In ear monitoring bass only

[Jamesemt]

I currently use the ACS in ear custom mould ear Plugs and they sell earphones which replace the filters.

If I buy those, connect to a suitable output on my amp and buy an inline volume control for the earphones ...erm is that it?

How do you go on with the wires? Feed them down the back of your shirt?

Is it really that simple? ACS want £120 for the earphones that work with their moulds - anything cheaper that's compatible? I've been using the custom moulded plugs for about a year so am used to wearing them ( sounds weird without them tbh)

[Happy Jack]

Sort of, but probably not.

If your amp has a 'Headphones Out' socket then yes, you can plug your IEM in there ... but that will almost certainly kill the speaker output! There are exceptions, of course, and the Eden WTX series springs to mind.

Even if it doesn't kill the output, you now have a lead running from your ears to the amp, placing a heavy strain on the lead (even if you wrap it around your strap) and severely limiting your movement on stage.

My solution is to use a pedal/stomp box with a really good Tuner Out (4x signal) like the Bassbone, or a Parallel Out like the BDDI Deluxe. That splits the signal right at your feet, so your main amp feed is unaffected but now you have a really good signal to put through a headphone amp of some sort. That can either be clipped to your waist (which is ideal) or mounted on your mic-stand.

Check out the Rolls PM351 ( [url="http://www.amazon.com/Rolls-PM351-Personal-Monitor-Mixer/dp/B001032IDS"]http://www.amazon.com/Rolls-PM351-Personal...r/dp/B001032IDS[/url] ) which is what I use. You can bring in any or all of: your instrument / your microphone / the main band mix. If you buy direct from Rolls, they'll also sell you a mic-stand clamp.

[obbm]

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='777012' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:12 AM']I currently use the ACS in ear custom mould ear Plugs and they sell earphones which replace the filters.

If I buy those, connect to a suitable output on my amp and buy an inline volume control for the earphones ...erm is that it?

How do you go on with the wires? Feed them down the back of your shirt?

Is it really that simple? ACS want £120 for the earphones that work with their moulds - anything cheaper that's compatible? I've been using the custom moulded plugs for about a year so am used to wearing them ( sounds weird without them tbh)[/quote]

Not quite.

You must not connect the headphones to any speaker output from the amp. You need to use a line-out however the signal is not suitable for driving headphones/earphones so you'll need a personal headphone amp such as the Rane PM50, PM351 or similar from ART.

The alternaive is to go wireless.

I have a set of ACS T3 custom in-ear phones. Whilst they are great for listening to my ipod they are not much use with the bass as they can't drive the low frequencies loud enough for me. They just distort. Expensive ipod phones.

Before you shell out £120 on the earphones make sure that they can handle the bass frequencies. Get ACS's confirmation in writing so you have some leverage to get your money back if they don't do it for you. I have a pair of Sony in-ear phones that are 10 times better with bass than the ACS ones however they do don't fit the ear mounds. One day I'll sort it.

Edited March 17, 2010 by obbm

[mcgraham]

OldGit got the same things (ACS plugs + T15 inserts) and he thought they were sh*te. He bought (on my recommendation as I have the same) Jays Q-jays and loves them.

I use these for monitoring as well as ipod listening and recording. Cost me £100 from iheadphones.co.uk. Dual driver design and incredibly small. The standard plugs are also very comfortable, fit well, and block a great deal of ambient noise. Great midrange detail. Drums sound particularly 3D through them. Low end reproduction is good, but they don't overemphasise the bass like many headphones do. If you dial in a lot of extra bass frequencies most in-ears will distort.

Mark

[Jamesemt]

[quote name='mcgraham' post='777046' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:36 AM']OldGit got the same things (ACS plugs + T15 inserts) and he thought they were sh*te. He bought (on my recommendation as I have the same) Jays Q-jays and loves them.

I use these for monitoring as well as ipod listening and recording. Cost me £100 from iheadphones.co.uk. Dual driver design and incredibly small. The standard plugs are also very comfortable, fit well, and block a great deal of ambient noise. Great midrange detail. Drums sound particularly 3D through them. Low end reproduction is good, but they don't overemphasise the bass like many headphones do. If you dial in a lot of extra bass frequencies most in-ears will distort.

Mark[/quote]

Be interested to see how these compare for noise reduction? Could I use these just for bass monitoring? What do you run through?

[Bottle]

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='777012' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:12 AM']If I buy those, connect to a suitable output on my amp and buy an inline volume control for the earphones ...erm is that it?[/quote]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='777031' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:25 AM']Sort of, but probably not.

If your amp has a 'Headphones Out' socket then yes, you can plug your IEM in there ... but that will almost certainly kill the speaker output! There are exceptions, of course, and the Eden WTX series springs to mind.[/quote]
My Gallien Krueger has a dedicated Line out/Headphone out - doesn't disconnect the main output. Haven't used it yet, mostly because I send a DI feed to the PA desk and get an in-ear mix in return. I'm looking at splitting it so that I get bass-only in one ear, and mix-minus-bass in the other ear. I'll see how that goes this weekend

[quote]How do you go on with the wires? Feed them down the back of your shirt?[/quote]
Sometimes, especially if I use ear buds. Other times, if I'm using closed-back headphones (during recording etc) I'll just clip the belt-pack on and leave the cord dangling or clipped onto my strap.

