Practice through headphones

[chris7273]

26 minutes ago, Iacopo San said:

Vox AmPlug is £30 and allow you to play along anything you connect through a AUX cable. It's been my only practice tool for the past 4 years as I live in a flat and can't have an amp.

It works but I was very happy when I replaced this noisy, cheap built item by a Zoom B1Xon. 

[Graham56]

I've used a Korg Pandora into cheap headphones for years. Doesn't sound terribly great but it's good enough for practice.

I also stream recordings from iTunes into the Pandora through the aux input. I have a preset on the iTunes EQ section that drops all the bass out of the recording so allowing me to play along with a clearer sound.

Apart from allowing me to play into the night, one good thing about headphones is that they pick up the clacks and buzzes from less than perfect finger positioning. Forces me to pay attention to this -  which is a good thing.

Cheers, 

Graham

 

[Iacopo San]

5 hours ago, chris7273 said:

It works but I was very happy when I replaced this noisy, cheap built item by a Zoom B1Xon. 

There is another recent topic about this and other headphone amps. However, I wouldn't really call it noisy. I use it with a passive Precision bass.

[ProfJames]

17 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

I’ve had all of these (don’t ask) and I found the Bighead to be amazing, but expensive. Don’t discount the importance of a decent pair of headphone (another plus for the Phil Jones headphones!).

I now have 2 session cake things, one for downstairs and one for the office. Personally I find it a more intuitive interface than the PJB. 

Sadly the Session Cake was super value at £10 but I don’t think they’re for sale at that price anymore!

 

I know the Bigheads are expensive but I managed to get one for 100 quid.........the quality of build means I won't be looking for anything for some time to come, and the electronics are superb

[ped]

For those who play at home a lot, might I recommend a bass board to use along with your headphone amp. Or run it from your amp and use your amplifier’s headphone output if it has one. Soon you’ll much prefer it to playing through an amp with everything rattling along and not being as loud as you’d like.