10 Gadgets to Make You a Better Bassist (Or NOT?)

What’s your favorite bass gadget or accessory? 🎸

The bass community needed and deserved a channel like this. Helpful, simple, nice, funny. Thank you dude, you deserve all the success you achieved.

That Vox plug actually has 9 drum tracks if you hold the power button when changing beats. That tool is amazing

The Blackstar is much improved by adding the extension cab. I've used it at open air "acoustic only" gigs and it's just enough to get my upright bass over the din of the acoustic guitars.

my top bass gadget that makes me a better bassist: nail clipper.

My mom got me a Squier PJ bass for my birthday yesterday so now I'm practicing, love her so much. I've always thought that you don't need a super expensive instrument to get started

dude you're killing it in the bass teaching game!

I have the Vox Amplug and it is pretty decent and convenient, especially for the price. Plus my family don't have to hear my noob bass playing which is a big win

Fun fact:
The Amplug actually has more than 3 drum patterns, including a metronome. If I remember correctly, they’re located in the 3 default beats. Each default beat is a mode, for lack of a better term, with 2 other beats. For example, the metronome is the third beat of mode 3 (the last default beat). To get there, click the beat button until you get the third default beat. Next, hold down the beat button and press the power button twice. I hope this is helpful.

The String Sustainer generates some very interesting sounds when used with a fretless bass

The Fret Wrap is commonly used in metal (djent especially) for heavily distorted guitar and bass tones. When placed on the headstock it stops the overtones the string ends produce from ringing out whenever you're muting while playing very staccato rhythms. And considering that is a "GET IT!" in my books. Just helps with keeping the mix clean.

I found the JOYO MA-10B 10W Mini Bass Amp to be a nice little practice amp to move from room to room in the house. I also found Bluetooth transmitters and receivers reduce hum and noise considerably and give you a lot more freedom to move around.

I love that you play a Squier bass Josh. All about skill and practice, not about the instrument necessarily. Thanks for teaching us all so much! (It is OK to have and use a great instrument, but you need to practice anyway.)

josh is like the bass equavalent of a box of chocolate you'll never know what you're gonna get

Korg Pitchblack Pro, GA Custom, Pitchblack Custom, or Sledgehammer pro have got to be some of the nearest looking tuners and offer pretty good functionality.
Unitunes and Polytunes are also good tuners as well.

The Vox amp also works with guitar - it's been great for late-night apartment practice. You can also run the headphone out to a Bluetooth speaker or the aux input of a full-size amp.

I personally use the Vox Amplug. I combined it with a bluetooth to aux receiver to have backing tracks play through the headphones and still be able to walk around as I play.
Also those Calyton picks are life!

Josh, love your BassBuzz vids!!! There are actually 9 rhythms in the Amplug, 3 different rhythms for each genre, but to get them you must hold down the RHYTHM button as you press the ON button, the instructions are clearer on the owner's manual, keep up your great tutorials, I am very inspired by them😊

me: doesn't own a bass
also me: *_binges every single BassBuzz video_*

I have the Fly 3 bass amp and love it. I don't know why you had any issues with the tone because I got nothing but compliments. If it's dimed it is going get a shitty sound, and that can be any bass amp. For an added bonus, adding the second speaker improves the sound immensely. Then there is the added value is the headphone output and the aux input. All I need is this unit, an aux cable, my headphones, and it's perfectly suited for private practice.

For an excellent, portable practice amp, the Mark Bass 801 MicroMark is hard to beat. I use it for small gigs with a fretless and an upright - sounds great and i can lift it with a finger!

I have the Blackstar mini amp and it's quite decent actually. I always use it with headphones. With compression turned on it yields very deep bass. The built-in speaker isn't really designed for bass feel, but you always can plug it to a bigger speaker.

Good video. Different than all the typical method ones. Honest opinions and practicality of use. I have the D-tuner and Vox Amp and agree, both are a must.

I highly suggest the Blackstar Fly3 to anyone. It sounds great and you just will not find a smaller amp that does more. And I was actually able to modify mine with a cabinet output and it'll run a 6x10. Kinda wild.

