What do I need to hear my bass and the course in my headphones?

Gear
1

Hello, new here and coming from piano, so I am not very educated yet :wink: in the world of electrical music.

I am taking the beginner to badass course, and for some reasons, I need to be able to do the course with headphones. What do I need to be able to hear my bass and the course simultaneously? And do you have good recommandation for headphones? Thank you so much!

2

If you’re not concerned with being able to record yourself, you could use a headphone amp with bluetooth (assuming your computer also has bluetooth) like the Fender Mustang Micro or the Boss Katana Go. These plug directly into your bass’s output jack, and you plug headphones into them to hear your bass. The bluetooth connection then lets you play the lessons, or backing tracks, or whatever else you want into the headphones at the same time. These are also great for when you want a change of scenery for practice, since you’re not tethered to anything except the bass, and you can also use your phone for backing tracks etc.

They can also be used to record, but if you want that then a better solution is a Digital Audio Interface like Scarlett Solo 2i2, or the Presonus Audiobox USB96. You plug your bass and your headphones into the DAI, and then the DAI plugs into your computer over USB. Your computer sees it as a “microphone” for every input, and also as an audio output. The interface lets you directly monitor your bass, or you can use software to apply effects and modeling and listen to the processed audio from the computer.

Personally I have both.

6 Likes
3

So many answers. I think I’ve tried them all.

Do you have an actual amp? If so, does the amp have a headphone out and an audio in? If so, you can run a cable from your PC to the audio in and plug the headphones in there. If you don’t want to run a line, you can buy a little Bluetooth adapter that will plug in to the audio in and then you can pair it to your PC.

As mentioned above, a headphone amp with Bluetooth works great too. Plug that into your bass, pair it with your PC, plug your headphones in there.

Also as mentioned above, I use a Focusrite 2i2, that works great. You can run it through a DAW (like Reaper or the like) and play with all sorts of effects, or you can just hit the “direct monitor” button. Either way, your PC sees it as an audio out.

1 Like
4

Thank you so much. Both options seems interesting. I’ll check into it. :slight_smile:

5

Something like a Zoom B1four/B2four works well and gives you a few other tools as well (effects, drum patterns, tuner, and the B2four works as a DAI allowing you to record your bass). And they’re relatively cheap. Plug the Zoom into your PC, the bass and headphones into the Zoom, and you can hear the bass and the PC audio as well…. They’re great little tools.

6

I don’t know what gear you already have, but yet another option if you didn’t get your bass yet is something like the Traveler Guitar TB-4P.

It has a built-in amp with headphones out and aux in (in addition to the regular output jack), so you can plug your computer to the aux in and your headphones to the bass. It is the same solution as @JustTim suggested, just the amp is built into the guitar.
I used it for much of the course.

But - don’t go buying it just for the sake of the course. I like it because it is a small and light bass that sounds fine, and I can take it to work with me for when I get some down time. But if you already have a bass I would go with an amp that has aux in and headphones out - either full size amp or one of the headphones amp mentioned in the first reply.