Practice

[jimlib]

Hey guys, I just bought a Stick and am wondering what would be a good unit for practicing. The idea is to sneak off at lunch time during work so portability is key.

[traktor]

The pandora (Korg?) unit looks tiny and portable, but I've not heard it. I had an old zoom portable effect model which was not bad. A scan through the current issue of Guitar Player or Bass Player should reveal the contenders. Then a trip to your local music store to try them out, perhaps?

If you do check them out, how about a report back here, on what you discovered, OK?

In any event, welcome to the world of tapping! Hope you enjoy it mucho and invite your tapping friends.

[Tiptannick]

I have a PANDORA Box Multi-Effects for Bass and it sound really good with my Tiptar.
It include a rythm box with a lot of drums loop, and good FX.
Also, you can record few sample to play them in loop (from your instrument or aux. in).

Input is Mono (so you have to transform your 2 mono output to one).

[rockola]

I used to practice using a Rockman Guitar Ace headphone amp. It has a belthook, which is convenient, and more importantly, it has two 1/4" inputs, a big bonus for stereo instrument players (the amp itself is mono though). It's not very small, but it does the trick. I still have it, but haven't used it in a while, as now I usually route my signal through various rackmount sound destruction boxes I've acquired lately. I'll probably take the Guitar Ace with me once again to the European Tap-guitar Seminar in July.

I've been meaning to open the thing to see what it's made of: the circuit must be really simple. Haven't yet had the required combination of time and enough curiosity though.

[wmlusk]

I too use a Rockman, but an old X100 (Rockman purist - sorry...)

You may be interested in the Raven Labs PHA-1 (http://www.raven-labs.com). They have a dual channel headphone amp that can use batteries or an adapter.

Can anyone relate first-hand experience with the Raven Labs products?

[Manny Tau]

Check out www.stickist.com on the Headphone Amps section under the Gear menu. You'll find lots of info/graphics of the various units folks successfully use with their Sticks. Most of the stuff can be obtained for around $50 or less on eBay.

There's even photos and link to plans on building your own battery powered headphone amp, utilizing the stereo outputs of the Stick, if you're so schematically inclined.

[Uberbass]

For what it's worth...I've got the MDB-1 - (3 channel mixer/buffer/preamp/ DI thingy) and the PMB-1 (master blender). My opinion: both of them are excellent. Small, tough and silent. What I enjoy most about them is they do not color the instrument's sound at all. Both are perfect for stereo instruments.

I don't have any experience with the headphone amp, but I'm reasonably certain it's as good as anything out there.

Just saying.

b

[Manny Tau]

I've heard a lot of great things about the Raven Labs PMB-1 preamp for the Stick, which is both AC/DC powered. Actually was able to check one out, well built, very little noise, and definitely a quality unit. As for a preamp for a Stick, a great alternative to the Rane SP13 at about 1/2 the price.

The Raven Labs PMB-1 info can be found at:
http://www.raven-labs.com/

If you get a PMB-1, order it directly from Raven Labs, and ask them to modify the mic/aux input to match the instrument input, so they're both 10 Meg Ohms...I don't think they charge for this, and now you have matching inputs for the Stick.

[jimlib]

Thanks guys, great suggestions. The stickist.com website was great. I'll try out a few and report back what I find.