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suggestions for small portable practice amp
- Thread starter Demonizer
- Start date
Not sure how much bass you'll get, but it is the right size.
Smokey Amps Mini Cigarette Box High Gain Guitar Practice Cig Pack Amp | Harmon Music | Reverb
My guitarist has one, and it will "power" a 4/12 cab. Never tried my bass through it. Unfortunately no AUX.
Smokey Amps Mini Cigarette Box High Gain Guitar Practice Cig Pack Amp | Harmon Music | Reverb
My guitarist has one, and it will "power" a 4/12 cab. Never tried my bass through it. Unfortunately no AUX.
I briefly owned a PJB Bighead. It is a very well made and excellent sounding headphone amp. It also acts as a usb interface if you need it to. However, if you do not need the digital interface that it offers, I cannot recommend it over the Vox Amplug 2 Bass. The PJB is definitely better quality, but it comes in at $250. The Amplugs are $40 and do everything anyone needs a basic headphone amplifier to do.
The only thing I cannot comment on from experience with the Vox is output for the 50-100 ohm phones. I expect that it does fine with them, but for the few weeks I had one I used it with Orange O Edition Headphones and Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones (both are under 40 ohms).
You will note I briefly owned both headphone amps. Neither product was at fault. I purchased the Bighead and Amplug to practice when my kids are asleep. I quickly realized that I hate practicing with headphones. I purchased an acoustic bass for low volume practice instead and sold the headphone amps.
The only thing I cannot comment on from experience with the Vox is output for the 50-100 ohm phones. I expect that it does fine with them, but for the few weeks I had one I used it with Orange O Edition Headphones and Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones (both are under 40 ohms).
You will note I briefly owned both headphone amps. Neither product was at fault. I purchased the Bighead and Amplug to practice when my kids are asleep. I quickly realized that I hate practicing with headphones. I purchased an acoustic bass for low volume practice instead and sold the headphone amps.
I am in agreement with you - I am strongly interested in the Bighead, but the $$ doesn't merit my use of it as my sole objective is to jam along with music "quietly" cuz my wife works nights, so when I wanna play, she's sleeping. Otherwise I just crank up the amp & let it rip. Im leaning towards the Vox Amplug 2 Bass cuz it does what I want, but it looks almost two cheap & gimmicky like it wont last long - I bump it once & the plug breaks off in the bass or something. But for $40, worth a shot - my K240 headphones are 55ohm, so should be OK. Im just practicing unplugged at the moment, so any means to actually hear the bass will be a welcome improvement 
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Put the ""butt-end" of the bass against a wall.
What about 6 cartons of cigarettes?
My PJB Session 77 has an excellent aux out and the upper fidelity to handle Zoom calls, kids’ homeschool classes, guitar or keys if you want, quiet headphone play, or gosh darn it, the smallest of Covid masked jams and/or coffeehouse gigs. I’m practicing through it now. All for $100 more than a pack of Winstons, and as quiet as you desire....
My PJB Session 77 has an excellent aux out and the upper fidelity to handle Zoom calls, kids’ homeschool classes, guitar or keys if you want, quiet headphone play, or gosh darn it, the smallest of Covid masked jams and/or coffeehouse gigs. I’m practicing through it now. All for $100 more than a pack of Winstons, and as quiet as you desire....
I'll second the low tech approach of a hollowbody, I have a couple different headphone amps, including the Tascam Bass Trainer, and it works well, but im ever accidentally tripping on or yanking out the cords. A set of wireless headphones would help, but I often find myself just grabbing my sons Jay Turser violin bass. Its just loud enough unplugged, and you get that nice tactile thrum inherent to hollowbodies. Its ridiculously light and fun to play. I have the older CD player version of the Tascam, and it has aux in, you can get them dirt cheap on ebay now since the newer MP3 version came out (about 2 weeks after I bought the CD player version, of course).
I use the NUX Mighty Plu. Link Removed.
It is rechargable, has amp modeling and effects, controlled with a phone app. Has bluetooth connectivity for sending music from your phone.
Other than the wire for the headphones to the Mighty Plug (which is on the bass), there are no wires to another device that can get caught, tripped on, etc.
It works very well and I am very happy with it as a silent practice tool.
It is rechargable, has amp modeling and effects, controlled with a phone app. Has bluetooth connectivity for sending music from your phone.
Other than the wire for the headphones to the Mighty Plug (which is on the bass), there are no wires to another device that can get caught, tripped on, etc.
It works very well and I am very happy with it as a silent practice tool.
Give the AmPlug a try. It is great for what it is @$40 and most likely will be all you’ll ever need. You will have to be gentle with it, they are not very robust units, but how often are you banging your bass around? Biggest threat is forgetting it’s there and setting the bass down on the ground directly on the unit. Should work with 55 ohm headphones without issue, but that is approaching its upper limits. Expect some hiss, but that will be reduced some with your higher ohm headphones.
If the AmPlug doesn’t do it for you (lack of fidelity or too much hiss) the PJB BigHead (or headphones via amp/head) is the next logical step. BigHead is crystal clear, plenty of headroom, silent and has treble/bass knobs. Great unit if you need that level of fidelity and/or are playing on headphones a lot.
See here for a little more info:
PJB Bighead vs. Vox AmPlug, worth the upgrade for headphone practice?
If the AmPlug doesn’t do it for you (lack of fidelity or too much hiss) the PJB BigHead (or headphones via amp/head) is the next logical step. BigHead is crystal clear, plenty of headroom, silent and has treble/bass knobs. Great unit if you need that level of fidelity and/or are playing on headphones a lot.
See here for a little more info:
PJB Bighead vs. Vox AmPlug, worth the upgrade for headphone practice?
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Wanna buy mine?
...
Yes, if you mean the one in your avatar.
I still love lookin' at that thing.
At the OP: best bet for hitting all the requirements is one of the phone apps already mentioned. You'll be able to use headphones, bluetooth speakers... oh, and you get a phone with it.
PJB Double Four is bigger than a cig pack. But you won’t lack for tone. At all.
And runs off a 12V adapter so you can use batteries.
And runs off a 12V adapter so you can use batteries.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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