Nice and honest review, thanks! The new fender rumble series seems a lot better than the old rumble 15w that I had in my beginner pack. The vox amplug was like incredibly better in comparison. A lot of useful tips I wish I knew at the time in your video all in all !

A pick I've fallen in love with is one made by the company Purple Plectrums. They are fairly expensive, but feel awesome in your hand(no more slippery/dropped picks due to sweat!) They are kind of unusual, because they are absolutely massive (the grip part is almost as wide as my thumb, and the entire pick is about a third of my palm), but this means they don't really flex as much, so you don't get as much of that "twang" noise that can sound kind of gross on bass. It sounds like a "smoother" pick noise, sort of like a blend between finger noise and pick noise.
It's also way easier to play, since you have more leverage and better control over the point. I've even messed around with using the sides or even the back of the pick, they produce a sound almost identical to finger noise, and sound absolutely awesome as a striker for slap bass, though I haven't actually tried to use it that way in any songs (hard to slap and pluck if you are using a pick for it).
They make some special ones that have jewels inlaid into them, or other fancy stuff, I just got their regular version (best as I can tell the various versions are practically identical sound-wise, just different shapes/decorations). Check them out, I've fallen in love with mine! Plus it's always funny when a guitar player does a double-take staring at a pick large enough to be dangerous when thrown!

Regarding practicing gear with play along tracks vs the bass output -> Im using bone conductivity earphones (as Aeropex for instance) along with VOX amplug. Works great :)

I like the idea of the Spider Capo. I did the math and it would take 14 different capos for each of the arrangements for a four string instrument. Which someone might want to consider if they wanted to use a string selective capo. I always like Hartke and would be willing to gamble $110 on the Hartke HD15 1x6.5" 15-watt Bass Combo Amp.

Brilliant channel!! Great tuition style without laboring or repeating every point 10 times!! I've wanted to learn bass for years. Bought a Squire 20th anniversary P-Bass recently and just received a Vox Amplug2 on the back of your video..It's excellent!!

Hey BassBuzz, love your videos! Would love a video on acoustic bass(more acoustic guitar than upright). I love the sounds coming from Steve Swallow's bass, Aram Bedrosian's work, and Alice in Chains' Nutshell. I really like their woody feel. Keep it up!

Regarding muting devices, I have two Nordymutes from Nordstrand. I read reviews about the Fump online and I saw too much talk about it not being that reliable. I had been using a block/piece of foam (having two on hand) to do the muting for a few years whenever I've needed it. Then one day I somehow came across Nordymute (most likely through Talkbass or NoTreble - some site like that) and I decided to jump on it buying two mutes from Nordstrand. I really like these mutes! They're a top loading mute system (over the top of the strings) and the muting material they use is a nice rubbery foam (maybe like weather strips?). The dimensions of the mute make it portable too (not to mention that they're sturdy) and also the dimensions allow you to cover more "muting space" (the mutes are thin which means you can slide them up and down more to cover more specific points). Another thing that I like about this top loading method is that all the strings are muted equally - this is something that I've had a problem with when using blocks of foam. A good point to mention too is that I suppose these mutes look a tad more elegant than a piece of foam - not that there can be anything wrong with that but there is something nicer about the sophisticated design of the Nordymutes with the wood attached to the foam material.
A couple downsides to note with the nordymutes is that you have to buy them to a specific string spacing (I have two that are 16.5mm with a 5 string setup) and if I remember correctly they are a little pricey too (putting shipping price on top). Also, if someone has the tools available they could probably copy this design and create their own mutes based on this. Although, with all of what I've said, I think the Nordymutes are worth it personally but I do acknowledge that my main two basses are the same string spacing *and* 5 string whereas if I had basses with different string spacings I imagine it could be a little annoying - would still buy more mutes though!

