Studio Monitor speakers in-place of bass amp (for home)?
 

Heyo!

My question is if anyone has had any experience with using studio speaker monitors in-place of say a bass amp and still managed to get a good tone out of it?

The current set-up is an ESP bass ran through a Line6 UX2 Audio Interface into my computer, with 5.1 speakers for the computer and a 2 speaker set for the output of the interface.

What annoys me is that the speakers from the interface aren't really suited for bass (the guitar works pretty okay) meaning my tone ends up pretty muddy, while running it through my cheapo monitor headphones sounds fine. As such, I was thinking about studio speaker monitors (since I'll want them for mixing anyway) to "replace" my need of an amp, but I'm worried I might not be able to get a nice tone/sound. Would I be okay, and if so, does anyone have any good studio speaker monitors to recommend for all-around mixing and recording shenanigans?

I wouldn't bet on that working out too well.

Been practicing through my studio monitors for the last 20 year or so. It's my reference ,so , for me the tone is the best I ever had. It's what I aim for when playing through anything else.

IMHO it will depends on the low end your's are giving.
Small non-powerfull ones will probably sound like crap.
You would be better served by using a good pair of headphones , low-end wise.


I have a pair of JBL LSR28P + sub.

I have a $65 set of headphones that would surely blow the crap out of my cheap $125 studio monitors.

For the past several years, I've been playing through a set of KRK monitors when at home.

Dang, I'm tempted to run bass > pedalboard > GKMB500 > mixer > Macbook Pro w. Garageband >..airplay to the M-Audio studio monitors to see what it sounds like!

You will likely be disappointed in the delay caused by Air Play.

I run an Empress ParaEQ into a Countryman Type 85 into a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 into Westone OM-3 IEMs or Alto stage monitors. Sounds great, but you have to remember that a bass soloed really doesn't sound the same as it does in a gig setting. However, you should practice how you play, so for me, most of the time, it's IEMs.

I run a pair of Yamaha HS80m off my Zoom R24 multitrack rec. They sound fantastic.
Great bottom end. I use them for general listening and recording.
For recording, I go xlr out of my bass amp to the ZoomR4 for my bass... and straight into the Zoom 24R with my keyboards.

That's a really good point. Feel stupid for not thinking of that in the first place. :)

Cool, thanks for all the input! I listen to a lot of artists that use Amp sims such as Pod/AxeFX and run line in to computer, so I figured they'd use monitors for that purpose. I do have a pair of monitor headphones for 50 euros. Thinking about sticking with that until I can get monitors for at least 300-400. My low-end isn't bad from the instrument itself, my current speakers just can't handle it very well and it turns muddier than a claypit in a tornado.

Edit: Had a quick look, daaamn, decent monitors are expensive. Any decent headsets to recommend? :P

I'd consider a good set of IEM earbuds, so they can do double duty when performing live. It has often been said that you should practice how you will play, so this will make you an even better performer, too. I use Westone UM-3X RCs, but have heard that many people really like their Audix and Shure IEMs, that are much less expensive.

I have a pair of fostex pm2s that I sometimes play bass through. Sounds great.

me too

I've been practicing through my pro tools rig for years. It sounds amazing, but those are very expensive monitors. I'm not sure how good it would sound through cheapies.

Listening my bass tone trough studio monitors is my reference. I wish I could gig with that speaker quality...

How else do you think engineers takes decision while recording your bass?

You can, or at least come very close. :D

I actually, set my crossover and EQ on my amp referencing my studio monitor.