NickA Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 I've had a pjb bighead ha1 for years, bought as a gizmo for silent practice, but ended up serving as a dac for my laptop, a headphone amp for my hifi, a tiny preamp used with a powered cab ..... and occasionally for silent practice. A true Swiss army knife of sound. BUT, the mico usb socket has broken free of the internal PCB. It's all surface mount so way beyond my soldering skills to mend it properly. I've fettled it so it will charge, but can't make the digital Comms stuff work ☹️ May need a new one. I'd assumed someone other than pjb would make something similar, but HiFi headphone / dac devices generally lack analogue inputs so you can't plug a bass in, or are analogue only so can't connect o a laptop. Is the pjb big head really so unique? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 I would have thought prety much most interfaces will do this I have a Moukey MSc1 and it sounds great alternatively a lot of small format mixers have USB interfaces built in. I'm using my Alesis mixer at the moment for this evening's practice The ana logue circuitry leaves a bit to be desired but it's good enough for personal practice and recording ideas. Hiopefully you can fix your old one though. Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 There are quite a few devices that have all of those, I would say it was more the normal than unique. Any cheap digital mixer or IO box does it, I have a spark amp that does that very well (but also has a lot of effects) that I use in my living room, I have a behringer uphoria 202 that has two mic / xlr / jack sockets in, headphones out and does 96k usb out which I use for my chapman stick (as that is stereo and can use its 48v phantom), that is less than £50 and uses proper usb sockets - I hate micro-usbs for anything, it is a terrible socket that is always the first failure point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JottoSW1 Posted August 27 Share Posted August 27 I just use my Quilter Interbass. Works great and I'm surprised they aren't more common. Rather expensive new admittedly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted August 27 Share Posted August 27 Whereabouts are you (or would you post the item)? I've fixed a few micro USB faults with my awesome soldering skills, it's a shame to bin something that could be repaired. Pm me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naxos10 Posted August 27 Share Posted August 27 Ashdown have their Tone Pocket headphone amp which has usb and line out options. Unfortunately the usb is a micro socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyvee Posted August 27 Share Posted August 27 (edited) I had two Vox headphone amps that sounded ok but all the plastic made them lacking in durability. So i got a PJB Big head and yep that mini usb socket broke away, i had it repaired but the tech told me it will soon come off again, he was right. If PJB had theirs made with a USB-C connector it would have lasted longer. Now i use my Stanley Clarke Acoustic preamp as a headphone amp. All the connectors are proper and it sounds great. Not cheap but it's a well made piece of kit. Edited August 27 by jazzyvee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickA Posted August 27 Author Share Posted August 27 Thanks for the responses. @Bremen I'll PM you. That Moukey MSc1 is seriously cheap and does loads. It doesn't say it has a digital input (so may not double as a laptop audio interface). I guess it does, in reality. No internal battery though, so it needs to be connected to a pc or usb PSU. The ashdown tone pocket appears to be the same as the moukey - the usb socket says "recording out", but the description says 48k/44.1kHz "for both playback and recording"... So maybe it does the biz. Needs an external PSU tho. Now I used "laptop audio interface" rather than "guitar headphones amp" as a search string, I've found lots ( eg Audient Evo4)... the pjb is still looking the most versatile due to tiny size and internal battery, tho annoyingly, even the newer HA2 still has a crappy usb micro socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted August 27 Share Posted August 27 I use Boss Waza Air headphones for home practice like that. I get good tones and I can play along to my iTunes library / youtube etc on my tablet or phone. I was a bit nervous about spending that amount on a practice tool but I have been playing far more than I did before. It's just so easy and it doesn't disturb anyone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msb Posted August 27 Share Posted August 27 I was using a HoTone Thunderbass as a headphone amp, it’s also got a mini aux in so you can plug in a phone or tablet. I later picked up a PhilJones BigHead and have been using that. The HoTone was good but the BigHead is a much more elegant solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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