Hey Josh, this was a honest and useful review, I also dig Amplug, and your channel! I was wondering, what could have gone wrong with your Fly 3 bass. Either the unit is defect or you were having too high expectations (which I doubt) If my settings still sound weird on your gear, it may need a repair. Try using gain at tops 50% both clean and drive channels, the volume knob will be more forgiving (you most likely will not need more than that). For me, compression did not work well (it took the effect too long to enter) so I dropped it. I had no issue with sub octave at max (passive jazz pickups, active EQ, it endured a slight bass lift). Practicing in a room with a guitarist would sound audible if your friend doesn't crank it all up, but along a drummer it obviously would not deliver. Buzzing can be caused by some unstable components, not necessarily the electronics: try to remove rear cover if you don't use any batteries and check if the plastic feet are intact, it happened to me that because of these slight instabilities the thing went buzzing and I thought the speaker was damaged, nope :) the guys at the local guitar store laughed their asses off when I returned it for repairs like "help me please I fried the thing" , so did I after one drop of superglue solved the issue. I am not a smart man. But am I a good bassist? Also no. Cheers anyways!

I actually love the roland bass micro cube. Its incredibly diverse and I see what you mean about lacking bottom end but for what it is I think its the best gadget for what it does

Hopefully no one else already mentioned this, but the Vox amplug has 9 drum beats! When you click the drum machine button for the first beat, click it again but hold it, then click the on/off button to switch to the second variation of the first beat. There's even a "metronome" option on the third variation of the third beat!

The vox amplug is great! Josh mentioned three beats, but there are actually 9 (or 12). Getting there involves simultaneously pressing two buttons. Whole thing is quite noisy though, and runs on AAA batteries. Would be nice if they had a usb charging option.

The Unitune also has a strobe tuning mode with a reading precision of just 0.02 cents, almost up there with the Peterson!

I'd RECOMMEND using the fret wrap/foam/whatever you have BEHIND the nut too, tames a lot of overtones, super useful with thicker string gauges, especially in a recording situation. Cheers!

If you've got a Fender Rumble amp it's got a headphone jack and an aux jack, and if you're just practicing in an apartment it works great, just hook up your headphones and run a metronome or a drum machine through the AUX port and go to town, everything will route through the headphones, and you can change the volume of your bass and track separately. Really helpful if you've got the amp

Very cool!
The plugamp actually carries 9 rythm patterns, i recently discovered this. It also got three gain settings if holding the power button, and you'll get another led light color. Convenient for your active basses.

I'm using the Blackstar Bass Fly 3 as a tone into a Sheffield 15 and it sounds great. This is my choice.

Good honest reviews! Dont let sponsers ruine you. Subbed

I really like the Vox AmPlug. It's most definitely not without its limitations, but as far as a simple, affordable, very portable, very effective headphones-based practice amp goes, it's probably the BEST option on the market........ Also, if you happen to have a badass subwoofer setup in a vehicle, and a good long aux cable, you can plug your bass into the car/truck, and blast the windshield out!! :O

The Vox Amplug 2 has more than three drum beats. It actually has 8 beats and a metronome. Each of the three basic beats can be changed by Holding the rhythm button (next to scroll wheels) and press then the power button at the same time to cycle through. It will cycle through three rhythms for each basic rhythm.

I bought my first bass a few daysago, it is also my first instrument, I decided to spend an extra 50€ on the bass and get a cheaper amp, got the Blackstar Fly 3, and I love it. Of course I can't compare it to anything else, and I also know it's very limited, but it's perfect for me to train during the lockdown...

I have always been a fan of the felt picks, not that I use them often, but I think they give a better tone over a normal pick, but give all the advantages of a pick.

The Vox Amplug is something that I use really often. Combined with a good set of headphones, it works like a charm. By the way, it has 9 drum beats, not 3. So it is even better :)

My version of a hipshot tuner is just to tune my whole bass 1 full step down 100% of the time. To turn it off, I simply don't use the extended notes. The only thing it limits, is being able to play in the key of E with the open low string. So far, I haven't personally run into anything I can't translate to my tuning, but I'm sure some exists.

i'm a guitar player mostly but the bass setting on the Yamaha thR10 works great for me, it's basically a PA with a bunch of preamps rather than a guitar amp so the bass setting on it handles bass frequencies pretty well. it doesn't really do anything special unless you want to use the built in effects but it's great to put pedals infront of.

Those Vox headphone amps are great. I found myself using it more than my normal amp just out of convenience. The tone I'd rate as good enough for practice. Not going to do recordings with it but it's not for that anyway. Back to convenience, it's important to practice with an amp vs unplugged as the amp will pick up any ugly overtones you may be letting ring out from poor muting technique.

