headphones & guitar

  • Thread starter Thread starter DaveM
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DaveM

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Here's the situation. I'm tired of playing my guitar without an amp. Mainly because I play at night after the two kids, age 2.5 and 1, are asleep. I don't have a separate room for my music stuff so I can only play in front of the tv with my wife there. So I need some sort of headphone setup. I don't have a headphone out jack in my amp but I do have a line out. Is there a device that I can use headphones attached to my amp that is relatively inexpensive, say less than $150? Or would I just be better off getting one of those Rockman-type devices?

Dave
 
Hey, forget about it!

Ha, just kidding.

There's several inexpensive headphone amps you can get for ~$30, sometimes more or less, depending on what's on sale. Shop online, check the GC brochure or the AMS catalog, I'm sure there are a few to choose from.

F/I, I got a Danelectro headphone amp for about $18 at GC, marked down from $29, and the following few weeks I saw the same unit there for ~$9.99. The Danelectro headphone amp has cheesy reverb and cheesy distortion built in, but it's functional enough.

>I think there's a line of headphone amps called "Pocket-Rockit", or something like that, & I think that IBANEZ has a line of small, inexpensive headphone amps, so shop around.

>Also, Tascam has a nice headphone amp+CD player that's marketed as a "practice headphone amp/phrase trainer", all for about $100. You can listen to/practice along with your favorite CDs, all onboard the same unit.

>I have a vintage headphone amp, that's pretty neat, called the Yamaha MA-10, which is a box-unit, with Gain, Bass/Mid/Treb and 2-headphone outs, as well as handy RCA & 1/4" stereo connections for everything, [Line In/Out, Mon In/Out, Aux In/Out],... making it a handy little unit for the home studio.

However, this being said, there are still other options, if you shop around. I'm not up on all of the very latest products, and there may be something suitable for you that I have not mentioned.

Q: If your guitar amp has LINE OUT but no HEADPHONE OUT, then to utilize the LINE OUT, wouldn't your amp have to be turned up to a nominal level, producing all that unwanted noise pollution?

A: If your biggest concern is noise, or being quiet, then I think using your amp & line out is "out",... unless there's some other detail I missed. However, for normal purposes, the LINE OUT tap from your amp can be really handy for recording.

Also, IMO worth mentioning, is that a NICE/Used Tascam 244, 246, or 424mkII can be bought for around $150-$200 on most days, and that would provide you with all the inputs/outputs & headphone feeds you want. Well,... actually, the 244 & 246 both have two headphone outs, and the 424mkII has only one, but it's enough if you're working alone. PLUS, if you go the Portastudio route, then you'll have plenty of auxilliary mixing capability, up to and including 4-track tape production, right on board.

Funny, but a while back I saw an entire Tascam M30 mixer sell for exactly $56 on Ebay, and jfyi the M30 would give you full-blown 8x4x2x2 mixing capability, complete with 6-XLR inputs and 2-HiZ-1/4" inputs. THAT would be the TICKET, for a mere $56, which is the lowball deal of the season, but the Tascam M30 typically sells for about $100-$150 anyway, so on most average days this is a great deal.

Anyway, that's my input on this topic for now. Hope it helps.

Good luck.;)
 
...of course a Rockman is always nice, if you don't mind sounding like Boston.
 
J station - decent amp modeling and effects. I hear the V-amp is also decent and around $120. Digitech has some modeling pedals like the RP100 under $100, that you can also use with your amp, when you're allowed to use it
 
Ground control to...

Oh never mind.;)

MT, no doubt those units you mentioned are nice & at a nice price too, but do any of these units have a headphone out? I don't recall seeing a headphone out spec'd for the J-station or V-amp2.

-?
 
