Headphone Amps

[MasonMinor]

I used to swear by a Rockman bass ace, but they're hissy as all hell. And eats 9v batteries like candy. I've heard demos of that Ampeg DI, and it's awesome. I'd give that a shot.

 

[Worldeeeter]

If you're looking for extreme portability, get a Pocket Rock-It. It runs around $40, and does a good job. It plugs directly into the output jack of your bass, and has a headphone output and audio input, both 1/8". No instrument cable needed.
The only negative is that you can't control the bass and MP3 volumes independently; there's just one master volume slide.
Nothing sounds as true as the HA-1A, but from an ease-of-use and portability standpoint, I love it.

Pocket Rockit - Bass Products

 

[Whippet]

Korg Pandora?

PANDORA mini | PERSONAL MULTI EFFECT PROCESSOR | KORG

Mine is the old red one. The really old one but it's quite brilliant. Tuner, effects, all the bells and whistles you ever need. Not sure if this white one can be used as a personal headphone amp but wouldn't be surprised if you can use it as one, since Korg products are usually pretty greedy in a good sense. They cram everything into a little package.

 

[Bassplayer315]

I like the Phil Jones Bass Buddy. A little more then the Big Head but can power a cab if needed and great tone

 

[Whippet]

I like the Phil Jones Bass Buddy. A little more then the Big Head but can power a cab if needed and great tone

Bass Buddy seems to be in a different league. Clarity is their selling point and it does that very well.

 

[Aragorn35016]

GK mb200 amp used $200
New $300

Cons: comes with a preamp and can power up a cab!

I was just going to suggest the MB200 as well.

For the first two years of owning this little gem, I didn't even have a cab for it. But it does come with an auxiliary input and a headphone jack and is small enough to carry around in my laptop bag, so it served me well for my quiet practice at home and elsewhere.

The bonus is, now that I have a couple of 210 cabs, I can actually gig with it!

Yup, yup, yup ... MB200.

You know I bought my MB500 with the intent of it being the ultimate multi purpose amp/headphone amp. I didn't research and just assumed it would have a line in jack like the 200. I guess that it not having one was a great sales ploy for GK, because now I'm seriously considering getting the 200 for nothing but headphone practice and using the 500 for everything else.

 

[crucislancer]

Korg Pandora?

PANDORA mini | PERSONAL MULTI EFFECT PROCESSOR | KORG

Totally! I have the PXB3, still use it to this day. It’s a bit long in the tooth but it works.

 

[Stranger Danger]

I believe the Cafe Walter was about $139. Seems like a used mp200 is a solid option, thanks for all the posts so far! Any other ideas from anyone?

Having owned both, the Cafe Walter IMO is a far superior headphone amp. It sounds a lot better. I think there is one in the classifieds right now. Buy used, you never lose!

 

[Stranger Danger]

In fact, now I wish had it back right now

 

[40Hz]

One note on the Ampeg SCR-DI: you do not want to run it on batteries unless you own stock in Mallory or Everready. And get a decent power supply for it. Some of the cheap imports can make it sound noisy.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Ive never seen one of those before, I may have to check that out!

It's the business. Sounds like a tube studio amp. Don't be sloppy though. There's no EQ to fix your bad technique

 

[Aragorn35016]

It's the business. Sounds like a tube studio amp. Don't be sloppy though. There's no EQ to fix your bad technique

Definitely want to check it out, I like the basic look of the design. I tried the link to Bass NW from the cafe walter site but it doesnt function where else can you buy them?

 

[BadExample]

I use a Zoom B1on I bought used here on TB. I use just a touch of chorus to make the bass stand out a bit in the mix with aux input. They are discontinued, but there are some on Ebay now. They were listed at 49.99 at most music stores online before being discontinued. there is one listed at 39.99 right now plus around $9 shipping.
Good luck!

Big Star fan awesome! Are you sure they are discontinued? I just bought the "X" model after it was out of stock everywhere for about 6 weeks... Invalid Link Removed

 

[BadExample]

I use my digitech jamman stereo for headphone practicing. As you can see here it has a headphone out, just run my pedals and sans amp into it and headphone out.
View attachment 883452With my band I actually use the jamman as a foot controlled sampler. but it has many features that are great for practicing including a headphone out. Nice thing about the jamman stereo is you can find them used for around $150 and they do a few things most headphone amps can't. They allow you to jam along to loops and one shot type samples. So you can be practicing playing with drums or break down a song to a couple shorter loops so you can spend more time playing instead of fast forwarding or rewinding a cd or tape.

