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Headphone practice rigs? What are you using?


Bigwan
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As the title says, i'm interested to see what people are using for personal headphones practice.

Myself I'm using using a line 6 UX2 into my laptop or iMac, but was wondering what portable alternatives there were. Used to use an iRig and the GK app on my iPhone but found the sound quality uninspiring to say the least, and have since dumped my iPhone for a Samsung Note.

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I use a Korg Pandora PX3B jobby I bought years ago in London for way too much. Probably a better, and cheaper, updated version available by now. Decent sound, eq is grand and editable on each patch. Drum presets are cheesy but grand for practicing. Handy feature is the 'Phrase' function which lets you create a loop of whatever audio comes thru the Aux input. Oh, and it has an Aux input too ;)

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Mp3 player / Samsung phone >>> Korg Pandora PX4-D >>> Sennheiser HD215 (mk1)
Done.

Biggest bit is the headphones!
Works fine, but when you go back to any kind of amp, the natural room reverb you get from whatever environment you're in comes as a bit of a culture shock.
Conversely, the amount of finger/fret noise (etc.) you get through headphones soon teaches you fretting hand discipline!

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Pair of cheap £15 Sony headphones from Argos. Tascam Bass Trainer, but it doesn't play CD's anymore so I connect a line in from my pc or phome which plays mp3's. I also have a small 20w practice amp with headphones & line in connections.

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I either run my entire pedalboard (finishing with the Zoom B3) straight into AKG headphones which gives me a very good representation of my actual tone...

But if I cant be arsed to spend ages setting up, I just use the headphone out on my Marshall B25 :)

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I use a Zoom b2.1u into a Senhiesser HD 201's.... not perfect but it gets it done. If I eq out some lows I can get far too loud.
If I leave it flat it distorts with all the lows at medium to high volumes. I like it like that, means I can keep overall volume controlled.

I think headphones and earphones are a little risky as you can get relatively high dB's at those tiny distances.... with care and restraint it's no worse than practicing at moderate volume without ear protection.

Edited by PlungerModerno
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I use my DHA VT1 Bass Drive-EQ which is on my pedal board and I also use for my DI so it gives a close representation of my FOH sound. I also own a Zoom B3 which I use at home to practice with the drum machine and experiment with funky effects and generally make noise :)

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For portability you can't beat the Vox AmPlug range of headphone amps... they plug directly into your jack socket. Mine runs for about 12 hours on a pair of decent alkaline AAA batteries. Plug in an MP3 player, lightweight headphones and run around the garden like an idiot whilst you practice your stage act... the sound quality is surprisingly good for such a small and handy device. Just the job for warming up backstage, too. Expect to pay about £30 for one.

See here: [url="http://www.voxamps.com/amplug/"]http://www.voxamps.com/amplug/[/url]

Edited by BassBollocks
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A Soundcraft Compact Mixer. Bass goes in, either from a DI box, my amp's DI, or just straight in. Line out from pc goes in for practicing along to mp3s etc. Then there's headphones (need some good ones) and the recording out goes back to my pc to record tracks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' timestamp='1342625325' post='1738134']
I use a Korg Pandora PX3B jobby I bought years ago in London for way too much. Probably a better, and cheaper, updated version available by now. Decent sound, eq is grand and editable on each patch. Drum presets are cheesy but grand for practicing. Handy feature is the 'Phrase' function which lets you create a loop of whatever audio comes thru the Aux input. Oh, and it has an Aux input too ;)
[/quote]

Yep, same here (except I have the next model up, the PX4B). Great piece of kit and very affordable.

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Cafe Walter battery amp. Nice and simple and very good sound (for iPod and bass). Gets through batteries if you use it a lot, and they are much more expensive now, as exchange rates have gone up since I got it. I only use it these days when I have to learn something in a hurry...but when the kids were young it got used a lot more. Now I'll play an acoustic bass rather then plug in.

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I plug a pair of Sennheiser HD200s into a Tascam GTR-1. It has workable and tweakable amp presets and basic effects as well as various drum patterns, loop functions, tempo settings, the ability to take out bass parts and recording and overdubbing facilities. Let's not forget the built-in tuner and microphones that allow you to record band practise sessions. This could easily be my favourite piece of kit (other than my guitars and amp).

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