JamHub opinions?

All good points brought up so far which I pretty much agree with. My band rehearses in my garage currently until the Phoenix heat really turns up but my neighbor threatened to call the cops and it was JamHub to the rescue. Our first rehearsal was with it last Tuesday and it worked out fantastic. Perfect no..... but far better then the typical volume issues, disturbing neighbors (typically bass guitar) and beating my old ears usually take..... So far so good and I was surprised by how my band took to it right away. :)
 
My own experience is that it is useful for what it is, but in the end I'm not a real fan.

Downsides include:
- The small form factor. Imagine everyone in the band trying to set up/modify 'their' mix wearing their instruments while crowding around a bowl of M&M's.
- You are at the mercy of everyone else's tweaks to their section. You get a nice balance, then the other guitar playing turns up his 'amp'. Now your mix is hosed and it's back to the bowl.
- It's a massive spaghetti mix of cables by the unit, hard not to step/trip/yank on them, etc.
- You are tethered to a limited range unless you are use long instrument and headphone extension cables (see points 2 & 3 above.)
- Everyone pretty much needs a mic in order to talk to each other, even non-singers.
- Hours in headphones can be less than fun.

On the up side:
- Given use of v-drums, etc., it can be possible to do quiet rehearsals. (As an aside, it's pretty funny to listen to: A bunch of tickety-tickety/whap-whap accompanied by a capella versions of all your favorite songs.)
- Use of JamHub remotes can alleviate some of the downsides listed above, but add $$ to the overall costs.

My preferred solution is in between. I run everything into a Presonus mixer: V-drums, keyboards, direct guitars and bass, vocals, etc. and use a pair of CLR as the PA. The overall level is not much more than playing a CD and the sound quality is killer. Everyone learns to balance their sound within the overall band context rather than a bunch of 'more me/less you' mixes. No ringing (or sweaty) ears, everyone can talk, I have worlds more flexibility using the full mixer (real EQ, compression, multiple FX and so on) plus I can record all 16 channels right into my laptop with pristine quality using their free Capture utility. And if I really want all headphone, I can either tap the main mix into a multi-headphone amp or set up 3 or 4 sub-mixes.

Works for me, my .02.

TT
 
My own experience is that it is useful for what it is, but in the end I'm not a real fan.

Downsides include:
- The small form factor. Imagine everyone in the band trying to set up/modify 'their' mix wearing their instruments while crowding around a bowl of M&M's.
- You are at the mercy of everyone else's tweaks to their section. You get a nice balance, then the other guitar playing turns up his 'amp'. Now your mix is hosed and it's back to the bowl.
- It's a massive spaghetti mix of cables by the unit, hard not to step/trip/yank on them, etc.
- You are tethered to a limited range unless you are use long instrument and headphone extension cables (see points 2 & 3 above.)
- Everyone pretty much needs a mic in order to talk to each other, even non-singers.
- Hours in headphones can be less than fun.

On the up side:
- Given use of v-drums, etc., it can be possible to do quiet rehearsals. (As an aside, it's pretty funny to listen to: A bunch of tickety-tickety/whap-whap accompanied by a capella versions of all your favorite songs.)
- Use of JamHub remotes can alleviate some of the downsides listed above, but add $$ to the overall costs.

My preferred solution is in between. I run everything into a Presonus mixer: V-drums, keyboards, direct guitars and bass, vocals, etc. and use a pair of CLR as the PA. The overall level is not much more than playing a CD and the sound quality is killer. Everyone learns to balance their sound within the overall band context rather than a bunch of 'more me/less you' mixes. No ringing (or sweaty) ears, everyone can talk, I have worlds more flexibility using the full mixer (real EQ, compression, multiple FX and so on) plus I can record all 16 channels right into my laptop with pristine quality using their free Capture utility. And if I really want all headphone, I can either tap the main mix into a multi-headphone amp or set up 3 or 4 sub-mixes.

Works for me, my .02.

TT

Thanks for those details - the cable mess was something that occurred to me last night.

I think your low volume solution is interesting, but I would be very concerned about Fletcher-Munson effects on my tones.


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Been using the jamhub for 'silent' weekly rehearsals for a couple of years now. Love it.
The quality & functionality is adequate for rehearsal for us though I wouldn't use it live.
The pros of silent rehearsals easily trump the cons for us.

In rehearsal with the Jamhub we use...
1. drums - TD-12 (we use an acoustic kit live)
2. guitar - AxeFX
3. bass - Trace Elliot Preamp
4. keys - 2 x roland boards via a mini-mixer
plus...
- 4x SM58's for vox
- 4x the cheapest thomann headphones available (came free on deal with Jamhub!). I stopped using my DT100s - they give me too much info and make me want to start EQ'ing stuff which is not what rehearsals should be about for us!!