Thank you so much for the VOX thingy, I was on a $250 budget but I didn’t wanna buy an amp yet, it really came in handy, thanks dude your awesome😎 +1 follower🤙🏿

Just bought and started playing my first bass a month ago (a 60s Mustang Fender-Squier in surf green), and I'm loving your tutorials! Thanks so much for uploading, I'll be watching them all, already getting used to the pinky on the strings, which I never thought would happen :) Now subscribed

I can recommend Daddario PW-CT-12 as an alternative for a clip-on tuner.
It's smaller than your thumb and registers very well (the low B-string usually needs a few attempts to register, but I just use the 12th fret harmonic instead and it works brilliant). I have permanently one of these on each of my basses, even when putting them in a case I don't have to remove the tuner.

the trick with Unitune is to check the first and second harmonic as well because it works mechanically... you'll notice that when the open string is "in tune", you still have some correction space on the first two harmonics! Checked it with the Peterson as well - works bang-on!

I went to an open mic night and saw this dude playing bass, and drop tuning mid song without one of those gadgets. I do not know how the hell he did it so well, but he jumped so well between E and D it was wild.

i have the backstar fly 3 and with the extra speaker i sounds really good and is more than enough to fill my room with sound and if you want to feel the bass you shouldn't have bought a practise amp to begin with. the whole point is that its small and doesn't rumble so it's suitable for apartments

I use a Korg GA Custom for a tuner for guitar and bass. I have never gone below its range and have found it to be very accurate.
It also has a very cool display

I have a Fump and if you slide it in from the G string side (upside down), it works great! And yes it stays in.

Awesome review! I’m just getting back into playing after 30+ years away and your reviews have been key to helping select my kit.

Mine is my Spark practice amp. Tone is good, bass is way decent and it has a couple of 3" speakers. There is a line out and you can choose from a good selection of IR's that come with the amp, and more are available to be downloaded. Your brand of amp and the sound it makes can be chosen from an app. It weighs 22 lbs, a nice break from my SVT, which weighs at least four times that. I really like it.

I got a VOX AP2,a couple days ago (now that the music shop is open again!) I think something important that needs to be said is there's different types,there's one specific to bass,but there's also lead,metal,and classic rock,they all have their specific functions,like I ended up getting the classic rock amp,the store didn't have any bass ones,the sales dude said it's the next best one for bass and it is awesome,I didn't get drunk beats in mine, instead there's 3 gain levels,which give me some killer distortion tones,but yes,their awesome,I just wanted people to know a bit more about them,oh and be careful using them with active bass,they feedback real easy on active bass,I changed modes and about blew my eardrum out,lol

Victor got it from his guitar player brother (they're all geniuses). It's in some rig rundown here in youtube.
I have the blackstar mini amp and it's true all you say, its distortion is preposterous. But I use it with great headphones and plugging in my phone, so I can play over songs, drum loops and drum machine app. In that way, it is superior to the vox plug.
I also have the polytune and it's the best thing ever.

Love the VOX Bass AmpPlug (AP2-BS) with built in drum machine. I highly recommend it for practicing. I usually play it with my iPhone or iPad plugged into the aux. I did buy the mini AP2-CAB but I almost never use it for same reason as your review on the mini amp. It just sounds way better just using a good pair of headphones. There are also settings to compensate for active and passive basses.👍

I've got a little 10W Ashdown Tourbus practise amp, it actually sounds lovely and full in the room! No distortion. EQ is pretty limited but that's what active bases are for right 😂

The Hipshot Xtender is just superb. I saw Billy Sheehan with one in the late 80s so had to have one!! It's so useful though. I have a Yamaha BB714BS with really cool black chrome hardware, but Hipshot didn't have a Xtender in the same finish. However, they did offer to fit the mechanism to my tuner if I sent it to them. I'm just a normal bassist, I dont have a deal with them or anything. I can't fault their customer service!!
p.s. It still feels weird calling them Xtender for years they were the D-Tuner. However, that name just limited what it could do, so Xtender does describe it better!!

I like your videos. It teaches me new things. I'm new to bass and i'm originally a guitar player, but having you in YT doing these kinds of videos helped many people a lot. Thanks!

