Some advice needed- amplifying to headphones and tone dials.

eth_uk · Newbie Alert Joined: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 1

Hi, I'm a relatively new guitar player teaching myself slowly. I have two questions that I can't find answers to anywhere. Firstly I want to be able to listen to and practise on my guitar using headphones. I know I can just plug them into a normal amp, but are there any more portable solutions? Could you use a normal headphone pre-amp to do it, or do you have to buy a smokey amp or something in that mould? And are portable amps any good? I'm thinking of just taking one to Uni with me, as I don't fancy lugging around a normal amp.

Also I have four dials on my guitar, one of which affects volume, while the others appear to do nothing at all. Given that the guitar (amplification) doesn't work when the three way switch is on one of the positions, I think one of my pickups is busted. So that explain why two of them do nothing. But the other dial for the working pickup; I read it's a 'tone dial', but I don't seem to be able to hear any difference at all. Could someone let me know what it does/is supposed to do?

Thanks for your help,