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Portable practice tool

#21
I'm a bit of a headphone nut so I own a Raven PHA-1, a Walter, and a PX4D. They all have their strengths but for the intent of the original post I'd go with the Korg. Built in rhythms/metronomes, tuner, effects, aux in, basic looping of the bass or the aux.... and it is the most compact of the three (by far), and it has a belt/strap clip.

Not a studio-quality tool like the Raven, and not as pure and smooth as the Walter, but the darn thing gets a lot of use in my practice routine. I got a decent deal on mine at GC, out the door for less than the online places and a free 2yr enhanced warantee.
 
#22
I either use my Zoom B2 or if I'm learning songs off a CD, I use my Tascam Bass Trainer (which I've used at least once a week for over a year without any issues at all). To me the Tascam is the best thing for a portable learning device. I can't comment on any QC issues as I've had none.

I get through so many songs, so much quicker with the Tascam. When I first joined the band I'm in, it helped me learn about 60 songs in a week (and we had a baby I couldn't wake up, so it was awesome for me). But for just a portable "amp", I use my Zoom B2 and get "my" sound wherever I am.
 
#23
fretlessrock said:
I'm a bit of a headphone nut so I own a Raven PHA-1, a Walter, and a PX4D. They all have their strengths but for the intent of the original post I'd go with the Korg. Built in rhythms/metronomes, tuner, effects, aux in, basic looping of the bass or the aux.... and it is the most compact of the three (by far), and it has a belt/strap clip.

Not a studio-quality tool like the Raven, and not as pure and smooth as the Walter, but the darn thing gets a lot of use in my practice routine. I got a decent deal on mine at GC, out the door for less than the online places and a free 2yr enhanced warantee.
Click to expand...

I agree. To me it seems a bit of a waste to spend a metric shiteton of money on a practice tool no one is gonna here but me. If I want to work on getting the perfect tone, it should be on my live rig that others will hear. Don't get me wrong, the Pandora's aren't slouches in that department, but I'd rather give up the perfect tone and have the many other tools in a practice device as opposed to a live one.
 
#24
I bought a Tascam due to it's excellent feature set. Unfornately, it wouldn't read one of the first two CD's I put in it to play. Both CDs were from the Bass Play-along series. I took it back to GC. They told me other people had reported similar problems.

I wish they would have told me before I bought it.
 
#25
EBMan said:
I bought a Tascam due to it's excellent feature set. Unfornately, it wouldn't read one of the first two CD's I put in it to play. Both CDs were from the Bass Play-along series. I took it back to GC. They told me other people had reported similar problems.

I wish they would have told me before I bought it.
Click to expand...

My Tascam has been fine on commercially recorded CD's (although I've tried very few), but on CD's that I have burned, it will occasionally have a hard time finding a track, or will stop during a track and just "sit there".
 
#26
fretlessrock said:
I'm a bit of a headphone nut so I own a Raven PHA-1, a Walter, and a PX4D. They all have their strengths but for the intent of the original post I'd go with the Korg. Built in rhythms/metronomes, tuner, effects, aux in, basic looping of the bass or the aux.... and it is the most compact of the three (by far), and it has a belt/strap clip.

Not a studio-quality tool like the Raven, and not as pure and smooth as the Walter, but the darn thing gets a lot of use in my practice routine. I got a decent deal on mine at GC, out the door for less than the online places and a free 2yr enhanced warantee.
Click to expand...

+1!

The PX4D really is a great tool. And it sounds just fine.

:D

Joe.
 
#28
Since I don't gig anymore, I got a Boss Micro BR for home practice and simple recording. I've only had it for a week thus far, but it seems to be living up to its positive reviews. After learning the interface, it's fairly easy to use. The only minus, as far as I can see, is that it's a battery hog.
 
