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Need a simpler way to practice quietly

BassistFreak416

BassistFreak416

Jun 27, 2008
415
8
33
Orange County
#1
I need a more convenient way to play bass to music at night. currently i use the headphone output of my bass amp to send my bass sound to my over-the-ear headphones, then i have my in-ear headphones from my ipod to play the music, and then use both headsets at the same time. as you can probably guess, this isnt working to well.

primarily, my headphone cords arent too long, so i have to sit just about next to my amp and lean over so i can keep some slack. how can i increase the length of my cords to play more comfortably? is there a device that i can hook my ipod and amp to so i can hear both through only 1 headset?

also, the headphone output of my amp has some static noise in it. while mild, its present and kinda bugs me. far as i can tell, it is caused by the amp and not my bass as it keeps even and doesnt change with playing. is there some different preamp or device that can let me control my sound but have a cleaner sound or be more portable than my amp?
 
#5
Sell your practice amp and pick up one that has both Aux-in (for the IPOD) and headphone out. And if necessary you can buy headphones with a longer cord or just buy a cord extension. It shouldn't cost a lot to find a better solution.
 
#8
Sheldon681 said:
Sell your practice amp and pick up one that has both Aux-in (for the IPOD) and headphone out. And if necessary you can buy headphones with a longer cord or just buy a cord extension. It shouldn't cost a lot to find a better solution.
Click to expand...

This.

For the amp, I suggest the Acoustic B20. Cheap, good sound, has a CD/MP3 input and headphone jack so you can just lay your iPod on top of the amp and play to the music with either the headphones or through the speaker. It's "only" 20 watts, but on the fun side, it's 20 REAL watts with a 12" speaker, so it can shake your room nicely when you don't have to be quiet. :)

Hope that helps.
 
#10
Peavey 115 combo. trans tube emulation, 3 way voice switch, 3 band eq. i think the mp3 jack doesnt connect with ipod headphones. its slightly smaller. the headphone jack is a standard 1/4 jack, and i happened to find an attachment that i put on the end of the headphones to connect to it.
 
#11
I picked up a eden Nemesis 120 combo on closeout for $250.It has an aux input (RCA) with gain and tone controls,and a headphone jack. I jack my drum machine or iPod into it all the time. It's a 1x12 combo,so I don't tote it around like a "practice"amp,but it's just the right size for home use and has all the features I need.
 
#13
couldnt find the korg on their site. seems to be discontinued. the ha-1a fits exactly what i was thinking of. even without an eq, a direct sound would be interesting to hear a clean pure, unaffected sound. it seems though that they produce it in small quantities, maybe i can find it on a different site. the tascam is nice, but i dont really need to shape around the songs to be easier.
 
#14
BassistFreak416 said:
Peavey 115 combo. trans tube emulation, 3 way voice switch, 3 band eq. i think the mp3 jack doesnt connect with ipod headphones. its slightly smaller. the headphone jack is a standard 1/4 jack, and i happened to find an attachment that i put on the end of the headphones to connect to it.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. Wonder if the background noise is something to do with the tube emulation, or some other amp setting. That wouldn't explain static in the jacks though.

I know what you mean on the headphones. After switching around for too long to get phones that fit whatever my current amp was, I now have a nice set of Yamaha studio headphones that have a 1/8" jack and came with their own screw-on 1/4" adapter. Best of all worlds.

Looking on Musician's Friend, seems like all the jacks on the Peavey 115's are 1/4", which makes no sense since every MP3 and CD player I know about uses 1/8" jacks. I know the MP3 and headphone jacks on the Acoustic B20 are both 1/8" jacks, so they will take standard iPod sized plugs.
 
#17
georgestrings said:
Korg Pandora PX4B works quite well for me - on the used market, you should be able to get one for under $100...



- georgestrings
Click to expand...

The Korg PX3 works well also and be had for around $50 or so. Just less features than the 4. Check out Ebay. Great practice rig for earphones and input jack for ipod or any other music. Drum beats, tuner, effects. Try to get one with the manual.
 
#18
Marton said:
A small cheap mixer ?
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I,ve got a Behringer XENYX 802 (29.00 at GC) guess that would be a good candidate with headphones ... but 99% of the time I practice with no amp at all ;)

Felixwhistlethumb.jpg
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#20
mophead said:
The Korg PX3 works well also and be had for around $50 or so. Just less features than the 4. Check out Ebay. Great practice rig for earphones and input jack for ipod or any other music. Drum beats, tuner, effects. Try to get one with the manual.
Click to expand...

I'll echo this suggestion. I have one of the older models, I think (PBX2 or something like that).

I run my iPod & bass into it and headphones out. The unit has a tuner and what is probably by today's standards a primitive phrase trainer to record & playback loops.

I originally bout it to use as a tuner & multi effects unit but the sound quality one the effects isn't that great. It works well to do late night practicing while the wife and chillins sleep away.

I can practice anywhere I want without lugging a practice amp around. Sometimes it's lounging on the couch and sometimes in the office on the computer while I look at music.
 

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