Vox Amplug Bass (AP-BS)

Just bought it about three weeks ago...so I assume 2009. The amp is perfect for what it is used for. It has gain, tone and volume controls. The on/off switch is three position, standby, on and FX. I have a cheap $19.00 pair of in ear headphones used with my MP3 player.

I play finger style in a hard rock/ alternative band and use this for practice in the evenings when my baby girl is asleep. The sound is not what you would want to record with but that has a lot to do with the headphones, but at volumes that won't damage your hearing, it sounds good enough to practice with any ways. I'm a big fan if Ibanez basses...they have never let me down even after years of use.

So far it has worked very well, I have put about 17 hours on it and it has worked like it is supposed to.....no complaints. Wish the jack was more centered on the unit. Very simple to use. Made of plastic and very light weight.....

no problem with the unit yet

I have been playing for about 17 years. My other equipment includes a SWR SM-500, SWR Super RedHead, Goliath Jr III, Goliath III, Ashdown Five Fifteen combo, Zoom B2.1U pedal. Ibanez BTB555, Ibanez SRX 650, Ibanez SR400. I love the fact that I can practice bass at night and hear it without disturbing others.If it were lost stolen or broke I would definitely purchase another one. My wife likes it to....she doesn't like to hear the walls rattling.

This is a small headphone amplifier that is about the size of a cell phone (3.39" x 3.15" x 1.22") with a male 1/4" plug that you insert directly into your bass. It has two female 1/8" jacks, one for your headphones, and the other is an AUX input to which you can connect your MP3 player. At 1.4oz (40g) it's pretty light and is comparable to having a standard cable plugged into your bass dragging on the floor.

It has three dials: gain, tone, volume. It also has a three-position switch: off, on, FX (comp-boost mode)

It runs off two AA batteries, and even though I use rechargeable batteries I get well over a week's worth of playing between charges, despite the 18 hours the manual claims. The included AA batteries are there for testing purposes only: Even the manual states they have a very short lifespan.

This amp is great for what it is designed for: playing the bass without disturbing anyone.

This is not a Fender or Line-6 or any other high-end amp! There, I just wanted to get that straight. That said, I feel that it delivered the sound I needed to practice my bass, even when I had to practice in locations with loud ambient sound (think industrial noise).

I have used this headphone amp with an Epiphony el-cheapo P-J and a Washburn T-24 J-J, and for both it worked trouble free.

I have used it with numerous headphones, from IPOD ear-buds to silicone isolated in-ear plugs to suidio monitor headphones, and even to 50-watt PC speakers, and the sound you get out of this thing is really dependant on the headphone/speaker you connect it to! The unit is delivering bass sound, and many headphones just can't handle it. In the IPOD headphones, you lose the low end. My isolation plugs worked great, and I got a pretty clean sound from them. Of course, the desktop speakers worked great. My biggest warning would be similar to powerful amps: keep the volume DOWN when you power on, or connect/disconnect any of the jacks. The resulting pops can blow your ears! I don't think this is a design flaw, but more of a user training issue..

This unit also has an FX mode, which is essentially heavily compressed (no adjustment possible). It does add a new "sound" to your bass to keep up the interest factor, but since I'm using the headphone jack to practice my technique and I don't care much for the quality of the sound, it is seldom used by me. One useful side effect of this mode is that it reveals weaknesses in your muting technique! The sound produced when a single string is plucked is pretty clean and clear. But if you happen to leave one string ringing when you pluck another string you will get some interesting distortion. This forces you to mute strings properly, and is a good learning tool, though I'm sure it is not intentional.

I have not tried any competing headphone amp, so my rating reflects this.

Pretty rugged unit, however I have two beefs against it.

First is the ease with which the power switch is turned on/off. I store this unit in my gig bag, and more than once I have opened the bag to discover the power switch had moved to the on position, and the batteries were dead. I quickly learned to keep a second set of batteries charged and ready to go!

My second gripe is the positioning of the three controls (gain, tone, volume). They are located on the "top" side, when the 1/4" plug is pointed down. You have to be super-careful to not change the settings since your fingers have to push directly on the controls as you push the plug in!

Never needed to use this service.

I've been using this unit for about 3 months now and I am relatively pleased about it.

If it were lost, I would definitely buy another. It's great for when you just want to hook your bass up to PC speakers without lugging your main amp around. It's compact and durable enough that I always keep it in my gig bag.

I do wish they'd find a new placement for the controls so you can plug and unplug the unit without changing the controls.