We all have neighbors. For years, I had the worst – complaining all the time, and even threatening violence. It was insane! Then finally, they both died. Joy! Their son took over the apartment, and he was a Saint. He never complained. Well, times change and now I’ve got terrible neighbors again. Hence, the acquisition of my nifty new Electro-Harmonix Headphone amp. Yeah!
Beforehand, I used the headphone out jack in my old Vox Pathfinder, a wonderful transistor practice amp. But the distortion sounds, whether the amp’s overdrive or my pedals, were horrendous. I set about looking for a headphone amp and one of the first that I read about was the EH. I wanted to try it. A guy at Guitar Center told me that they didn’t stock it. I asked why. He said “hardly anyone ever asks for it.” He was a talented salesperson. I’m not kidding. I used to sell wine door to door, uhm I mean business to business. This kid had me thinking maybe the EH wasn’t any good. Sharp. But wrong.
So, as all the American companies want you to do nowadays, I just went ahead and bought it online. $45 and I tell you, it’s wonderful. I love it. It’s quite clean with a little warmth. It puts you in a world of your own with your guitar and your pedals, if you want them. No options coming from the EH, just clean. You must supply your own headphones. The more high quality, the better your experience will be. Plug in an EH Small Stone or Bad Stone – Heaven! With a Boss OD-3 and an SG with P90s – Hell! And I mean that in the best possible way. And don’t listen to the naysayers online who complain about the batteries and whatnot. The beautiful little blue light will dispel all worries.
You have to be ready to accept your guitar sounding very up close and personal. But this is great for practicing. And your neighbors will think that you’ve gone on vacation. Then you can crank up some Alice Cooper on your stereo and let them know that you’re still there. But they won’t get on your nerves when you’re trying to practice at 12:30am, or any other time.
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