Phil Jones Bass Nano X4 review from a blind player's perspective

[JGSpector]

This is my review of the itty bitty teeny weeny PJB Nano X4 practice amp.

Overview.

If you’ve read the posts I wrote about the PJB BP800 and D400 heads, you’ll already know that I was seriously impressed by them as amps in general but when considering the additional requirements I have as a blind player, I also consider them to be two of the best amps available for people who are severely sight impaired.

I was in the market for a practice amp which has the smallest possible footprint but that has aux in capability and is actually usable as an amp rather than a tinny thin sounding device with hardly any bass “feel”. The PJB Nano X4 immediately came to mind, so after considering it, I went ahead and purchased one.

They are not particularly cheap at anything from £299 to £340 here in the UK depending on where you buy from, but given my previous experience with PJB products, I was confident the build quality would be excellent, sound would be top notch and the bluetooth functionality would come in very handy given my requirements. I’m writing this after having the Nano for just over a year, and it’s certainly been getting plenty of real time use.

So, here are my thoughts on this mini practice amp.

Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a pro musician or online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to write this piece.

Build Quality.

As with every other PJB product I’ve used, the build quality on this little thing is top notch. It has sturdy aluminium housing with a metal grill over the speaker. It has 2 solid bars that protect the controls and the dials, sockets and switch are all the quality you’d expect from PJB. Although not the triangle shaped solid aluminium knobs that I raved about on the BP800 and D400 amps, the knobs on this little unit are still pleasant under the fingers.

This thing is very small, my other half thinks it’s the cutest bit of bass gear she’s ever seen. It measures in at 6.3” wide by 7.9” high by 7.8” deep.

Features, layout & ease of use.

The controls are incredibly straightforward with all positioned on the top face of the unit. The layout is logical, with the instrument input, aux input, headphone out and power switch all along the top row. The middle row has the input level control and aux in/bluetooth switch/level control. Finally, on the bottom row are the bass, mid and treble EQ controls along with the master volume. All in all excellent and very easy to navigate if you’re blind.

The power switch is very tactile and gives a good clunk under the fingers when switched. All 3 of the EQ controls have a centre detent which is useful. All of the knobs are solid aluminium but none have tactile pips or pointers.

The instrument level control does have an LED which lights up when clipping but unfortunately there is no pip or pointer on the knob to indicate what position the knob is in.

The aux in/bluetooth level control technically has 3 functions:

1. You can switch between good old fashioned aux in mode in which you would connect a device to the aux in 3.5mm jack and bluetooth mode.

2. When you have it in bluetooth mode you can pair a bluetooth device with the unit by holding the knob down for a few seconds. An LED flashes blue when in pairing mode, so not great for those of us who can’t see. However, with about a minute of experimentation I figured out that I only needed to hold the knob down for about 3 seconds to put it into pairing mode. Worth noting as well that once you’ve paired a device, the unit will automatically connect to it, so no need to go through the pairing process every time.

3. This is also the level control for any connected device. This knob does not have a centre detent.

Sound quality.

To put it bluntly, I was absolutely astonished by the quality of sound this thing kicks out. The amount of volume it can produce is also very impressive, I would happily use it for acoustic gigs and just have it under my seat facing the audience, I’m confident it would be perfectly capable.

It handles the B string on a 5 string bass with no problems at all as long as you are not clipping the input already and the whole thing sounds clean and natural. There’s a good amount of cut and boost available on each of the EQ controls and even with music playing and jamming along, the sound quality remains superb.

It’s also worth noting that the Nano X4 works beautifully for guitar. My friend plugged his guitar into it and was blown away by how clean and musical the sound quality was. We were both hugely impressed when he used his overdrive effects as well.

Bluetooth mode is also truly impressive. If there is any degradation of sound quality when using it, I honestly cannot hear it, it’s easily as good if not slightly better than a very expensive pair of Sony bluetooth headphones I’ve had for a couple of years.

- The unit also has a 3.5mm headphone out jack for quiet practice which also provides incredibly high quality sound.

I do wonder if PJB missed a trick in not giving the unit a line out to be honest. I can easily imagine having this little amp permanently connected to my interface for quick recording of ideas or even proper recording sessions. It would certainly beat having to find space for my main gigging amp head on my desk to connect it up to the interface. I do wonder if in a couple of years there might be a 2nd generation of the Nano X4 with a line out or maybe even a DI out.

Summary.

There’s not much else to say really. The PJB Nano X4 is a tiny, well constructed high quality practice amp. It’s not particularly cheap but it is a quality product. The features it has are easy to use and functional, bluetooth in particular being ridiculously useful and I must admit, one of the main reasons I was so interested in it.

If you are blind, it’s a nicely tactile unit that is easy to use but do bear in mind that just like with most amps out there, an LED will light up when clipping the input. I haven’t found the lack of a centre detent or indeed a pip or pointer on the input or aux level control to be an issue at all but if you particularly care, that might be a deal breaker for you.

To find out more about the Nano X4, visit the PJB website at: https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/

[SamIAm]

Nice review, thank you!

I LOVE PJB gear!

Interesting that the low B sounds OK as PJB quote the X4 as having a range of  72Hz – 15KHz, I guess it is the harmonics coming through.

Sam x

[JGSpector]

It's fine as long as you don't boost the bass on your instrument EQ. I just leave mine flat and it's fine. Obviously it doesn't sound as big and full as a full sized amp but then it's not going to through something that tiny.