Just add head phones

[Sean]

This little beauty was suggested by Joao a couple of months ago. I bought it to take with me on vacation. Before I was taking my Digitech affects pedal. Well this is GREAT! Just plug it into your guitar and then plug in your headphones to the VOX. It takes 2 AAA batteries. It has volume, tone and affects. It is very small. I have it pictured on my profile. Thanks Joao.

Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

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[rorygfan]

Does it all emulate AC30 tone?  The price seems low for that… brings back memories as I loved my AC 30 tone with a Dallas rangemaster clone w my strat and miss mine alot… it was an all tube handwired model.  I was looking last night at their 4 watt models just to see what they have lately.

[Igglepud]

Thanks for the tip. I have a student who could actually use this.

MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

[superblonde]

There was one I was looking at, from monoprice:
I think it’s the size of box of cig’s or maybe 2.

The feature list on this little guy is pretty killer (whether or not it actually performs well, I dunno):
– uses sd card, to either play back mp3 tracks, or record the guitar as 128k mp3.
– works as usb audio interface (16 bit )
– guitar mini amp with distortion
– mini speaker if not using headphones (this speaker likely sounds horrible, but, better than nothing)
– aux-in mixer, to plug in external audio to play along with
– headphone jack
– microphone-in jack with mic audio amp which mixes – no other similar device has a microphone input.
– belt clip or presumably guitar-strap clip for easy carry
– AA batteries I think

and monoprice has a similar one to the Vox too (may not sound as good… but also only $20):

– rechargable battery via usb plug. I like that because usb battery power packs or usb chargers are so common.
– aux-in mixer

It could be well worth it to get the Vox model if the tone is good, so still, thumbs up for the Vox idea too. The tone is what is still going to make it fun to use. My metronome has a 2 guitar distortion settings, which sound somewhat okay, I still use it when I dont have anything else at hand (short battery lifetime is a drag tho), if it didn’t sound good to me, I wouldn’t get as much practice time. So, might want to check out the “mini modeller” metronome’s, since having a click is handy too.

Personally..
I’d like to know the product which is next step up: an internal version like that mini Vox amp, that goes inside a guitar completely (especially if it has an aux-in mixer). I’m sure the circuit is small enough to put inside a guitar (except the batteries maybe). It probably exists on the custom guitar sites, I just haven’t looked much, because for example, the travel guitars have a built-in headphone amp with overdrives.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

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[Sean]

Dave I have never heard a Vox amp. I have read stories about them. Can’t answer that question. Maybe Joao can help there. But my guess is that it would probably be to good to be true. Its great for what it is, a way to practice with amplification using headphones being able to get simple FX. It does offer an aux jack to go into possibly a mixer or recorder.
I have attached the specs.

Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

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[rightonthemark]

rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

[Sean]

ROTM thats cool!

Thanks for posting that. It makes me think of the early 80’s.

Off topic but now I’m thinking of the stereo stacks I had. All that chrome and knobs, buttons, EQ lights -more the better.

Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

[safetyblitz]

The nice thing about the Vox amplug and its ebay knockoffs is that they are light enough to just plug into the guitar with nothing else supporting their weight. The Vox ones (and perhaps others) are also designed to be able to fit into a front-mounted strat jack, which is probably the most unobtrusive usage scenario (nothing bulky sticking out the edge of the guitar).

I haven’t used any of these first hand. I read some reviews where people claimed some of the Chinese clones of the Vox had problems whose details I don’t recall offhand; maybe something about the volume control being finnicky, or some kind of noise issue? I remember thinking at the time that if the complaints were true, it would be enough for me to buy the Vox instead, but I can’t remember the details. Of course, even if the complaints were true at one time, they may not be true today, and the clones are much cheaper.

[rorygfan]

Sean wrote:

Dave I have never heard a Vox amp.

Sure you have! How about Brian May’s great tone!  Rory Gallagher’s live albums, etc.

[Sean]

That IS an Amazing tone!!!!

Tell me and I will forget ,show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll understand

[rorygfan]

Nice interview of Brian May talking about audiences singing along to his guitar parts, what he likes to play and not play live, muscle memory comment “like riding a bike”…. hmmmm.  https://www.iguitarmag.com/magazine-editions/guitar-interactive-issue-40/edition-videos/brian_may_interview_part_one/

[vik]

I purchased the Metal version of the Vox.
Thanks Sean and Joao for pointing me to this.
Anything that increases practice time is a great thing, and this will for me.
Takes 3 seconds to strap on the guitar, jack in the vox and I am amplified.
A few observations:
Sounds better than I expected in general and quite good with EMG’s. I expected the gain hiss to be much more annoying, especially through headphones.
There is nothing resembling a clean setting.
Light plastic construction, it would not take much to crack this case.
Works great with a Fender style jack, not in the way at all, and not likely to be damaged.
100 % chance that I will break this if I leave it sticking out of the (Gibson style) side jack of my ESP.
I will be getting a coupler and using a short pedal cable to hopefully prevent breakage.

[superblonde]

Here is the really neat modification that I have been using lately for headphones, works great, for the aux or headphone connections. I got a Y-connector (like $1.50) and cut open one of the legs, and snipped just one colored wire, to cut either the L or R channel. (I used a meter to make sure I wasn’t cutting the ground wire) I left the other leg of the Y, as-is. This works great because I want to hear my mp3 player tracks in one ear of the headphones, and my guitar in the other ear. So I can choose when I am practicing: First, plug in the Y connector. Then, if I want to hear in just one ear, I use the clipped-side of the Y. If I want to hear in both ears, I use the unmodified leg of the Y. Depending on what I’m playing and listening to, I might do this for the aux-in audio or the headphones audio.

As for the Vox, maybe long term consider removing it from the case completely.. Solder it directly to a short cable and sew it onto the guitar strap to make a “pocket amp strap” 😀

For headphones I used to use different types of earbuds but they kept falling out as I moved around. If using my really good over-the-head headphones, after a while mine start to feel heavy, plus they mess up my fabulous glam-like hair (wearing a hat is more of a problem tho). So I got some in-ear sports headphones. These guys never fall out and they also block external noise. Good audio quality as well, highly rated on the hifi sites. Only like $20. MEE audio Sport-Fi M6 Noise Isolating In-Ear Headphones My newer progress videos, that is what I was wearing, they sit very flush to the ear so they are inconspicuous too. I think they could function well as cheapie in-ear-monitors. I like headphones that block string noise of the guitar. I just want to hear the amp-guitar sound, not the acoustic string sound. The noise isolation works great. I bet they would also work well if practicing as suggested while someone else is watching tv etc.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[vik]

@superblonde

Excellent ideas.

I can tell this is gear that I will be using a lot so it will be worth investing some time into some mods.

 

[safetyblitz]

superblonde wrote:

So I got some in-ear sports headphones. These guys never fall out and they also block external noise. Good audio quality as well, highly rated on the hifi sites. Only like $20.

My favorite model of sport type headphones was the Sony MDR-J10. Sadly, they’re discontinued now. I generally prefer the feel and sound of headphones where the speaker faces into the back of the tragus rather than facing directly into the ear canal. Sony and others still have some models that offer that speaker orientation, but they all seem to have moved to a “closed” design for the ear loop, while I preferred the open “eyeglasses” style open loop on the MDR-J10. A closed loop is less likely to get yanked off, but to me, I’d prefer for the headphones to give that little bit more easily in a “yank off” scenario and spare my ear. Also, the closed loop designs are more annoying to put on and take off. MDR-J10s are still available from some vendors as “new old stock”, but the prices have gone up a lot. Annoys the hell out of me, as I really like the function of that design.

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