Headphone Practice Amp

Del Rangel · Post by **Del Rangel** » 14 Oct 2002 6:14 pm

I am going to take my lap steel to my office and practice at lunch and in the evenings and want to know what headphone setups any of you have found to work well. Also do any of them work with your PSG as well?<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Del Rangel on 14 October 2002 at 07:15 PM.]</p></FONT>

Ron Castle · Post by **Ron Castle** » 15 Oct 2002 2:15 am

I've tried lots of the pocket size HP amps but have had little success. I use a Pignose Hog-20 (not pocket size) & its great for lap or psg. For a pocket size the best I found was the Pandora which works very well for either but not as good as the Pignose. The Pandora is pricey as a hp setup but its effects are very nice so it has dual purpose.
get a dc adapter- it eats batteries fast

Dennis Wood · Post by **Dennis Wood** » 15 Oct 2002 5:16 am

I use a Zoom 505 guitar stompbox processor that i picked up on eBay for very little cash. the 505 is actually a pretty good effects unit, with reverbs, delays and a tuner. I use it on stage with headphones to hear the harmonics when the guitar player is noodling around...

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Sierra U-12 Crown Gearless, Peavey Nashville 400,
Peavey TransTube Fx,
Peavey Stereo 212,
Peavey TT Bandit w/ex speaker. Tele, Strat, 1970 Les Paul Std.
Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic......

David Weaver · Post by **David Weaver** » 15 Oct 2002 10:25 am

Guitar -> Volume Pedal -> Pandora Input.

Pandora Output -> Headphones.

All done with 1/4" jacks.

Pandora is a small unit about 4" by 5" or so. The above simple configuration will let you hear yourself amplified with a large selection of programable effects.

Also there are some unprogramable and fairly useless rhythm tracks that you can turn that are built in.

Also there is a tuner....fairly wide scale and ok for "ballpark" tuning.

To accompany a CD, leave it the configuration as above and use the Aux port on the Pandora for input and you will hear the CD through the Pandora. Use an output from the CD player that has volume control. That way you can control the "mix" if you will.

On a little portable, the 1/8" stereo jack output (for headphones) goes to a 1/8" stereo input on the Pandora. If I am using a table CD player, I use the "Headphones" output on the front of the CD player with volume control (1/4" stereo jack) and take it to the 1/8" stereo Auxillary jack on the Pandora.

It's really very simple. I just wish more CD players were made with an "A-B" button that lets you loop a section of a song. I found an old Denon that had this on it and use it for a practice player.

The new CD players don't have it, but the DVD players with CD have the "A-B" button. They are getting very low in price and to me the loop feature is a big deal.

I'm probably stating the obvious above, but I am an electronic nitwit, so when someone gives me advice they need to get down to "fold flap A, Insert tab B..." etc. I try to do the same.

As stated, the Pandora is not cheap, but for earphone practice it seems to work very well. It's fun...it sounds very good for an earphone amp and effects unit, and I recommend it.

Tom Jordan · Post by **Tom Jordan** » 15 Oct 2002 11:39 am

Del,

If'n your going to practice, you might as well have something to play to...right?
Look for a Boss Dr-5. You plug your guitar into it, listen on the headphone jack and "build" the songs that you want to practice into it. Works great on the road and is very compact.

If you don't want to fool around with midi, I also use my Digitech RP-100. Guitar in, headphones out and it does have different drum tracks to keep your meter honest. The drums are wierd but have tempo and pattern selects.

I've been living in a hotel 3 nights a week for work and either option does work well for me.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

Tom Jordan

Del Rangel · Post by **Del Rangel** » 15 Oct 2002 2:29 pm

Close this one up Joey I heard what I needed to hear. Thanks all!

Bob Kagy · Post by **Bob Kagy** » 15 Oct 2002 4:38 pm

Del, I used to take my lap steel to the office & practice during lunch too.

I played without any amplification, headphones, etc.; for practicing licks, scales, finger exercises, just the unamplified sound of the strings worked fine. Don't know whether that would work in your environment, but it might be worth a try.