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Practice Bass


fatboyslimfast
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Hi all,

I work in an office where I have a 1 hr lunch break. Normally I end up on t'interweb whilst eating me sarnies at the desk. Not a hugely productive use of my time. Not much to do outside except spend money, and in winter it's tedious.

I do have a server room which has a fair bit of space in it (and is basically controlled by me). I'm thinking that maybe 1/2hr a day during lunchtimes would be a good way to get some extra scales practice in.

Thing is, the office is very quiet, so using an amp is out of the question.

So here's my thinking. Get hold of a 2nd P-bass as cheaply as possible (sub £50 - just something to noodle on), mod it to include a small headphone amplifier and space for a 9V battery to power it, using the volume control as a volume control for the amp.

I've found a tiny little 1W amp[url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/1w-amplifier-kit-220054"] from Maplin [/url]for a fiver or so...

I did consider the VoxPlug thing, but I don't want to spend another £40 on top of the bass, and the idea of buying a cheapy is so I can leave it in work without having to lug the VMJ in and out on the bike!

Any thoughts?

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Grab a Korg PX4D. Absolutely fantastic bit of kit and well worth the money. Tonnes of preset sounds, backing drums (some half decent), you can plug in an mp3 player and jam along to tracks, slow them down, speed them up, adjust pitch and even remove the bass from the tracks so all you hear is you.
The greatest thing with it for me, is that you can record a wee chord loop (using your bass perhaps) and noodle along to that. I find it a great song writing tool too.
I have mine hooked up to a nice sounding Logitech 2.1 setup in my living room for home jamming but sometimes go for a wander about the house with headphones plugged in.
When mine eventually wears out, I wouldn't hesitate to get another.

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Thanks for the response. The Korg does seem a good device, but I was really wanting to avoid a load of wires in and out, and just be able to plug in and play.

Also at £100, it's a little too much for me at present. I was hoping to get away with less than £80ish, including the bass. It's really only for scales practice when at work.

Edited by fatboyslimfast
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You could try looking for a Tascam bass trainer. Bass in, headphones out, that's it. You'll get bells and whistles like speed up/slow down/pitch change/bass cut/boost/enhance and tuner, metronome, effects too. You should be able to pick up one of the old CD based ones quite cheaply, and even the MP-BT1 shouldn't be so bad now that it's been superseded. Plus it'll be handy at home too.

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Practice combos go very cheaply on ebay, doesn't need to be a good one, just one with a headphone outlet. Plug in your 'phones, the speaker is almost always disconnected when you do, and away you go. Get one with two inputs and you can plug in your mp3 player to accompany.

I bought a Hartke 20W combo this way, still in its box for £10. Here's an example:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-MicroBass-20-Watt-Practice-Amp-/320724396904?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaca9eb68"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-MicroBass-20-...=item4aaca9eb68[/url]

and here's a bass:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Starfire-Bass-Guitar-/280705984838?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item415b616946"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Starfire-Bass-Guitar...=item415b616946[/url]

Can't see too many bids going on these, could do it all for less than a fiver!

Edit - couldn't resist, here's another: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stagg-Electric-Bass-Guitar-and-Amplifier-/320723390903?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4aac9a91b7"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stagg-Electric-Bass-...=item4aac9a91b7[/url]

Edited by 4 Strings
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+1 on the Korg Pandora PX4d.
I have a second-hand one (Ebay!), and it's great. Wires? Yes. 3. 2 of which you'd have to have on any such device;

i) bass input
ii) headphone output

iii) for another input (mp3 player/mobile phone etc.)

I use a big pair of Sennheiser HD 415 mk1 closed-back headphones. Plenty of proper bass (not the psychoacoustic trickery purveyed by your average in-ear item) and little sound leakage in or out.

It's my home practice set-up. No "Amp" required. Does even my best instruments justice.

[u]Pros[/u]: Small. Discrete. Works well. Plenty to fiddle with if you want, good plug & play ability if you don't.[b] It has a tuner built in[/b]. Handles active and passive basses.

[u]Cons:[/u] A little costly. Mains adapter is extra, otherwise it's batteries- I use 1200mAh NiMh rechargeables and they last ages.

Can you lock your server room, and are you the only one with a key? The Pandora/MP3/Headphones would fit in a desk drawer...

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[quote name='4 Strings' post='1297399' date='Jul 8 2011, 04:33 PM']Practice combos go very cheaply on ebay, doesn't need to be a good one, just one with a headphone outlet. Plug in your 'phones, the speaker is almost always disconnected when you do, and away you go. Get one with two inputs and you can plug in your mp3 player to accompany.
I bought a Hartke 20W combo this way, still in its box for £10. Here's an example:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-MicroBass-20-Watt-Practice-Amp-/320724396904?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaca9eb68"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-MicroBass-20-...=item4aaca9eb68[/url]
and here's a bass:
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Starfire-Bass-Guitar-/280705984838?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item415b616946"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Starfire-Bass-Guitar...=item415b616946[/url]
Can't see too many bids going on these, could do it all for less than a fiver!
Edit - couldn't resist, here's another: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stagg-Electric-Bass-Guitar-and-Amplifier-/320723390903?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4aac9a91b7"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stagg-Electric-Bass-...=item4aac9a91b7[/url][/quote]

I'm with this guy! Sounds like the best and cheapest idea yet

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[quote name='fatboyslimfast' post='1297169' date='Jul 8 2011, 01:20 PM']I've found a tiny little 1W amp[url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/1w-amplifier-kit-220054"] from Maplin [/url]for a fiver or so...

Any thoughts?[/quote]

I bought one of those Maplin amps and put it in a project box.

I wired it centre -ve so I could use my std boss power supply.

It was great for using it at work. You could easily embed it behind a scratch plate.

If you are at work, better go down the psu route instead of batteries.

Headphones and you are done!

Since getting a Korg, I use the amp as an in ear monitor, taking a feed from the mixing desk :)

Edited by Blademan_98
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