HTH, Ian

PS, there's a couple of threads on here discussing IEMs if that helps

[Owen]

I did exaclty this and after one gig they did not work as well

This has reminded me to send them back under warranty.

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='777012' date='Mar 17 2010, 09:12 AM']I currently use the ACS in ear custom mould ear Plugs and they sell earphones which replace the filters.

If I buy those, connect to a suitable output on my amp and buy an inline volume control for the earphones ...erm is that it?

How do you go on with the wires? Feed them down the back of your shirt?

Is it really that simple? ACS want £120 for the earphones that work with their moulds - anything cheaper that's compatible? I've been using the custom moulded plugs for about a year so am used to wearing them ( sounds weird without them tbh)[/quote]

[Musicman20]

Can you go out from an output of the Sansamp BDDI or Aguilar Tonehammer into headphones?

I would really need wireless though...I could not deal with another cable to the pedal especially to my head.

Ill see how this new band goes first...they dont play silly loud, so I can hear myself even DI'd with BDDI.

[obbm]

[quote name='Musicman20' post='777337' date='Mar 17 2010, 01:18 PM']Can you go out from an output of the Sansamp BDDI or Aguilar Tonehammer into headphones?

I would really need wireless though...I could not deal with another cable to the pedal especially to my head.

Ill see how this new band goes first...they dont play silly loud, so I can hear myself even DI'd with BDDI.[/quote]

Nope. Those outputs are either instrument or line level. You need to think of earphones/ headphones as very small loudspeakers, consequently you need a very small power amp (headphone amp) to drive them.

[mcgraham]

[quote]Can you go out from an output of the Sansamp BDDI or Aguilar Tonehammer into headphones?[/quote]

As OBBM says, won't work. Check out the Micromon from Behringer, or some alternative headphone amp + monitoring equivalents from ART. These act as small headphone amps, that also allow you to pass your bass signal through to an amp, and also to mix in an external signal (e.g. aux, mp3, monitor signal, etc). I've got a similar system integrated in my SFX Preamp (www.sfxsound.co.uk).

After using in-ear, I won't go back to monitoring bass from the amp alone. Unless I am leading a band (or other situations where I need to be able to speak/give directions and hear people speak whilst playing at the same time) then I will always run IEM. I am totally convinced by this technology, and it can be achieved for next to nothing nowadays (my first attempt was with a cheap Behringer 4 channel mixer and my best pair of headphones that I had kicking about - sound sucked but I'd never heard myself more clearly!).

[Jamesemt]

[quote name='mcgraham' post='777617' date='Mar 17 2010, 04:31 PM']As OBBM says, won't work. Check out the Micromon from Behringer, or some alternative headphone amp + monitoring equivalents from ART. These act as small headphone amps, that also allow you to pass your bass signal through to an amp, and also to mix in an external signal (e.g. aux, mp3, monitor signal, etc). I've got a similar system integrated in my SFX Preamp (www.sfxsound.co.uk).

After using in-ear, I won't go back to monitoring bass from the amp alone. Unless I am leading a band (or other situations where I need to be able to speak/give directions and hear people speak whilst playing at the same time) then I will always run IEM. I am totally convinced by this technology, and it can be achieved for next to nothing nowadays (my first attempt was with a cheap Behringer 4 channel mixer and my best pair of headphones that I had kicking about - sound sucked but I'd never heard myself more clearly!).[/quote]

How cheap could a wireless system be?

Are there any all in one packages that people could recommend?

[velvetkevorkian]

[quote name='mcgraham' post='777617' date='Mar 17 2010, 04:31 PM']As OBBM says, won't work. Check out the Micromon from Behringer, or some alternative headphone amp + monitoring equivalents from ART. These act as small headphone amps, that also allow you to pass your bass signal through to an amp, and also to mix in an external signal (e.g. aux, mp3, monitor signal, etc). I've got a similar system integrated in my SFX Preamp (www.sfxsound.co.uk).

After using in-ear, I won't go back to monitoring bass from the amp alone. Unless I am leading a band (or other situations where I need to be able to speak/give directions and hear people speak whilst playing at the same time) then I will always run IEM. I am totally convinced by this technology, and it can be achieved for next to nothing nowadays (my first attempt was with a cheap Behringer 4 channel mixer and my best pair of headphones that I had kicking about - sound sucked but I'd never heard myself more clearly!).[/quote]
Just to clarify, would you continue to use this even if the rest of the band were using conventional monitoring (so it would be bass only though the IEMs and the rest of the band through the monitors as normal)?

[mcgraham]

I [i]AM[/i] the only one using in-ear monitoring I can literally turn up and take a monitor feed from the desk, or even patch into an existing one without interrupting the monitor set up.

I've done this with and without a rig (i.e. only PA support and PA + rig, respectively).

[Chopthebass]

I connect the line-out of my amp into this small mixer...
[url="http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/802.aspx"]http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/802.aspx[/url]
then use Shure earphones with the expanding foam replaceable surrounds. Can't remember the ones I have but they were about 50 quid and handle the low B great. Plus with the mixer I can take a monitor out from the PA into it and create my own mix. I have even used an overhead mic to pick up the rest of the band. I used to bulldog clip them to my strap to avoid snagging them out your ears.