Bass to Headphones

[2elliot]

Hi,

I'm getting back into the groove after a number of years in the wilderness. So I've dug out my old gear, Warwick Thumb NT 4, Trace Elliot 1225v and a Zoom 506 box.

The bass has been away for a service and is sounding great, and the combo still knocks out a fantastic rumble. But together they are way to loud for home use. I invested in a pair of good head phones and wired up the Zoom 506 for a good rattle... it sounds crap. Cheap with a big dose of hiss.

I'm looking for a box (?) to plug the bass and headphones in that will give me a warm, natural sound without having to use the Trace Elliot. I haven't a clue what is available so any help would be appreciated.

The last boxes I can remember getting reviewed were Bass Pod and a Sansamp. At the time they both received good write ups and I always thought the Sansamp looked cool...

I could go to £150-£200 so anything below that would be great, second hand gear would not be an issue.

Cheers

Bren

[lefrash]

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/zoom-b9.1ut/26145

one of these. Amazing bit of kit! Sounds great (to my ears anyway) through earphones. Plus you're buying a very usable bit of gear. Its pretty big though so perhaps its not a perfect solution, but such a good deal just now!

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I have a line 6 toneport gx(with podfarm).
Plug the box into the USB socket of your pc/mac and off you go
Someone here is selling one

[Prunesquallor]

One of these: http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/b3

All the cool kids are using them.

[dudewheresmybass]

I have one of these for when my boys are asleep

http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/electro-harmonix-headphone-amp-1318-p.asp

[2elliot]

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1354882944' post='1891551']
[url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/zoom-b9.1ut/26145"]http://www.gak.co.uk...om-b9.1ut/26145[/url]

one of these. Amazing bit of kit! Sounds great (to my ears anyway) through earphones. Plus you're buying a very usable bit of gear. Its pretty big though so perhaps its not a perfect solution, but such a good deal just now!
[/quote]

Wow, that looks impressive. I'll do a bit of research on it, thanks.

Thank for all the quick replies.

[paul_5]

http://www.davehallamps.co.uk/page29.html

brilliant valve pre/overdrive with a line in and headphone out too. It's my main DI and practice tool.

[andydye]

The sfx micro-h is stunning! Bass and mp3 in each with vol control and then a headphone out, sounds brilliant! I love mine!!

[Fender_Greg]

I've got this little vox plug-in thing. Literally fits in you palm, was about £30 and sounds amazing for just practicing with headphones. Used it through my uni course to hear myself in class.

Just a cheap idea for you to save some money

[lefrash]

[quote name='2elliot' timestamp='1354901751' post='1891897']
Wow, that looks impressive. I'll do a bit of research on it, thanks.

Thank for all the quick replies.
[/quote]

Just to let you know, theres a good few threads about this on basschat already. I've owned one less than a month, but I've gigged it already a number of times and it sounds awesome. Great low end, and the digital effects (including overdrive) sound great.

As a practice tool, Its great too, lots of cool effects to muck about with and it has an aux in, head phone out. Lots of connections to a pc if you really want to go down that route. It also has a basic looper (which to be honest is too short to be useful IMO).

Once you spend a wee while getting your head round it then it'l be great fun! Alot of the presets are very useable already so no need to get to bogged down (there not all whacky phaser effects n'all that, quite alot are just amp models).

[DarkHeart]

I got a Korg Bass ax1 off the bay for £25 a year ago and it does fine plus you can use it through an amp or theres always the behringer bass vamp that you can get cheap

[Jack]

As an alternative to all of these great suggestions, I would recommend a small mixer. You can plug an external source in from your pc to play along with and it's useful in all sorts of other situations besides just practicing with headphones.

[Mudpup]

No brainer - that Zoom B9 from GAK or DV247!!!!
Had one a few weeks now and for £100 theres nothing coming close.

[chrismuzz]

Another vote for Zoom here! I use the B3 for silent practicing, loud practicing, rehearsals and gigs!

[BetaFunk]

POCKET ROCKIT V2B...........Headphone Amplifier. £35 (inc headphones) bought years ago and wouldn't be without it. Battery powered, just plug it in your bass and play.................silently.

[basskit_case]

Vox do a headphone version of the amplugs now, set of headphones that plug straight into your bass. £99 and only one cable

http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Vox-amPhones-Active-Bass-Guitar-Headphones/O6B

Edited December 14, 2012 by basskit_case

[BassPimp66]

I use this to play with headphones and do recording:

[url="http://uk.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i2"]http://uk.focusrite....es/scarlett-2i2[/url] great sound with headphones

I add a TECH 21 VT Bass in the signal chain to get some amp simulation

[url="http://tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/characterseries.html"]http://tech21nyc.com...cterseries.html[/url]

SIMPLES !

Edited December 14, 2012 by BassPimp66

[JimBobTTD]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1354903146' post='1891919']
[url="http://www.davehallamps.co.uk/page29.html"]http://www.davehalla....uk/page29.html[/url]

brilliant valve pre/overdrive with a line in and headphone out too. It's my main DI and practice tool.
[/quote]

I have one of these, but the headphone out is far too noisy on mine to be of any use. I occasionally use the DI from it to a small mixer and then the headphone out on that for quiet practice. But I mostly use a Line6 Pod. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and the marketplace here often has a couple up for sale. I used to have a Toneport (required a computer) which was great, but I find that the Pod XT Pro (rackmount) is better. It can be connected to a computer for easy patch editing but can be used by itself. It's a fantastic piece of kit.

[jaydentaku]

My EHX headphone amp is fantastic.

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1355473142' post='1898715']
I have one of these, but the headphone out is far too noisy on mine to be of any use. I occasionally use the DI from it to a small mixer and then the headphone out on that for quiet practice.
[/quote]

I had the same problem and ended up using the same solution.

Now I'm using a Hartke Bass Attack and a mixer---lets me play along to music on my PC, feed the signal back into my PC, all sorts of fancy things. The Bass Attack (Second hand) and 6 channel mixer (Cheap) cost me less than £100 all in.

[gafbass02]

Another +1 for the zoom b9.1 here. I've used mine for about five years now. Amazing gear.

[2elliot]

B9 on it's way.

[jjay69]

My vote goes for this, an excellent and multi use bit of kit, guitar lead in/headphones out, your playing. Fill it with mp3's play along, speed up/slow down tracks, has loads of rythyms and beats built in, choose different amp types, some basic effects and for me best of all, stick it in the middle of the room and record hours and hours of rehearsals at any number of different MP3 quality settings, to give damn good results.

http://tascam.com/product/gt-r1/

Best thing i've bought in years

[Mornats]

Off the back of this, what headphones are you guys using through these devices? Studio references 'phones or hi-fi ones?

[simonc61]

This looks like it could be the solution to my home practicing problems. Anyone with the Zoom B9 know if you can record into Logic with it?