Home practice

[j-d]

Hey! Ive not played for 10+ years after my house got broken in to and alot of gear was stolen i just gave up, but have just bought a stingray again!! (basses are a heck more expensive than i remember!!!) I was talking to my neighbor and he was saying dont bother buying an amp if im just playing indoors just use an interface and my mac, is this what ppl do now? I have decent headphones but id like the option to play without too, any suggestions for pretty cheap studio monitors? 

[NancyJohnson]

Interface to PC/Mac to headphones/active monitors is one way to go, yes.

 

End of the day, while tech has evolved in the last decade, truth is it's probably not what most of us do.  I'd wager most of us here have an amplifier of some sort set up 24/7 so they can noodle on that.

[Lozz196]

Yep, practice amp with a preamp pedal for home use for me.

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, j-d said:

... any suggestions for pretty cheap studio monitors? 

 

Be wary about using cheap hifi monitors for playing, even at practice levels. They're not really made for 'raw' bass going through them, and may not sound so good whilst playing, and possibly forever after. Better a cheap bass combo for practicing, and spare the monitors. Just sayin'. 

Edited Saturday at 00:38 by Dad3353

[OliverBlackman]

1 hour ago, j-d said:

Hey! Ive not played for 10+ years after my house got broken in to and alot of gear was stolen i just gave up, but have just bought a stingray again!! (basses are a heck more expensive than i remember!!!) I was talking to my neighbor and he was saying dont bother buying an amp if im just playing indoors just use an interface and my mac, is this what ppl do now? I have decent headphones but id like the option to play without too, any suggestions for pretty cheap studio monitors? 

Monitors are not something to skimp on, KRK rokit’s have the best bass response. I had some cheap M Audio ones and they really were naff for bass.

My chain has been bass>interface>garageband>audio technica headphones for about 15 years now and it’s perfect. Great bass or guitar tones and doesn’t piss anyone else off.

[meterman]

There's always the bass > interface > Laptop > monitors route, but the simplest and least expensive way would be to get a practice amp and some headphones, just in case you need to practice quietly at any time.

 

Used Fender Rumbles or similar are easy to come by, and for not much money either. 
 

Oddly enough I've got both options but if I'm just noodling away I don't even bother plugging into anything. 
 

I am very, very lazy though 😂

[Norris]

If you are happy with headphones you can buy little battery powered bass headphone amps that plug straight into your bass for very little money e.g. Vox ones are cheap, other brands are available.

 

Personally I have an Ampeg BA-108 for general noodling and noisy practice (there's one for sale on here), or will plug into my Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 interface for recording

[Lozz196]

I was going to mention that Ampeg BA-108, very nice little amps and really capture the Ampeg sound well.

[diskwave]

Here too, tho with the BA-110 and my laptop speaker which is enough for practise. I'm wary now of squirting sound into my ears.. Too many yrs on stage has left them in very poor condition.

[j-d]

Nice one guys! I think probably a mini amp will be the best idea then. I never really played through an amp at home before, it was just too loud, I mess around with ambient loops, reverb/delay some distortion too. Would an 8 inch speaker be ok u think? I'd prob be using headphones most of the time but the option to use the amps speaker would be nice

 

I had an ampeg combo years ago think it was a 12 or 15 inch speaker but it was an amp that notoriously had issues on forums and I returned it as it developed the same problems

 

 

[Lozz196]

No problem with an 8” speaker, I’ve had Ampeg BA108, Fender 15 Rumble, Ashdown After Eight and Marshall MB15 practice amps, all had 8” speakers. All had a good sound at low home volumes though all would have been too loud for home use if turned up on full, I’d happily have any of them again.

[NancyJohnson]

34 minutes ago, j-d said:

Nice one guys! I think probably a mini amp will be the best idea then. I never really played through an amp at home before, it was just too loud, I mess around with ambient loops, reverb/delay some distortion too. Would an 8 inch speaker be ok u think? I'd prob be using headphones most of the time but the option to use the amps speaker would be nice

 

I had an ampeg combo years ago think it was a 12 or 15 inch speaker but it was an amp that notoriously had issues on forums and I returned it as it developed the same problems

 

 

 

See the little amp below?  Knob on the right labelled 'MASTER'? You can rotate that and the amp will go loud or quiet.  Amazing bit of tech right there.

 

[j-d]

8 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

See the little amp below?  Knob on the right labelled 'MASTER'? You can rotate that and the amp will go loud or quiet.  Amazing bit of tech right there.

 

When your playing through a 300w ampeg svt 8x10 at home controling volume is a pain 

[tauzero]

10 minutes ago, j-d said:

When your playing through a 300w ampeg svt 8x10 at home controling volume is a pain 

 

The answer is 

 

[Norris]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

No problem with an 8” speaker, I’ve had Ampeg BA108, Fender 15 Rumble, Ashdown After Eight and Marshall MB15 practice amps, all had 8” speakers. All had a good sound at low home volumes though all would have been too loud for home use if turned up on full, I’d happily have any of them again.

Some cheaper, no-name "bass" amps will sound horrible. These will sound good even at low volume. Plus these have probably got headphone sockets too if you want to do silent practice, and likely also a line input if you want to play along to some music

[Boodang]

For practicing I just use a Behringer mixer and headphones but when I want to amplify, normally when the the band mates come over, I use a couple of LD Systems Icoa 15s. These are great because they will play at low volume with full bass but you can take them to a gig and they’re as loud as you want before needing to go into a PA. 300 watts and approx £350 each. Not exactly monitors but definitely dual purpose when it comes to rehearsing/gigs. 

[SumOne]

Nux mighty plug is a good option for practice with headphones.

[SH73]

Plenty of bargains in Marketplace on BC. In teram of studio monitors, I bought a reasonable cheap Presonus E4.5 for music production, they are decent when playing bass, guitar or keyboards plugged in Interface, laptop with VST. See picture for back of monitor. Many years ago I bout the basic 2i2 focusrite scarlet, and the free version of Ableton as a starting point, since then ...well all know what GAS does to you

 

[Rodders]

I use a headphone amp, has EQ, aux in for my phone, DI out if needed and a few other bits that I don't use. I'd love to have an amp set up but being mid terrace and the wife always wanting stuff "tidy" its the best option for me.  

[LeftyJ]

I mostly use an amp when playing at home. I'm definitely on team "overkill" here, with a 150 watt 1x12 EBS NeoDrome. 

I also have a simple interface with a Yamaha 8-channel mixer with USB and two KRK V4 series II active monitors, and recently I picked up a small 5 watt tube head (H&K Bass Master) but I have yet to pick up a small cabinet for home use. So far I've only used it with a 1x12 guitar cab, which sounded great.