Compact headphone amp with aux in and DI / EQ

[tandark]

Slight deviation from what you're after @Al Krow, but I've been looking for a headphone amp with options that'll work with both guitar and bass with my HX effects loaded board.

After a significant trawl through the interweb i've narrowed my search to THIS.

May be a cab sim rather than a pre, but certain settings work well enough for bass. 
I have the B7K emulation on the HX as a "pre". Great option for live guitar as I can send the single to FOH in 2 paths.

[Al Krow]

28 minutes ago, Jack said:

See that's the point I made about blurring the lines though isn't it? The B3 clearly is the kind of thing that you're looking for and the Helix clearly isn't. But what's the difference between them really? It's just the size and price as far as I'm concerned, they do the same thing. The M81 you mentioned is more of an effects pedal, the B3 and similar is more of a multi effects unit, something like a Sansamp is more of a preamp...

I think by looking for everything in one pedal you're limiting yourself too much. Much better to get one small pedal to rescue you at gigs and another that's a headphone amp with an aux in. The likelihood of you needing both at once seems slim and you won't be compromising as much. Honestly, if my amp died at a gig I would be satisfied with a (my) Behringer BDI21.

Can't disagree with any of that!

I keep trying to avoid Behringer on the grounds that their stuff is cheap and cheerful and doesn't have a great reputation for reliability - just what you don't need in an 'insurance' policy!! But then I keep hearing from a bunch of very experienced BCers who've had their Behringers for like 12 years and not had any issues!

I'm not a massive fan of the mid-scooped sans-amp sound that the BD121 is cloning, although for anyone interested they're currently on offer from Amazon (prime) for £17 as you may already have seen from another thread.

39 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

If your emergency scenario includes a broken power supply, then the Mooer will be no good.  I've had this at a wedding where my pedal board completely died - it was in the middle of a song, and in the relative darkness on-stage, etc, so it was very hard to quickly diagnose exactly where or what the problem was.  I carry a Behringer DI400P which small, light, and the minimum equipment needed to get a signal from my bass to a PA in an "actual emergency" -- it's passive so I don't worry about how to power it.  If you're talking about a "non-emergency emergency" where EQ or some distortion etc would be nice to have, then that's something else!

John - this sounds perfect - thanks very much for the suggestion, and I know you're playing similar gigs (ok perhaps a bit more up-market than my two bands!)...

Just checked and Amazon Prime are selling for £14 delivered (25% off their normal price). The next model up, the Behringer DI600P, is currently just £17 (40% off their normal price) and only a little bulkier. Trigger pulled on getting insurance cover. And I'll just use my B3n as a very capable headphone amp as Jack has rightly said. 

Ok, that's me sorted. Thanks everyone - been a really helpful thread for me. But obviously still open forum for anyone else in case they want to pick up on anything related  

Edited September 12, 2018 by Al Krow

[Jack]

29 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I was too. The Plex has a LOT of useful features. But I thought @Jack's experience of the pedals sounded like the problems he'd highlighted were inherent, rather than he'd been unlucky with the particular pedal he'd got. E.g. I certainly can't be doing with a 'low output' unit. Be good to hear in a bit more detail from Jack about his experience with the Plex.

I had a plex for about a year, it was on a board with a wireless and a B3. The board was wireless>B3>plex and then it went into one or two Barefaced FR800 cabs. I had an 'A03' unit, which was one of the ones that didn't need the recalls but A01 and A02 units had to go back to GK for something. I found the output too low. I had a balanced cable that went from the TRS out into and XLR for the cabs made by our own OBBM but I had to really crank the volume to get anything decent out of it. Part of the problem was that the input was very easy to clip (yes, even without anything in front of it, coming straight from a passive bass) and so that I had to run the input trim very low, which kind of made the in-built comp, drive and eq a little ineffectual. The only way I could run it was to have the compressor (set to a light compressor) with the volume set to nearly full, that way there was enough make up gain to be able to run the output volume properly. It worked ok, but I meant I couldn't turn the compressor off ever....

 

As a separate issue, the thing required it's own wall wart as it won't play nice with lots of power supplies including my Strymon Ojai.

 

I have to say, the pedal sounds GREAT. And the feature set is perfect. It's such a shame, I'm a huge GK fan and the thought of a GK rig in a box was so tempting but the gain staging just didn't work. If you look online actually a lot of people find the same thing: it's a great effects pedal into a proper amp but a lot of people are unhappy with it as a preamp and amp replacement. I replaced the board with a Helix as my main rig.

 

FWIW, I still use the board (kind of) as a backup/small board. The B3 does a good GK impression (although sadly not as good as the plex) and a superb Behringer mic pre drives the cabinets and then some. I did think about adding the Behringer as a gain stage after the Plex, but it needs AC power and it was getting a little silly under the board with a power strip, a Strymon that was only powering two things and two massive wall warts.

 

Edited September 12, 2018 by Jack

[Jack]

6 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Just checked and Amazon Prime are selling for £14 delivered (25% off their normal price). The next model up, the Behringer DI600P, is currently just £17 (40% off their normal price) and only a little bulkier. Trigger pulled on getting insurance cover. And I'll just use my B3n as a very capable headphone amp as Jack has rightly said. 

Ok, that's me sorted. Thanks everyone - been a really helpful thread for me. But obviously still open forum for anyone else in case they want to pick up on anything related  

And if you attach it to one of the outputs on your B3n then that's a whole, ampless rig. Sorted!

[Al Krow]

49 minutes ago, Jack said:

And if you attach it to one of the outputs on your B3n then that's a whole, ampless rig. Sorted!

I feel a small Nano board with space for a Smoothhound, B3n and DI box could be on the cards. 

Guess I could use my Ciocks DC5 underneath for power. 

The B3n is least good at filter / synth so maybe just add on the Future Impact alongside it and, if I do, probably sensible to add in the Keeley Bassist for sentry Limiter duties (and what about the Valeton OC-10 for lush OC2 style octave down?). Probably should be thinking about a Metro 16 board now then...

And so it begins! 😂

 

[Al Krow]

On 12/09/2018 at 12:44, jrixn1 said:

If your emergency scenario includes a broken power supply, then the Mooer will be no good.  I've had this at a wedding where my pedal board completely died - it was in the middle of a song, and in the relative darkness on-stage, etc, so it was very hard to quickly diagnose exactly where or what the problem was.  I carry a Behringer DI400P which small, light, and the minimum equipment needed to get a signal from my bass to a PA in an "actual emergency" -- it's passive so I don't worry about how to power it.  If you're talking about a "non-emergency emergency" where EQ or some distortion etc would be nice to have, then that's something else!

Should have gone for your exact suggestion and not the next model up John!

Case of eyes too big for my stomach the gap between the pedal board rails underneath my board, where the DI400P should snugly fit, but its big brother is too wide to do so. Anyway I've arranged to swap them via Amazon...