OT: Headphone Amps

[MikeVt]

Guys, I need an opinion. I've been looking for a small, portable, easy to use headphone amp to increase my available practice time. I bought a Korg PX4D - which I do like. It is extremely easy to use, and it has a nice aux input transpose feature. However, it is a little noisy (background hiss even with the volume all the way down), and the jam recording quality is pretty crappy.

Does anyone have any experience with the Zoom headphone amps - like the PFX-9003 or the PS-04? Any thoughts on how they compare to the Korg PX4x models? Is having a small 4 track a better idea?

I'm trying to avoid going into the buy and return endless loop (since I really can't try them all locally) - so I'd like some opinions before I get into it...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Mike

 

[beej]

How small do you need? I know it's not in the same ballpark, but what about a Pod? If it's just for practice, find an older one for cheap (before the XT, like a v2) - sound great with headphones, and you have the added benefit of a second amp that you can use to jam with others, put through a P.A. etc. in a pinch.

 

[tommyindelaware]

zoom is a great company.
so is tascam . their guitar trainer is awsome !!!!!

yo..sup beej !!!!!

 

[GWDavis28]

zoom is a great company.
so is tascam . their guitar trainer is awsome !!!!!

Tommy, yah I saw that and thought that it looked cool.

Glenn |B)

 

[jimmyp]

Has anyone tried the Crate micro amp (or whatever its called) - it looks good for practice and as a backup to your main amp - I keep meaning to try one at GC when I call in,
dave

 

[tommyindelaware]

Has anyone tried the Crate micro amp (or whatever its called) - it looks good for practice and as a backup to your main amp - I keep meaning to try one at GC when I call in,
dave

is that the one w/ no effects..150watts....about the size of a cigar box ???

 

[jimmyp]

is that the one w/ no effects..150watts....about the size of a cigar box ???

That's the one - I'm interested to know how it sounds
dave

 

[Spudmurphy]

Jimmy
I will be selling off some off my old gear on e bay - hope to have it listed Thursday evening.
Apart from a Jim Bean Talkbox (voicebox), Cry Baby and a clock for a VW Karmann Ghia (ok thats the end of the plug !). I will be selling a Boss Playbus Headphone amp.
I bought this 20 years ago, and pitted it against the tom sholtz rockman - it blew the Rockman away.
Apparently Rory Gallagher used one of these to record a track on one of his LP's.
It sure will be a collectors item as they as rare as Rocking horse sh*t.

It would cost me about £18.00 to ship to the USA - I weighed it today.

Other than that I can vouch for the POD. I have the XT which is just incredible through my Marshall. but the earlier models are good to and are fraction of the cost of the xt.

 

[MikeVt]

zoom is a great company.
so is tascam . their guitar trainer is awsome !!!!!

yo..sup beej !!!!!

Ya know....Zoom gets a lot of bad press. I still have a 505II and I really like it. It is a bit fragile (so I wouldn't use it in a live setting), but I still get some really good direct recordings from some of it's overdrives. Maybe I'll take a closer look at the PS-04.

I really considered the Tascam CD trainer. It was nice, but I read a bunch of reviews that said that it was a bit difficult to use, and the effects really didn't sound all that good. I also felt that it was a bit bulkier than I wanted. My thinking was that it would be easier to run my ipod into something like a PX4 rather than carrying around a CD player and CDs. Maybe it's worth reconsidering as well.

On the POD recommendations, it's a little bigger than I had in mind. I already have a Vamp2, and a Boss GT6 and GT8. They all sound awesome via headphones - but I'm really looking for something battery powered that I can throw in my case, and something that has metronome/drum machine/bass capability for more productive practicing.

After I get this problem solved, I'm going to take a look at the Roland Microcube...looking forward to hearing Keith's at the open house. Man...I've got a serious case of G.A.S!!!

Thanks for the help guys!
Mike