Sounds terrible, with or without the FX feature turned on. Bad sound at low volume, gets progressively worse as volume is increased. Lots of hiss, sound like a tape from the 1960's. So sorry I bought this thing.

Overall, it's a winner for me, but there are significant pros and cons.

- The FX channel is useless in my opinion. Just noise and distortion.

- The plug-direct-into-bass design - does not work. Not for me anyway. This thing does not lock in. It falls out constantly. I'm getting a 1/4 inch female to male short cable to fix that.

- The tone of the regular channel is - excellent. Better than any other headphone amp I have heard. Really, really good, not compromised, not this-stinks-while-practicing, excellent tone.

If you don't need lots of features, and you want a very good sounding Bass headphone amp, this is it. The quality of that regular channel beats anything else I have heard. But, you have to live with the other things cited. For me, those weren't a deal breaker.

This plug in bass amp would've been good if it stayed in the jack. I bought this with the hopes of playing around the house without disturbing anyone. Problems arise once you start moving around. The amp falls right out of the jack. You literally have to stay in one place without moving. If you begin to feel the groove while you're playing...oops. There it goes. As much as I tried to like this amp, I couldn't. It simply defeats the purpose of practicing undisturbed. You find yourself consistently plugging the amp back into your bass from the slightest move. Vox needs to redesign this amp. People, stay away!!!

Features: The Vox APBA amPlug Bass headphone amp is powered by two AAA batteries, it has normal and "FX" settings, gain, tone, and volume knobs, a headphone output and an auxiliary input.

Comments: I think this amp sounds excellent. I'm a beginning bassist and I haven't heard my bass through any other amps but this amp can produce sounds that I would call rich and thick as well as sounds that are very clean. I have tried the amp through some not quite bottom-of-the-line computer speakers and decent midrange headphones. There is some difference but both sound great.

There can be a hiss (more so through headphones) when the gain is above 5 and the hiss is greater when the FX setting is used but by adjusting the output of my bass I think I was able to remove it completely on the normal setting and being careful with the gain will keep it out of the FX setting. In my opinion, even when present this hiss did not detract from the actual quality of the sound.

I am also very happy with the fact that I can walk around with this amp and practice at any time even in an apartment without anyone else having to hear me.

My only complaint, and it is very minor, is that it can be a little three position switch which points down. The controdifficult to set the amp to normal mode since that is the middle setting on a l knobs are on the bottom of the amPlug but they were no problem at all to use.

I am pleased with my purchase and with the features, portability, and sound of this amp. I think it would make a great gift too.