They all have headphone outs. I have a pod and a j-station and a v-amp and all three have headphone outs.
I'd go with one of the modelers.....you'll be able to get any sound you want and they'll be useful for recording and even gigs.
The V-amp is cheapest at $130 and it really has some good sounds but feels like it's built pretty liteweight.
The J-Station is another $20 at $150 but is a much more substantial metal unit.
Still......if it's not gonna see real hard use, the V-Amp is very cool and comes with a nice gig bag and a foot switch for changing presets.
 
Wow, that's cool, you have all three!

Having headphone out is a prime feature to have on these units.

Okay, now the question I have really is,... how would you compare the POD, J-Station & Vamp head-to-head. Which one you consider best overall, & why?

Q2: Ever string the POD, J-Station & Vamp together into one signal chain?;)
 
...or, you could build a detached garage, turn it into a studio, and get a Boogie stack (everyone should have one). Sorry, I know this doesn't help, but nice thought huh?
 
Re: Wow, that's cool, you have all three!

A Reel Person said:
Ever string the POD, J-Station & Vamp together into one signal chain?;)
Click to expand...
WOW!!:D Now that's an interesting idea. I might have to try that sometime.

As for comparing them.....to tell you the truth, they are all fairly close in performance.

I like the POD least of all. There's that digital sound that I call "mosquito fuzz." And the POD has the 'mosquito fuzz' sound underlying everything. But I'm not saying it's a bad unit....it just has more of that than the others do so I find the POD best for dirty sounds.
Of the three, if I use one live for guitar; it's the POD 'cause I have the footboard that goes with it and I need the control.

The J-Station has a really good Fender blackface model and 3 bass amp models so it's great for recording bass. I get asked about my bass sound and it's the J-Station on the Ampeg SVT model. It also has some nice FX and it even has a couple of acoustic guitar sims. Also, there's some way of hooking it up to your 'puter but since I don't record on my 'puter, I don't know or care about that.

The V-Amp is very liteweight but other than that, it's a nice unit and it comes with accessories that are actually useful. It also gets a better clean sound than I get out of the POD.

They are close enough in performance that I would shop totally on price and it would be between the V-Amp2 and the J-station.
The only thing is whether or not you're gonna be slamming it around on gigs. If you are....then I'd get the J-Station.
 
Way cool!... Thanx!

;) I've been looking at the J-Station. It seems to have the basic, simple design I'd like, & not some fancy, gimmicky shape. To hear that it's pretty heavy duty goes along with how it looks in the photos. [I've never demoed one, though].

On the analysis, I'd probably go for the J-Station, but I'm also trying to keep a very tight budget lately, & will tend to revisit my old pedals whenever I'm tempted to buy something new, like the J-Station. Going through the closet doesn't cost me anything, but going to the GC can sometimes cost a lot!;)

Don't get me wrong, since $100-$150 is very reasonable for a unit like the J-Station, if that's what you're looking for,... but my efx needs are minimal, and I still have a reasonable amount of fun with my old pedals & accessories.

I also have plenty of headphone-out solutions, but I play without any amp most of the time too, when I'm just practicing.

Thx for the helpful info, Lt. Bob!;)
 
The J-Station is prob the best music gear investment I've made to date. I recommend it highly.
 
Oh well, already many guys said J-Station is the one.
So do I ^_^

Anyway, when you use the headphone out from J-Station.
don't use(or don't have to use) high end (in other words, "expensive") headphone. Somehow, just regular inexpensive) ones are working better.
If you want to use high-ended model, you better change treble-mid-bass.
(in fact, i don't have expensive one, so don't matter though =)

Have nice day,
see you.

P.S : I felt so bad that Johnson Amplification will not making or developing their stuff anymore.
(especially, when it comes with digitech and all that kind of business stuff.)
 
Those are all some great ideas. Thanks!

I also checked my amp and I have a rca connection that goes to the speaker. I can possible just pull the plug and hook a headphone to it. As long as I keep it low, I guess I can not fry the headphones.

Or my other idea was to get a mixer and plug into it from my line out. This would work, right?

Although I will look into the J-station. My b-day is coming up in a month and that would be a good thing for the kids to get me.

Dave
 
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