I play and record both guitar and bass, I have recently gone away with a guitar / bass amp and have purchased a multi effects pedal to cover everything.

I am now wanting to get a set of studio monitors to play through instead of going through headphones. I have what would be considered a small space so I am only looking at 5" monitors (usual suspects: HS5, KRK, JBL etc). Not overly keen on an FRFR speaker given size.

I understand that studio monitors are by design flat to give the best possible mixing / mastering platform. Given that I am going to be using these 80% of the time for playing guitar / bass through would it work if I ran a small mixing analogue desk between my multi effects pedal and the speakers to colour the tone to my liking? Especially when playing bass for more low end. Understand that I can only get so much from a 5" speaker and I may need to look at a sub as well.

I’m also interested in this solution as there is a lot of feedback that studio monitors are “fatiguing” to listen to long term when using the monitors for general music listening so if I can tune the tone where needed with the mixing desk and remove entirely for recording and mixing purposes.

Would this solution be realistic? Any other ideas for my situation?

  • Far-Pie-6226@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    A couple of thoughts. I have a set of Yamaha HS7s. 5 inch drivers won’t cut it when it comes to bass, kick drum and any other low end signal. You’ll be pushing up the low end when dialing in your modeler to sound good on your small monitors but it’ll sound muddy anywhere else.

    The other thing to consider is your room treatment if you plan to mix and master based on your studio monitors. Personally, I prefer to use headphones for critical listening and use the monitors to track my recordings, playback, etc.

    As far as fatigue goes, it’s real when it comes to most modelers and monitors. I didn’t have a problem with Kemper but Helix for example gives me a very bright sound unless I cut the high end. That’s not exactly a flaw. It’s supposed to do that and you’re supposed to cut the high frequencies, for guitar anyway. You could use a mixer but that’s just another price of gear to get in the way. Things like Helix and Fractal have global EQ that should do the job without adding another piece of hardware. What modeler did you go with?