Okay, so I got this thing for guitars

[jxoco]

Hey John:


Depending on your budget I would recommend BayerDynamic DT-880 semi open headphones. But you have to be okay with the open design. It can be annoying to hear someone bleeding sound to the room. They are super comfortable and perfect for mixing recordings. $300.


I could bring a pair up to Nk' Mip in May.

Yes, the semi open thing is what I don't know about. I am trying to be easy on my ears and that is what people are recommending.
I my take you up on the offer if we decide to get to Nk'mip this year, Thanks.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

Sony Professional's MDR-7506 are excellent closed headphones, very sound isolating, very clean sounding, quite ruggedly made, and there's no bleed out to annoy folks around you. I see them all the time in recording studios and on stages used for the PA mix. You can find them for about $100. after 5-10 years of heavy use, the ear muffs get worn out, they are readily available as replacement parts, as Sony has made these same studio phones for over 30-40 years.

 

[UncleTim]

Here is another thing to consider.

The headphones I like (BeyerDynamic DT-880) are 250 ohms. That means you cannot push them with an iphone. You have to have a separate amplifier. My little amp for it costs about $100 just for the amp. Otherwise the sound does not get very loud.

I suspect most of these designs like the Sony mentioned above are probably 32 ohm headphones. These can be pushed by a phone and they will be plenty loud. But there is no way a 32 ohm headphone can compete with a 250 or 600 ohm set. But again you better have adequate power to push them. The benefit is much clearer reproduction and truly high fidelity sound.

I have two sets of BeyerDynamic 1350 closed headphones. There are the favorite of studio drummers for the isolation they provide. They are $270 each. I got them on sale for $120 each. They tend to hurt your head after an hour or so but they are highly regarded.They do not compete with the Dt-880's (250 ohm). Not very many do. But these are specialized headphones not seen in public often.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

oh yeah, my Sony Pro MDR7506's like a proper headphone preamp too. a walkman or cellphone or whatever will only sound OK at quite low volumes. They want up to 1 watt at 63 ohms, walkman minijacks are more like 0.1 watt at 300 ohms. with 40mm drivers, they have very good bass response.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AJIF4E

I can wear these Sony's for hours.

I also have a pair of vintage Grado HP 1000 open ear phones. While they can sound very nice, you hear the room around you, and the room can hear your treble.

 

[UncleTim]

You know what!


I used to have a set of those. The connectors came loose and eventually I could not put them back together again. They are great!



I really liked those headphones, and that is a pretty good price. Hmmm..., nah, my wife would probably kill me.


Nice phones thou!

 

[messengerphoto]

I play a Godin Multiac Nylon, an electric acoustic. I use a Yamaha THR portable amp that runs on standard AC or 8 aa batteries. The batteries I use are rechargeable. With this set up I can play through the amp (10 watts) or choose to plug into the available Headphone jack. The amp is surprisingly good and can be loud if you choose. When at home I use the THR amp as a pre amp and then plug it into my Fishman Loudbox. Very useful amp. The amp is available for electric guitars or acoustic. I paid about 200 US dollars for the amp.

 

[jxoco]

I play a Godin Multiac Nylon, an electric acoustic. I use a Yamaha THR portable amp that runs on standard AC or 8 aa batteries. Very useful amp. The amp is available for electric guitars or acoustic. I paid about 200 US dollars for the amp.

I use the Roland micro cube, same battery power or A/C and effects. I like them so much I have three, one at home, one at the cabin and one in the trailer. I bought one of them for $35 because it was missing the battery door. I'll eventually get a door for it...
Mostly the kid next door borrows it for when he goes camping/motorcycle trail riding with his club.

 

[UncleTim]

Thinking about one of these.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...h-bluetooth-60-watt-1x6.5-inch-acoustic-combo


https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...1x6.5-inch-battery-powered-acoustic-combo-amp


For me Fishman handles acoustic signals better than anyone. I have the Performer and absolutely love it. Especially for singing. It handles the Acoustasonic so perfectly it can achieve sounds with that box not available on others. I like the battery idea.

 

[Nindy]

I only have a relative relationship with music. My nephew Jon plays all the instruments on this version of Green Onions, recorded in my brother's studio.

That's wonderful!

And Tim, I would also camp next to you! I'm not one to hang out in a campground all day - I'm traveling to see the local sights. So, you can practice all you want during the day and I'll hang around for the campfire concert.

