Does anyone know anything about the vox amplugs or any other headphone amplifiers?
I’m looking for some way to practice without killing my roommates.
Thank you!
My friend used a Korg Pandora’s Box back in the day. This was a long time ago though.
Had an ac30 amplug a few years back; sounded alright, think batteries lasted quite a while for it. Don’t really remember now.
Will you be wanting to do metronome practice with it? I still use a Boss Micro BR for that, it’s great for recording ideas or playing against a backing too. I think, but I’m not entirely sure, you can use the Vox i/o amplug with a smart phone and use one of the daw apps you can get if that interests you?
I’d also be careful of pushing the volume too much if you’re using in ear headphones regularly…
I’m using the vox amplug 2 classic rock, it works great! It also has an aux input for backing tracks or metronome.
if you can find a used korg pandora that would be the ultimate or an old zoom. Those things were great for that sort of thing.
My girlfriend works night shifts every other month. I have to practice very quietly so I don’t disrupt her sleep.
I run S-Gear by Scuffham Amps on my laptop when practicing. I connect my guitar to the laptop with a Scarlett Solo audio interface, and listen with a pair of Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones.
The amp and effects models in S-Gear are excellent. Some of the presets recreate iconic recorded tones, and programming presets is fairly intuitive. I play along to a lot of backing tracks to practice improvisation. I use VLC to play the backing tracks.
BIAS is an alternative to S-Gear. It has more amps and effects models but I much prefer the sounds from S-Gear.
I also use this setup when transcribing using Transcribe!, which you can buy from
www.seventhstring.com
If you don’t already have Transcribe!, I highly recommend it!
I’ve found this setup is ideal for my practice needs. It’s flexible, sounds great and is very quiet. I’d strongly recommend a similar setup over using a headphone out on a multi effects unit or practice amp.
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I’m extremely happy with the headphone outs on my Helix, but that’s not exactly the most affordable option.
I take my guitar to work and practice on my coffees/lunches using my iRig 2 plugged into my iPhone with the Jamup Pro app providing tones. Jamup is made by Positive Grid, who also created the BIAS app that Sir Gilroy mentioned. I’m not the biggest fan of BIAS these days but the Jamup Pro app is fantastic bang for your app buck and it’s been a game-changer for me.
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I’m using a Hotone Nano Legacy British Invasion. Loud enough if you plug it into a speaker, but has a headphone jack. No verb or delay, but I use a multieffects for that in the effects loop of the amp. Retails for $99, and is tiny and very portable.
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I’m using a Vox Amplug and I love it. It sounds great. That device has helped me improve my playing since I can play freely anytime without bothering anyone. above all I find it simple - just the one headphone wire going from the Amplug to your ears and that is it, so I don’t have to worry about moving and accidently pulling on something like a phone and dropping it. Worth the money!
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Totally! What model do you have? I had the classic rock one but it just died, I’m still undecided about its replacement!
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I’ve also been an advocate for unplugged practice as a really good way to build evenness in your legato technique (if you can get clear and even articulation in legato from an unplugged electric, then you can get it through any gain structure you can imagine, though as the gain comes up muting becomes more of a concern), so don’t be afraid to every once in a while just pick up the guitar and play, without plugging it in to anything.
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Classic Rock model as well. It’s amazing how good it sounds, right?
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Have you got any handy hints and tips for this because I feel like I get absolutely NOWHERE in terms of improving my unplugged legato. I can do it reasonably fast and relaxed with very little volume, or I can do it extremely slowly and deliberately with a bit more volume but with a degree of tension/stiffness that means I’ll never get any speed with that approach.
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I guess just really listening critically to your articulation. I’ve found that if I focus on fretting with the very tips of my fingers, on the harder, more callused part rather than the fleshy pad, I tend to get clearer articulation and more “volume” from the guitar. That and just keep your touch light and fluid. You don’t have to make it especially loud, you just want to keep each note clearly defined and even from note to note.
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As far as I know, it is physically impossible to make the legato notes as loud as the picked ones with an unplugged instrument, any attempt to overcome this limitation can only result in ill-directed tension - @Tom_Gilroy may be able to confirm/deny 
I also recall from one of his posts that (">" means “louder than”):
picked > pull-off > hammer-on
EDIT: Tom, I know you are a mathematician, so I should be precise 
The correct inequality is
Max(picked) > Max(pull-off) > Max(hammer-on)
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I hesitate to use words like impossible… But, yeah, I’d agree with this, broadly. I’d worry more about clarity and evenness than I would about trying to match the output of your picking hand, unless you’re a VERY soft picker.
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right, I’ll focus on keeping it relaxed/even/clean and report back in…I don’t know, a year or so
I’ll be sure to practise with stupid amounts of gain as well so my muting doesn’t go out the window
Even just doing trills, focusing on using the tips of your fingers, and listening to the tone of your guitar, will go a long way. I think I started noticing results within a week or two, to be perfectly honest.
Ha, good thing you corrected yourself. Yes, I was specifically talking about the dynamic ceiling for each technique.
A firm hammer is required for clear articulation, but there is a point where increasing the force applied just results in the note bending sharp and sympathetic noise on the other strings. The maximum effective loudness of a hammered note is below that of a note that is pulled-off to, which is in turn below that of a picked note. If you want an even dynamic, you have no choice but to match the level of you pick strokes and pull-offs to the level of your hammers, which is the limiting factor.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with an uneven dynamic, and many players such as @Drew actually prefer this effect. It’s just not “legato” in the strictest sense.
@Prlgmnr, I believe that it’s much more important to practice legato plugged in with a range of gain settings than to practice unplugged. Unplugged practice is useful, and can help to target specific issues, but what’s most important is that you can actually play how you want with the sound you’d actually perform or record with. Certainly you shouldn’t be afraid of unplugged practice, but too much time unplugged will affect your ability to damp unwanted noise while playing with gain.
Incidentally, most of my legato practice these days is through my audio interface and S-Gear, with a Holdsworth-type preset sound, as I described earlier in this thread.
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What’s your budget?
There’s a wide range of options with the Axe FX III being at the top end.
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