Yeah, another headphone amp question...

[JvJazz83]

I had a similar, but yet slightly different approach a couple of years ago, and ended up with a Palmer pocket amp. Kind of a swiss knife I think. It's a preamp pedal with aux in, headphones out, FX loop and a DI, wich is rather good actually, considering the prize.
https://www.thomannmusic.no/palmer_...7i3s9w9lDW7Fytz4072Yp6Hl7HBPLcdYaAjoDEALw_wcB

 

[DeepHz]

My Cafe Walter was the best headphone amp I ever had! I heard my Bass the way it was supposed to sound. I wish I knew why he stopped production?

 

[burgerdj]

Check out the Phil Jones Big Head and Bass Buddy. High quality gear for at-home practice.

 

[Geddy Claypool]

It doesn't get any easier than the Boss Waza Air Bass. Pricey, but completely self contained, no wires, sounds awesome, and takes only moments to be playing along to spotify/youtube completely silently. I love mine.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Maybe a small mixer would do the trick.

 

[Bass_Kiwi]

Nux Mighty Plug Pro. Perfect practice tool. Recommended.

 

[MattZilla]

I’m thinking you’d do well to start another thread asking for recommendations on a good-pair-of-headphones-for-practicing-bass because headphones natural voicing can vary wildly and some have awful response for raw bass guitar regardless of eq.

 

[MaxSpinrun]

Many good suggestions. I use the Magellan Pre/DI. Very good quality head phone amp which will drive most headphones easily. Extensive I/O flexibility. Aux in for playing with external sources. EQ is very powerful. DI is high quality and this could be used in band or recording.

 

[DaDo625]

Check out the Phil Jones Big Head and Bass Buddy. High quality gear for at-home practice.

I was able to grab a Bass Buddy from the classifieds
BASS BUDDY – Phil Jones Bass
And I believe they are out of production since the small PJ Head (BP-200 Compact Bass Amp Head (Factory Demonstration Model) A-RATING – Phil Jones Bass ) has all the features and supports a bigger cab (the Bass buddy will drive a 10W speaker)
Aux in is handy to give you play along and the all important timing/drum track.

This was a big help to me early on when I was trying to learn songs, starting out and also having to work remote a lot.

And I have the Vox, but only use it as last resort...

 

[lug]

I've always enjoyed playing through Korg Pandoras. PX4B is the bass model. I use that and I also have the PX4D which is meant for Bass and Guitar. Of course they've been discontinued. They do show up on ebay quite often. Reverb too and sometimes here. They really are quite fun and you can get some good headphone tones out of them.
I don't care much for the presets but you can make 50 of your own.

100% agree. I both the 3 and the 4. Oddly enough, I found a lot more useful tones out of the 3 but the 4's drum tracks were far superior. I made hundreds of home recordings with them. One of the most useful bass tools I've ever had.

 

[groovaholic]

for the first time in almost ever I now have a need for silent practice... My space is very limited and I don't think the amp head is going to be the right way to go... which of those should I look into?

All headphone outs are not created equal.
Many of the headphone outs on amps sum to mono - so if you plug an MP3 player or laptop into them, the music will sound flattened, but if all you're going to monitor is your bass, that might not be an issue.

I've gone around in circles with this issue many times, and here's what I've tried and found:

• Palmer Pocket Bass - great layout and the EQ is really powerful, their analog amp sims weren't adjustable, so you'd either love them or hate them. Low input impedance made my passive basses sound very dull.

• NuX MLD-5 "Melvin Lee Davis" preamp - compact and great sounding, with capabilities for both at-home practice and live/recording usage. Also lets you load IRs and gives you good control of what signal goes to which output.

• Peavey MiniMaxII - for not much more than the cost of the pedals, you also get a VERY competent 600 watt amp that could easily be your backup at gigs. The fan is a bit noisy, but the form factor is perfect for desktop practice - all the connections you need for silent practice are on the front panel, and it even has a built-in tuner.

• Line 6 HX Stomp - great sounds, loads of connectivity, a stereo signal path for your headphones and MP3, a killer built-in tuner and (IMO the best feature for learning songs) a patch called "Simple Pitch" that lets you alter the heard pitch of your bass to match the song you're learning.

The HX Stomp is it for me, but if you were looking for simpler/more compact/more affordable - the NuX would be a great option.

 

[socialleper]

Personally, I use a recording interface and a DAW to do all my practicing now. Something like a Focusrite Scarlett has a headphone connection that is plenty loud, and in the DAW you can use any amp sim or cab IR you want. A DAW like Reaper is free and there are dozens of tutorials online.

 

[JKos]

I’m thinking you’d do well to start another thread asking for recommendations on a good-pair-of-headphones

No need to start another thread for that. There are already dozens of them.

 

[vilshofen]

I’ve been looking at the Fender as an interface device and think it’s pretty cool. Frankly, Fender is missing an opportunity. I don’t think it would be that hard to make a bass version and call it the Rumble Micro.

So the Mustang Micro will work with bass? They're about the onliest headphone amps available here in the kingdom, listing at about $160.

 

[MCF]

So the Mustang Micro will work with bass? They're about the onliest headphone amps available here in the kingdom, listing at about $160.

I’ve read forum posts that indicate it works pretty well with bass although the effects are more guitar oriented. They should make one with some of the bass effects built into the Rumble Studio 25. I think it would be a good seller for them.
Anyway, Invalid Link Removed

 

[trevcda]

View attachment 5313281

I use a bigger POS than this mixer, although it is the same brand. Plus with the mixer you can easily blend the audio from what you're trying to learn with your bass. What I didn't see mentioned is what you were using for headphones. Like bass cabinets, headphone amps can sound vastly different dependent on what headphones are being used with them. My mixer may be a POS, but the headphones I use are AKG K240s and they sound fine. More than adequate for practice with the bass plugged straight into the mixer and even better with a modeling pre-amp between them.

 

[BioDriver]

I play through a Rolls PM351 and it's worked great. I don't even use an amp - I run my bass through my pedalboard, into a Mesa Boogie Subway + DI/Preamp, and then into the Rolls

 

[HP Hovercraft]

I play through a Rolls PM351 and it's worked great. I don't even use an amp - I run my bass through my pedalboard, into a Mesa Boogie Subway + DI/Preamp, and then into the Rolls

Not OP but this looks great! Thanks for sharing.

 

[bassrique]

Boss Waza, Zzounds and 12 months same-as-cash and you'll have a wireless solution. No wires = no hassle. Get the case and take out the foam part inside. It's not needed and gets in the way.

 

[lomo]

It's not the cheapest option, but the Quilter Interbass is a sleeper....sounds fantastic.....will do clean and very satisfying SS light OD a la SVT if you push the input gain, good sounding headphone out also doubles as a balanced out (via toggle) so it's affectively a backup DI if you have/get a 1/4-XLR adapter, powerful, musical active eq, full range and vintage cab sims.......and lo and behold it's also a power amp that can easily drive a cab for small stuff (33/45 watts @ 8/4 Ohms) or be act as a backup....all in a pedal-sized package.