Thinking ahead to when I have my Railboard in hand, I was thinking it would be nice to not have to be tethered to my house or my music room when practicing (will be doing a lot of that! ) so I was thinking that a couple of small amps (one for each channel) suitable for driving headphones would be nice. These two, while a bit pricey, look good. The Blackstar Fly 3 3-watt bass & guitar amps. Whaddya think?

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Fly3Bass--blackstar-fly-3-bass-3-watt-1x3-inch-bass-combo-amp

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Fly3--blackstar-fly-3-3-watt-1x3-inch-combo-amp

the blackstar you posted is very small

i would either go with the roland cube street ex (works on battery)

or the positive grid spark -amazing amps with many fx included

the spark doesn't have battery option so right now i use an AC powerbank like this :

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002 ... 4c4dcxXOu3

Thanks. Both look interesting, but are really overkill for what I'm looking for. I just want something decent to drive some headphones, which kinda led me to those Blackstar amps. Battery operation is a convenience, but not a requirement. No plans to use this solution (whatever I do) for performance. I have an amp modeler and a powered FRFR speaker that are plenty portable for performance. I tossed them in the trunk and took them to the Stick Workshop in Interlochen over the summer w/no problem.

I just spotted something else that may do the trick, the only concern them having no EQ other than a simple tone control...

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/amPlugRockG2--vox-amplug-2-classic-rock-headphone-guitar-amp

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/amPlugBassG2--vox-amplug-2-bass-headphone-guitar-amp

Well. If it’s just for the headphones
I would go with the VOX

I bought a little Korg Pandora for guitar, it has a belthook, use a stereo-to-mono short cable ... good enough for practicint

Easier than wearing two sets of headphones!

Or maybe the two Vox plug-ins with an equally compact mixer?

SteveS....

I had [have??] one of these: https://reverb.com/item/26746793-fender ... sound-good

It was astonishingly good and very versatile.
I have not seen it in many years, which is not unusual in this studio.

I am hoping someday that it re-surfaces, because I am thinking exactly along the same lines as you are.

You wanna get small and easy I have used a 10yr-old ZOOM H2 (and their in/out connections have EVOLVED) as a stereo in-to-mono out headphone amp...and you can record if you get an idea.

Everybody (not you!) gets crazy about headphone amps but if you record AT ALL and don't have one of these little gizmos, ZOOM or Tascam, I don't know. I mean, they are great to record rehersals or birds or street conversations or indiscreet conversations or something on the radio (I have used mine for all) and it WORKS AS A PORTABLE HEADPHONE AMP. I really should get in to a routine of grabbing it along w/ my phone on the way out the door because it's a lot more versatile than recording w/ the phone, and I swear I don't know how to do that yet.

Oooo. What a great idea. I have a ZOOM h4n & use it for record/review of practice sessions (among other things). It's sat on a small stand in front of my amp right now. Plugging an instrument direct into it hadn't occurred to me, but yes, there it is 'illustrated' in the manual!

Edit to add a link: https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/handheld-recorders/

PS. If you look at a ZOOM, consider a 'remote control' too. That allows you to control recording from several metres away:

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/accessories/power-accessories/rc-2/

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/accessories/power-accessories/rc4/