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New monitors, farty sound playing bass through them

PotsdamBass8

PotsdamBass8

Supporting Member
Jan 23, 2005
2,992
3,023
Long Island, NY
#1
Hello,
Never had monitors before, only played bass through the DAW with headphones. Not much experience with recording equipment so I know I have lots of troubleshooting ahead but just looking for easy answers if any.
Just got a pair of JBL 306P MKII off amazon for listening/mixing/playing. I have an old Lexicon Lambda that I use to record and play through Helix Native and GarageBand or Logic. It usually sounds fine for headphones. I plugged the speakers into the out of the Lexicon, and set the volume to 4, and playing bass through that setup sounds farty. I turned the volume on the speakers up and lowered the output of the Lexicon, better but not gone. Is this just something that happens with bass through monitors? Is the lexicon likely on its way out? Should I keep the speakers on max and keep the output on the lexicon low? Family life has kept me from fiddling more so any pointers will help! Thanks!
 
#3
AGCurry said:
There is likely nothing wrong with any of your gear.

Studio monitors are not musical-instrument amps. To amplify bass guitar, you need a bass guitar amplifier (and speaker). Your bass will not sound that good through any "hi-fi" system.
Click to expand...
I’m not talking about the tone as much as the low end handling. I’m not playing it direct, I used Helix native with an amp and cab sim, a compressor, and a high pass, and it seemed that there was distortion and farting with the overall volume not very high. I’m not expecting it to sound as good or nearly as loud as even a combo amp, but it seemed very early for there to be speaker breakup.

Is that just a trait of monitors that soloed bass can’t be reproduced at a very high volume?
 
#4
PotsdamBass8 said:
I’m not talking about the tone as much as the low end handling. I’m not playing it direct, I used Helix native with an amp and cab sim, a compressor, and a high pass, and it seemed that there was distortion and farting with the overall volume not very high. I’m not expecting it to sound as good or nearly as loud as even a combo amp, but it seemed very early for there to be speaker breakup.

Is that just a trait of monitors that soloed bass can’t be reproduced at a very high volume?
Click to expand...
What speakers are you using? Typically studio monitors are 5" or 6" powered speakers that are used in near-field listening environments for the purpose of mixing tracks.

They are not meant to be run loud but they do get decent volume, when mixing you should do it at a low volume so you can hear the detail.

Now if they are distorting and you see a lot of movement in the cones it probably means that the low end on the bass is way too much. You can't really hear the low end on smaller studio monitors without a subwoofer and it's really easy to overdo it. When I first started I thought I was getting good mixes until I started playing them on the stereo or in the car and man the bottom end was huge. So I practiced in getting it to sound right and I played lots of my favourite albums through the speakers to get an understanding of what I should be going for, now I don't mess it up any more because I'm used to the sound I'm hearing and I know when the bottom end is right.
 
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#5
Samatza said:
What speakers are you using? Typically studio monitors are 5" or 6" powered speakers that are used in near-field listening environments for the purpose of mixing tracks.

They are not meant to be run loud but they do get decent volume, when mixing you should do it at a low volume so you can hear the detail.

Now if they are distorting and you see a lot of movement in the cones it probably means that the low end on the bass is way too much. You can't really hear the low end on smaller studio monitors without a subwoofer and it's really easy to overdo it. When I first started I thought I was getting good mixes until I started playing them on the stereo or in the car and man the bottom end was huge. So I practiced in getting it to sound right and I played lots of my favourite albums through the speakers to get an understanding of what I should be going for, now I don't mess it up any more because I'm used to the sound I'm hearing and I know when the bottom end is right.
Click to expand...
JBL 306P MKII, they’re 6”. I didn’t see a lot of movement, they were moving a tiny bit though. Listening to music has been amazing though, the detail is incredible. I’ve been using the Amazon Echo and similar Bluetooth speakers for so long that I forgot what a good system sounds like.
 
#6
PotsdamBass8 said:
JBL 306P MKII, they’re 6”. I didn’t see a lot of movement, they were moving a tiny bit though. Listening to music has been amazing though, the detail is incredible. I’ve been using the Amazon Echo and similar Bluetooth speakers for so long that I forgot what a good system sounds like.
Click to expand...
Do they distort at lower volume settings? It does sound like the bass may have too much bottom end and they’re not good at reproducing that.
You can check by playing the bass track in another system, you’ll notice if it’s too bassy.
 
#7
AGCurry said:
There is likely nothing wrong with any of your gear.

Studio monitors are not musical-instrument amps. To amplify bass guitar, you need a bass guitar amplifier (and speaker). Your bass will not sound that good through any "hi-fi" system.
Click to expand...

I disagree, I'm playing through monitors all the time, although I have different amps. I'm using Focal Alpha 50s. I prefer monitors to amps. Just like in a studio, where you go direct into the mixing board, use a high quality compressor and listen through headphones and monitors.
The 6 inch woofer of the JBL speakers should be more than enough.
Potsdambass8 writes nothing about his room. Is the room treated? How far from the next wall are the speakers positioned? On what surface do they stand?
Does this occur if you position yourself in the right location? Close to the speakers with the tweeters directed directly to your ears?
Sometimes monitors with the bass-reflex on the back of the speakers create problems if the room isn't treated and they are too close to a wall.
 
#8
PotsdamBass8 said:
Hello,
Never had monitors before, only played bass through the DAW with headphones. Not much experience with recording equipment so I know I have lots of troubleshooting ahead but just looking for easy answers if any.
Just got a pair of JBL 306P MKII off amazon for listening/mixing/playing. I have an old Lexicon Lambda that I use to record and play through Helix Native and GarageBand or Logic. It usually sounds fine for headphones. I plugged the speakers into the out of the Lexicon, and set the volume to 4, and playing bass through that setup sounds farty. I turned the volume on the speakers up and lowered the output of the Lexicon, better but not gone. Is this just something that happens with bass through monitors? Is the lexicon likely on its way out? Should I keep the speakers on max and keep the output on the lexicon low? Family life has kept me from fiddling more so any pointers will help! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Try putting a HPF across the bass input (and bass tracks, if recorded). Just use the stock Logic EQ to put in a high pass filter to take out frequencies below 30Hz. If that makes no difference, move the HPF up gradually from 30Hz to around 80 or 90Hz and see if the farting out reduces or stops. There will be low frequency energy hitting your monitors that they can’t reproduce. Attenuating these with a HPF should tighten up the sound. Also, I don’t think that turning down the output level of your interface while turning up the monitor levels is wise... more likely to get more hiss and background noise that way, and if you have a crackle or thump from the interface at any point it will be super loud! Better to do the opposite - turn up the interface output level and dial down the monitor level - and try to sort the bass farty sound with a HPF.
 
#10
One more try here.

Your JBL unit has a switch controlling input level: 4dBu or -10dBv. If you connect a +4dBu output to a -10dBv input, you are sending a hot signal over the line, and it may overload the input. Make sure the output of the Lexicon and the input of the JBL are set the same.
 
Last edited:
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#11
Thanks for all the replies. I still haven’t had solid time to sit and troubleshoot (toddlers sure are fun), but there has been a lot for me to think about. I think that it has been a combination of what everyone’s said so far, tempering expectations but also needing judicious high pass and limiting boosted bass.

I hope to be able to sit down soon and really come to some conclusions and report back.
 
#12
I was having the same issue and I was recommended the Focal Alpha 50’s here. Once I made the upgrade to those monitors the boomy bass issue went away. I was able to get a good deal used at guitar center so if you are looking to upgrade I would recommend scanning their used site.
 

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