Vox Amphones, or alternatives for home practice?

[Danny_777]

Ladies and gents,

I've a lovely bass incoming, with the intention of upping my bass chops during this period of isolation/WFH! Realistically this will comprise learning as many Joe Dart lines as my wife can tolerate.

I'm a guitarist, so plenty of amps but nothing much good for bass. No need for an amp, per se (plus I live in a terrace), but I was thinking of getting a pair of the Vox Amphones for self-practice/learning. Howeer the reviews are pretty dire. 

Any views on the best personal practice solutions? Ideally it woudl be great to run some audio into whatever I use as well.

Thanks in advance!

Edited March 18, 2020 by Danny_777

[jrixn1]

There are some women on the forum too.

I and many others use Zoom B1on.
powered by battery, mains, or usb.
headphone socket
aux in
tuner
drum machine + millions of effects (all of which can be ignore and bypassed)
 

[Danny_777]

12 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

There are some women on the forum too.

I and many others use Zoom B1on.
powered by battery, mains, or usb.
headphone socket
aux in
tuner
drum machine + millions of effects (all of which can be ignore and bypassed)
 

My apologies! Edited

And thanks for the info!

[hooky_lowdown]

From my experience Vox amphones and the headphone version are rubbish. As you are playing at home at low volume, a guitar amp will work fine, it won't be great sounding, small practice amps (bass included) never sound great, but a guitar amp is perfectly adequate in your situation. 👍

Edited March 18, 2020 by hooky_lowdown

[paul_5]

I use the box amplug - dead amp day, cheap and various models available. I went for the ‘clean’ guitar one, as the bass one was ok, but coloured the sound too much for my liking.

[CameronJ]

@Danny_777 what’s your budget?

[Danny_777]

15 hours ago, CameronJ said:

@Danny_777 what’s your budget?

I'm relaxed on budget, tbh.

[TheGreek]

I have a pair of Vox amphones - rarely use them - I really bought them in preparation for events like the LBGS

They are what they are, a way of practicing silently, however I wouldn't recommend them. The tones you get are not representative of your basses normal tonal package.

Get a decent amp and turn the volume down if you need to.

[Geek99]

I just use a zoom b2.1u with headphones - it can use batteries too. 

it even has some drum patterns 
the ampeg svt sample is awesome 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Geek99

[CameronJ]

1 hour ago, Danny_777 said:

I'm relaxed on budget, tbh.

More questions. Do you care about size/portability? Will you be wanting to use it as a recording interface too? Is iPhone/Android compatibility important to you? Will you at any stage want to use it without plugging into a mains wall socket?

[nilebodgers]

Zoom B1-4 is a great practice solution. Built in drum machine and looper plus an aux input.

[Bobthedog]

Phil Jones Big Head plus some decent headphones. Does all you need, including plugging in an MP3 player or similar. Phil Jones does matching headphones, but personally am not a fan, although some like them.

[Danny_777]

Thanks for the suggestions! The solution I've gone with is the Yamaha THR10C - I had one laying around (from the days of a smaller apartment) and realised it has a bass option within its modeling. I didn't hold great hopes but it sounds fantastic - certainly more than capable for home practice. So good news as I won't have to splurge on additional gear!

Thanks again

[naxos10]

Good to hear you've found a solution Danny👍