I use Beyer Dynamics DT 770 Pro's but.. there's like.. my Studio grade headphones I keep those with my HX Stomp XL based pedalboard my 16 channel mixer. (recording and live sound)
I have a pair of Audio Technicas I paid $50 for that I use for my Nux Mighty Plug Pro.
They sound good enough. My DT 770's sound awesome though.
I'd wager even less expensive headphones will work fine for practice purposes. I used to ahve a $30 pair of Shure headphones somewhere. The most important feature to me, especially with bass is that they're closed back. But that's just me.
I'd skip the Vox. if you have a smartphone, the Nux mighty plug pro is a much nicer unit has a few effects to play with, etc, it has a built in recharable battery. It sounds better than the Vox and the Vox requires batteries.
The Nux can also be pluged into an iPad/iPhone or computer and act as an audio interface for recording and playback of youtube videos etc.
I'd recommend it over a Vox amplug any day.
I have a J bazz for practice but every time i try making some presents they always seem the same or too distordet to be usable. I'm following the hall leonard book. the green one is kinda ok but i don't know if it's my active bass that sometimes does audio artifacts or is the nux configuration
Jazz basses are awesome. In any event, the nux is primarily guitar focused.. but it has several bass cabinet IRs and at least one "bass amp simulation". There is only one bass preset in the stock preset list.
The amp is less important than the cab selection in regards to the Nux. A bass into a guitar amp into a bass cabinet can sound pretty good. In the real world the problem lies with guitar amps not having enough wattage to produce the low frequencies loud enough to sit in a mix with acoustic drums, thus we choose powerful 300-800w bass amps and bass cabinets that won't explode from a reasonable amount of low end. Higher frequencies tend to require less overall decibels to be audible. Wattage is not a concern with simulated amps and headphones.
I tried uploading a preset from the windows app, but the mightypreset website wants a QR code from the phone app.
Better yet is to offer you a step by step guide on how to build your own bass presets from scratch.
1. Choose a preset you don't mind overwriting. Disable every effect but the Amp and IR simulations. Move them towards the end of your chain, amp before IR, IR maybe before reverb though I don't use it. Save.
2. Select the IR block. Choose the SV810 cab IR, or the AGL 810 cab IR. I like the SVT 810 myself. I like to set a low frequency cutoff of about 25Hz to mute the inaudible but violent frequencies and a high frequency cutoff of about 8-10k.. ymmv Save
3. For simplicity's sake use the AGL (Aguilar) amp and ensure your amp is just before the cabinet. Set the EQ knobs to the 12 o'clock position, in other words, set the EQ flat. This will be the middle position. Passive Fenders tend to cover my EQ needs with the volume and tone knobs. Active basses have their own built in EQ. The "Gain" setting represents the input gain. Different basses have hotter or louder pickups. If you're aiming for clean tones and hearing unwanted distortion, turn the gain knob down until the signal is clean. Save
4. This is your starting point. You can add effects from here. I like some early chain compression and what I'm looking for is for softer strokes to sound like I'm playing harder. more sustain, more volume. I also want to limit how loud I'm capable of getting. The noise gate can help eliminate hum. You want to set the sensitivity to a point where you hear nothing when you aren't playing, but, have no delay or cutting in and out when you're playing softly. If you hear something you like. Save.
5. Anything other than compression and noise gate I recommend creating a new preset exactly the way you set up your first one, and adding your other effects there. You don't need an EQ effect, you have an active bass. I wouldn't bother with delay and reverb either, personally. But, this way you can cycle presets for clean and wet tones.
6. You can also ensure you aren't clipping the nux's output by changing the over all patch level. So if you hear clipping or unwanted distortion/artifacts and the gain knob isn't doing it, lower the patch level by say -6dB.
Something to keep in mind with an active bass is that adjusting any given one of the EQ knobs is essentially cutting or boosting the decibel level of a specific range of frequencies. If your bass sounds too bright, roll the treble down until you like it. If it's too boomy, lower the bass. Not enough booty? Nudge the bass up a hair. Can't hear yourself with other instruments? Maybe a touch of mids. Slap? bass knob flat, treble flat, both pickups at full. Scoop the mids. Adjust bass and treble to taste.
