In-Ear Monitors for Bass Players and Guitarists: Feel the Low End, Hear the Band

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Search for in-ear monitors for bass players and guitarists and you mostly get pick lists priced in dollars. The earpiece is rarely the hard part. What you lose is the cab that pushed air at your legs, and the amp you could step towards for more of yourself.

For guitarists, the same problem shows up as a tone that sounds right from the amp and wrong in the ears. If the hardware is new to you, what are in-ear monitors covers the parts and the terms first.

At Bollsen, we are a family-owned hearing company from Ljubljana, trusted by 1,000,000+ people, and the official UK and EU partner of Unique Melody. We sell earplugs and in-ears side by side, so we can be plain about what each one does on a stage.

Stage volume, and which earplugs suit a guitarist in the rehearsal room, is a separate subject that our guide to hearing protection for guitarists covers in full. Everything below is about monitoring: hearing your instrument and the band the way you need to.

Why do bass and guitar feel different in in-ear monitors?

Bass and guitar feel different in in-ear monitors because a bass cab or guitar amp on stage does two jobs at once, sending sound to your ears and pushing low-frequency air at your body, while an earpiece sealed in the ear canal only does the first.

In Rich Eckhardt’s Premier Guitar column, Listen To Your Ears, the touring guitarist describes the old way of playing, with “my amp tipped at me where it can move the hair on my legs.” He also found the earpieces of 2009 “particularly unpleasant for bassists and drummers”, adding: “There is a noticeable lack of low end, and it does hinder the ‘feel factor.'”

Read that as one player’s experience with older earpieces, not a verdict on today’s multi-driver designs. Part of what you called your sound was never in your ears at all.

Guitarists lose something different. In Mark Frink’s Mix article on making the wedgeless transition, the monitor engineer wrote that “Guitar players have the hardest time because they’re used to having a sweet spot that they can step into and it’s a whole new way of listening.”

How do bass players get the low end back in their in-ears?

Bass players get the low end back in stages: first a deep, full ear-tip seal, then earpieces whose dynamic drivers carry the bass you hear, and finally, for the push a cab used to give your body, a bass shaker or a small amp kept low on stage.

The seal comes first. Doug Gould’s Yamaha guide to in-ear monitors puts it in one line: “If the earphones are not sealed properly, bass response will be very poor (drummers and bass players should take special note of this).” That note in brackets is written for you, so check tip size and insertion depth before you reach for the EQ.

After the seal, the driver line-up decides how much low end the earpiece produces. The Stardust gives two of its six dynamic and balanced-armature drivers per side to sub-bass and bass alone, and our product page says it “adds more bass weight” than the 3DT. The Maven III Moonshard also uses two dynamic drivers for its bass, while its two bone-conduction drivers, according to its product page, add “holographic depth and height to the stage” rather than extra bass. IEM driver types explained covers how each kind of driver works.

The MEXT takes a different route, pairing one dynamic driver with a bone-conduction driver that works from 200 Hz to 7 kHz. Ear Fidelity’s review of the Unique Melody MEXT says “This new OBC driver really gets this thing to vibrate in your ear like a high-end subwoofer,” with a condition: if it isn’t inserted fully, “the vibrating part on the shells won’t have enough surface contact”. That is one reviewer’s description, not a promise, and bone-conduction drivers in IEMs explains the mechanism.

For the push in your body, look off the ear entirely. In Mike Sokol’s ProSoundWeb guide to electric bass in personal monitor mixes, a shaker on a small platform gives “instant bass that’s felt without anyone else hearing it.”

What do bass players need in their in-ear mix?

Bass players need their own bass guitar and the kick drum at the centre of the in-ear mix, because locking the bass line to the kick is the job, with enough snare, hi-hat and vocal around them to follow the song.

Eckhardt recalls a bassist whose in-ear bass on some nights “sounds like a gnat buzzing around his head.” Sokol is just as frank that “IEMs sometimes can’t generate enough low-end energy for bassists to monitor themselves properly,” and that “there may not be enough bass for the player to ‘feel’ what he/she is playing.”

His suggestion for some players is a very small bass amp with a direct out, “as long as the volume level is kept to a low roar.” If you play straight into an active DI box with no amp or processor on stage, he points out that a bass preamp or DI pedal before the DI can round off the peaks.

What do guitarists need from in-ear monitors?

Guitarists need a stereo in-ear mix with their guitar placed where they stand, a decision on whether the amp stays in the room or the signal goes direct, and the habit of judging tone through the PA rather than in the earpieces.

Keeping a real amp is fine, as long as it stops firing at you. Eckhardt used ear moulds as his monitor reference for over twelve years, “with my amp pointing into the dressing room hallway, instead of monitor wedges.”

With an amp modeller or profiler, the amp becomes a signal rather than a speaker, and his method still holds: “When using amp modeling I’ll try to ball-park my tone in the headphones, then fine-tune it by listening through the PA, so I know what it will actually sound like to the audience.” If your tone sounds harsh in your ears, check it out front before you change it.

How should bass and guitar share an in-ear mix?

Bass and guitar share an in-ear mix best in stereo, with each instrument panned to where its player stands, so timing cues come from position as well as level and nobody has to turn themselves up to be heard.

Frink wrote that “With stereo IEM mixes, panning makes it easier to hear each input and allows listening at lower levels.” Gould describes the same picture from the player’s side: “The sound from the guitarist to your left is coming from the left, as well as everybody else around you.”

When you can’t hear yourself, Gould’s advice is to turn everything else down rather than turn yourself up. A good seal lets you listen at a lower volume.

A small band may share one mix from a single send. That works until the bassist wants more kick and the guitarist wants less, which is when separate mixes earn their aux sends.

Which in-ear monitors suit bass players and guitarists?

In-ear monitors suit bass players and guitarists when they seal deeply, get their low end from dynamic drivers and take the plug your belt pack needs. In our Unique Melody range, four models cover that from £359 to £1,979.

The table uses the specs on our product pages, not reviewer verdicts.

The 3DT (25.4 Ω, 113 dB at 1 kHz) has bass its product page calls “Quick, controlled”, so for thicker low end look at the Stardust or MEXT. The MEXT’s resin shell is on the larger side.

Most belt packs take a 3.5 mm plug, so order that: standard on the 3DT, a same-price option on the Stardust and MEXT. The Maven III ships with a 4.4 mm balanced cable only and needs an adapter, and 3.5 mm vs 4.4 mm balanced plugs explains the difference. Route the cable over each ear and down your back, clear of the strap.

Of the four, custom fit is offered on the MEXT only, at £1,289 (the universal price plus £300). We email our 3D-scan guide, a hearing specialist near you takes a 3D ear scan or ear impressions, usually charged separately, and the pair is delivered 3–4 weeks after we receive your scans, with a free refit if the fit is not right. Custom pairs are made to order, so there is no change-of-mind return on custom fit.

All Unique Melody models are sold on pre-order. Universal fit arrives by DHL Express in 5–7 working days with 14-day returns while the hygiene seal is unbroken, every pair carries a 2-year Bollsen warranty, and prices include UK VAT. Compare all 12 models on our Unique Melody in-ear monitors (UK) page before you choose a pair for the stage.

For bass, get the seal right before anything else, then add a shaker or a small amp at a low roar if you miss the cab. For guitar, turn the amp away or go direct, and judge your tone through the PA.

Start with the 3DT, choose the Stardust for dedicated bass drivers, or the MEXT for bone conduction or a custom fit. For the singers, drummers and keys players around you, in-ear monitors for musicians covers the rest of the stage.