How much of a difference does a higher watt amp make?

[Kro]

Problem is it's so easy to get a good sound out of headphones

Personally, I'm not sure I agree with that either. But maybe that's just because whenever I'm listening through headphones I'm always wishing I were listening through anything else.

I do think there is an issue with beginner users becoming accustomed to their sound via a given set of headphones if that's what they use first, after which it can be difficult to coax a similar sound from an amp without a good bit of tweaking.

 

[bobyoung53]

Personally, I'm not sure I agree with that either. But maybe that's just because whenever I'm listening through headphones I'm always wishing I were listening through anything else.

I do think there is an issue with beginner users becoming accustomed to their sound via a given set of headphones if that's what they use first, after which it can be difficult to coax a similar sound from an amp without a good bit of tweaking.

Well, with an amp you have to deal with room acoustics, with headphones you don't. For example in my room As I walk around the room playing the sound changes quite a bit, with headphones you don't have to worry about that. I think it's just good practice for a new player to learn about acoustics and the effect of bass sound in different parts of a room. Room placement of the amp can also drastically change the sound of a bass amp, want more bottom? Put it in a corner, want less put it more near the center of the room, want considerably less bottom? Put it in the center. Knowing this stuff helps you when you start to gig because every place is different and sounds different, you learn to get a good tone on the fly. Last thing, you'll need very good speakers to equal headphones.

 

[seamonkey]

Personally, I'm not sure I agree with that either. But maybe that's just because whenever I'm listening through headphones I'm always wishing I were listening through anything else.

I do think there is an issue with beginner users becoming accustomed to their sound via a given set of headphones if that's what they use first, after which it can be difficult to coax a similar sound from an amp without a good bit of tweaking.

If you have a home studio there might be some good choices here to help your headphone experience. There's quite a few virtual rooms over headphone plugins, to name a few:
Abbey Road Studio 3
Nx-Virtual Mix
Blue Cat's Re-Head
IK Multimedia Sunset Studio
IK Multimedia Mic room

There's always a free trial period on these. The Abbey Road and Nx-Virtual work best with the Nx bluetooth headtracker. They allow you to place tracks in the soundfield and as you naturally move your head the headphone mix behaves as if you're actually in the room. It's a real virtual effect.

Yeah, it tough to coax the same sound from a head, but a setup where you get your sound through headphones always has a line out to FOH or a FOH cab where there's a better chance of reproducing it.