Headphone practice dilemma

[Bajoquintoguy]

Hello fellow members, recently I started venturing into silent practice with my solid body instruments due to only having a chance to practice when my little ones are napping or sleeping, hence the need for "silent" practice.
This is ok but sometimes lacks excitement which leads to decreased creativity when playing.
So I thought "well, ill practice with headphones" and I started with something cheap. I got a Chinese knockoff of the vox amplug. I was after an acoustic model but was shipped an "English channel" version, which is supposedly a vox ac30. But it sounded terrible. Tons of hiss and unbearable tone. Yes I know you get what you pay for!

BUT, I accomplished two things. one, I found I like practicing through headphones.
Two, I need to find a quality setup to do it with, as I'm somewhat picky about having a clear sound.

I'm interested in hearing what suggestions you guys have to help me, especially those who have been down this road. All comments welcome!

[YamahaGuy]

There's lots of decent options out there depending on your budget and how else you may want to use the rig you go with. Here are a few things I've used with some pros and cons listed, as well as rough prices.

Peavey Vypyr VIP2 combo amp $200. Pro: super versatile amp can play bass, electric, or acoustic electric through, onboard models and effects that are useable and looping with optional Sanpera pedal. Con: large size for just practicing

Yamaha THR5 $200. Pro: portable, battery powered, good amp models and onboard effects, onboard tuner is good, excellent recording amp. Con: headphone jack is 1/4"

Zoom G3X $200. Pro: Lots of bells and whistles, portable and can be battery powered, USB capable, XLR direct out, can run up to 6 effects simultaneously, 40 second looper, drum/rhythm accompaniment, amp models, expression pedal. Con: Takes awhile to figure out all it can do, 1/4" headphone jack, varying volume levels in presets.

Behringer Micromon MA400 $25. Pro: mic in, very small footprint, 1/4" and/or 1/8" headphone jack, mono or stereo, independent mic control. Con: requires ac power. It would be nice if battery power was an option. I have run my huge pedal board into this and enjoy using this unit when "plugging in" to an amp is not feasible.

Digitech Trio Band Creator $100. Pro: Bass and drum accompaniment, onboard effects for each genre, excellent practice tool. Con: Requires ac power, volume from headphone jack doesn't seem to get real loud.

There are tons of other options, but these are a few things I use regularly.

[Golffishny]

I play through a Zoom G3 multi-effects box into headphones. I can use a preset or experiment. Have fun.

[Revy]

An IRIG plugged into an I-Phone ran through garage band is a good solution. I use a good quality set of headphones such as Sennheiser HD-280's.

[Bajoquintoguy]

Thanks for the replies guys! I looked at the suggestions and honestly they are out my budget...
I like practicing but $200 wont be justified for it. Also, I dont have an iphone so an irig isnt an option for me, though if I did, I would probably go that route.
Honestly I dont even have a need for effects/looper/etc or even vocals.

Ive been googling this and I have basically narrowed my search down to two products.

1) Electro-harmonix headphone amp, which has great reviews and is within my budget.
2) A standalone headphone amp. Something higher end like a fiio a3 or a5.
I have an inline preamp (I pulled the preamp out of my lr baggs m1a pickup and repurposed it as an inline preamp) I can use to buffer the signal going into the headphone amp.

Any opinions?

[MikeBmusic]

You can get a used Line 6 Spider IV 75 for as little as $99 from Guitar Center. You can use it for electric or acoustic guitar or bass (but don't put bass through the 10" speaker, only the DI/headphones output).
Very easy to dial in a clean sound, and lots of FX when you want to experiment a little.

[ManyMartinMan]

I would just get a small, inexpensive amp that has a headphone out jack.

Like this one: Fender Mini '57 Twin-Amp – Electric Guitar Amp

[FrankHudson]

I take it you have no interest in recording or using your computer for this. Am I right? I'm also taking as a given your desire to keep this under $100.

A used modeling amp should be cheap. Frankly any of them would likely work, as would the stand alone modeling units like the Line6 Pod. Personally I liked the original Line6 POD and the Fender Mustang I. Either should be under $100 used, and the Mustang I can be bought new for about that with the current coupon at Musician's Friend if you buy it over the phone.

I've not been happy with any of the small battery powered amps or amp plugs, but maybe I've never tried the right one. Lots of folks like the Blackstar Fly, I have one but haven't bonded with mine. I like a clean Fenderey sound most of the time, and the Fly doesn't give that to me. I've not played the Boss Katana Mini, but lot of folks like the bigger amps in the series.

[ChrisE]

I have a Fender Mustang III. It has a headphone jack and it also has an aux in so I can plug my ipod/iphone/computer into it and play along if I want.

It's also powerful and versatile enough to use at gigs with my band. I got it used for $150.00

[Rudy4]

I was researching these small plug-in headphone amps recently and found several comments on forums about how bad they are generally. Several times I ran across folks that went with the $60 Zoom multieffects units. Long battery life, looping, nice stereo reverbs, etc.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/G1on

I was looking for something that I could plug my laptop in and play along with mp3s or Youtube videos, and this would do that very well. That might be something that you might wish to do later. Might be worth considering.

[Tahitijack]

Would a Korg Pandora work for you? There are others but I still have mine for travel and hotel room.