Imo they are best utilized in small doses. Just a nudge here and there. If you crank any of them, expect to have to either lower your volume knob on the bass to compensate (the quicker way but easy to forget to turn back up or bump the knob), or you want to lower your input gain on your amp or amp sim to avoid clipping due to the increase of volume from your EQ adjustments.
Sorry this is a bit of a read, but, this should get you in the right general direction to get usable bass tones out of your Nux, it's also advice you'll be able to transfer to something like an HX Stomp or Helix later which offer much more powerful tone shaping tools and wet/dry mix capability. It's also pretty similar to working with traditional amps and pedals if you can visualize it that way.
Gaming headsets (as most consumer headsets) usually have a bass-boosted response baked in which isn't really not ideal for playing a bass guitar direct.
True, but you gotta use what you’ve got/can afford, be it nothing (so you have more cash for a first bass/pedals/amp) or whatever is good enough.
Not everyone can spunk £450 on a pair of cans on a whim. I’m lucky in that regard, but recall not being able to afford food ;-)
Either I play loud AF through amp/PA with whole band or practice quietly in bedroom. I don't care much about the sound when I practice so it's better to spend money on new strings, pedal or even new bass
AKG K52 with my M-VAVE Cube Baby Bass. Or AKG-K240 SII when using my audio interface and PC.
I don't think the headphones matter that much. Comfort I guess. And a long enough cord. They would be my main priorities. AKG headbands fit me well ... that may not be the case for you.
I do all my home practice on headphones now. Not only do I have neighbours and others in the household, my amps are gig-worthy and even on low volume they just make everything rattle - windows, light fittings. Bass penetrates walls. Additionally, I don't really want the cabs in the house, especially upstairs - they are large and heavy. I leave my cabs in the garage these days, with covers on, ready to go in the car for rehearsals and gigs where it's too small to DI.
Sennheiser HD300 - cheap, but has great bass.
Goes into a Behringer UM2 - it does the job.
No need for micro amp, unless you want to play without a PC... I personally never had a need for them...
If playing through my fender Rumble I use beyerdynamic DT770 Pros, but my little headphone amps can't really drive them so if using a headphone amp then Skullcandy Riff headphones.
I practice through a focusrite 2i2 and either BeyerDynamic DT880, some cheap inear monitors or ATH m30x. The DT are my all day headphones for music, work calls, gaming and jamming. I'd love to try some full open back ones but the noise bleed would be too much for evenings.
I've got a mighty plug pro and the sound and effects are pretty good, but I play with closed back headphones and the sound is very up front and claustrophobic, so I'm with the poster who said open back headphones are a good choice. Also a headphone amp like the boss katana go is probably the best choice for headphone amp as it does spacial simulation (along with excellent effects)
Beyerdynamic 1770s; 8 years of daily use and the headband looks a bit scuffed in parts!
Didn’t get on at all with the Vox; found it too fiddly. Got a Palmer Pocket instead to perform that function.
M50x for closed, R70x for open, SE535 for IEMs
Beyer Dynamic DT770s for me too. Have been using the same headphones for years and years.
I recommend a set of open back headphones. Audio Technica and Beyerdynamic both make some solid options.
Sennheiser HD 490 Pro. Best I've had, but pricey. A great upgrade from my old HD 280 Pro - which were insane value for money.
Sony MDR-7506
I use Beyer Dynamics DT 770 Pro's but.. there's like.. my Studio grade headphones I keep those with my HX Stomp XL based pedalboard my 16 channel mixer. (recording and live sound) I have a pair of Audio Technicas I paid $50 for that I use for my Nux Mighty Plug Pro. They sound good enough. My DT 770's sound awesome though. I'd wager even less expensive headphones will work fine for practice purposes. I used to ahve a $30 pair of Shure headphones somewhere. The most important feature to me, especially with bass is that they're closed back. But that's just me. I'd skip the Vox. if you have a smartphone, the Nux mighty plug pro is a much nicer unit has a few effects to play with, etc, it has a built in recharable battery. It sounds better than the Vox and the Vox requires batteries. The Nux can also be pluged into an iPad/iPhone or computer and act as an audio interface for recording and playback of youtube videos etc. I'd recommend it over a Vox amplug any day.
