Which headphone amp for silent practice allowing sounds from PC

[BH12neil]

I guess the title says it all, my amp doesn't include a dedicated headphone output so what I want to do is to be able to play with headphones but be able to hear sounds from my PC so that I can jam along to stuff or be able to use the likes of Songsterr in silence. I need to keep the neighbours on side at the moment. Is this even possible? My budget is about £80 and although I realise as with everything you get what you pay for, I don't want to compromise on sound quality just because its for practice.

What cabling would be required, where would it plug into my amp or do these units operate on a stand alone basis. All the outputs/inputs on my amp are currently in use. Where would that leave me in terms of the effects that I have (I have both rackmount and pedals), would I still be able to access them in this scenario?

Sorry if these questions are simple in nature but I am a bit confused as to how headphone amps work and after a little research I have now got to the point where I can't see the wood for the trees.

Any advice always appreciated.

BH12neil

[paul_5]

Why not go from your bass into the PC, then use whatever software you like and monitor through headphones plugged into your PC sound card?

[BOD2]

Probably best not to use your amp at all if playing through headphones - half of the sound of your amp comes from the speakers anyway so if you turn it down to the point where there's no sound coming from the speakers then it's going to sound different anyway.

You plug your bass into your FX chain and then take a cable from the output of the FX chain and either -

1. Plug it into your PC, if that's a workable option. You'd probably need an adaptor cable or something to take your standard quarter inch jack cable down to the 3.5mm jack input on your PC, but that should work. The PC will have a sound mixer somewhere to set the levels.

2. If playing through your PC doesn't appeal then you could get a small mixer with a headphone output. Plug the output of the bass/FX into one channel, plug the PC into another channel, mix the levels to suit, then output from the headphone socket on the mixer. You could also attach other devices to the mixer (e.g. iPod, hifi etc.) if you wanted to.

A small mixer like this would do -

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_xenyx_802.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_xenyx_802.htm[/url]


Downside is that the bass will sound a little different with no amplifier to "colour" the sound, but that might actually be ok for practice purposes anyway.


You can get software for a PC that will let you do lots of stuff but it depends on how comfortable you are on the PC as to how useful this would be to you.

[Jack]

I use a mixer with a DI from either my amp or an MXR DI box to get round the issue of it not sounding great.

[Twigman]

[quote name='BOD2' timestamp='1340115266' post='1699315']
1. Plug it into your PC, if that's a workable option. You'd probably need an adaptor cable or something to take your standard quarter inch jack cable down to the 3.5mm jack input on your PC, but that should work. The PC will have a sound mixer somewhere to set the levels.


[/quote]

Unless your PC soundcard has XLR inputs like mine. [RME HDSP9632 c/w XLR breakout cable}
I plug bass via amp XLR DI out into the mixer which is permanently connected via balanced XLR cables to the soundcard inputs

Edited June 19, 2012 by Twigman

[rubis]

what about a device such as guitarlink plus from Alesis, jack at one end, usb plug at the other, straight into your computer

[url="http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/recording-studio/detail.asp?stock=11012510112032"]http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/recording-studio/detail.asp?stock=11012510112032[/url]

it comes with a cut down version of guitar rig which i'm pretty certain has a bass amp sim on it

[Peaty]

one of those Korg pandora things works fine for me. I got one second hand and it is fine for when the kids are asleep.

[heminder]

i used to use a Vox Amplug as a quick-fix solution to headphone practice, and it works OK in a pinch.

but now i use a cheap Behringer DI (guitar link it's called, can be had for ~£20) for interfacing into my laptop, then feed the signal through Jack Rack and a bunch of plugins. sounds really good! i program some drums in Hydrogen and set them on loop and play to that. i don't think i could ask for a better setup for headphone practice.

[Dave Tipping]

[quote name='Peaty' timestamp='1340218552' post='1701335']
one of those Korg pandora things works fine for me. I got one second hand and it is fine for when the kids are asleep.
[/quote]
I second this! love my little pandora ,, on really neat feature is you can alter the pitch of the line in for learning songs in different keys etc . such a handy little thing .. has a built in tuner, drum machine, phrase trainer .. the list goes on. hundreds of diff sounds.

[Monckyman]

Small mixer will do it all.

[bassicinstinct]

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1340283277' post='1702253']
Small mixer will do it all.
[/quote]

+1!!

Behringer HA 400

Less than £20, and pretty bomb proof in my esperience.

[url="http://www.studiospares.com/headphone-amps+splitters/behringer-microamp-ha400/invt/380280/"]http://www.studiospares.com/headphone-amps+splitters/behringer-microamp-ha400/invt/380280/[/url]

[BH12neil]

Thanks for your replies. I have decided to go for the small mixer option and have chosen the Mackie 402VLZ3 however I am confused about how to connect my PC to the mixer or more precisely which cable is required. Can anyone direct me to an appropriate cable to get me started and advise which ports on my computer I would use to plug into. I appear to have headphone and microphone out ports on the front of the pc and all sorts of colour coded ports to the rear, it would be a lot easier to work out if I had the original blurb from Dell but I can't find it.

UPDATE * Just had a fight with the computer and its wiring to see what ports are round the back and one of them is blue and marked line out; is the the correct one to use I wonder?

UPDATE ** Another question springs to mind; would I need stereo or mono cables?

BH12neil

Edited June 22, 2012 by BH12neil

[charic]

Pick up a second hand Line6 BassPod XT. It has a headphone out and can be used for other stuff too

Simples

Edited June 22, 2012 by charic

[charic]

Here's one!

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/179550-for-sale-line-6-bass-pod-xt-l120-or-trade/page__p__1701417__hl__bass%20pod__fromsearch__1#entry1701417"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/179550-for-sale-line-6-bass-pod-xt-l120-or-trade/page__p__1701417__hl__bass%20pod__fromsearch__1#entry1701417[/url]

[Monckyman]

Hi Neil,
I`d reccomend the Behringer Xenyx 502 [url="http://www.studiospares.com/mixers-analogue/behringer-xenyx-502/invt/380760/?source=215_73&gclid=CLCSrOfe4bACFUdItAodNglPuw"]http://www.studiospares.com/mixers-analogue/behringer-xenyx-502/invt/380760/?source=215_73&gclid=CLCSrOfe4bACFUdItAodNglPuw[/url]
Perfect for your needs.
How to connect:
Use a Stereo Minijack to 1/4 inch full sized Jack cable
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stagg-3-metre-stereo-minijack-to-2-x-mono-jack-cable-/270985793488?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item3f18030fd0#ht_4608wt_885"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stagg-3-metre-stereo-minijack-to-2-x-mono-jack-cable-/270985793488?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item3f18030fd0#ht_4608wt_885[/url]
To connect your blue(line out)socket to one of the stereo inputs,(2&3 or 4&5).
Plug your bass directly into chan 1 line input Or take the output of any pedal you are using and plug that in.
If you have a pedal or D.I with an XLR socket, you can connect that to Chan 1 MIC input with a short balanced XLR cable.
Headphones in headphones socket, play itunes etc on PC and adjust level,play bass and adjust,tweak volume on main output and headphones level.
Should cost app £50.00 all in