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Vox AmPlug Bass headphone amp


Silvia Bluejay
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Anyone else find that it's absolute rubbish?

Tried it with passive fretless 5-stringer with very bright D'Addario Chromes - a bass that sounds like a dream under all other conditions - and all I can hear in my Sennheiser earphones is a big wet fart.

Tried it with active fretted 4-stringer with Thomastik flats, another bass that sounds great (in fact even too bright) on a normal amp, and the result is exactly the same.

The reason for the fart is that I have to turn the bass's volume knob and all the Amplug's rotary controls (including the gain) to the max - with any other setting the output is barely audible. Also, even with both the tone knob on the basses and the tone wheel on the Amplug turned to max treble, the output is extremely dull and horrible.

I cannot say that it doesn't work properly, I guess. It appears to work properly, in that it produces an output which changes in sound if I turn the effects on or off and if I tweak the controls. But that output is always unmitigated crap, no matter how I tweak it! My Pocket Rockit (with the same earphones) knocks the spots off the Amplug, despite itself being bloody cheap and nasty...

I haven't tried the Amplug with an MP3 input as well, and I don't think I will, seeing the above.

Any idea if a. I'm doing something wrong; or b. there might be something wrong with the individual unit I have?

Thank you all in advance!

Edited by bluejay
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odd...I had a rockit that I got rid of because it was hissy and pissy. I got an amplug and while it doesn't sound as good as an amp its quite good enough for practising. not had to turn it all the way up. using it with passive Precision and active (emg-p) Warmoth fretless fwiw.

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Hmm. The rockit [b]is[/b] hissy and pissy... but the Vox is worse! For a different reason, I must say. It hisses less, but only because the sound is far duller. And it farts, which the Rockit doesn't.

Not sure if I should ask the friend who gave me the Vox as a present to return it to Amazon and try another unit, or just resign myself to the fact that these small gadgets are crap and I need to splash out on a decent, more expensive device.

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Yes, it's rubbish in my opinion as well. That being said, in my experience it can be used for its purpose, so I'm inclined to think yours is faulty.

Happily, these days we have mobile apps that do the work sooo much better. OTOH, they require relatively expensive adapter cables that generally lack the sturdiness of the AmPlug.
Personally, I prefer the apps by far though, and just treat the cable carefully.

best,
bert

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When these came out pretty much *everyone* on Basschat was raving about them. I tried one in the shop and I'm pleased I did - it was rubbish!

I'm sure the Vox Amplug fans will be along to redress the balance shortly but the thing just couldn't take bass frequencies. It made me wonder from the old threads if they had good ones & bad ones with me just being unlucky. I just had a regular P-bass though the one I tried

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[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1336335554' post='1644222']
I got an amplug and while it doesn't sound as good as an amp its quite good enough for practising. not had to turn it all the way up. using it with passive Precision and active (emg-p) Warmoth fretless fwiw.
[/quote]

This has been my experience as well, with a passive P I've got the amplug volume on 4 and the gain on 6, it does seem to loose some of the high end but it's good enough for practicing. Headphones seem to make a difference aswell, my Sony MDR-V6's are much lounder and sound better than the ipod ones.

Edited by MrTaff
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This is interesting - I have one and really like it. I'm playing a Wizard 84 equipped bass through Newmark Redwave 'phones and it pro duces enough deep bass to melt my eardrums. Sure I [i]can [/i]make it hiss if I max out the gain, but I don't need to do that in order to get more than adequate volume. So - either I have a rare good one (unlikely) or my hearing is totally shot (possible) or I'm just not that fussy. Could it be the 'phones? I feel a bit lame now liking something that others really think is crap but it really does sound good to me.

Edited by Longmayyourun
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Because I'm paranoid I've just run mine up again. I [i]cannot[/i] make it fart at any bearable volume - i'm just getting solid sounding deep bass. Daft observation but are you sure the built in 'overdrive' is not turned on? that does sound a bit like an angry wasp on high gain.

And yes - it is a bit plasticky

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It farts both when the overdrive is turned on and - to a slighly lesser extent - when the effect(s) are off.

From your replies I begin to suspect that the quality of the gadget is very inconsistent and you guys may have got "good" ones, as BurritoBass says.

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Ive got one, its not brilliant but I plug the bass in and take a line in from the laptop and I can jam along with whatever i,m working on.
It does what I want it do do, but as i said, its not brilliant, and also quiet pricey too!

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OK, tried it on the NS upright and it doesn't fart or sound exceedingly dull. (Then again, neither does the Rockit.) The sound of the NS is very, very bright and "electric", and not very double-bassy even when it's on the the most double-bassy settings, so I guess it's suitable to the Vox. (That sound is not a bad thing, incidentally, as the NS is a 5-string electric upright, not a double bass.)

Anyway, I guess I'll put the Vox to more limited use than I expected - just on my uprights, as opposed to on all my bass guitars, and I'll stick with the Rockit for the bass guitars.

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i have one and i think it's pretty cool and sounds pretty good for a silent practice solution. although i don't like distortion on it, i only play with it all clean. i don't hear any fart at all. i play through a pair of Sennheiser HD-215 headphones.

i have the guitar one too for practising guitar. they both make my smaller the headphones far and distort. these things are very dependent on what you listen to them through. they also seem to distort a bit when the batteries' voltage drops.

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Danny, I don't think that's the problem, as the same headphones function perfectly with the Rockit (and everything else).

As I said, looks like I'll use the Vox for the uprights, which is where I was having problems with getting a decent sound out of the Rockit.

Paul, will check it out, thanks.

Edited by bluejay
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[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1336341485' post='1644357']


From your replies I begin to suspect that the quality of the gadget is very inconsistent and you guys may have got "good" ones, as BurritoBass says.
[/quote]

in the interests of science and investigative journalism, shall I post mine to you so you can compare?

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Not quite applicable, perhaps; I use the standard guitar version for both bass and guitar; no volume problems (can't turn it full up; too loud...). I never use the disto. facility. It does what it is supposed to do. I use rechargeables, which last a fair while before needing swapping.
It works well; unfortunately I'm not keen on the 'Vox' sound in the first place..! That's not the fault of the unit, though.

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1336341764' post='1644365']
Ive got one, its not brilliant but I plug the bass in and take a line in from the laptop and I can jam along with whatever i,m working on.
It does what I want it do do, but as i said, its not brilliant, and also quiet pricey too!
[/quote]
I think thats what 'effed mine up. Whenever I try and use it now, there is no signal from the bass (passive pbass) and it starts, sort of 'clicking' audio.
Guessing somethings gone horribly wrong inside!

[quote name='heminder' timestamp='1336344963' post='1644407']
i play through a pair of Sennheiser HD-215 headphones.
[/quote]

Same headphones here, and when mine did work, I couldn't really get any decent volume with it. If I turned up either master vol or gain, its started sounding very scratchy.

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[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1336378331' post='1644539']
in the interests of science and investigative journalism, shall I post mine to you so you can compare?
[/quote]

Very nice of you to offer! Thank you, but I guess we don't need to do that, since the damn thing sounds acceptable on my two uprights, as opposed to my bass guitars. I therefore assume it simply dislikes Warwick's MEC pups (as well as being a generally cheap and nasty device!). Fair enough, I'll keep using the Rockit with them.

The main reason why I bought the Vox is that I hoped the effects would help add a bit of volume to the sound of my Harley Benton upright, which is a bit too quiet through the Rockit. I got that. Would have been nice for the Vox to be usable on my bass guitars too, but hey ho...

Thank you all for posting your opinions and experiences. Hopefully this thread will be useful to others.

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