# Good budget friendly headphones for use with a tube amp



## nbs2005 (Mar 21, 2018)

Looking for a set of headphones for late night guitar practice. I have a Peavey Classic 20; it has a headphone out. I have the Behringer HPS 3000 which I pretty good for the price, but they sound pretty shitty for this application. I have not tried another amp/headphone combination to see if it's just the headphone out on the Peavey doing weird things with this set of phones.

Can you get a decent set of headphones for under $100? 

Thanks


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Do you have a laptop you can use instead?


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Most tube amps that have a headphone jack just give you the preamp out. They usually sound pretty crappy. You need one that has a built in cab sim. I use a Blackstar 1 watt head. It takes the output from the power tube and has a cab simulator. It the best tube amp I’ve used for silent practicing by far.


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

I would recommend an iRig with Jam Up (app) for silent practice. I had no idea that there were tube amps that even had headphone jacks, it seems counterintuitive to me...


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

I think this amp, if it is the Classic 20 MH, has a cab simulation on the output.



> MIC SIMULATED DIRECT INTERFACE - MSDI
> Peavey’s exclusive MSDI simulates the sound of a microphone placed approximately 8” from a 12” loudspeaker cone


I would try whatever other headphones you may have. How are these headphones sounding bad? Maybe try going into a mixer first?

There seem to be lots of pretty good headphones for around $100.

Before you buy anything, check on Head-Fi.org for reviews. The best thing you can do is go out and try them. Check with the hi-fi shops. Long & McQuade have a lot on their website.

It's going to depend a lot on what type of headphones you like and if you will be using them for anything else. Do you need the sound isolation of closed back headphones? Do you like extra bass? Do you listen to delicate music? Open back headphones tend to sound better at a lower price. Don't be afraid of on-ear headphones if they have soft pads, they aren't like the sponge foam ones that came with Sony Walkmans.

I like really detailed, clnical headphones and I have no control over how much noise people make, so I like closed back studio monitor style headphones.

I bought a set of Sony MDR-7506s that I haven't been really happy with, but I think maybe I got a bad pair. But they should be pretty good for playing guitar. You can get them for $130 at Henry's.

I have had a set of Audio-Technica ATH-M30S for about 15 years that were pretty good, but one side is now weaker than the other. I had to buy deeper ear pads from the 7506 for the M30s, because the shallow pads chafed.

The KRK KNS-6400s have some pretty good reviews on head-fi.

For on-ears, I have a set of bluetooth Plantronics Backbeat Sense that I use on a treadmill that are very good, you can get those on amazon for about $115.

And for better sound for music, on amazon you can get Grado SR60e headphones for about the same price, for which the head-fi reviews are super positive.


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

I managed to get these
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06WRMZZ45/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

for $123 in July 2017 as an Amazon Deal of the day. It was really good deal, and they sound really great and are very comfortable.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I have a pair of headphones I bought for my wife that she never used ( I tried them though just to connect them to her phone). If you're still looking and interested, I'll sell them to you for $40. I cant remember if they come with a cord.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

adcandour said:


> I have a pair of headphones I bought for my wife that she never used ( I tried them though just to connect them to her phone). If you're still looking and interested, I'll sell them to you for $40. I cant remember if they come with a cord.
> 
> 
> View attachment 211713
> View attachment 211721


Pre-Bankruptcy Era!


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

cboutilier said:


> Pre-Bankruptcy Era!


Price just went up.


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## nbs2005 (Mar 21, 2018)

Thanks for the info. I'll borrow a set of headphones and see if it sounds any better. The sound I get with the Behringer is like a tin can; not sure what's up with that. I don't think I can afford the Pre Bankruptcy Era Phillips ;-).


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

nbs2005 said:


> Thanks for the info. I'll borrow a set of headphones and see if it sounds any better. The sound I get with the Behringer is like a tin can; not sure what's up with that. I don't think I can afford the Pre Bankruptcy Era Phillips ;-).


If you run a mac, an affordable interface + garage band may be what you're after.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

You should try plugging the amp's USB output into your computer.

If you can get a decent recording out of it, you can guess it is something about the amp and/or headphones.

Plug those headphones into the computer, see if the sound is the same as out of the headphone jack.

The Behringer headphones are 32ohms from what I could find, and the Peavey wants from 16-50 ohms, so they should be working normally, unless something is wrong.

I wonder if when you have the speaker defeat engaged if the impedance should be set one way or the other? The dummy load in the amp is probably either 8 or 16 ohms.


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