Vox - amPlug2 AP2-BS Bass Guitar Headphone Amplifier with Rhythms

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Is all I can say about this tiny box that punches well above its weight. I'm amazed that something this small can produce good quality, deep and rich bass tones with more than enough volume for use with headphones. It's about the size of a chocolate bar so easily fits into a gig bag, runs on two 'AAA' batteries and allows you to practice anywhere and at any time; for me this is important as I travel away from home a lot with work so I can now take my bass with me and practice in the hotel room in the evening without disturbing anyone else. I can easily see it being just as useful for those wanting to warm up before a gig or recording session although you may need to have noise excluding headphones if there's a lot of background noise to avoid excessively loud volume within the ear cups. There are jack sockets for Aux in, allowing the connection of an mp3 player, laptop etc if you want to play along to a track, and headphones. There's also controls for gain (high, std and low settings), volume and tone allowing a good sound to be found easily enough. There's another thumb wheel to control which pre-set rhythm to use and the tempo, the latter can be a bit fiddly to use. Connected to my TGI headphones gives a great sound and you soon forget you're wearing them; in fact the exclusion of other noises seems to help with concentration I find and you suddenly find it's a lot later than you realised. Top tips for getting the best out of this unit would be to buy some good quality alkaline batteries to maximise the run time and use the pre set rhythms sparingly as these eat the run time considerably. Overall, a useful addition for the beginner / improver and the more experienced musician which won't break the bank.

The sound quality of this tiny device is absolutely brilliant for a bass. There are times, if I have a trip away that might last a few days or a week or more, that I want to practise but it is not worthwhile hiking my gigging gear around. This tiny device is just the thing to help with practise. The sound quality is amazing. There are various rhythm styles that you can jam along with or just alter to a simple metronomic drum beat. The only thing I wish was that you could alter the tempo of the rhythms. However, that said, most of the time I don't need the rhythms as I just practise any difficult passages I want to keep on top of. I tested this out with headphones and earphones. The quality was, as expected, better with headphones. Earphones are just easier to pack in my bass case and a very acceptable sound can be had from them. All in all, the price is surprisingly low for such a great little device. Well worth having it as back up for practising away from your amp!

I had mixed feelings when I ordered this headphone amp. Several reviews online mentioned strong hiss and white noises etc. I decided to give it a go anyway - and I was surprised just how good this little gadget sounded. Volume is loud enough (I have high impedance headphones), I have no hiss at all, and I find the inbuilt rhythms quite useful, too. I need to point out, that I am using an active bass, so maybe there is hiss etc with passive basses. But for me it works perfect. Operating the amplug2 is a bit fiddly. It is not possible to access the controls while it is plugged into my bass. especially changing the rhythms (when a combination of buttons needs to be pressed at the same time) is a bit too fiddly... (By the way, it is possible to change the speed of the rhythms by holding the rhythms button pressed while rotating the rhythm volume wheel...) The main problem with the Amplug is the flimsy build quality. It is a shame, since they could heave easily built a more sturdy version of it for a few dollars/pounds/euros more. With its current build quality, I would expect it to break immediately if i ever accidentally dropped it. Also, the headphone jack might easily break, if some force is applied. So: handle with care. But it is a great gadget, small and powerful

This headphone amp is superb. I connected up to my Epiphone Thunderbird Classic and it sounds pretty darn good. There is a small amount of hiss when the tone is set higher, which I probably should have expected, but with a bit of tinkering with the guitar and the amp, I've got an amazing sound to practice with. The instructions are simple to use and although the 3 drum tracks aren't really the kind of rhythm I'm looking for, it does give me a chance to try out some different styles than I'd usually go for. My Bass sounds really meaty through this little amp...I connected up with Apple EarPods, which aren't the best earphones by a long shot...can't begin to imagine what it'll sound like when I switch to a better set. I'd highly recommend this item if you're looking for a highly portable way to practice and keeping the sound down. Really impressed...Now I'm going to have to find out how it sounds with the pickup on my double bass and silent mute...worth a try surely?

Many mentioned this product was flimsy and yes whilst it's not built with the same material as a full sized amp it is not flimsy you just have to be careful when plugging and unplugging it or not sitting on the sofa in a very harsh and careless way. When it comes to sound quality and the fact that you can plug in your phone to it or any aux device and play along to tracks or training material whilst being fully mobile and not disturbing anyone is such a great plus for me. The volume.and tone control is not amazing but does what it sets out to do and I feel for the price its a great addition to my bass arsenal. Plus it does look like a vox usually does which is something I enjoy.

Great bit of kit very simple to operate handy with the built in drum beats. But there is a negative it eats batteries I think batteries are lasting like 4 days based on an hour of practice. So I would recommend getting the new usb plug in rechargeable 9v batteries or it will cost you a fortune in batteries. Other than that it’s incredibly simple and allows you a level of portability too.

I’ve just ordered my third one. On the one hand this is a good thing, because I find them so useful that I use them a lot and wear them out, have worn out two so far both purchased here and both within 3 years. But I don’t think they should break so easily - both broken ones so far have been mechanical issues, the plastic casing coming apart and it no longer working when plugging into my bass (won’t physically plug in anymore) or not working when connecting headphones anymore (I’ve tried multiple headphones, it’s the socket or connection that seems to have broken). They worked fine when new so haven’t felt it’s worth chasing on guarantee. I never use the beats or effects, but I like that there’s a clean sound that is well amplified so I can play along to recordings and hear both the bass on the recording well, and the sound of me playing well. This has helped my development more than playing through amps as I hear the bass much more clearly, any fluffed notes really stand out. The bass lines on recordings also really stand out so I can really try to emulate that when practising, which I can’t hear clearly through speakers when playing along through an amp. I use it a lot but to be clear always take very good care of my equipment and rarely take it out, it’s only for practising at home, so I do think that they should last longer before breaking.

The only reason I haven't given this four stars is that the build quality is a bit cheap and I am not sure it will last long. The changing of the rhythm variations is also very fiddly and sometimes results in switching the unit off. The angle is also awkward if the jack on your bass is side mounted as opposed to on the front (like a traditional fender passive bass) Anyway, now I have got the negatives out of the way, I must say the tone is incredible and it handles the output of my 18V active sire basses and my thunderbird better than my 100W ampeg ampeg. Love the tone and aux input is great too. I plug in the phone, play along to my favourite tracks all whilst waking around at 3AM and no one is bothered. the price on Amazon is also so much cheaper than anywhere else. Love this piece of gear.