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bass headphones!

Our guitarist just had a baby and we practice at his house lol! so now we gotta hook our headphones but mine sucks!! i sampled my friends boss headphones and the bass was solid but just wondering what other headphones are made for bass players gotta invest in some asap...thanks im a noobie on this forum but so far u guys seem to show nothing but love.
 
In case you want them for rehearsal/live monitoring, in-ears would be my choice. AKG offers a pair for a very good price but I can't recall the model name. Sennheiser also has some very good sounding in-ear solutions.

In case you don't want in-ears I'd recommend Sony's MDR-7506, Beyerdynamics or also AKGs.

IN any case you really should try some in a shop. Often even HiFi stores have good ones around...
 
I find playing bass through headphones is a pain in the butt. Always sounds like crap. The only time it ever sounded good was when plugged into the headphone output jack on an Eden amp. That sounded great. Fat, warm and rich. The make a of headphones or earbuds made little difference. Had Sennheiser HD280s that are supposed to be great (and do sound great for movies and music) but running my bass through anything other than the Eden head sounded terrible. If anyone can explain this phenomenon I'm all ears ;-) Thx!
 
I find playing bass through headphones is a pain in the butt. Always sounds like crap. The only time it ever sounded good was when plugged into the headphone output jack on an Eden amp. That sounded great. Fat, warm and rich. The make a of headphones or earbuds made little difference. Had Sennheiser HD280s that are supposed to be great (and do sound great for movies and music) but running my bass through anything other than the Eden head sounded terrible. If anyone can explain this phenomenon I'm all ears ;-) Thx!

To me it sounds you just like the eden pre. Just out of curiosity, what are the pres you dislike with your phones?

I'm a big fan of AT ATH-M50 which are in the same price class as beyer 990's which I also like very much. Audio techica also makes ATH-D40fs which are nicely priced and marketed as "enhanced bass precision" headphones for tracking bass heavy instruments. Should be less than 100 USD. I haven't tried them and I wonder if they're very hyped, but I'm very interested in them. When my dog eats the phones I'm using now, I'll probably give them a try, as I'm pretty tired of finding 150 e/usd worth of chewed up plastic in a puddle of drool..
 
I use the AT ATH-D40fs' for general listening and they're great for picking out low muddy bass parts from old recordings. I can't get as good results from the 7 band graphic on my receiver and they don't kill the other frequencies- it still sounds "musical", just a bump exactly where it seems to be needed. They're cetainly worth checking out.
 
I've heard my basses through various recording studio headphones and always found the sound thin and cardboard like. Have also run headphones through the headphone out jack on a Yorkville combo and a Fodera Private Practice amp and found the sound equally unpleasant. I suspect it's some sort of impedance issue... I'm not a techie. Listening to recorded music from CD players or iPods into the same headphones, the bass sounds great. Why is that?
 
i thought skull candy were overpriced. i have used in-ear and over-ear headphones, both sounding fine. i forget the in-ear, but they were cheap at best buy, and they sound amazing with my ipod. short cord though.
i have used my gaming headset to play my bass through. they can produce the low notes just fine.
 
I've heard my basses through various recording studio headphones and always found the sound thin and cardboard like. Have also run headphones through the headphone out jack on a Yorkville combo and a Fodera Private Practice amp and found the sound equally unpleasant. I suspect it's some sort of impedance issue... I'm not a techie. Listening to recorded music from CD players or iPods into the same headphones, the bass sounds great. Why is that?

I've no idea. I was just interested.

But I don't doubt you. I hate the sound coming out of the headphone jacks with the amps I use.
 
Is it me, or are skull candy headphones just cheap, novelty crap?
Maybe cheap, but not crap.

I use Skullcandy Asyms as my in-ears for the stage. It helps that they're $40--I haven't had any fail on me yet, but it's nice knowing I can blow through 3-5 pairs for what I'd pay for more expensive in-ears.

They're certainly not for everybody--they're very bass-heavy. Not at all accurate, so you can't mix with them or anything, but they do a heck of a job letting me hear what I'm playing with the drummer doing his Animal routine three feet behind me.
 
Maybe cheap, but not crap.

I use Skullcandy Asyms as my in-ears for the stage. It helps that they're $40--I haven't had any fail on me yet, but it's nice knowing I can blow through 3-5 pairs for what I'd pay for more expensive in-ears.

They're certainly not for everybody--they're very bass-heavy. Not at all accurate, so you can't mix with them or anything, but they do a heck of a job letting me hear what I'm playing with the drummer doing his Animal routine three feet behind me.

I agree.

I've been using an older set of [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] for a couple years now. They sound great as an IEM.

For straight up headphone, I'll also recommend the Sony 7506.
I also have Ultrasone HFI-550s that I love.

My absolute favorite headphones though are an early 80s set of Fostex T-20 that are held together with coat hanger wire and duct tape from years of use.
 
I got to vouche for the sony mdr-v6's.. has that solid state sound I was accustomed to with all the 1980's high fidelity equipment, reminds me of that. I prefer that over the newer diamond built ear shattering crisp sounding phones.