Help with headphone guitar amp

I’m stumped. I’ve tried 2 Vox headphone amps and a third Donner Basement headphone amp. None of them work for me.

I’ve tried both jack holes, all settings, different/new ear buds, new batteries (Donner is rechargeable) . . . everything. The most I can get at max. volume is a very faint sound and lots of hiss.

Any suggestions? Might the input jack on my bass be defective? My full size amp works fine.

Thanks,

-Ken

If your full amp works fine then it’s unlikely your input jack. But this is hard to diagnose. Do your headphones work fine in your amp headphone socket if you have one?

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are you using headphones/earbuds with a mic?
I had this issue with an old pair of beats and certain electronics not being compatible and the sound was very faint.

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Good idea, JT. The several ear buds I tried worked only very slightly through my Fender 40 amp, and then only when turned up high and plenty distorted. Maybe cheapo Sony ear buds just don’t have the oomph?

John_E, I don’t think any of my ear buds have mics.

I next tried a set of half-decent Anker Soundcore headphones through my little Donner amp. Now I can hear the bass just a bit better, and then only if I cranked it up high. But then it’s really distorted and there’s a weird delay in the pickup.

Maybe I should just go into my local music shop - though I wonder if any are still open in these covid times.

I appreciate the help, bassbuzz mates.

-Ken

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New battery in your active bass?

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That’s intriguing, Ben.
The tongue test tells me the battery is almost dead. Which explains why my amp hasn’t been able to shake the walls lately - much to my wife’s relief.
I’ll go buy a new battery and report back on my findings.

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Amen Brother. When I took my Schecter in to be set up, my guy was pretty backed up (due to adjusting to pandemic conditions), and he had it for just over a month. He did a great job, but about a week later it started having all the symptoms @krt1 described. I just about had a cardiac episode until I thought to check the 9-Volt :sweat_smile:. Hopefully that solves your issues as well, fingers crossed!

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The battery was the culprit! The little amp rings loud and clear now. Thanks, bass mates! I really appreciate the generous wisdom in this forum.

-Ken

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Glad to hear you solved the issue.

I’m confused - why did the full size amp work?

It’s a good question. I’m not sure either to be honest as I just have passive basses, but my assumption would be that it was simply that he can turn up the volume a lot higher on an amp to compensate due to the extra power it has.

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Yes, I think JT has it right: the big amp seems to make the most of the very little power coming from the weak batteries. But I could be wrong – I’ve been mystified by all things electrical since squeaking through high school physics. If Josh had been my Physics teacher, I’d have aced it!

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Many active circuits are turned on when you insert a cable. Keep your bass unplugged (at the instrument) when not playing ;))

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Yep. If your bass has a battery, the cable jack is (literally) the power switch. Plugged in = on.

Same is true of many pedals - the pedal switch is a bypass but they are on and draining battery as long as a cable is plugged in.

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My Boss TU-3 Tuner pedal does (or rather did) that! I got fed up with it and got a power supply. It would kill batteries even when the bass was unplugged (although the cable was still plugged into the pedal).

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Yep, it’s true of any pedal with buffered bypass. And it’s convenient to have your tuner to have buffered bypass as usually it’s the first in the chain.

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It’s the ONLY pedal I have in a chain of one pedals. If I played guitar, I might say my next pedal would be a delay, but I honestly don’t know what I would need for my bass.

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Compressor and preamp (with a nice overdrive, preferably :slight_smile: ) would be my suggestions. The rest depend on style.

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Good ideas. I have my heavy days, and bit of overdrive might fill the bill.