Need opinions! Headphone amp for my sources & my bass guitar! Cafe Walter anyone?
May 29, 2009 at 2:02 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 2

Schizoid

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Hi, guys & gals. This is my first post here, so be gentle!

I'm hoping to upgrade my setup in the near future with some better cans and I also want to simplify and improve the rest of my setup. I currently have a G5 Power Mac and I run the analog audio out of that into a small format Yamaha mixing board (4 channels, about 10"x10"). I use the mixer to drive my headphones and then I also plug my bass guitar in so I can practice along with songs.

There are a couple of disadvantages to this setup. Passive electric bass guitars aren't meant to drive the input of a mixer channel. So I have to crank the gain up quite a bit and I lose some high frequency content. Also, the mixer is still a little big for what I need and with all those knobs poking up, I can't really sit anything on top of it.

So here is the best solution I've been able to find:
HA-1A Headphone Practice Amplifier
It's a 1 channel headphone amp that also has an instrument input. It gets rave reviews for sound quality on the bass forum I frequent (TalkBass.com - Bass Guitar and Double Bass Forums, Gear Reviews, Answers to your questions on Basses, Amps, Strings, Pickups and more.), but I wanted to see what my new audiophile friends over here thought. There are quite a few photos on the page as well as a wiring schematic. That stuff is way over my head, but I'm hoping some of you can comment on its design and whether it seems like a decent way to drive some high-end cans.

If anyone has any better ideas about how to blend a direct connection from my bass guitar with my computer or i-Pod, I'm all ears!

Thanks for looking!

Sean
 

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