I have both the amplug and fump and agree that the amplug is by far one of the best practice solutions around and the fump has an uneven tone

I picked up one of those Vox headphone amps and it's made playing bass around the house so much easier. I can literally play all night long while my partner is asleep hahaha

Fly 3 Cass is so much better with the extension cab. Would be good to give your impression of that if you get the chance. You can also plug headphones into it, like the Vox you reviewed, But I agree why don't they make a bass specific one (as it's just a fly3 gutar cab with a mini bass amp.} A Fly6 for example with a similar volume to the fly3+extension. Ditto looper as a practice gadget, encourages listening to yourself, playing chords at makes that sustainer a more interesting option. Victor got the hairbands from his brother Regi. Which ties nicely into your channel as Regi plays his trusty Squier.

I’ve got the vox bass practice plug in thing. It’s also got an aux port to pipe in music to play too. It’s helped me greatly since I got my bass and started learning a 2 months ago

Phil Jones Double Four is a killer portable, lightweight fantastic sounding tiny amp, about the size of a shoe box.Loud enough for a Coffee House gig.A little pricey but it does all (no fx) you need.I love it and use mine all the time.

A good tip for the clip on tuners is to clip it near the string you are tuning, especially on guitar. I've noticed that they tend to be less responsive if you clip it on near (say) the G string while you're trying to tune the E string - as you did here.

There is also the VOX Amphones which is basically the Amplug in a very good quality headphone. Does the same but you only need to pop it on and go ahead. Also it works with ALL basses while you cannot plug the Amplug into many due to design like Ibanez SRs where it doesn't fit into the hole. Oh, and the Fender Rumble LT25 which is AWESOME.

The guitar triller is similiar to Funk Fingers (see Tony Levin). For a lesson in the XTender Drop Tuner see Micheal Manring, specifically his song The Enormous Room with 14 different tunings. My son bought me a Vox AC 30 amPlug by mistake & it sounds great on bass. It has an awsome overdrive tone with my Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow.

fretwrap is very helpful in studio and recordings. if you playing 5string bass or playing some speed solos, no need to worry about muting. for me is must in studio/recordings :) nice video !

I use the blackstar fly 3 GUITAR amp for my bass and me and my grandfather (who has been playing for about 60 years) both think it sounds great through there. It handles bass really well too.

Keeping it real Josh!
I think the Aeon's probably best for less rhythmic stuff - it's the same with an ebow on guitar, you can't guarantee when it kicks in (lots of gain helps it spring into action though) so you either need to do all your articulation with slides and slurs once it's sustaining, or just accept a slower attack or long droning soundscapes
Can you get a decent bowed double bass sound out of it? Or y'know... something vaguely like it anyway! Maybe on the neck pickup, sustainer over the fretboard a little, bending notes to get that imperfect fretting technique... or throw on the distortion and play some of the rowdier Rasputina covers

Interesting! I have the little blackstar amp and i've found it to be quite decent... I do plug it in to the wall tho, with just the battery i sometimes get that weird cutting out...
And i use the amp for showing a person something or practicing without annoying my neighbours, for that it works really well!

Well detailed and well explained video.
I discovered accessories.
Thank you ! 🎸🎸🎸

The Vox is a must have item. It allows quiet practice, not just for others, but eliminated outside distractions for you. The built in drum tracks are a huge plus when practicing.
Everyone should use it. It should be issued with each bass purchase

idk if anyone already mentioned this but the fump might work a little better if you put it from the G to E since the tighter side would be on the thinner string. Having the E string on the joint side might make it open more towards the G string. It might still be worse than foam but I don't own one to try it out.

BassMute is a switchable string dampener that doesn't require modifications to install. Scott's Bass Lessons featured it in one of his videos.

