recommend headphones for live monitoring

[mozarwasagenius]

I play in a church where there are no wedge monitors. I bring my amp and can use it as a monitor, but I can't hear the vocals... so my nice earplugs won't do (it is LOUD on stage with the drums and I protect my ears). We use an Aviom system and in the house the bass sounds great... I just need a good representation of this for monitoring.

I can't seem to get IEMs to sound right (especially in the low frequencies) and have isolation (went up to Shure SLC5s and still am unimpressed). I need to capture the Bongo tone.

My AKG K55s (cheapie headphones) blow them away in terms of bass response. Alas, the isolation from outside sounds is poor. My bass is a Musicman Bongo five string.

Can anyone recommend something to fit this application in the $100 range? I've heard Sennheiser 280s are good... but I need to go somewhere to try them out I guess.

Yes, I know it may look goofy to have headphones, but I am not happy if I can't get the sound right in the low frequencies. In truth, I hang in the background and the drummer also uses cans.


Thank you,
mozar

P.S. I originally posted in the "live" forums but haven't gotten responses

P.P.S. I haven't had luck searching for this topic either. Please forward threads if you find something of value.

[krafty]

Sennheisers are great headphones, although in my experience with their more vintage cousins they were better at the highs than the lows. That being said all mine weren't true closed-ear.

AKGs in the $80-100 range (K77s and 99s are rated to 18Hz) would probably work just as well. I think the only downside is in the lower-end AKGs the cables aren't detachable.

[g&lplayer]

You couldn't go wrong with a pair of Sony 7506s

[rheohead]

+1 to the Sony 7506!

They are closed back and they've got headroom to spare. They will rip your head off if you are not careful!

[mozarwasagenius]

Originally Posted by rheohead

+1 to the Sony 7506!

They are closed back and they've got headroom to spare. They will rip your head off if you are not careful!

Wow, after learning about the 7506's hear I did some reading. Thanks for turning me onto these. They are definitely contenders.

Can you tell me how the low B sounds as well as the isolation performance?

Thanks in advance

[uaudio]

Check out M-Audio's IE30. They licensed the same tech in the Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5pro, but way cheaper. You can find them for 150 new on eBay if you are patient.

Any IEMs without a dual driver design are useless for bassists.