https://www.nuxefx.com/mighty-plug.html
Hi folks
Full disclosure - NUX haven't paid me for this review but if they'd like to, let it be known that I'm happy to say whatever they/you like for cash.
I play through headphones a lot. Rather than seeing it as a way of 'getting by' before being able to use a bass rig, I have made them central to my home setup where I do 90% of my playing. I'm using a Roland VB99 and a bass board by Tecamp for tactile feedback when playing along with music on Spotify or tracks I'm playing on for people. I love it because it's dead quiet, I can control the sound to my tastes exactly, nothing in the room rattles (or if it does then I can't hear it!) and I can rest easy knowing nobody else can hear me and steal my amazing basslines.
I'm very picky when it comes to in-ear or headphone sound and especially sensitive to noise and distortion, having being spoilt by a crystal clear sound from the (outdated but very much still current) Roland.
In the past I have tried lots of small battery powered headphone amplifiers, looking in essence for a small portable version of my home setup which in my head should be quite possible these days. I've been really frustrated by the ones I have tried so far - either they don't take batteries, they have loads of white noise, digital noise or otherwise, they are awkward, necessitating cables going in and out and all around, especially when adding a phone with some music to play to into the mix, and they lack any signal processing or adjustability. Most of them are cheap, like the Vox Amplug, and aren't intended to be anything more than a little gadget which might very well do for using now and then, so that's understandable.
Enter the NUX Mighty Plug!
Advantages:
- It's super quiet. When you're not playing there is a barely perceptible yet smooth and more than acceptable level of noise. On some settings this is enhanced when playing clean and solo but negligible and inaudible when playing along with anything.
- The app. I can open the app on my phone which connects to the plug by bluetooth. No extra cables! It has backing tracks, a drum machine and (for bass) three saveable presets with a good range of effects, cabs, apps and reverbs (which I find essential for solo noodling).
- I can play music from my phone (Spotify, Youtube, whatever) to the plug and jam along, and there's even an EQ preset for the incoming audio to scoop out the bass which is quite neat.
- It drives my IEMs fine and gan go VERY loud, but I think it sounds far better at low volume
- Internal battery which seems to last very well. You could charge it from a power bank if you were hiding from an invading army and working with a guerrilla resistance force in the mountains with no access to power
- Price! I paid £62 with delivery and stuff from here
Disadvantages:
- Doesn't drive my over ear headphones as well as IEMs - it doesn't go as loud and rolls off the treble a bit, but using a second preset I can save a separate setting for them and adjust to compensate.
- Has a micro USB input for power, which are the worst connectors ever invented and never seem to accept a cable regardless of the angle of attack or thrust. USB-C would have been nice
- No compressor/limiter 'effect' - I think this would have elevated it to be the perfect device. Currently it takes some getting used to the way it behaves with different basses to get a good consistent sound which doesn't;t distort the output, hence a preference for using it at lover volumes. I think a limiter would have been a great addition, but potentially it would introduce some noise which would be counterproductive. A good limiter wouldn't be an easy 'effect' to add, maybe.
So that's about it - but then I plugged it into my Backbeat
Insane! The backbeat can work in several ways - it can 'rumble' just your bass, pass that to the NUX then your headphones, or rumble the NUX including the backing tracks then go to headphones - but I prefer the former at lower volumes. The effect of feeling the bass means you can play very quietly and still feel every note. I'm well used to the feeling after using a TecAmp Bassboard for years but it's quite a weird experience having the same feeling in a portable package.
So I'm very pleased with it; for the price I think it's absolutely brilliant!
Cheers
ped