Interested. Can you say what model it is? Only thing like it I saw did not have USB.

 

[CGremlin]

I don't have room in here for any of my mixers, so I just run the audio into my BA112 and use the headphone out. It's functionally the same as using an SCR-DI, and works great.

 

[Mattster]

Vox Amphones are great. It doesn't get any simpler than plugging your headphones straight into your bass. There's even an 1/8" stereo input to play along with an iPod. Around $75.

 

[SteveBassJr]

I use an Ampeg SCR/DI for headphone practice. It has a full tonestack so you don't need anything else with it. And you can use it for a lot more too, as its name suggests.

View attachment 883462

I have been thinking of getting one for learning songs off my phone. How is the level adjustment between the headphones and the audio in?

 

[40Hz]

I have been thinking of getting one for learning songs off my phone. How is the level adjustment between the headphones and the audio in?

The heaphones get the same audio out as the main outs. It doesn't have a separate level just for the phones. The aux in has it's own volume that actually works well IMO. I run my bass with a drum machine or an MP3 player with backing tracks into it with no issues.

If you want to see the manual, look here. It's a pretty straight forward preamp (BA series uses the same one) with "extras."

The only thing I don't like about it is there's no switch to pad the instrument input for an active bass or boosted signal in. You have to open it up and set a jumper inside which I think is pretty inconvenient for people who switch between. Why they couldn't have just put a 15 cent slide switch somewhere on the outside of the case is beyond me. (Actually I can think of a reason - but it's not a very good one.)


And oh yeah...get a good set of headphones. And watch your levels. This thing pumps out some serious signal. On the advice of I guy I know who does pro sound, I got a set of Sony MDR-V6s to go with it. IMO there's nothing else in their price range that delivers sound or has specs like these have. They currently are running a few bucks shy of $100. (I paid $72 a year ago.) I'm not a headphone expert, but to get something better you'd need to spend an awful lot more. Or so my ears think. I don't know any phones under $250 that sound as good or better. But that's me. YMMV

The MDR-V6 was introduced in 1985 and became popular with sound engineers and disc jockeys (DJs). The headphones were listed as having a very wide Invalid Link Removed and were convenient for travel as they could be folded and carried in an included leatherette bag. In 1987, audio industry journalist Daniel Kumin wrote, "Throw away your loudspeakers. There is now what may be the most perfect transducer yet made by man. Recently I auditioned a pair of Sony MDR-V6 Studio Monitor headphones, then purchased them. There are not enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe the performance of these headphones. Listening to them with a good CD recording is like being in the center of a live performance."[3] Invalid Link Removed wrote in 1989 that "there seems little reason to look beyond the check-rated Sony MDR-V6. That model combines the highest accuracy we've measured in headphones, comfortable design, moderate weight, and enviable bass reproduction."[4]

In 1993, the headphones were described as "almost-industry-standard" for the monitoring of location sound recording for film and television.[5] Newer designs were introduced by Sony, most notably, the Sony MDR-7506 and MDR-V600, yet the MDR-V6 continued to be produced. By 2003, the headphones were so well known that Electronic Musician magazine, recommending headphones with a "fold-up design", called the MDR-V6 "venerable".[6] In a comparison of many headphones models, Dave Rat introduced them as "one of the most popular live sound headphones", and tested them to be "a little low on the top end, a little low on the bottom; definitely close" to neutrally flat.[7]

They're very flat and open sounding. And the bass (which these phones can handle down to 5Hz (that's five hertz!) isn't artificially boosted. So there's less listening fatigue or potential ear damage using these phones unless you're pushing out heavy suboctave stuff. Highly recommended

 

[BPhillips]

I use an Ampeg SCR/DI for headphone practice. It has a full tonestack so you don't need anything else with it. And you can use it for a lot more too, as its name suggests.

View attachment 883462

THIS!!!!

40HZ beat me to it. I use this for practice or as the last in my pedal chain if I am going direct to the board for FOH. I'm usually too lazy to take it off my board, but with a 9V battery, you can use it anywhere. With high quality in-ears you can melt your brain with great tone while practicing.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Definitely want to check it out, I like the basic look of the design. I tried the link to Bass NW from the cafe walter site but it doesnt function where else can you buy them?

Just have to find one used. They come up frequently.