jazzyitalian Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 (edited) Well Hello UK bass brothers and sisters.... This is my very first post on this forum and I'm excited to learn more about what is happening in your world. My name is Jeff and I live in the US. I make bass guitars as a hobby, and belong to a couple of bass forums on this side of the pond. But some time ago Froover told me that this is also a great forum with great members. I like great people...So here I am. For this first post I wanted to share a discovery I had 2 months ago. I located this small sole proprietor in Canada that makes personal amps or what some refer to as "In Ear Monitors (or IEMs)". There appear to be only a few companies making these which keeps the time spent finding the right amp at a minimum. It seems that you're either buying a Dean "Bass in the Box" or a "VOX Amplug" for around $40 US on the low end, a Cafe Walter on the high end at about $160 US or the EA Sound Designs product. The VOX is limiting on many different levels and the Dean Product sounds way too tinny and cheap for my taste. The Cafe Walter was a bit too expensive for me. So I would up buying the Earwig Bass Amp from EA Sound Designs for $79 US shipped. EA Sound Designs is just a small business owned and run by this chap named Enea Acconciamessa. He does everything out of his home in Montreal, Canada and I’m beginning to hear some chatter about him. This small business is in the very beginnings of being noticed by the musicians in North America. Enea makes each of his products by hand. He designs them, he wires them, encases them and tests them before shipping them out. I've even unknowingly helped him to redefine his amps to work even better for bass guitar. These Earwig Amps are small personal amps about the size of a hand held transistor radio. They have 4 inputs. An input for your bass, one for the head phones, one for an AC/DC adaptor, and one for an audio player (iPod, MP3, CD, PC or DVD) I use a CD player with it. The amp has two volume knobs one for the bass and the other for your audio player. It's very simple and the clarity is so good that if I had a tone knob, I'd probably leave it alone and work the tone from my bass guitar controls. You have to supply your own headset and I purchased a nice Sony Headset to go with this unit. He now offers these amps with or without a belt clip. So for those of you that practice bass standing (I do because I play live) the amp can be easily attached to your belt. I also make bass guitars with my brother. We use pickups with higher amount of wattage and impedance. More than what is normally found in basses. While this is fine for people that plug our basses into amps, aparantly a small personal amp was not ready to handle this. But that's what 2 Di’Marzio Will Power pickups can do. I plugged in one of our custom Buscanti Basses into it as well as a Paul Reed Smith Electric Guitar. The Paul Reed Smith sounded fine though the amp. But the bass did not. Within in 5 minutes of playing the Earwig would distort and then completely checked out. So I emailed Enea with the problem and within 2 hours he was already asking me to send the amp back to repair. He asked a few questions of me and said he would take a few extra days testing a few things before coming back to me. I sent it to him and three weeks later he wound up not only fixing the problem but modifing the device to work better for bass guitar. In the course of the repair he made a discovery that the amps need some different components to work for bass guitar. Enea installed higher impedance potentiometer and an RC network into the device to handle and deliver a better bass response. That did the trick. My electric guitars still sound great through the amp. But the bass is what really matters to me. I would put this chap in the highest category in terms of customer service and quality product. Enea is a class act and an awesome individual. I can't say enough about him. His Earwig amp is a nice middle range price and a better than average value for the Pound you spend. The amp sounds really clear and does well to capture the bass guitar high to low and side to side. There's no hum either. The only thing I would recommend for bass players is that when ordering the Earwig, be sure to tell Enea that you play bass and that he should install a Higher impedance potentiometer and an RC network just like he did for Jeff Herman in Minnesota-USA. That's my discovery..... Now here is a link to easound designs and a photo I took of the amp.... Link: www.easounddesign.com Photo: Cheers....Jazz Edited December 17, 2009 by jazzyitalian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 Looks like a nice piece of kit. It's good to hear positive stories like this as we all too often hear reports on the uninterested, evasive and sometimes downright rude vendors. Welcome to the forum, you should go introduce yourself to everyone. Oh, and post some pics of your basses on the build diaries or gear porn sections. 2 Willpowers? we have to see this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 I've been interested in one of these for a while now. I might have another look... