Headphone amps

camperman · Aug 13, 2013

Can anyone recommend by experience a headphone amp that is suitable for use with an electric uke?
What I'm looking for is one that produces a decent ukulele sound rather than making it sound like an electric guitar.
I've seen a VOX one that is named as Acoustic but has anyone tried anything like this?

Tootler · Aug 14, 2013

I don't think you can expect an electric uke to exactly match the traditional ukulele sound any more than you can get an electric guitar to sound like an acoustic guitar.

I looked at the Acoustic Amplug but the blurb was on about modelling acoustic guitar sounds so I left it. In the end I didn't get an amplug at all. I bought a Marshall MS2 micro amp. You can play that with or without headphones. With the overdrive setting off, you can get pretty good clean sound from it and it's also pretty quiet.

I quite happily use my Risa stick with electric guitar effect pedals and get some great sounds from it.

camperman · Aug 15, 2013

Thanks Tootler.
I should have said electro acoustic uke. My little amps do a decent job of making it sound right and last night I took my littlest battery amp with me and used one earplug headphone as my foldback so I could hear my own uke. It worked fine but I'd like things to be a bit more compact.
Why'd I need to do that?
I used my Epiphone Les Paul and it's great but not too loud unplugged. The guy next to me uses a plectrum! Yep A plectrum! So he's very loud and there's also 2 banjoleles in the room. I feel if I run my uke plugged in it'll just add to the problem for everyone else.
I looked at the Acoustic Amplug too but couldn't find anyone who'd tried it with a uke and as it's not cheap enough to take the risk I passed it over.

Kimosabe · Aug 15, 2013

Yes, I've used the Vox

Yes, I've used and have the Vox. Basically there are two sounds: clean and a kind of grunge sound that you can intensity or lessen. There's also the volume. There might be other Voxes with different effects. They plug into your cable hole and then you have headphones coming off of them.

It's okay for what it is with an AA battery.

If you have garage band on a mac or some other kind of program and an interface such as an Apogee One you will obviously get more effects or you could play thru an amp and use headphones from the amp.

Keith Richards said that every electric guitarist needs to play acoustically to really learn.

If you can't make a crappy uke sound good, you ain't good.

camperman · Sep 3, 2013

I decided to invest the princely sum of £9.49 in Joyo Acoustic headphone amp. It was very harsh with a lot of top end so I modified it with 6.8nf capacitor across the input and it's fine now. In a set of full ear enclosed headphones it sounds quite good. In my intended in ear type phones it's definitely good enough for purpose.

iamesperambient · Sep 4, 2013

I have a joyo headphone amp I use with my les paul electric it doesn't sound great but does the job. I'm saving up for a proper uke amp soon though. the joyo is good for late night jamming with out bothering anyone but the quality isn't great but again ok for practice I ordered the acoustic one and they sent me the metal one hahah so sometimes I crank up the gain and play sweet child o' mine for fun.

joneo · Mar 30, 2016

:zombie thread: I know this is an old thread but I have the same type of question as the OP. Specifically, does anyone have any experience with the EHX Headphone Amp? I'm looking for something suitable too be used with a Solid Body Fluke. People report using this headphone amp with both acoustic and electric guitars as well as basses. Thanks

Peace Train · Mar 31, 2016

camperman said:
Can anyone recommend by experience a headphone amp that is suitable for use with an electric uke?
What I'm looking for is one that produces a decent ukulele sound rather than making it sound like an electric guitar.
I've seen a VOX one that is named as Acoustic but has anyone tried anything like this?

That's a loaded question. What price range are you looking to spend? And are you wanting it to do double duty for easy listening, etc...or just uke? I've tried a lot of can amps, but unfortunately not with a uke.

This may be more than you were wanting to know, but check out the Head-Fi forum if you're wanting to explore the myriad of options available. There are can amps in every price range.

edit: oops, posted before I saw you already purchased.

billten · Mar 31, 2016

I have the EHX and I really like it. Clean sound only, no effects or anything but i connect it to my Fluke SB and it sounds great IMO.

joneo said:
:zombie thread: I know this is an old thread but I have the same type of question as the OP. Specifically, does anyone have any experience with the EHX Headphone Amp? I'm looking for something suitable too be used with a Solid Body Fluke. People report using this headphone amp with both acoustic and electric guitars as well as basses. Thanks View attachment 89797

coolforcats99 · Mar 31, 2016

Have a look at the Moen Buffalo DI/EQ box. The following link has a link to the PDF manual as well.

http://www.swamp.net.au/moen-mo-ba-buffalo_parametric-eq-di-guitar_pedal.html

joneo · Mar 31, 2016

Coolness thanks alot!

Good to know that the EHX works with the SB Fluke well. -- I know that Guitar Center carries the Vox Headphone amps, perhaps I could stop by and just try one out. -- That Moen Buffalo DI/EQ box looks very interesting! I haven't seen those before. Could be a lot of fun... But I think at this point I just want to focus on getting a clean sound, and the simplicity of the EHX is one factor that I like about it.

joneo · Jun 3, 2016

billten said:
I have the EHX and I really like it. Clean sound only, no effects or anything but i connect it to my Fluke SB and it sounds great IMO.

Hey just wanted to report here that I too ended up with the EHX Headphone Amp for use with my SB Fluke. It's solid as a rock and works perfectly! -- A looong time ago I had an old Pocket Rocket for on old bass; that thing was made of cheap plastic and literally fell apart after awhile. I feel confident that the all metal housing of the EHX is gonna last much much MUCH longer! The only (somewhat) gripe is that the battery fits REALLY tight in there, and I will have to be very careful when it's time to replace the 9 volt. Other than that, I love the simplicity and the durability of this thing. Uke on!

Headphone amps

camperman

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Tootler

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camperman

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Kimosabe

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camperman

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iamesperambient

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joneo

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Peace Train

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billten

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coolforcats99

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joneo

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joneo

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