Help with Headphone amp Choices

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tmix

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After this last big session I had with 7 people, I realize my existing headphone amp wasn't going to last much longer.
I have been looking for something that won't break the bank. I would love to have a RANE but have a hard time forking out$250-$300 bucks.

2 choices I have run across are:

1)Presonus HP4 4 channel with a dedicated master control room send as well. Boasts a noise floor of -95dB and is $99.

2) ART HeadampV 5 channel amp with inserts etc. for $90.

My 1st leaning is for the Presonus because of rep and the fact it is quiet.

Does anyone have any experiance with either, or some other input that would help me make a decision?
 
I am happy with my Rolls HA43 ($55 plus shipping), not rackable though...

I think now Yorkville has a equivalent that is even cheaper. :)
 
I have the HP4, and it's a pretty decent unit. Headphone amps sound good, and have plenty of power with low impedance headphones.
 
I 2nd the Behringer headphone amp. I have one and it works great. You can run something like 12 sets of cans off it. Get one new in case it craps out (you know - Behringer:D ) instead of on eBay. Not but a few dollars difference.

DD
 
ill third the behringer while adding the

fact that it has a small eq section as well. Why is this usefull? If your like me you prob only have 2 sets of headphones worth listening to and 5 sets of pure krap lol. So with the eq you can at least make the krappy headphones listenable enough for someone to track. Ive found this very usefull at times since im not at the point where im going to toss out hundreds of dollars on pairs of headphones.
 
I find the eq really helpful sometimes. Whenever I record drums, I listen to the click and Nuendo puts out this awful beep sound. To get it loud enough to hear over the drums, it's ear piercing. I find that cutting the hi's on the headphone amp make it a little easier to deal with. Same goes with tracking guitars over loud drums. Personally my ears are really sensitive because I always wear ear plugs when playing live so the more comfortable I can make it when tracking, the easier it is.

Brandon
 
Fifth on the HA4600,
but wait a minute now, the HA4700 is going to hit the market soon, and knowing Behr. they'll blow out all the old stock for $70-80 bucks right before it hits the street.

Maybe you should wait it out?
 
6th on the HA4600; I've had one for awhile now, and have put it through the ringer, and it has never let me down. For the money, it's WELL WORTH IT!!!!
 
the rane goes for $100 used about...

dont see why you wouldnt want to get it...
 
I use Rolls RA62 HA. GC standard is $150. I reduced it a bunch as part of a package. I appreciate what Frist said about EQ. I confess, I hadn't thought as much from a drummer's viewpoint. A lot of times, I will have a new musician in the studio customize his or her own headphone mix, while I watch, because when I know what they want to hear, I can give it to them on other cuts much more easily. From my point of view, a headphone amp is one place where you don't get the best payoff for shelling out big bucks. Wow, my tracking headphones sounded great, but none of it got recorded! As long as the performer can perform and be comfortable, the sole mission of a headphone distribution amp have been completed. The Rolls has performed rather well. 6 outs, and it *is* rack-mountable, no wall wart.-Richie
 
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