New Headphone Amp Day - Fender Mustang Micro

[jricc]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

BTW, out of curiosity and wanting another headphone amp to leave in my gig bag I bought the $50 Vox AmPlug2 Clean. You need to read the directions to set the gain of the amp model and the amount of reverb (a not completely intuitive two button UI). Once set it sounds pretty good too plus you have pre and post gain controls. In its highest gain "overdrive" setting you can go between a nice overdrive and a good clean using the guitar's volume control.

The build quality is not in the same league as the Fender and the battery compartment door is far from the best. But it sounds good and can be left to sit in a gig bag with the batteries not inserted as a backup. I am planning to gig using the Mustang Micro directly to our QSC CP8. It is really handy having all the controls right at the guitar. There are some unique advantages to these headphone amps if you are not a pedal guy.

I like the Fender Micro better but this is a nice little toy too.

Musician's Friend has both in stock as of a minute ago.

Look forward to hear of your gig experience with the QSC

[BoneDigger]

Anybody have a favorite set of headphones or earbuds that sound really good with this? I ight get a new pair just for travel.

[arwhite]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

Anybody have a favorite set of headphones or earbuds that sound really good with this? I ight get a new pair just for travel.

I bought these from Sweetwater when I bought my Mustang Micro. Might be a bit bulkier than what you are looking for though. They do sound good.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ble-headphones

As far as the Mustang Micro itself, this might be the best electric guitar accessory I've ever purchased. It is fun.

[jonfields45]

I bought these massive headphones after doing a trial through various <$20 low end on ear, in ear, and earbud headphones. The cheap stuff all sounded bad. These sound great and I can still hear the goings on around the house.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...dio-headphones

[BoneDigger]

In general, would amore neutral headphone be preferred, or is a standard audio driver as found in most headphones okay? They tend to shape the sound, but that might not be a bad thing?

[1neeto]

I recommend Audio Technica MTH-30X for headphone practicing. And I say this after buying the M50X as an “upgrade”. The 30’s have a flatter sound which is great for guitar tone. The 50’s have a tighter bass, and crisper highs, but the mids are a bit scooped. Great for listening to music and mixing, but not the most pleasing for guitar tone.

[Morrill]

I'm on day 3 with mine and I'm happy with my purchase. Currently using it with some earbuds but planning to purchase over ear type headphones shortly.

I do have a question regarding cord management when playing. If I am sitting it's easy enough to move the cord behind my back but if I need to put the guitar on the stand it's very easy to get the headphone cable tangled on an elbow, edge of the chair, etc... It's even worse if you play standing with a strap as it takes a bit of maneuvering to get everything routed and out of the way for playing.

I realize it's a very minor thing and it comes with the territory (cord management) but do any of you have any tips/tricks for keeping the headphone cable out of the way?

Thanks,
Mike

[arwhite]

My headphones have a fairly long coiled cord. It works well behind my back either sitting or standing. I unplug the headphones and the amp before putting the guitar back on the wall hanger or stand.

[1neeto]

What works for me is to sling the guitar before the headphones. Seems minor but it helps. My older headphones have a 9ft long cable that seems to get everywhere but I’ve learned to live with it. When I use the 50’s, I use the coiled cable.

[dnf777]

I ordered one today. But I know by the time it arrives, v 2.0 will be out with BT headphone capability...

[Morrill]

One a side note - In a pinch it also works as a bluetooth headphone adaptor for your phone if you do not have a headphone jack. My earbuds were charging this morning and I wanted to stream a station from my phone. Worked fine. Doubt it will be used like this very often but came in handy today.

[egordon99]

Bluetooth has enough latency that would make it all but unusable for trying to listen to your guitar playing through BT headphones.

[Morrill]

Originally Posted by egordon99

Bluetooth has enough latency that would make it all but unusable for trying to listen to your guitar playing through BT headphones.

I meant for listening to something from your phone as a bluetooth adaptor in a non guitar playing application. Example - I used the Fender Micro to stream a podcast from my phone (which has no wired headphone jack) to the wired headphone and was able to listen to it. Not an optimal setup but worked great while my wireless earbuds were charging. Most people will never use it this way but it worked great for me.

[dnf777]

Originally Posted by Morrill

I meant for listening to something from your phone as a bluetooth adaptor in a non guitar playing application. Example - I used the Fender Micro to stream a podcast from my phone (which has no wired headphone jack) to the wired headphone and was able to listen to it. Not an optimal setup but worked great while my wireless earbuds were charging. Most people will never use it this way but it worked great for me.

Yeah, 99% of the time Im ok with wireless/BT listening, but theres still a few otherwise perfectly good car radios, stereos, etc that still use the nearly obsolete 3mm phono plug. Thats a good idea you have, but how to get a micro mustang off a container ship anchored off California is another challenge...

[egordon99]

Originally Posted by Morrill

I meant for listening to something from your phone as a bluetooth adaptor in a non guitar playing application. Example - I used the Fender Micro to stream a podcast from my phone (which has no wired headphone jack) to the wired headphone and was able to listen to it. Not an optimal setup but worked great while my wireless earbuds were charging. Most people will never use it this way but it worked great for me.

Yeah, that would work fine. I was referring to the post asking about which BT headphones to use with the amp while playing their guitar.

For the heck of it, I tried my AirPods with my MacBook, Addictive Drums, and my Alesis Strike drum set. The drums were essentially a MIDI controller to trigger samples in Addictive Drums.

Normally I route the audio output to my Focusrite Scarlett and then wired Sony headphones which work great.

When I sent the output to my AirPods, the latency was so bad it was laughable.