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GK Music SuperPhones And UltraPhones By Mark Parsons When it comes to rehearsal, drummers are faced with two volume-related problems (in addition to complaining neighbors). First, playing a drumset in a confined area generates high noise levels that can damage your hearing. Second, many drummers practice along with recorded music. The problem here is that it's hard to hear the music over the wash of drums bleeding into your phones. Unfortunately, the natural tendency is to crank up the phones in an effort to override the drums…leading us back to pain, suffering, and hearing damage. A similar situation can often exist in the studio. Imagine four or five angry musicians trying to hear their cue mix over the blazing drumset right next to them. Besides stuffing the drummer into an iso booth (Boo!), what's to be done? GK Music to the rescue! Their first tool in the fight against banishment to the dreaded drum booth was their original DrumPhones, which coupled inexpensive Walkman-type headphone drivers with the sort of earmuffs worn by shooters and aircraft workers. I bought four pairs of DrumPhones several years ago, and while they've been a boon to my hearing (and that of my bandmates), they had a couple of weaknesses that showed up over time: The drivers would blow under high volume, and the thin cords were prone to breakage. These problems were solved with the advent of the DrumPhones II (still currently available), which are fine for home use. But as far as I'm concerned, the real news is introduction of two "pro" models that GK Music is now manufacturing. Pro Models The two high-end models are the SuperPhones and the UltraPhones. The similarities? The drivers. Both use speakers from the Sony 7506 studio monitor headphones (which are among the industry standards). The differences? Everything else. Let's check it out. Sound: Even though they use identical drivers, the SuperPhones and UltraPhones have slightly different sonic personalities (again proving the adage that with speaker systems, the enclosure is as important as the driver itself). The SuperPhones have a hair more mid-bass, probably because the drivers are mounted in such a way as to put them in closer proximity to your ear. However, they don't seem to have quite the high-frequency extension of the UltraPhones, which I would characterize as having a very clean and clear sound. Although both of these headphones sound very nice, neither model sounds exactly like a pair of 7506s (which utilize a very different, non-sealed enclosure). The UltraPhones come closer, having more of that "studio quality" sound due to their increased transient response. Both models have an impedance of 63 ohms, meaning that while they won't melt under high power like cheap 8-ohm drivers, they'll still put out decent levels when driven by the small headphone amps built into most CD players. (In contrast, my 600-ohm AKG K240 phones only put out a moderate level with my CD player's headphone amp cranked up to 10.) Comfort: The SuperPhones are physically configured similarly to the DrumPhones, being built into moderate-sized earcups that place the driver padding up against your ears. While not uncomfortable, this gives them somewhat of an "on-ear" (vs. "over-ear") feel, which can get a little sweaty during long sessions. The UltraPhones are built into larger and deeper earcups, such that-unless you've got ears like a bloodhound-your entire outer ear fits inside the earcup, which then seals against your head. While bulkier, I found this configuration to be very comfortable. Isolation: The SuperPhones provide 20 dB of noise reduction, while the UltraPhones offer 29 dB. Not much to debate here...or is there? Actually, yes. If you're playing in a miked-up situation (stage, studio, or rehearsal) and you can feed some of your drum sound back into the phones, then more isolation is better. However, if you're primarily going to practice (unmiked) along with a CD, then I'd consider using the SuperPhones. The reason? The UltraPhones provide so much isolation that it's hard to hear your unmiked drums over the music. Used simply as hearing protection during practice, either model will provide more than enough noise reduction to keep your hearing intact (with the UltraPhones being so effective that they may actually block out quiet ghost notes). What You Hear Is What You Get Granted, nothing is going to sound better or be more comfortable than a pair of featherweight studio headphones. Unfortunately, you can also seriously damage your hearing by driving such phones hot enough to keep up with a drumset, because they provide almost no isolation. (To quote Pete Townshend, regarding the cause of his legendary hearing problems: "Headphones! Headphones! Headphones!") With their SuperPhones and UltraPhones, GK Music has come up with comfortable, good-sounding, pro-quality headphones that provide serious noise reduction. No, they aren't cheap. However, not only will they make your current rehearsals and sessions much more comfortable, they just might make it possible to still hear what's going on when you're an "elder statesman" of drumming. Check 'em out! Copyright © 2001 Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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Copyright © 2001 GK-Music.com All Rights Reserved. |
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