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Effect pedal vs Practice Amp


Dennis1971
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Just been looking at the thread on the Zoom B1 Four, would this be a good alternative to a small practice amp?

Debate I am with myself is do I buy a practice amp for home use or something to use with headphones. Advantage of the practice amp will be that you can be plugged in, play and have a video playing on youtube. 

Anyone prefer one or the other and why?

 

Just trying to figure out what to buy... knowing myself it will be 300W and a bit loud for at home.

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21 minutes ago, Dennis1971 said:

Debate I am with myself is do I buy a practice amp for home use or something to use with headphones. Advantage of the practice amp will be that you can be plugged in, play and have a video playing on youtube.

You can do this with Zoom by plugging a cable from your computer/phone into the Zoom's aux in.

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30 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

You can do this with Zoom by plugging a cable from your computer/phone into the Zoom's aux in.

This. Use the amp and cab simulator too and sound better than a practice amp!

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For reasons I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I really dislike practice amps and using amps at home. They rattle everything. They seldom sound much good at low volume. You can hear the acoustic sound of your bass over the amplified sound. People can hear you. 

A headphone solution is amazing. You can also get the perfect mix in your cans for playing along with music.

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I do this with my b3n when I'm away for work (another reason not to sell it!). Laptop into zoom via the aux and out to headphones,  it works well! 

I have played around with audio interfaces and then vst amps but unless your computer is bonkersly fast theres always latency.  Plus somehow faffing with vst plugins is less fun than actual musical kit somehow...!

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14 hours ago, ahpook said:

I think I'd still want a small amp...

Just to be able to make things rattle now and again :)

This - I'd get an amp with an aux in and headphone out. I do love my little practice devices and multi-fx boxes, but only because I already have an amp.

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Go for a pedal with an aux in and a phone out  and choose a good headphone.

If the pedal has also a DI out (such as the Zoom B3, TC Spectradrive, Palmer Pocket...), maybe you'll never need any amp at all.

This way, you'll save money for a good and loud amp if you really need one.

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35 minutes ago, Helbass said:

Go for a pedal with an aux in and a phone out  and choose a good headphone.

If the pedal has also a DI out (such as the Zoom B3, TC Spectradrive, Palmer Pocket...), maybe you'll never need any amp at all.

This way, you'll save money for a good and loud amp if you really need one.

+1 ^^ This! 

It seems to me that you've got two opposing schools of thought here. We're probably all exactly right (for ourselves) and all wrong (for folks who take the opposite view) 😂

Bit like should your pedal velcro be hooks on board or on pedal, or should your compressor be at the start or the end of the chain?

The key questions that underpin the nature of space and time as we know it...

Edited by Al Krow
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18 hours ago, Dennis1971 said:

Just been looking at the thread on the Zoom B1 Four, would this be a good alternative to a small practice amp?

Debate I am with myself is do I buy a practice amp for home use or something to use with headphones. Advantage of the practice amp will be that you can be plugged in, play and have a video playing on youtube. 

Anyone prefer one or the other and why?

 

Just trying to figure out what to buy... knowing myself it will be 300W and a bit loud for at home.

i cant really use a rig in my flat, so always go for the headphone option. it suits me and means i can practice anywhere, and also play my ipad though it. Saying that, i do occasionally plug whatever im using (Zoom/Spectradrive etc) in to my Bluetooth speaker, via a cable, and that sounds lovely. Very punchy and loads of bass, without the volume id have to go to if using a rig.

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I'm another one who doesn't like practice amps, I'd rather play without an amp than use a practice amp.

I'd go with the Zoom B1 over an amp (and possibly a B3n over the B1), as it'll give you a bit of flexibility if you want to integrate some effects into your "playing out" rig.

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