Just a couple of notes on 2 of the gadgets. The first being the sustainer. It's definitely not something used that often, though in some cases I have heard them sound quite a bit like a bowed bass or cello (fretless bass with tapewound strings.) But it's really not for "traditional" bass parts. On the other hand, for an example of a non-traditional bass player, there's Michael Manring, and his song "Adhan," in which he uses 2 ebows on his Zon Hyperbass, which has both detunable tuners AND bridge - in another song, "The Enormous Room," he switches the detuners more than 60 times. The second item is the striker. Years ago when Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta were playing in Peter Gabriel's band, Peter asked Jerry to strike the strings with his drum sticks while Tony fingered the notes for a really percussive sound. Shortly after, Tony and his tech came up with "Funk Fingers," which Tony eventually sold on his web site, and I actually bought a set of the originals. I was never able to get a good sound from them, but they're interesting, and Tony is great with them. They were also a big help to him in getting a "Chris Squire-like" sound when he played and toured with ABWH when they played Yes songs, since he said he wasn't comfortable playing with a pick.

I have the black star mini amps and use them as sick pc speakers and tbh he’s right about the bass not sounding great on it but it still works fine at quiet volumes I love it tbh

I have a 25W Hartke practice amp that sounds great. It doesn't have wall-shaking bass, obviously, but I'm more than happy with the low end it's capable of producing for its size.

Top use of FOTC 🤣
I bought the Vox headphone amp and it is one of the best purchases I ever made. It feels a bit flimsy but I've had it for years and it didn't break and I'm usually someone who breaks everything
I use them with some Skullcandy earphones. It has an aux entry so is quite useful. It has drum tracks, basic ones but it's there.
Eats up batteries like crazy but I always have a spare of rechargeable AAA ready for it.

Good idea for a video, helpful and straightforward, as a sometime bassist, I apprciate it. It seems most of the gadgets might be useful in recording, but not so practical for live band playing.

Blackstar Unity Bass U30 - Great small practice amp with decent low-end. The U60 will is solid enough to gig at smaller venues.

In the defense of the fret wrap, I personally use mine to mute the extra string above the nut to keep it from ringing in the studio. The muting is just a bonus

A Fender Frontman 25b will shake your house. For such a small bass amp it is very impressive. I am yet to try but I think it could be used in a band situation. Granted you would need a guitarist who uses medium-sized amps because if you're trying to keep up with some 100 watts high gain tube head and a 4x12 you probably won't be heard. But if your guitarist is using a 1x12 or 2x12 set up either combo or head and cab I think that would be fantastic.

I feel like a standard capo is a good thing to have in your gig bag but especially for bass it's not something you need often. My band occasionally plays the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," and I use a capo on my bass at the 3rd fret so I can have a C drone while I noodle on high notes under the sax solos. (Yeah… sax solos. That's how we roll.) The guitar triller made me think of Tony Levin's Funk Fingers.

I don't see anything wrong with the blackstar fly 3 bass, try plugging it in to the B1on and plug in speaker to your mini amp.👍😉

I love the Vox headphone amp. It actually has 9 drumbeats. Hold the beat selection button while pressing the power button and it will cycle through more beats.

You mentioned the Rumble 40 is the best cheaper amp you've tried, but I'd recommend the Vox Pathfinder 10B, awesome little amp I've been using for nearly a year

One of the greatest things I've bought for my bass was the Vox amplug headphone amp, not only does it have a great sound, you can take it anywhere and you can play your bass silently, you can also use an aux cable to plug it into any speaker so it essentially doubles as a mini amp.
Later in the video you say you hate travel amps because they lack bottom end, but if you just plug the Vox amplug into a decent bassy portable speaker, you have a pretty sweet setup that's better than any crappy little travel amp..

Bought the UniTune clip a few days ago, I highly recommend it even if you're not gigging because it's so much faster to tune with than with your phone.

Thanks for this videos Josh, I think you're a great teacher dude. Keep it up!!

I have the vox amplug and I find it really convenient when I want to practice at night 😁

Great video, thank you. I'm not a bassist, I'm a drummer (sorry) but I thought you were spot on. I played in a band with a bassist who had a detuner and it made such a difference, even though his only dropped down a tone to the D. For what it's worth, I thought your playing was pretty cool too.

Regarding the Vox Amplug, you forgot a very important feature, the aux input! You can connect the amplug to your ipod, phone or computer headphone output and mix it with your bass and hear it all through your headphones. I use mine all the time to practice late at night so I don't bother anyone in the house. It also has 3 different gain/amp settings as well.

That Vox amp actually has got 8 built-in drumbeats + a metronome. You just need to use multiple buttons to get them.
Really cool gadget, I also use it