Good headphones for bass guitar

[bendeg]

Hi all,

I partice bass guitar through a mutli-effect processor (GT-10B) and headphones (pluggged into the GT-10B). I play along tracks.

Ok nothing unusual so far, but the problem is that the headphone distortions rather quickly even with a flat sound.
I can't get a nice bass guitar sound at a high volume and the headphone distortions...

I don't think the headphone is broken or anything (I might be wrong...), it works fine, it's just the bass guitar is not rendered properly.

Are there any headphones out there that could make me happy or no headphones on earth can render bass guitar nicely at a high volume ?

 

[swarfrat]

I've found no matter how good the headphones are, and there are some with truly phenominal bass specs, playing bass guitar you cannot get loud enough to 'hear' yourself.

BUT, using a seat shaker like the buttkicker or aura pros makes all the difference in the world. Night and day, black and white vs 3D color. I can't for the life of me figure out why it hasn't just caught on, but become de rigueur (or why my shakers are still packed in a box waiting on me to order an amp for them.

I also found it allows me to dramatically lower the volume of the headphones, because we tend to crank it to get feel, and headphone & shakers allow you to get feel that you'll never get by trying to rattlle  your eardrums enough to feel it in your butt.

 

[Panthur]

Basically for headphones, you get what you pay for.

I don't know specifically about Bass sounds etc, but I would expect you want a pair of closed back headphones as they can give more bass weight than open headphones. It's also about how flattering the headphones are, i.e. do you want a true, flat sounding headphone (i.e. one you might use for mixing) or one that flatters sound to give you more 'beef'.

Again, I don't know enough about headphones (in that I have a nice quality pair, but haven't tried many others) to advise the particulars of which pair would be best. Do you have a price range ?

And yes, what swarfrat said (posted whilst I was typing hehe), you'll never get a good loudspeaker sound from a headphone.

 

[bendeg]

@swarfrat
"seat shaker" !? LOL...It's a joke huh ?  :blob7:  (belgium guy here...maybe there's something I don't catch...)

@Panthur
"... one that flatters sound to give you more 'beef'" => more 'beef' I want, something that renders contrabass-like, big, warm sound

I found this :

http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/headphone-type-closed-back.html

Especially the last paragraph :

"...Those who enjoy heavy weight bass may enjoy the sound closed back headphones provide. The closed ear cups prevent bass leakage and can give a full bottom end character to music."

Agree with that then ?

 

[Panthur]

Most definitely agree.  :icon_thumright:

 

[swarfrat]

Absolutely not a joke. Reaction motor, mass driver, vibrational transducer, whatever. Its usually a fixed  voice coil with the magnet as the reaction mass, it generates low audio / sub audio frequency  vibrations and very little sound (though whatever its attached to can radiate sound) .

They're usually either attached to a seat or small standing platform. Mostly used in the realm of home theatre, but it really makes headphones work for musical instruments and can allow you to DRAMATICALLY reduce headphone volume levels.

 

[bendeg]

Absolutely not a joke. Reaction motor, mass driver, vibrational transducer, whatever. Its usually a fixed  voice coil with the magnet as the reaction mass, it generates low audio / sub audio frequency  vibrations and very little sound (though whatever its attached to can radiate sound) .

They're usually either attached to a seat or small standing platform. Mostly used in the realm of home theatre, but it really makes headphones work for musical instruments and can allow you to DRAMATICALLY reduce headphone volume levels.

Lol, that's cool ! :hello2:
Actually, I'm sitting on my amp during rehearsals, I understand what you mean. It's even better.
The problem is that it radiates sound, I can't afford that : I live in an appartement, that's why I use a headphone. I don't want to disturb my neighboors.

But I like the idea !

 

[swarfrat]

Check out the ButtKicker for a commercial version. If you're handy a bunch of guys are using the Aura Pro shakers from Parts Express (don't know European suppliers, but PE has good forums) they also have a much much heartier transducer now than the Aura Pros.

I fried one w 700 watts once. Its rated for 50. (I did the math after the fact.) But its up there with live military explosives @ safe observation distances for sheer physical impact. Its probably a little too good for 51% of the population.

I'd take a $50 set of headphones with a shaker over a $300 set of headphones any day. It doesn't really make room noise unless its touching something that can carry the vibrations.