dave_bass5 Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 56 minutes ago, chaypup said: I use the vox ampeg headphone amp. Cheap as chips and easy to use - turn on, plug in, play How does that work with playing along to MP3’s? Does it have an aux in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huge Hands Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 12 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said: How does that work with playing along to MP3’s? Does it have an aux in? I believe it does. I recently bought the Nux GP-1 from Amazon for about £10 because I was concerned about wasting more on the Vox if I didn't like it and reviews had said they'd used the Nux for bass. If you're into premium tone, then don't buy this, but if you mess around with the gain and tone controls, you can usually get a fairly distortion free sound. I have only tried it with an active bass so far, a passive may be better and less likely to over drive it. In summary, you get what you pay for. I would love a PJ Big Head, but I can't justify £200+ at the moment. For a tenner, this is more than fine for a quick practice without messing about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Cheers. i just looked this up and it looks quite cool. Appreciate the lower quality of sound, but quite handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Zoom B1ON cheap as chips, built in tuner and drum machine, cab and amp emulation so sounds great and you can connect anything with a headphone output. All sorts of other features too. Runs for about a week on AA rechargeables which means you can practice anywhere without being tethered to a power supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 (edited) Why not just go down the simple route? get yourself a small practise amp such as a Roland Micro Cube. All you need to do is plug your mp3 source (mp3 player, phone, laptop, etc) into the aux-in, headphones into the headphone socket, and away you go, silent practise made easy, and if you do want to do away with the headphones occasionally, you have a great sounding little amp that won't annoy the neighbours. Edited February 8, 2018 by thebrig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 1 hour ago, Phil Starr said: Zoom B1ON cheap as chips, built in tuner and drum machine, cab and amp emulation so sounds great and you can connect anything with a headphone output. All sorts of other features too. Runs for about a week on AA rechargeables which means you can practice anywhere without being tethered to a power supply. I just ordered one of these to replace my B3n for home practice. Being able to power it off batteries will mean less wires. I only use one set of sounds at home and it looks like the B1 has more than i need. Can i ask if it has a volume knob that only effects the B1 tones (i will read the manual before it arrives). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 The volume controls are in the patches. So for example my favourite tones are A2 and A3 from the pre loaded sounds, Select these then select the amp. That's a Hartke HA 3500 on one of those. You can then select the controls on those and adjust them as if you had the amp there. The only problem is that you can only adjust one at a time but for a simple change in volume it's quick and easy. I'm set up so all I do nowadays is plug and play. If I wanted to use something like this live I'd go for the B3 just to cut down on scrolling through the patches Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 19 minutes ago, Phil Starr said: The volume controls are in the patches. So for example my favourite tones are A2 and A3 from the pre loaded sounds, Select these then select the amp. That's a Hartke HA 3500 on one of those. You can then select the controls on those and adjust them as if you had the amp there. The only problem is that you can only adjust one at a time but for a simple change in volume it's quick and easy. I'm set up so all I do nowadays is plug and play. If I wanted to use something like this live I'd go for the B3 just to cut down on scrolling through the patches Thanks for the reply. I normally use dbx160 - BDDI - DG B7K. That's all i need in my B3n for home use. Occasionally i need to turn the overall volume up or down, in relation to the ipads volume level, and on the B3n there is a dedicated master volume knob, rather than doing it at patch level. Not a deal breaker though. As i wont need more than one patch i guess i could duplicate it a couple of times at different levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribbetingfrog Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 On 07/02/2018 at 09:37, dave_bass5 said: Why not just play the MP3 file outside GB? They can play in the background (or foreground) while using GB as an amp sim. Gets too troublesome playing a track then closing the app to go back to garage band and having missed the start of the song I wanted to play along to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 Really? On my ipad once GB is set up with an amp sim running and in the background i dont need to open it agin unless i want to change the tone etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolo Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 I'm looking at purchasing a Apogee Jam for ipad interface, looks solid. Anyone use one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 After just 24 hours I’m sending my B1on back. Tone wise I think its nicer than my B3n. The tones seem richer and deeper, without the slight low end mud i feel my B3n has (on headphones at least). But the noise is not something I cant live with. There is a slight buzzing sound on most of the patches, and a lot when i use more high gain patches. Although i can get it down it means using EQ or changing the tone i want. I know its only £55 so there will be compromises, but as i have the B3n as well ill stick with that for now. I have tried different cables/headphones and tried both battery and PSU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 12 hours ago, Bolo said: I'm looking at purchasing a Apogee Jam for ipad interface, looks solid. Anyone use one? I used to have one. I had no complaints but i had to sell it when i switched to a lightning port ipad. The new cable was just too much to pay for and i really wasn’t using it much anyway. I now have a iRig HD and to be honest i cant hear any difference, although thats just from memory. I’d go for the cheaper option asked on previous experience, or maybe the newer version of the iRig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, ribbetingfrog said: Gets too troublesome playing a track then closing the app to go back to garage band and having missed the start of the song I wanted to play along to. Are