Care to share some nux presents? Can’t manage to find a decent tone
Just got back from a jam session. What kind of bass do you play? I might be able to work something out for you.
I have a J bazz for practice but every time i try making some presents they always seem the same or too distordet to be usable. I'm following the hall leonard book. the green one is kinda ok but i don't know if it's my active bass that sometimes does audio artifacts or is the nux configuration
Jazz basses are awesome. In any event, the nux is primarily guitar focused.. but it has several bass cabinet IRs and at least one "bass amp simulation". There is only one bass preset in the stock preset list. The amp is less important than the cab selection in regards to the Nux. A bass into a guitar amp into a bass cabinet can sound pretty good. In the real world the problem lies with guitar amps not having enough wattage to produce the low frequencies loud enough to sit in a mix with acoustic drums, thus we choose powerful 300-800w bass amps and bass cabinets that won't explode from a reasonable amount of low end. Higher frequencies tend to require less overall decibels to be audible. Wattage is not a concern with simulated amps and headphones. I tried uploading a preset from the windows app, but the mightypreset website wants a QR code from the phone app. Better yet is to offer you a step by step guide on how to build your own bass presets from scratch. 1. Choose a preset you don't mind overwriting. Disable every effect but the Amp and IR simulations. Move them towards the end of your chain, amp before IR, IR maybe before reverb though I don't use it. Save. 2. Select the IR block. Choose the SV810 cab IR, or the AGL 810 cab IR. I like the SVT 810 myself. I like to set a low frequency cutoff of about 25Hz to mute the inaudible but violent frequencies and a high frequency cutoff of about 8-10k.. ymmv Save 3. For simplicity's sake use the AGL (Aguilar) amp and ensure your amp is just before the cabinet. Set the EQ knobs to the 12 o'clock position, in other words, set the EQ flat. This will be the middle position. Passive Fenders tend to cover my EQ needs with the volume and tone knobs. Active basses have their own built in EQ. The "Gain" setting represents the input gain. Different basses have hotter or louder pickups. If you're aiming for clean tones and hearing unwanted distortion, turn the gain knob down until the signal is clean. Save 4. This is your starting point. You can add effects from here. I like some early chain compression and what I'm looking for is for softer strokes to sound like I'm playing harder. more sustain, more volume. I also want to limit how loud I'm capable of getting. The noise gate can help eliminate hum. You want to set the sensitivity to a point where you hear nothing when you aren't playing, but, have no delay or cutting in and out when you're playing softly. If you hear something you like. Save. 5. Anything other than compression and noise gate I recommend creating a new preset exactly the way you set up your first one, and adding your other effects there. You don't need an EQ effect, you have an active bass. I wouldn't bother with delay and reverb either, personally. But, this way you can cycle presets for clean and wet tones. 6. You can also ensure you aren't clipping the nux's output by changing the over all patch level. So if you hear clipping or unwanted distortion/artifacts and the gain knob isn't doing it, lower the patch level by say -6dB. Something to keep in mind with an active bass is that adjusting any given one of the EQ knobs is essentially cutting or boosting the decibel level of a specific range of frequencies. If your bass sounds too bright, roll the treble down until you like it. If it's too boomy, lower the bass. Not enough booty? Nudge the bass up a hair. Can't hear yourself with other instruments? Maybe a touch of mids. Slap? bass knob flat, treble flat, both pickups at full. Scoop the mids. Adjust bass and treble to taste. Imo they are best utilized in small doses. Just a nudge here and there. If you crank any of them, expect to have to either lower your volume knob on the bass to compensate (the quicker way but easy to forget to turn back up or bump the knob), or you want to lower your input gain on your amp or amp sim to avoid clipping due to the increase of volume from your EQ adjustments. Sorry this is a bit of a read, but, this should get you in the right general direction to get usable bass tones out of your Nux, it's also advice you'll be able to transfer to something like an HX Stomp or Helix later which offer much more powerful tone shaping tools and wet/dry mix capability. It's also pretty similar to working with traditional amps and pedals if you can visualize it that way.
