Yeah, another headphone amp question...

[Deleted member 394181]

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.

An EQ (Equalizer)is as important as good Headphones.
I like Beyer Dynamic DT 770's. Around $150.00. I like the Behringer Mixer because: Not crazy expensive. Compression and Bass Cut on the channels. My little set up sounds awesome.
Even with vintage equipment and CD player.

 

[lermgalieu]

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.

Love mine so much I have two! Never going back to wires - I am a somewhat lazy practicer, so Waza is perfect for me. Takes ~20 seconds to turn on and get going.

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.

As noted, I love Waza. But I leave the foam in the case; works well for me. I like that it holds them exactly in place.

 

[MattZilla]

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

as well as dozens of this one, soooo… (?)

 

[JKos]

as well as dozens of this one, soooo… (?)

Truth. You got me there.

 

[Adam Felix]

I can highly recommend Slow gear electronics headphone pedal. Compared to the headphone out on my “home” amp, it is way way better sounding. A lot more true the the actual instrument I plug in, which is nice, when having a lot of different basses. My amps headphone out masked the subtleties of my different basses.

 

[thedovewarlord]

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.

Good point, considering the cost of good headphones would be on top of the cost of designated gear required to interface your bass and source music. If @scottfeldstein the OP is not prioritizing DI or recording, the Boss Waza-Air Bass Guitar Wireless Headphone Amp cost becomes more justifiable.

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

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

Agree 1000%, the Mustang Micro does work with the bass, but of the 12 available "amp" selections, only 1 of them is most workable (designed & intended) for bass, that's the "direct" setting cyan color which is supposed to replicate a DI, is not colored that is suitable for bass & acoustics as the instruction booklet says. The other 11 are guitar amp simulations ranging from Twin Reverbs to EVH metal crunch that are less ideal for bass. That said, I liked @MCF 's idea of dedicating another "Rumble" version and have several bass amps settings ranging from vintage to modern, and I dont know, on the effects side perhaps offer a bass-centric fuzzes, flangers, chorus and a few compressors (1 or 2 for the slap happy set, another for the ambient tappers, etc... I know compressors are not limiting to those players, no pun intended.)

{EDIT/ADDED THOUGHT} @vilshofen IMO the Fender Mustang Micro that is available, $160 bucks seems a bit steep for that device in my honest opinion. It's good but I paid $100 bucks but felt when it was brand new $75 would've been a fairer price. Felt I was paying 25 extra bucks just because its name brand, not anything special to near 175-200 bucks range with tax and shipping.

 

[mambo4]

My Cafe Walter was the best headphone amp I ever had!

Big +1 to this.
They pop up on reverb for time to time

 

[vilshofen]

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

OK thank you for that, MCF; money in the bank, as they say. I might go with a Fender Rumble 15, roughly the same price here. I just need something small and basic in the bedroom when I escape the wife's cooking jags, or ladies-only parties; she - they - favor loud desert beats - gnawa, chaabi, rai, etc.

 

[laklandplayer]

I've been playing for many years. I have decent gear. But for the first time in almost ever I now have a need for silent practice. I have in the past owned (I think) a Vox headphone amp. Didn't like it enough to really use it. I just this evening took possession of a Donner Basement. Seems kinda like a stinker, too.

I do own a 550 watt amp head that has a headphone out. I also think I still have a Scarlet interface that obviously has headphone monitoring. My space is very limited and I don't think the amp head is going to be the right way to go. And the Scarlet doesn't have any features or even an EQ.

All of which has me thinking about a number of quality preamp/DI pedals that have headphone outs on them. Which leads me to the question... which of those should I look into? I mean, a headphone jack is a headphone jack, but which of them have the best features that I might use in other contexts like live performance or recording? Or maybe I'm thinking the wrong way entirely and another solution is the right way.

The NuX MP-2 is an amazing headphone amp, their MP-3 gives you recording capabilities.
There are some great YouTube videos on these products and they also work on bass as well.

 

[vilshofen]

Agree 1000%, the Mustang Micro does work with the bass, but of the 12 available "amp" selections, only 1 of them is most workable (designed & intended) for bass, that's the "direct" setting cyan color which is supposed to replicate a DI, is not colored that is suitable for bass & acoustics as the instruction booklet says. The other 11 are guitar amp simulations ranging from Twin Reverbs to EVH metal crunch that are less ideal for bass. That said, I liked @MCF 's idea of dedicating another "Rumble" version and have several bass amps settings ranging from vintage to modern, and I dont know, on the effects side perhaps offer a bass-centric fuzzes, flangers, chorus and a few compressors (1 or 2 for the slap happy set, another for the ambient tappers, etc... I know compressors are not limiting to those players, no pun intended.)