Pros of silent practice:
- Practice anywhere, anytime!
- Everybody gets to do their own mix & volume level (pros outweigh cons of this for us)
- Regular rehearsing through cans really helps when it comes to studio work - performing through cans feels 'normal' now

Cons of silent practice:
- none worth mentioning

Summary:
For us silent rehearsal has been great. No noise wars, no having to shout over acoustic instruments, everyone gets to hear what they want when they want, we got a couple of jamhub remote extensions for the drummer & key player to alleviate the 'congregating around the M&M bowl' bottleneck. However after 500+ hours of use, the unit just gave up on us last week & is in for repair now. So we're back to non-silent rehearsal at the moment. Not good! As we are moving to in-ears for the live show soon, I've decided now to replace both the jamhub & our live desk with an X32 desk - it'll do everything the jamhub does (and more - smart phone monitor mixing for members, etc) and means that our practice environment *is* our gig environment (bar the live drums) which hopefully will be even more beneficial in the long run. I say go for it!
 
Last edited:
Been using the jamhub for 'silent' weekly rehearsals for a couple of years now. Love it.
The quality & functionality is adequate for rehearsal for us though I wouldn't use it live.
The pros of silent rehearsals easily trump the cons for us.

In rehearsal with the Jamhub we use...
1. drums - TD-12 (we use an acoustic kit live)
2. guitar - AxeFX
3. bass - Trace Elliot Preamp
4. keys - 2 x roland boards via a mini-mixer
plus...
- 4x SM58's for vox
- 4x the cheapest thomann headphones available (came free on deal with Jamhub!). I stopped using my DT100s - they give me too much info and make me want to start EQ'ing stuff which is not what rehearsals should be about for us!!

Pros of silent practice:
- Practice anywhere, anytime!
- Everybody gets to do their own mix & volume level (pros outweigh cons of this for us)
- Regular rehearsing through cans really helps when it comes to studio work - performing through cans feels 'normal' now

Cons of silent practice:
- none worth mentioning

Summary:
For us silent rehearsal has been great. No noise wars, no having to shout over acoustic instruments, everyone gets to hear what they want when they want, we got a couple of jamhub remote extensions for the drummer & key player to alleviate the 'congregating around the M&M bowl' bottleneck. However after 500+ hours of use, the unit just gave up on us last week & is in for repair now. So we're back to non-silent rehearsal at the moment. Not good! As we are moving to in-ears for the live show soon, I've decided now to replace both the jamhub & our live desk with an X32 desk - it'll do everything the jamhub does (and more - smart phone monitor mixing for members, etc) and means that our practice environment *is* our gig environment (bar the live drums) which hopefully will be even more beneficial in the long run. I say go for it!

Thanks!


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Thanks for those details - the cable mess was something that occurred to me last night.

I think your low volume solution is interesting, but I would be very concerned about Fletcher-Munson effects on my tones.

I haven't found any particular issues with FM. I use my regular patches, they sound just fine in the room and on 'tape'. We play at a volume commensurate with a turned up CD, loud enough to be fun, quiet enough that it is very quiet if you go outside the house and listen. I think FM is mostly out of the picture by that point (and conversely, your ears aren't shutting down due to volume overload.)

Good luck with whatever you decide. I opted for maximum flexibility/multi-use components and have been thrilled with the results.

TT
 
I haven't found any particular issues with FM. I use my regular patches, they sound just fine in the room and on 'tape'. We play at a volume commensurate with a turned up CD, loud enough to be fun, quiet enough that it is very quiet if you go outside the house and listen. I think FM is mostly out of the picture by that point (and conversely, your ears aren't shutting down due to volume overload.)

Good luck with whatever you decide. I opted for maximum flexibility/multi-use components and have been thrilled with the results.

TT

Cool - thanks!


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Go the Roland HS5, it kills the Jamhub product on features, price and reliability.

Just did a brief check and I'm finding that it is more expensive and has less channels than the JamHub GreenRoom model.

Can you elaborate more on the specifics? Why do you think the Roland is more reliable?

Aside from onboard EQ / compression and more advanced effects, I'm not seeing anything that would make it more appealing to me.


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Glad to hear this. I'm switching to the X32R as well. I've sold my JamHub Greenroom, and have two remotes for sale on Ebay (for those that may need them) this week. With the Midas designed pre-amps, and the ability to mix channels, definitely a great choice.
 
We have them at College and I hate the things. The build quality is lacking and the price of them is unreasonable in my opinion for what they do. Although I've never use my Axe-Fx with a JamHub the product it's self is just quite poor


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We use it for silent rehearsals and little venues and it rocks !
We have no amp nor acoustic drums so it's used at full interest.
The only drawback for me is the volume link mic/inst, i use a track for mics to solve that.
For me quality is ok, our bedroom model solved a lot of things for us
 
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