Do you practice plugged in?

[micguy]

I live in a townhouse, and I like my neighbors (and I practice at odd hours sometimes), so I practice in headphones. Most of my gigs are ampless, so what I hear at home and what I hear on stage are very closely related - practicing through an amp would be less like a gig than practicing in headphones.

Most of the time, I practice without my pedalboard - what my pedalboard does is subtle; it has some eq that makes it easier to hear pitches and timing than without it. So, practicing without my pedalboard teaches me to listen more intently for cues. Most folks, at the gig, have a harder time hearing what they're doing than when they practice. In my case, it's a bit of the opposite, which puts me in a very happy place.

 

[TheDirtyLowDown]

Usually I'm plugged direct into a small mixer that lets me combine my signal with a drum machine, or my phone, or my computer. The result is that I'm mixing drum loops, or youTube, or The Amazing Slowdowner output, or band recordings (minus the bass track) with my bass signal.

 

[Medicine Man]

Soundboard and headphones usually, but sometimes I need the boom.

 

[socialleper]

I used to practice mostly plugged in to an amp.
Now I practice mostly with headphones, running through an interface to a DAW and a bunch of VST plugins.

 

[smogg]

Always plugged in. When learning new material or working on mechanics it's headphones. When polishing new tunes or revisiting old ones it's amp. That way I can tweak tone and FX settings for the live mix.

 

[mrcbass]

Always plugged in to something. 95% of the time, I run through my amp. When playing at hours that would be impolite, I jack my tracks into the aux feed and plug in headphones. During the day, tracks through the stereo and amp in the air, sometimes reasonable, sometimes shake-the-house loud.

For travel practice, I use the vox headphone amp which allow me to pipe my tracks into it as well.

I almost always work to tracks, rarely just play to nothing.

 

[thetragichero]

for church it's into my tube microphone preamp into the pc so i can play along to YouTube/planning center
for other stuff it's into amp (generally straight in. save the pedals for playing with others

 

[Ggaa]

If practicing for chops, no amp. Woodshedding I plug in.

 

[arbiterusa]

Always plugged in. Always. You don't know what you sound like otherwise.

 

[SmokinJoe992]

It is about an even mix between unplugged and plugged in for me. I am generally plugged into my pedalboard for tuning purposes, but I practice a lot in the morning before everyone is up so it generally is not amplified. I do not really like headphones so I just play unplugged. It works for me, but I often wonder if it has an effect on my technique.

 

[Kmonk]

When I am practicing at home, I always play through a headphone amp.

 

[bassicmike]

Unplugged.

Unless I'm m learning songs, then a small amp or half-headphones (one ear on, one ear off)

Headphones give me the heebie-jeebies. I need to hear my environment.

 

[LowRick]

My neighbours listen to good bass-lines.









Whether they want to or not

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

My practice amp is a Fender Rumble 40. I mostly play along with me studio monitors.
A few years ago I decided since my wife had gone to bed when I usually practiced I would go quiet. I ran my computer sound (headset jack) to the Aux In on the Rumble and used headphones. I found it to be a great way to practice. After a few days my wife asked my why I hadn't been practicing. I told her. She asked me to go back to the way I was practicing. She said she like to fall asleep listening to me practice.

 

[gln1955]

Bass > mixer > headphones. Most of my time is practcing songs over mp3's on my iPod. I don't even have a working amp at home right now. Practcing how you play is a nice idea, but really, no matter what I do by myself, it's not like playing with my bands.

 

[jeff62]

Unless you play unplugged, you should practice plugged in.

we are all otherwise not worthy? I rarely plug in to practice (at home) because I can hear my electric bass just fine acoustically. And, as mentioned, above, practicing acoustically helps with the ability to hear sounds that might otherwise create a problem later.

side benefits: I save my hearing over time and don’t annoy family

 

[BioWeapon]

I mostly plug into my interface now. The idea being that I can connect my laptop via USB and have the tune I'm practicing and my bass both come thru my earbuds at whatever volume I want.

 

[maeda]

I do both. I think practicing unplugged really helps you learn to make tonal adjustments using your hands instead of tonal controls etc. Also if it's quiet enough to hear your electric bass raw without being amplified I think it's some of the best tone you will ever get!

 

[BergerHead]

To get full package of my instruments i often play them unplugged, just to hear the gear's "intimate" tone, voice and response.

 

[musicman556]

I always plug in. I am grateful to have a full basement all to myself for jamming/practice/goofing off purposes. That also gives me the benefit of cranking up the volume a bit more without bugging the neighbors, as we're built into a hill. Dirt is a great sound barrier!

This is my home rig: