NPD: Palmer Pocket Amp bass

[geesharp]

I usually practice without headphones, but the past few weeks I need to practice silently.

I use AKG 240 headphones plugged into a GK MB115 combo. The sound is just okay, but when I plugged my iphone into it, play some tunes and play along... then the bass sound becomes muddy.
That's why I seldom practice with headphones.

So, I bought a preamp, a Palmer Pocket Amp bass. It arrived a couple of days ago.

I love it.

The sound quality is great. Much, much better than the sound from the headphones + iphone+ MB115... or even the headphones + MB115.

It's small. I can carry it anywhere. At home I can practice in any room in the house.
Kept inside the accessories compartment of my bass case, and it'll be there with the bass wherever the bass goes.

It can run on a 9 volt battery. I always use power supply and haven't tried using a 9v battery..but it's good to know that I can use a battery if I need to.

I tried with pedals that I have: Polytune, Octabass, EBS drive and Palmer Pocket. Daisy chained with a Boss power supply.

This is for silent practice at home, when I just want to plug the Palmer to the chain, and not bother to remove and rearrange the pedals first. BTW, I only have one small pedalboard, so I can't place all four of them on it.

And this is the setup...for travel I guess
...just the Palmer, EBS drive and the Polytune.

The Palmer has Drive and Fuzz (and Clean) mode...but I much prefer the sound of EBS drive, that's why I keep the EBS drive there.

Thanks for reading.

 

[iagtrplyr]

Cool, thanks for sharing. This Palmer looks interesting and I'll have to go check it out.

 

[Andy Daventry]

Yes, I've been thinking about this box for some time now. I have been running my headphones and mp3 player through a Fender rumble 15 (version 1) which has been a bit bleah but nearly ok, but I do like the look of the Palmer. How coloured is the clean sound?

 

[Pete Greenfield]

Check out the Tascam GB 10 for silent practice too. It's a fantastic piece of kit...

 

[dave_bass5]

I tired the Palmer a few months ago and thought it sounded great, but compared to my Zoom B1-four it just doesn't have as many features, and costs more. When playing with headphones at home i prefer to have one box does it all, and the B1 does that.

 

[geesharp]

(snipped) but I do like the look of the Palmer. How coloured is the clean sound?

The sound is clean...and you will also hear things like string noise, fret buzz, any squeaking noise. These noises are missing when I use headphones plugged into my amp.

I'm currently away from home, but I have the Palmer with me, so I can practice when I'm away.

This is my travel set up, the Palmer and the Polytune fit inside the compartment in my Ibanez case. I only carry those two. Cables, power supply, iphone, go into the front pocket of the case.

 

[Andy Daventry]

The sound is clean...and you will also hear things like string noise, fret buzz, any squeaking noise. These noises are missing when I use headphones plugged into my amp.

I'm currently away from home, but I have the Palmer with me, so I can practice when I'm away.

This is my travel set up, the Palmer and the Polytune fit inside the compartment in my Ibanez case. I only carry those two. Cables, power supply, iphone, go into the front pocket of the case.

View attachment 3500706

So it sounds like a fairly flat response. I like the sound of this. I think I'm sold.....

 

[DeeMurray#1Fan]

Hi, I have one these. Bought it mostly for silent practice, particularly with the aux input for playing along with new material.
But the fact that it’s also a DI pedal with tone control, cab sim and overdrive makes it useful as a “get out of jail card” if an amp gives out at a gig.
I’ve taken it with me when selling a bass too, so the guy could try the bass out in the supermarket car park. Battery operation is very handy in those situations.
All round flexible little box for just over £100.

 

[groovaholic]

Well, I'll pile on the semi-zombie thread...

I just got a Pocket Bass today and while it's not going to replace your whole pedalboard and/or SVT stack, what is does provide is a really handy combination of features for headphone-based practice.

First, the thing is built like a brick outhouse - all inputs and controls feel really solid and the chassis is 1/4" thick aluminum.
I read some comments complaining about the battery door and I'd agree with them; it is not nearly as robust as the rest of the pedal.

There is plenty of gain on tap - my bass has moderate (but not especially hot) output and I needed to engage the input pad to keep my signal clean, but the pad just made things more quiet; it was not a tone suck.

Flat on the EQ (indicated by center detents) and with the mode set to "Clean" sounds just like the bypassed tone - it doesn't inject personality until you make it do so; your bass will sound like your bass.

The "O. Drive" and "Fuzz" modes aren't especially awesome overdrive and fuzz sounds, but blended in a little, they give you tone options and can make the bass slot into a mix a bit better.

The EQ is flexible and clean sounding; it doesn't get sloppy or noisy and it provides some useful tone shaping.

The cabinet sims are subtle - I hear them as better starting points than end-of-chain tone correctors. They set the basic tone and you can add grit and EQ to fine tune things.

"Saturate" is subtle and seems a bit unnecessary, but from what I can tell it's an adjustable hard limiter that can really squash your signal.

Headphone out is clean - running the Aux In sounds exactly like plugging my earbuds straight into my iPod.

It's not perfect - but it's a very competitive offering that's built well and could fill a niche for lots of players.

 

[Mas_Fina]

I'm looking for an easy "plug and play" practice solution with aux in and phones out... and that palmer just looks great... but then just before firing I wondered: any chance I could do the same with an Audio Interface? I can get a Motu M2 for a good deal. it doesn't have an aux in (why on earth?! would seem so easy) but does have a mic in I wouldn't be using... any feedback on feeding aux audio through the mic's jack input?