Ashdown Tone Pocket

Ashdown Tone Pocket vs GK MB200

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    7
Felix1776

Felix1776

Dec 4, 2014
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Pueblo West, Colorado
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#1
I just stumbled across this little gadget and was curious if any TB'ers have any experience with it yet.

Tone Pocket – Bass Headphone Amplifier with D/A Conversion

I've actually been considering something like this, a desktop practice tool. I live in a townhouse and nearly all of my practicing is done silently early in the morning or late at night at my office desk with my phone or laptop. The tone pocket is basically a headphone amp/desktop practice tool/ preamp/ audio interface. What it's not is an actual amp so it won't power a cab.

My only hang up is this...why the tone pocket over something like the GK MB200 used for a very similar price. With the MB200, you still get the headphone out and aux in for silent practice. It's very small so can still be used as a desktop practice tool. The main difference I see is an actual DI out with pre/post for recording and running to FOH and you can use it as your primary or backup amp since it is an actual amp. I guess you'd still need an interface though for recording.

I'm looking to start doing some home recording and am looking to put together a very basic recording set up. So I'm wondering: Tone Pocket vs MB200 & small interface (Focusrite Solo or similar).
 
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#2
Felix1776 said:
I just stumbled across this little gadget and was curious if any TB'ers have any experience with it yet.

Tone Pocket – Bass Headphone Amplifier with D/A Conversion

I've actually been considering something like this, a desktop practice tool. I live in a townhouse and nearly all of my practicing is done silently early in the morning or late at night at my office desk with my phone or laptop. The tone pocket is basically a headphone amp/desktop practice tool/ preamp/ audio interface. What it's not is an actual amp so it won't power a cab.

My only hang up is this...why the tone pocket over something like the GK MB200 used for a very similar price. With the MB200, you still get the headphone out and aux in for silent practice. It's very small so can still be used as a desktop practice tool. The main difference I see is an actual DI out with pre/post for recording and running to FOH and you can use it as your primary or backup amp since it is an actual amp. I guess you'd still need an interface though for recording.

I'm looking to start doing some home recording and am looking to put together a very basic recording set up. So I'm wondering: Tone Pocket vs MB200 & small interface (Focusrite Solo or similar).
Click to expand...
I bought one this week and it broke strange noises from the headphones got a replacement same thing never had a problem connecting to my practice amp with headphones
 
#3
I have no experience with the tone pocket- I`ve been really happy with my Tascam GB10 desktop practice box..I can plug my bass in with my headphones , and also play along with the downloaded songs I load onto an sd card and stick into it..It will allow me to change keys, change speeds, loop passages, add effects, etc..I bought it used at GC for 75 bucks...A little bigger than a pack of cigarettes, I can throw it in my gig bag and go..a guitar cable and earbuds makes it easy..
 
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#4
Since I own an MB200 and a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and know they work well, that's where I would look. I have no experience with the Tone Pocket, but the added versatility and features on the GK head seem very attractive to me. For computer interface for recording, Focusrite is especially high quality for the money IME.
 
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#8
Swift713 said:
I’m curious about the tone pocket. Can anyone report on it’s tone? Is it transparent, flat response, or does it have a ‘baked-in’ sound?
Click to expand...

I find the tone to be fairly transparent. I dial in my tone the same way I would on an amp.

When I use the l line out and play through my PA, I'm really content with the sound.

The type of headphones make a different. I would love to use it with my molded IEMs, but I don't enjoy the tone. I love it more when I use my over the ear headphones.
 
#9
Acoustic356 said:
What kind of battery life are you getting? The manual says up to 8 hours. I am lucky if I get a little over an hour.
Click to expand...

I've never used it more than 2 hours straight, so I am not sure about the full battery life. I can tell you that I have practiced with two days for two hours without charging it.

However, something that happened to me at the beginning is that I charged it using the wrong port (the one made for cars). So the battery life was really low. Until I found out this, I always used it plugged and I was not happy.
 
#10
Tone Pocket Tone: Seems pretty flat to me -- doesn't have a specific bias or character; certainly not when compared to my Ampeg B15-R. I found I like the tone when I have bass at 1 o'clock, mid at 1 o'clock, and high at 10 o'clock.

Tone Pocket Battery Life: I also get less that 2 hrs per use; nowhere close to the 8 hrs claimed. So I use it plugged in now. I've been thinking that maybe I need to swap out the 9v rechargeable battery; the documentation says it can be done, but doesn't say how or what the replacement battery should be (spec-wise).

Tone Pocket weird noises: When the battery dies then all kinds of electronic squawking come out of this thing.

Overall: I'm quite happy it. I can route the audio from my laptop line out into the tone pocket (for clicks or playalongs) and listen with my headphones. I've not tried the line out from the Tone Pocket into an amp yet. One demerit -- I would like to solve the battery life issue, however. I'll reach out to Ashdown about it; if anything useful results I'll let you all know here.
 
#11
@datihein

I don’t get weird noises when the battery dies... I get a loss of volume and distortion first.

I have run the Tone Pocket into my Jule M500 Power amp and then into a Bergantino HT322. I absolutely love the tone! There is one annoying thing about running direct - the Volume knob is bipassed. It’s like they are just sending a line level to the Line Out.
 
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