#29
EricF said:
I was using the Korg Pandora for a while, but the switch broke and I trashed it. I'm currently using a Zoom 4-track digital recorder. It has hundreds of very good sounding drum tracks to play along with, and the ability to record and listen back to your playing is a valuable tool. It doesn't have the effects capabilities or a tuner like the Korg, but for practicing technique, it's excellent.
Click to expand...

do you mean the Zoom MRS4? i believe it has a tuner.

as far as practice tools, Korg is really great. i still have - and use - my old Ampworks box for late-night practice.
 
#31
Lowtonejoe said:
+1!

The PX4D really is a great tool. And it sounds just fine.

:D

Joe.
Click to expand...

Hey Joe (or any other PX4D users),

I, too, enjoy the features of the Pandora but where do you have yours (physically) set when practicing? The strap attachment is just so awkward to wear especially with all the ports filled with bass cable, headphones, AUX (MP3 player) and AC adapter.

The wires are everywhere and moving around is guaranteed to yank something out or off a table.

Do you guys have a better set up or are we as users kind of stuck in one position?

I'd love to hear better ways of practicing with this thing comfortably because it's kind of a drag to plug in and sit next to a close table and not move.

:hmm:
 
#32
GROOVEjunkie said:
Hey Joe (or any other PX4D users),

I, too, enjoy the features of the Pandora but where do you have yours (physically) set when practicing? The strap attachment is just so awkward to wear especially with all the ports filled with bass cable, headphones, AUX (MP3 player) and AC adapter.

The wires are everywhere and moving around is guaranteed to yank something out or off a table.

Do you guys have a better set up or are we as users kind of stuck in one position?

I'd love to hear better ways of practicing with this thing comfortably because it's kind of a drag to plug in and sit next to a close table and not move.

:hmm:
Click to expand...

It supports wireless headphones, but I don't have a set. :(
 
#33
lug said:
It supports wireless headphones, but I don't have a set. :(
Click to expand...

I guess that would help, but even with a long head phone cable it's tough to move too much. Again, that strap attachment is a joke - too many things plugged into it, pulling different ways and you can't really see the face of it to choose settings. So far it's put it on a table and don't move (much).

Anybody else have a special setup?

Or do I have to sit and play it like a man? :hmm:
 
#36
jetpackbassist said:
i got a great deal on my PX4B... 50 bucks used from GC.

i use it either sitting down or standing up. either way, it sits on the computer next to my desk. i don't move around too much when practicing anyway, but when i stand i just make sure all the cables are out of the way.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you've found the strap attachment as useless as me?

Like I said, so far, it's a great little device to jam with in the wee hours. But, attached to the strap, you can't see the face of it. Left on a table yo ucan see the front face and dials, but one big turn and you can pull it off or yank the wires.

Guess I have to be more careful. I just wanted to see if there was something I was missing.

thanks
 
#38
Phyrexian said:
Hey Lug,

have you tried recording with the Korg???

Bart
Click to expand...

I have about 100,000 recordings with the Pandora PX3B and a few with the 4. I'll post a few but don't blame me if a mob forms around your place of residence and stones you for causing these to be posted.

http://www.box.net/shared/static/n1tt98nt6v.mp3
http://www.box.net/shared/static/g00yy3u3d5.mp3
Invalid Link Removed (Fuzz)

PX4 (notice how much better the drum patterns sound)
Invalid Link Removed(flanger)
PX4 (with external drum track provided from another forumite)
http://www.box.net/shared/static/ou4b86bmjv.mp3

Normally I record a drum-n-bass line to the PC, play it back out into the Aux In port of the pandroa and drop what passes as a lead part over the top. You can do this many times without much noticable sound quality loss.
 
#40
Phyrexian said:
Thanks for the clips, Lug! Sound quality is more than okay for putting down ideas.

So how do you connect the PX4? To a little mixer?
Click to expand...

Bass -> Pandora -> 1/4 to 1/8 converter -> PC (alos optional PC -> Pandora Aux In). I just generally leave mine hooked to my PC and sometimes I run a Korg Ampworks guitar effect into the Insturment In of the Pandora for the piccolo bass.
 

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