follow on from TINNITUS thread - the which earplugs thread

DartmoorHedgehog · January 2014

I'm using Alpines and have been pretty happy with them. There was a thread about this a couple of months ago and some people reckoned the ACS ER20s are better (flatter response) . I do sometimes think about getting a proper moulded pair just for better sound quality, but protection wise I'm happy that the Alpines work, and I can hear clearly enough to play (couldn't with industrial type foam ear plugs).

martinw · January 2014

Elacin ER20s.

Quite happy with them.

Jalapeno · January 2014

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Elacin... the off-the-shelf ones you can get for £12 to £15 pound. Wear them every rehearsal, every gig... and when I go to see a gig.

This. Don't mind the looks at gigs ......

I am going to get some decent isolation in-ear phones to use with IEM - eventually, as we're not gigging atm. I don't use earplugs for Jazz gigs (playing or as a punter) as it doesn't really ever get too loud.

bob21 · January 2014

ACS Pro 17. Wear them literally everyday, not once been dissatisfied with the investment.
Buy them through Boots, register for their hearingcare club, get 15% off. ACS are great to deal with too!

hywelg · January 2014

ACS ER9 and ER25 for stupid gigs. However, what you also need to know is that you can get tinnitus from an ear infection. I'm not sure what exactly the cause was, but I got tinnitus shortly after an ear infection, now that might have been the infection itself or it could have been due to rehearsing whilst there was little or no wax in my ear.

So stay away from loud rehearsals and gigs if you get an ear infection, if you rehearse/play regularly get decent plugs. Builders jobbies are too dulling and you always tend to remove them so you can hear the band properly.

Catthan · January 2014

Hi guys, interested in this too.

Was looking at the ACS pro 20s and the site says it's popular with guitarists and filters the high frequencies. As the high mids is what I want to hear to make sure I sit well in the mix and cut through, will a highs-cutting plug mess with my perception of how well i cut through and where my high mids are? I don't know if my concern is a valid one but I fear that wearing them will make me crank certain frequencies up in order to hear myself and eventually fuck the tone,, Do i need a generic-flat response plug instead so i can hear everything evenly and less painfully like the ACS 17?Please share your experience/ opinions

Cirrus · January 2014

@Catthan, I've just been looking through the specs of the bog standard ER-20, pro15,17 and 20 and the more expensive ER15 and 25 trying to work out what would work best for me.

I use the ER-20s and while they're the best sub £15 ones I've tried I have always found they make you think your guitar sound is thicker than it actually is, and leaves a bit of fizzy upper mids that's annoying with high gain. Looking at the frequency response/ attenuation graph that makes sense - they attenuate more as the high frequencies go up, with a little dip at 4k to let more fizzies through vs the more useful 2k range.

I have a feeling that the Pro 20s are going to be even more susceptible to this looking at their response chart.

So I think for me it's a choice between the Pro 15 and 17, with the 17 looking more flat from 500hz through to 4k, which I think will make it easier to judge the way your sound is actually sitting in a mix.

God, I hope these images resize....

Cirrus · January 2014

Welp, I've just ordered the 17s. Nicely done TFB, spending my money

|)

Catthan · January 2014

@Cirrus,

thanks for the detailed post.

I'm thinking 17s myself.

nickp · January 2014

ferkin loud gig at the weekend.

custom earplugs a must before next reh!

not_the_dj · January 2014

nickp said:

ferkin loud gig at the weekend.

custom earplugs a must before next reh!

Very sensible, but be aware it'll take a few weeks for the custom inserts to be made after you've had the impressions taken.

pmg · January 2014

If you gig, rehearse, ever play amplified I would suggest earplugs if you value your hearing. I heartily recommended ACS custom moulds with the highest filter possible.

Cirrus · February 2014

Collected my pro17s from the acs office in Banbury and tried them out at practice tonight. Whoa. :-O

siraxeman · February 2014

whoa what..do tell! I keep meaning to get some 'proper' fitted ones..but the price has been the stumbling block so far...even tho I know our ears are well worth it! So come how about a mini review?

stickyfiddle · February 2014

The way to get around the price is to flip it on its head. If you lost your hearing, or got major tinnitus, how much would you pay to get it sorted again? I reckon well into the thousands personally, at which point £150 for plugs seems a bargain. Not to mention that at the moment no amount of money will get those ears fixed.

nickp · February 2014

as the one who started this thread I've taken all da good advice and can collect my £150 fitted earplugs today

I even managed to convince my wife that the cost should come out of the family budget and not my GAS pot - happy days

Cirrus · February 2014

First night review;

Compared to the one size fits all ER-20s, the first striking difference with the Pro 17 is in the low end - they're totally transparent right the way down, where before the bass was a bit muffled, attenuated less than higher frequencies, and hard to judge. And the top end is more open - you can clearly hear breath noises, the extended high end fizzies on a distorted guitar, the rasp of a snare hit etc. As a guitarist that took quite a bit of adjusting to: With the ER-20s in my tone sounds thicker and smoother than it does with naked ears, whereas the Pro 17s with their better bass control and extended high end made the tone basically the same but quieter, with a slight emphasis on the high end above about 4kHz. So at the start of the practice I was having to adjust my expectations as the guitar tone was brighter than I'm usually used to... but it's definitely a better way around. Before, if I took out the ER-20s half way through the practice the guitar would sound waaay bright and fizzy, last night I took out the Pro 17s and it sounded basically the same but a little thicker.

Throughout the practice I was finding I could hear everything better. Ghost notes on the drums, what the bassist was playing (bass guitar articulation probably being the main weak point of the -20s), the difference between my pedals, and I could sit back in the mix more and still hear myself so had better control of my dynamics.

'twas also cool when I did some singing as there was no "occlusion" - bassy vibrations making their way through your skull and messing up your voice tone. Found myself singing more naturally and being able to judge my tone of voice better which is going to be a real boon on loud stages where before I'd be shouting my lungs out just to hear myself! Speech is clear both ways, to the point where when I put them in for the first time at the ACS office in Banbury I didn't even realise they were doing anything - I had to concentrate to realise that yes, the sound was actually quieter.

In terms of comfort they do predictably well, being moulded to the shape of your own ear. It took a couple of minutes to get the hang of inserting them but once you figure out the right angle to start at it's easy as pie. Getting them out is a piece of piss. I found with the ER-20s, moving around and especially singing (which works your jaw and makes your ear canal change shape), they'd gradually work their way out of your ear and every few minutes I'd have to push them back in to re-make the seal. No such issues with the moulded plugs - once they're in they stay in and do their job. I thought it was a bit funny last night in practice as there were parts of songs where I'd instinctively raise my hands to my ears to push the plugs back in, only to realise I didn't need to! Obviously a subconscious habit I've formed over the last 5 years!

So my first impressions are very positive. The clarity from low lows to treble is fantastic and you hear a sound that is much closer to the real-world noise you're putting out, which I think will be quite a psychological confidence boost. I'm going to keep using them every chance I get as they give you a month to make sure you're comfortable with the mould and happy with the filters you chose.

siraxeman · February 2014

Cheers for that!

So what filters did you choose...I know there's 2 or 3 levels of attenuation...I'm thinking the highest when I get mine which without going off to search I believe is something around 24dbs ish?

ChrisMusic · February 2014

Excellent review, thanks @Cirrus.

stickyfiddle · February 2014

Excellent review, @Cirrus, and reflects my experiences entirely.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

follow on from TINNITUS thread - the which earplugs thread

Comments