{EDIT/ADDED THOUGHT} @vilshofen IMO the Fender Mustang Micro that is available, $160 bucks seems a bit steep for that device in my honest opinion. It's good but I paid $100 bucks but felt when it was brand new $75 would've been a fairer price. Felt I was paying 25 extra bucks just because its name brand, not anything special to near 175-200 bucks range with tax and shipping.

Dovewarlord thank you for that and you're right, but it's a captive market here; new stuff like that has hefty markups. The Yamaha/Fender store here in Casa is just about the only game in town. They have a terrific Tony Franklin Precision fretless - $2300. I have to hoof it to Rabat, to the one good store there, to buy Chromes.

 

[Jev1]

I have a couple of options for silent practice myself:

1 - Darkglass A/O Photon (or really any of their Ultra or Photon/ADAM type pedals). I love that it gives me all kinds of options for tone/sound/eq, the headphone out is great, it's a DI that can be used as an audio interface into my laptop, it has cab sim, and I could go on and on about how great it is. Only downside is price, and the fact that it is mounted on my pedal board (for gigs and band practice) and I don't want to dig that out and set it up each time I just want a headphone option.

2 - Zoom B1X. I LOVE this pedal. I have had more than a couple zoom multi-effects pedals and for what they are and what they cost they're hard to beat. Not all of the effects sound excellent, but the ones I use regularly sound fine. For practice, it's hard to beat. Plug in bass, plug in headphones and play. It's got a built-in drum machine and metronome which is decent, built-in tuner, looper, headphone volume control, and SO many other features. It's also super user friendly. As much as I love the DG A/O Photon, I find the Zoom pedal to be more convenient and as a result of that it's become one of my main practice tools. (I even use it regularly plugged into my practice amp to practice with volume).

My practice amp is a small Ampeg, and it has a headphone out that I use sometimes as well, but it's hard to beat the convenience and portability of the zoom pedal so it is my go-to.

 

[OldBlue61]

I see no one has mentioned the Ampeg SCR-DI? I was looking at that so any input would be helpful.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Nux Mighty Plug Pro. Perfect practice tool. Recommended.

can you use Bluetooth for headphones?

 

[JKos]

can you use Bluetooth for headphones?

Bluetooth has too much latency to be used going to headphones for playing.

 

[lermgalieu]

I see no one has mentioned the Ampeg SCR-DI? I was looking at that so any input would be helpful.

It's a solid piece of kit, but unless you actually like the Scrambler side, it's a waste of space and weight. I think the Scrambler sounds bad and it's a weird thing to have on a DI pedal. Just my opinion. That said, I used one as a headphone amp for quite a while.

 

[OldBlue61]

It's a solid piece of kit, but unless you actually like the Scrambler side, it's a waste of space and weight. I think the Scrambler sounds bad and it's a weird thing to have on a DI pedal. Just my opinion. That said, I used one as a headphone amp for quite a while.

I could do w/o the scrambler circuit, but I thought it would make a good practice unit.

 

[lermgalieu]

I could do w/o the scrambler circuit, but I thought it would make a good practice unit.

For me the winners have been the Phil Jones BigHead and Boss Waza Air. But we all have different tastes and needs. SCR-DI is solid at what it does, for sure.

 

[Lonnybass]

Scott-

Welcome to California! We moved here six years ago and love it. Where did you move?

 

[SoulReflection]

I don't have my amp at home. No room for it, really. Not even the head.

Maybe I should explain my situation a little more. I just moved from Wisconsin to California, mostly for work. Unfortunately, housing is expensive here and I find myself in a situation where I have neither the room nor volume to play out loud. Even putting the TC E on a flat surface is inconvenient.

On top of that, I have just given up driving because of my deteriorating eyesight. So taking equipment back and forth from the studio or rehearsal space is, again, inconvenient.

I have a Scarlett 2i2 that connects to my laptop which runs Reaper. I have several Reaper plugins that give me the ability to run different amps and cab sims. The Scarlett's head phone jack is great for silent practice and recording. I also have some small monitors that don't over-power the house/neighborhood.

For my old eyes, I have a 32" tv/monitor and curtailed my driving.

It is everything I need including collaborating with others over the internet and fits nicely on a corner desk.

Let me know if you want more info...

 

[Fat Bottom Kyle]

The Boss Waze headphones were a game changer for me. They are so freeing and sound incredible. I throw on a playlist and walk around in my backyard thumping away.