 

[UncleTim]

Did I mention I have over 15,000 actual miles hiking. 5,000 or so, as a whitewater captain. Yeah, I'm a little proud. Been to Yellowstone over 75 times. One year did 19 national parks. Have been out hiking and photographed every third week since I was 26. Scaled so many peaks I think I have mostly had enough.


At age 55 I quit being a four season knucklehead and started to heal up in the Winter. Don't ever look at my toes!!!!!



I would like to go hiking with you too!

 

[UncleTim]

A Hohner headless guitar, Vox headphone amp w/effects and headphones.
No problems, I would like better headphones, I've been told to look at AKG K 240 Semi-Open Studio Headphones, but haven't gotten to try any yet.
Just trying to re-learn stuff after a 30 year gap in playing.

I should have said this earlier, if you want a great guitar book to get the fundamentals worked out, lemmeno!


I'll hook you up with a free on line copy of my First Year book. It gets great reviews.



Revisiting this post due to another nice addition. Next post.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

A Hohner headless guitar, Vox headphone amp w/effects and headphones.
No problems, I would like better headphones, I've been told to look at AKG K 240 Semi-Open Studio Headphones, but haven't gotten to try any yet.
Just trying to re-learn stuff after a 30 year gap in playing.

if you want closed headphones, its really hard to beat the Sony Professional MDR-7506 studio phones. complete sound isolation, you can be rocking out in there, and no one around you will hear a thing, really wide frequency response. I see them used by studio professionals a LOT they are also quite rugged, and come in a stuff sack they fit nicely into when folded (see the third pic below). about $100.

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR7506-Professional-Diaphragm-Headphone/dp/B000AJIF4E

now, portable devices like ipods, cellphones, walkmans, they won't have enough pookah to drive them well at volume, but they are fine jacked into like a mixer, or a preamp, or tape deck's headphone output that uses a 1/4" jack.

 

[UncleTim]

This is kinda long!

So I wanted to revisit this post and let you guys know what I am doing with guitar sound. I think I have a really great solution worked out.

As I mentioned before I use a 180 watt Fishman amp for playing my acoustic guitar and adding my effects at home. It's really nice. And I play pretty low volume most of the time, not always. Very nice acoustic sound and I prefer this amp for vocals too. This is my favorite. But not for the road. I got several other amps too, but that 's not the point.

Now I have another set of solutions worked out for the road. You can even use it in the car. And I can accommodate two guitars (or other instruments) and two singers on battery power. With really high quality reproduction. Here is what I am going with.

1. The sound system for the 5.0TA is going to be the Bose S1Pro. First couple of pics. GREAT sound (excuse me for shouting), hook up for a guitar or keyboard and a vocal (or two instruments). Great volume control. NO EQ! Which sucks! But this thing is very high quality sound and you can move it around the trailer, which allows you to keep the levels down and have great sound. Great just for listening to music softly! About 14" across.

2. Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge. OMG! This powers the Fender Telecaster Acoustasonic (picture enclosed) and vocals. Lovely! Just like the big one! And this too, like the Bose, is fully battery powered. About 12" high and wide. 60 watts total, 30 watts per channel.

Here's the thing. I can turn the volume down to match any level of acoustic guitar and not exceed it. Absolutely spot on volume control. I can also take the volume down to 3/4 level of an acoustic and maybe even half volume. This is crazy! Playing with an amp at a level that is below what you can play a standard acoustic at (with no amp)! Crazy!

The standard Telecaster goes into the Bose which handles it well. Not perfect but I'm not going to start to add on effect boxes. I might.

Of course these are both bluetooth and 3.5mm connections on each too.

This really takes the whole idea of professional level sound to a new level. Rechargeable high quality sound. I also have an option to run everything thru my Macbook Air and an audio interface. Completely quiet except my voice and slight sound of strings. No volume at all! And it comes with a professional sequencer, which is a full blown recording studio and everything that goes with it. So record at any time.

Okay so this sounds scary. Right? That's a lot of power in a couple of rechargeable boxes. It's not. It is used when appropriate, probably not at a rally. Keep in mind, this is a professional setup. You don't hear this when you pull up to me camping. Probably you only hear anything at extremely low levels, if at all. But if you are off by yourself with a few quality musicians, the sky is the high quality limit. This is nuts!

So this is what I am going to do.

 

[arniesea]

Very cool! Lithium rules!