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Best tool for silent practice??

jajafofo

jajafofo

Nov 17, 2008
83
117
#1
I'm just getting back into bass after a 5 year hiatus playing guitar. I've got my old Ibanez GSR200 and have long since sold off my amp rig. For the time being I'd like to get something I could silently practice through. My music room isn't very big, so I thought about a few different things and wanted to get opinions..

1) rockman bass ace (used with my akg headphones). Would I be happy with the sounds coming out of this little thing through headphones?

2) find a used bass pod (would probably be a great option if I put a band together and we play acoustic shows with me on bass. I could run this straight to the board)

3) acoustic B20 (has a headphone jack, plus I could use it to jam with friends)

Obviously if I put together another full band the B20 wouldnt work. I'm planning on piecing together a full rig anyway sometime down the road.

Thanks in advance.

-Matt
 
#3
deckard said:
My suggestion is a cafe' walter headphone amp.

Not cheap, but it will tell you exactly what you & your bass sound like.

JMHO
Click to expand...

+1 Wonderful sounding, small, not that expensive, and has a nice separate input and volume for a feed from a metronome or iPod. Nice!

I believe they are sold through the Bass Northwest website.
 
#4
If you find an ABG which your happy with I'd recomend that. There is something about just being able to pick up a bass from a stand as opposed to plugging a bass in that I find is condusive to practice.

Otherwise, there is also a small fender amp that allows you to plug in an mp3/CD player with a headphone out so that you can practice with your favourite records.
 
#7
I have used a $40 Behringer mixer or the Headphone out and Aux in on my Genz Benz Shuttle 6 head. The Shuttle sounds great, but don't forget to get good headphones. I've got Sennheiser HD-280s (around $100) and they seem to work fine. There are other phones people like here as well. Try searching for headphones and you'll find info on headphone amps as well.

Best of luck!
 
#9
Does anyone use the Pandora? I've used the guitar version, and it's lots of fun, because it has bass and drum rhythm tracks. Yes, I know that doesn't do much for bassists to have a bass track, but does anyone know if the bass Pandora has gtr/keys tracks? The Cafe Walter is very high quality, but you have to plug in another device (cd or mp3 player) for play-along practice. I also have the cd version of the Tascam bass trainer, and it's fun. You can pick an "a-b" section on a cd to repeat. I use it with some lesson cd's, like the ones that accompany the Ed Friedland books. Lots of bass heads have headphone outs and cd (or mp3) inputs that give you a silent practice option. I use my Shuttle head that way.
 
#10
jajafofo said:
I'm just getting back into bass after a 5 year hiatus playing guitar. I've got my old Ibanez GSR200 and have long since sold off my amp rig. For the time being I'd like to get something I could silently practice through. My music room isn't very big, so I thought about a few different things and wanted to get opinions..

1) rockman bass ace (used with my akg headphones). Would I be happy with the sounds coming out of this little thing through headphones?

2) find a used bass pod (would probably be a great option if I put a band together and we play acoustic shows with me on bass. I could run this straight to the board)

3) acoustic B20 (has a headphone jack, plus I could use it to jam with friends)

Obviously if I put together another full band the B20 wouldnt work. I'm planning on piecing together a full rig anyway sometime down the road.

Thanks in advance.

-Matt
Click to expand...

it will fix a lot of stuff in a very short time.

As for little practice amps, Fender makes one with a bunch of practice stuff (rhythm tracks) built in; they were pretty neat. If you want a superb quality headphone amp and DI, the Summit Audio TD 100.

Cheers,
Cameron
 
#12
I like my Zoom b2 pedal.

But... if you're anywhere near a computer, the Line6 toneport GX is amazing for $69. Sooo many things you can do with it. Built in tuner, metronome, tons of amps and sounds, play along with the music you already own on your computer, etc. That's all I use outside of band rehearsal.
 
#15
Pocket Pod! The UI is tiny on the device, but it has software for doing more serious editing to make your own presets. You can make a decent bass amp model using a clean amp model (line6 clean or the roland jazz amp model) and combining it with a 4x10 cab.

It has way more options for guitar, but once you make your own presets you can have a good practice sound and the feel dynamics of the Pod modeling (which I think feel more natural than some others that I've tried).

It is small, can be battery powered, and it has a dorky belt clip, CD/MP3 in and headphones out.
 
#17
I have the Tascam CDBT1 MKII Bass trainer. Lots of features and you can play along with a CD, change tunings without changing speed, change speed without altering tuning and loop sections, tuner, effects...and lots more. Battery operated or AC.

Helped me learn 60 songs in a week when I joined a band and had to get up to speed in a hurry. I still use it for new material or to brush up on new complex parts at a gig before or between sets

They no longer make it, but this is the new version - $134...

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#20
re: the cafe' walter I mentioned above, Bass NW does indeed sell them.

Walter also has his own website with plenty of info on his headphone amp... search on "cafe walter".

I have a Bass Trainer, too - but I run it and my bass each separately through my cafe' walter because the walter sounds soooooo much better than the Bass Trainer as a headphone amp.

YMMV
 

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