tascam bt1mkII

Mike,

Welcome! I agree with them-- such a device will help you learn and improve faster, IMO.

The Tascam Bass Trainer acts as headphone amp for silent practice, and as sort of a mixer to allow you to play the bass along with a CD (or other external source like an iPod). It also will allow you to slow down a song without changing the pitch so you can learn those fast licks that are tough to get by ear when listening at full speed. You can also change the key so if your band leader says you're learning a new song but will be playing it a step or two higher or lower (usually to accomodate the vocalist's range) you just set the pitch and learn by ear. You can set a loop (a short passage that repeats over and over until you get it, and it also has a variety of effects buily in, a metronome, and a tuner. Pretty handy!

The Tascam unit works quite well, but I have concerns about the quality. I've owned two of them and the CD player has developed problems on both of them.

Suggestions (cheapest first!):

1) If you don't need silent practice, try downloading a shareware program called The Amazing Slowdowner. It'll provide the speed, pitch and loop functions for CD's or MP3's. You can play along through your amp at low volume. If you like the PC solution, and want metronome and tuner, there are downloads available for these as well (I use In-Tune MultiInstrument Tuner and a program just called "Metronome").

2) If you need a headphone amp, there are several other alternatives (and a few recent threads here on TB about them-- try a seach). Korg makes a good little unit (Pandora) that acts as headphone amp, and also provides speed control, loop, and effects. There are some really inexpensive headphone amps like Pocket RockIt, or if you have a few more $'s and want an audiophile quality unit, try Cafe Walter.

Hope this helps!

Peace,

Matt

 

Not effect -> Practice tool -> off to misc.