you familiar with all the gestures on iOS? Swipe up twice from the bottom and you get your play/pause control right there. Or swipe up once, then drag your music player on screen and you have it in a mini floating window, which you can dismiss by swiping it to the side, and bring it back by swiping in from the edge. Also you can swipe with 4 fingers left or right to quickly switch apps. Edited February 10, 2018 by dannybuoy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontregartha Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 I use an iRig and Capo - you can get capotouch for the iPad and Iphone. I've even used an iRig to sit back stage at a gig when I was still learning the parts to swot up my starts. You plug your guitar into the main socket and phones into the mini socket and then stick the whole lot into the headphone socket - easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubbersoul Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 I’ve an iPad Air and an irig knock-off. Use AmpliTube into GarageBand and it’s fine for practice and for jotting ideas down. Quality isn’t great but that really doesn’t matter for what I use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 12 hours ago, dave_bass5 said: After just 24 hours I’m sending my B1on back. Tone wise I think its nicer than my B3n. The tones seem richer and deeper, without the slight low end mud i feel my B3n has (on headphones at least). But the noise is not something I cant live with. There is a slight buzzing sound on most of the patches, and a lot when i use more high gain patches. Although i can get it down it means using EQ or changing the tone i want. I know its only £55 so there will be compromises, but as i have the B3n as well ill stick with that for now. I have tried different cables/headphones and tried both battery and PSU. Changed my mind. It’s not as bad as I thought, once i got the levels sorted out, and after going back and forth between the B1on and B3n i actualy prefer the tone of the B1on. It’s a shame the extra noise is there but its not going to be intrusive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 9 hours ago, dave_bass5 said: Changed my mind. It’s not as bad as I thought, once i got the levels sorted out, and after going back and forth between the B1on and B3n i actualy prefer the tone of the B1on. It’s a shame the extra noise is there but its not going to be intrusive. I was feeling guilty about that, phew. I don't use fx but a lot of the separate fx are noisy and it's hard to set up the gain structure to limit it. I spent hours in the past trying to sort out my guitard's board. Yeah you get a fair amount of hiss on a lot of the patches but all I use is the amp sims and a bit of compression so it isn't an issue for me. That's interesting though I'd assumed the patches would be the same in most cases. Can you update them on the B3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 2 hours ago, Phil Starr said: I was feeling guilty about that, phew. I don't use fx but a lot of the separate fx are noisy and it's hard to set up the gain structure to limit it. I spent hours in the past trying to sort out my guitard's board. Yeah you get a fair amount of hiss on a lot of the patches but all I use is the amp sims and a bit of compression so it isn't an issue for me. That's interesting though I'd assumed the patches would be the same in most cases. Can you update them on the B3? Nah, i do a lot of research on YT etc, so i wouldn't just go by one recommendation, although you did put the idea in my head. I really like it, and if i didn't have the B3n i wouldn't even have commented. It was just a shock when i first plugged it in. Without a bass on the end its really, really loud. The B3n is more or less silent like this. Once im playing along to my ipad its all fine though. The patch i wanted to set up didnt seem to work as well, with all the parameters the same on both units, but most of the B1on pre-sets seem to be quite usable once i tamed the drive and level settings. I like how the amp sims have the cabs built in to them, whereas the B3n doesn't. The B1on also seems to have a few FX/sims that the B3n doesn't have. As long as i keep away from bright settings its all good. Its not like ill use it live so just one comp/amp patch is really all ill need. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 On 11/02/2018 at 09:55, Phil Starr said: I was feeling guilty about that, phew. I don't use fx but a lot of the separate fx are noisy and it's hard to set up the gain structure to limit it. I spent hours in the past trying to sort out my guitard's board. Yeah you get a fair amount of hiss on a lot of the patches but all I use is the amp sims and a bit of compression so it isn't an issue for me. That's interesting though I'd assumed the patches would be the same in most cases. Can you update them on the B3? Being the indecisive bugger that i am, ive sent the B1on back. I spent a lot of time with it yesterday, and loved using it, but i couldn't get rid of the top end that every thing seemed to have. As i play with a pick it became quite annoying. Switching back and forth between this and the B3n showed the B3n didn't suffer from this. Both sounded good but the B3n just seemed a bit more usable to my ears. Also the BDDI patch on the B13on, with the drive up, was horribly noisy, whereas the B3n wasn't anywhere near this. Glad i tired it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morsefull Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 I’ve bitten the bullet and ordered an iRig HD 2. We’ll see how easy it is for a complete technophobe like me to work with Garage band . It comes with a stripped down version of Amplitude apparently as well. oh the learning curve ahead.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 4 hours ago, morsefull said: I’ve bitten the bullet and ordered an iRig HD 2. We’ll see how easy it is for a complete technophobe like me to work with Garage band . It comes with a stripped down version of Amplitude apparently as well. oh the learning curve ahead.......... Nice one. Although it works perfectly well with GB my preferred Amp sim app is Ampkit. This has not only the usual SVT/Fender style stuff but also Peavey/Ashdown and TE rigs, plus BDDI sim. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 (edited) I didn’t suppose anyone is using a GK Plex with ipad? I had a quick play on one today and fell in love with it (over my B3n). I almost ordered one but ive read that there could be an updated version coming soon, or maybe its just a FW update. Seeing as i own a MB800 this might be just the ticket. Edited February 13, 2018 by dave_bass5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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