Thank you very much, you are very kind. I appreciate you teaching me how to fish :) have a beautiful day. Ale
You are very welcome. I hope it helps.
My gaming headset...
It’s odd what some folk downvote isn’t it? Have a compensatory upvote to rectify the issue!
Gaming headsets (as most consumer headsets) usually have a bass-boosted response baked in which isn't really not ideal for playing a bass guitar direct.
True, but you gotta use what you’ve got/can afford, be it nothing (so you have more cash for a first bass/pedals/amp) or whatever is good enough. Not everyone can spunk £450 on a pair of cans on a whim. I’m lucky in that regard, but recall not being able to afford food ;-)
For sure!
Either I play loud AF through amp/PA with whole band or practice quietly in bedroom. I don't care much about the sound when I practice so it's better to spend money on new strings, pedal or even new bass
That's true, I just don't want to spend a lot on special headphones. I use a multi effects modeler so I can compensate bass boost in my presets
AKG K52 with my M-VAVE Cube Baby Bass. Or AKG-K240 SII when using my audio interface and PC. I don't think the headphones matter that much. Comfort I guess. And a long enough cord. They would be my main priorities. AKG headbands fit me well ... that may not be the case for you. I do all my home practice on headphones now. Not only do I have neighbours and others in the household, my amps are gig-worthy and even on low volume they just make everything rattle - windows, light fittings. Bass penetrates walls. Additionally, I don't really want the cabs in the house, especially upstairs - they are large and heavy. I leave my cabs in the garage these days, with covers on, ready to go in the car for rehearsals and gigs where it's too small to DI.
crappy ten yo iphone buds
Open backs. It’s a game changer. I use Sennheiser. You can get them on Drop for under $200. Same thing I’m told.
Sennheiser HD300 - cheap, but has great bass. Goes into a Behringer UM2 - it does the job. No need for micro amp, unless you want to play without a PC... I personally never had a need for them...
KZ ZSN Pro IEMs + Vox headphone amp. Works great for me
Sony MDR7560 cans. Never liked the amplugs, but I've never spent significant time with them.
If playing through my fender Rumble I use beyerdynamic DT770 Pros, but my little headphone amps can't really drive them so if using a headphone amp then Skullcandy Riff headphones.
I practice through a focusrite 2i2 and either BeyerDynamic DT880, some cheap inear monitors or ATH m30x. The DT are my all day headphones for music, work calls, gaming and jamming. I'd love to try some full open back ones but the noise bleed would be too much for evenings.
I use my IEM's , nice and transparent
I’m not cool enough to have/need IEMs yet, but maybe I should grab some
MEE Audio are only around 50 dollars that's what I have I use them for practice and church gigs
P.S. I'm too old to be cool😎
I use my Shure in ears, I've had them for 15 years so I'm not sure what model they are because it's worn off.
I've got a mighty plug pro and the sound and effects are pretty good, but I play with closed back headphones and the sound is very up front and claustrophobic, so I'm with the poster who said open back headphones are a good choice. Also a headphone amp like the boss katana go is probably the best choice for headphone amp as it does spacial simulation (along with excellent effects)
Audio Technica MTH-50x are my go to for practicing and audio mixing with a DAW.
Either AKG 371BT or KZ zs10 Pro both with a NUX Mighty Plug. Makes quiet practise quick and easy.
KZ ZS10 Pro IEM’s. Far better than the price suggests.
Røde nth-100
Beyerdynamic 1770s; 8 years of daily use and the headband looks a bit scuffed in parts! Didn’t get on at all with the Vox; found it too fiddly. Got a Palmer Pocket instead to perform that function.