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted October 17, 2009 Author Share Posted October 17, 2009 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='622946' date='Oct 11 2009, 04:46 AM']I've been interested in one of these for a while now. I might have another look...[/quote] Thanks guys...I'll do that soon.... Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Jeff, that's really helpful. I've just emailed EA with a request for a mod to the Earwig which would allow it to be used as a really simple in-ear monitoring solution. If you search around Basschat a bit, you'll find that my two obsessions are light-weight basses and IEM! I'll come back to this thread when I get a response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 [quote name='Happy Jack' post='628905' date='Oct 17 2009, 12:13 PM']Jeff, that's really helpful. I've just emailed EA with a request for a mod to the Earwig which would allow it to be used as a really simple in-ear monitoring solution. If you search around Basschat a bit, you'll find that my two obsessions are light-weight basses and IEM! I'll come back to this thread when I get a response.[/quote] You are funny...I hope Enea can help. He'll reply to you pretty quick.... Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 Well BassChat Mates..... It's been one month now and the Earwig has now made it to our Family room at this is a permenant position. I now practice with it while watching my favorite Sports teams. My wife loves it too because the loudness is confined to the headset. Not that she doesn't appreciate my playing bass. It's just that as she says: "The less time we have, the more fond we become..." Oh well...She's probably is just pacifing me. It now stores in a drawer on the end table right next to the phone book and remote. Easy to use, easy to store, easy to work, easy to control. I must have logged 20 hours of playing time on it and that little 9V battery is still working in the unit which tells me that it requires little juice. Perfect...Everyone's gotta get them some!!!! Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Mine should be shipped to me next week. Inea has modified the design for me, replacing the external power jack with a straight-through 1/4" jack so that I can use the Earwig as an stand-alone, on-stage IEM unit as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Happy Jack' post='647910' date='Nov 7 2009, 04:23 AM']Mine should be shipped to me next week. Inea has modified the design for me, replacing the external power jack with a straight-through 1/4" jack so that I can use the Earwig as an stand-alone, on-stage IEM unit as well.[/quote] That sounds cool and it's a very excellent idea. So you'll be using this as an ear monitor to isolate your instrument while on stage. That's a great way to modify this one. I'm still on the same 9V battery that I got at the HiVee and beginning to wonder whether spending the extra £ 7 or £ 8 for a power adapter is a worth while investment. The power jack may turn out to be a waste of space for me. I should have been a bit more of a visionary like yourself.... Afterall, Enea used to make these with just the battery compartment and there are those early Earwig dudes that still use them and find absolutly no need or desire for AC power. I bought the SONY MDR-V150 STUDIO MONITOR DJ HEADPHONES to use with mine. Those work great and you can find them on eBay new for about £ 15! What headset will you use? Or I guess you'll be using an ear piece. Either way, I'm curious to know what's worked for you. Will Enea install a higher impedance potentiometer and an RC network into the device as he did on mine? It really made a difference for me. Jeff Edited November 7, 2009 by jazzyitalian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuetsum Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 [quote name='jazzyitalian' post='648263' date='Nov 7 2009, 07:03 PM']That sounds cool and it's a very excellent idea. So you'll be using this as an ear monitor to isolate your instrument while on stage. That's a great way to modify this one. I'm still on the same 9V battery that I got at the HiVee and beginning to wonder whether spending the extra £ 7 or £ 8 for a power adapter is a worth while investment. The power jack may turn out to be a waste of space for me. I should have been a bit more of a visionary like yourself.... Afterall, Enea used to make these with just the battery compartment and there are those early Earwig dudes that still use them and find absolutly no need or desire for AC power. I bought the SONY MDR-V150 STUDIO MONITOR DJ HEADPHONES to use with mine. Those work great and you can find them on eBay new for about £ 15! What headset will you use? Or I guess you'll be using an ear piece. Either way, I'm curious to know what's worked for you. Will Enea install a higher impedance potentiometer and an RC network into the device as he did on mine? It really made a difference for me. Jeff[/quote] Just sent Enea an email to ask if the higher impedance potentiometer and an RC network is standard equipped or and upcharge option. i will order anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Having read your original post, Jeff, I specified the components to be exactly the same as yours. I use ER15's as my ear plugs ( [url="http://www.hearingprotection.