly recommend a set of Sony MDR-V6s. They're affordable, comfortable to wear for long periods, have a great bass response (down to 5Hz no less) and have no boost/emphasis or distortion I can hear. They're remarkably flat sounding. Good enough I've used them alone for initial mastering and mixing with good results.

There are probably better cans out there. But I don't think you could beat a set of these without spending four or five times more. At roughly $100 street most places they're hard to beat.
 
#62
Phil Jones Bighead solo or with aux input for a track to play along. My only issue with this setup is that the Bighead does not seem to have enough output to run my (high impedance) DT990 loud enough.
Used a Vox Amplug before but could not stand the hiss (also using the DT990).
 
#63
Use a Behringer guitar V-Amp3 because compressor and reverb are separated. Tube preamp and "clean" work great. Note: the heavy distortions for guitar using the GAIN control sound amazing on bass.

Bass and mp4 player or PC plug into the V-Amp which has a headphone jack. At work one is used with the audio out into the Altec Lansing audio hidden in my cubicle. Sounds amazing, even impressed an AVP who was walking by one day during lunch.

Headphones: SONY(mentioned above) for the same reasons.
 
#65
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#67
I tried an IK Android dongle for my tablet or phone, but the only local store near me had a return that was dead out of the box. Was going to for a virtual amp bc I'm a gear hound. Never know when you need your presets to try something out. Evenout and about on the most naked day, you have your phone with you. It's easy enough to leave a cheap interface + cable in the trunk.

I used to keep my beater Corvette at work.
I expensed a Focusrite to do voiceovers for tech sessions & demos.
No really, I just got work to pay for a bass playing toy.

Ends up the Network guy played guitar and brought a Strat to his office. We share the interface on our issued Macs. We are systems guys and tend to use big Xeon workstations instead of laptops. At least the Macs get some use as Garageband mules now when we are screwing around on the clock. He really needs to expense a Solo for himself, one day I need to finish actual work clips.

I'll try to out something more portable together when I decide playing is ok for my wrist.

I've spent a ton of time wrenching on the 'wick $$ today, tendons are sore from noodling.
 
#69
I usually practice with my bass unplugged.

If I do need amplification I use the build in amp in my old Technics living room organ running my bass into it's mic input.

Actually sounds really good, even if the organ speakers sometimes have some trouble handling the lowest frequencies well and begin to distort and puke if turned up too loud.

Amazing tone, that I would not have any second thoughts using live.

In fact I've even considered janking the preamp out of the organ and use it in my rehearsal/live bass setup, but then again I am quite satisfied with that as it is, and I would end up ruining the organ and my practice "amp" by doing so.

So if you got an old living room organ, which can usually be bought cheap or even acquired free for pick up sometimes, and you don't own a practice amp I would advice anyone to try out the build in amp in their organ first before investing in a dedicated bass amp for practice purposes.
 
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#70
I read the thread title a little differently than all y'all, but I'll answer it as I read it.

Lately, my drummer brings a Roland TD11 which we can set up in my living room. My guitarist uses a pedal board what I take a direct feed from; it is spilt before the board with a good buffer pedal (Neutrino) so I have one track of effected guitar and one a decent DI, very useable, actually, without even re-amping.

Also lately, I have been plugging my bass straight into the H-Z input of my Zoom R16 recorder, no FX, and getting compliments on the bass sound on my rough mixes.

And the neighbors can't hear us, other than my voice singing into a 58, which totals 6 inputs on the 8-input R16.
 
#71
my amp isn't in a closet - my LH500 and GK neo 112 ll sit right next to my desk in the livingroom. unlike some rigs i've owned, i find i can turn this one down to whisper quiet so i don't need headphones. i can play it so i can hear it while the neighbors and my husband sleep. and sometimes i just grab a bass and practice unplugged.

vvvmmm, can't the neighbors neighbors here the kick bass? when i was playing an electronic drum kit with a TD6 module, i was always trying to isolate the sound of foot pedal hitting a mesh pad, which was much quieter than an acoustic kick drum and some quieter than a rubber pad, but there was still some sound.
 
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#73
Trundle said:
I have a VOX Amplug 2 which is pretty mediocre but it does the job when I just want to practice with nothing but my bass. I just toss it in my case so as long as I have my bass and my headphones I'm fine. Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

I own both the v1 and v2 and find the v1 sonically superior. So far they're the most practical and toneful setup I've found for the money. I had an Ampeg SCR-DI and the headphone amp on that thing is garbage compared to the Amplugs, IMO. I'm actually looking for another v.1 to have as backup.
 
#74
Trundle said:
I have a VOX Amplug 2 which is pretty mediocre but it does the job when I just want to practice with nothing but my bass. I just toss it in my case so as long as I have my bass and my headphones I'm fine. Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...
That's what I use. I live in a 28' RV so space is really at a premium. The Vox works great. It's quick and easy to set up and sounds good enough to bash through songs before rehearsals.
 
#75
filmtex said:
That's what I use. I live in a 28' RV so space is really at a premium. The Vox works great. It's quick and easy to set up and sounds good enough to bash through songs before rehearsals.
Click to expand...

Sometimes if Im early for practice (or the BL is late) I can sit outside with my Amplug and earbuds warm up (its always in my case). Its also nice to be able to move around the house while wired up. The drum machine is useful too, I just hit some random BPM and play along with it.
 

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