Double Bass DB amp for my deafness...

[NCbasser]

After a 25 year hiatus playing DB /Bluegrass, I recently started again.. In the ensuing years ,I've lost a great deal of hearing (esp. my left ear..) I'm having a difficult time staying on pitch.. I found that touching the left side of my head to the peghead , I can hear and play much better..
Now, heres what I'd like some advice on.. I am not seeking a pickup/amp setup to plug into and amplify the bass.. what I need is a small, self-contained ,battery powered amp or whatever it's called.It can be belt clipped or if its small enough velcro'd to the bass .. with some sort of pick-up feeding the amp,then an earbud for my left ear plugging into the amp...For simplicities sake and cost , I prefer wired versus wireless/bluetooth ,etc.. I am totally clueless on electrical terms and am not well versed on amplifiers/pickups, etc.
So, to sum up, I just want to be able to hear the bass better....sort of a in-ear monitor system ..
If I haven't totally confused everyone, then what do I need to buy to put something like this together?
Would prefer ready-made things as opposed to having to fabricate anything...
Any clues, experience, SWAG's, component names,brands, pitfalls ,etc greatly appreciated..
Thanks,
Stan
NCbasser

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Can't help you with the in-ear monitoring equipment, but I'm rather sure they have a rather low input impedance, so you might need to get a preamp with a high input impedance (i.e. Francis Deck's HPFpre) in between the pickup and the in-ear monitoring equipment.

 

[rickwolff]

I don't have any experience with 'in ears' either, but I do share your problem of hearing loss. In my case it's largely the higher frequencies that are diminished (seems to be a hereditary thing).

What I have found is that getting a speaker up at ear level is really helpful. There's a thread of people who have done this with the Mackie SRM150. The link is here:

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/headway-edb-1-mackie-srm150-mic-stand-acoustic-gig-heaven.645214/

and here is the link to GC: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/headway-edb-1-mackie-srm150-mic-stand-acoustic-gig-heaven.645214/

I do something similar with my Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 8T which actually IS a Bass Amp. I put it up on a music stand with the music table laid flat. The amp only weighs about 15 pound so it's not a problem getting it up in the air and I'm just careful to put the stand where it won't get knocked over.

 

[Feral Feline]

"Dragonfly"

Simple.

Effective? Depends on the extent of hearing impairment.

True North Music came out with this device a few years ago (wow! more than 7 years ago already?).

"A 'portable travel amp,' the Dragonfly provides players with a lightweight, self-sufficient, natural amplification device that attaches to the back of almost any electric guitar or bass. The Dragonfly uses a headset to provide players with private listening, so as not to disturb others, and never requires batteries, power supplies or electric cables to operate. "

I don't think they're for sale anymore, but you might snag one used or just go to a medical supply store and pick up your acoustic pickup (stethoscope).

 

[rake]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/electro-harmonix-headphone-amp

I have been using this on stage lately. Obviously you'll need some sort of pickup, but an inexpensive on like the K&K Bass Max should work just fine.
I've plugged my Lifeline directly into it and that works well. On stage I use the 'tuner out' of a volume pedal to avoid the signal degradation that happens with a Y-splitter.