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=118&Itemid=162"]http://www.hearingprotection.co.uk/index.p...&Itemid=162[/url] ). They're horribly expensive but awesomely effective. For a huge additional fee, you can add the Sennheiser ear-phone units which fit inside the ER15's and replace the 15dB filters. That's what I use for IEM. Cheap it ain't, but it certainly delivers. A more realistic alternative for most people would be a standard set of mp3 ear-buds. For IEM you don't actually need to hear tone, and you certainly don't need a lot of volume. You just need to hear whether you're playing the right notes! A set of mp3 buds right next to your ear (and partially blocking the sound of the rest of the band) should be enough for you to hear your bass. I like the ER15 solution because that excludes a LOT of the band noise and therefore makes it much easier for me to sing in tune - I can hear my own voice inside my head, if you know what I mean. It's particularly important for BV's where I can't be singing the loudest and I have to drop in and out but always be in tune from the first note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 [quote name='kuetsum' post='654986' date='Nov 15 2009, 02:34 AM']Just sent Enea an email to ask if the higher impedance potentiometer and an RC network is standard equipped or and upcharge option. i will order anyway![/quote] It wasn't an upcharge for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 [quote name='Happy Jack' post='655028' date='Nov 15 2009, 04:25 AM']Having read your original post, Jeff, I specified the components to be exactly the same as yours. I like the ER15 solution because that excludes a LOT of the band noise and therefore makes it much easier for me to sing in tune - I can hear my own voice inside my head, if you know what I mean.[/quote] Amen...Beats the heck out of hearing other voices speaking to you inside your head.... Those are pricey products you're using. I saw the website and literally fell off of my chair. I hope you have your ER15's insured.... Hope you like the Earwig... Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 (edited) Here's something unussual....Enea rarely posts up his amps on eBay. But he is right now and it's $30 less than what you buy them for online. Here it is: [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/The-EARWIG-ew2-Guitar-Bass-Headphone-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ300381060181QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_2?hash=item45f01b3c55#ht_2035wt_1113"]http://cgi.ebay.com/The-EARWIG-ew2-Guitar-...#ht_2035wt_1113[/url] However this amp a limited run deal, does not have an AC capability. It only works with a 9V battery. But you'll get at least 50 hours of use with a 9V on these amps. That's a lot of of traveling. So read my review carefully before buying. Edited December 30, 2009 by jazzyitalian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 The limited run amp has the image of a Star on the top. I call this his "Star version" and it's about as thick as a cigarette box. A bit smaller and more compact. Get yas self some today.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Yay... looked what was waiting on my desk as I got into work today.... (Keys included for reference of scale) I asked Enea if he could mod it so the PSU in is replaced by a 1/4" thru (as requested by a few others) and he told me he would do some doohickery to optimise the whole thing for bass. These mods cost an additional $10, bringing the total cost to around $90 posted. It didn't take as long to arrive as I'd thought..I ordered it on the 6th December. Physically, it seems very neat and tidy, and although it's plastic it's tough stuff. It barely weighs anything. I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl tonight... More soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 Way cool.. I am really now peaked on what you experience with the new 1/4 thru mod. He just put up another Star version on the bay... [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/The-EARWIG-ew2-Guitar-Bass-Headphone-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ300381060181QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_2?hash=item45f01b3c55#ht_2035wt_1113"]http://cgi.ebay.com/The-EARWIG-ew2-Guitar-...#ht_2035wt_1113[/url] get yerrself some of dat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyitalian Posted April 21, 2010 Author Share Posted April 21, 2010 Has anyone else bought the earwig? There are more on the Bay... Now bumble bee yellow jacket [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/EARWIG-Headphone-Amp-electric-guitar-bass-yellow-/300418553802?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item45f25757ca"]http://cgi.ebay.com/EARWIG-Headphone-Amp-e...=item45f25757ca[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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