Issues with high gain fizz on different studio monitors

    I am using an old pair of Samson Resolv 40a Studio Monitors for my Kemper. I bought these almost 10 years ago and my ears got used to them pretty much. In fact they are basically really cheap monitors (I paid 100 Euro for both!) so I decided to make an upgrade here...


    So recently I compared the ADAM F5, Rokit G3 and the Samson Resolv SE6 with my old samsons...The difference is HUGE. But in a certain negative way.


    When trying out some "higher quality" monitors I am encountering an ENORMOUS amount of high-gain fizz when playing distorted sounds. To be honest - I can't stand the sound of any distortion presets on theses monitors at all. They sound terrible!


    In comparison with the old samsons it's a completely different sound characteristic. Like changing a guitar cabinet on your amp. Which is crazy at all, because even when they are cheap monitors - they have a linear frequency curve and should at least sound similar to other ones.


    So I tried to use an EQ to make the high gain profiles on the new monitors sound as close as possible to my old samsons. I attached a screenshot of my EQ settings in Logic.
    So you can see - it seems the old samsons have LOTS of high frequencies missing with a peak around 2.5khz - which comes in handy when playing high-gain sounds! Cause with this settings there is NO fizz, but warm and fat tone. Love it.


    So right now I am pretty confused. Since all other speakers I tried sound the same in a negative way (fizzy sound) I am not shure if i can trust my old samsons - cause I want to have presets on my kemper which sound great on all speakers, not just my old ones.


    What are your thoughts about this? Have you encountered similar problems? What monitors are you using and how are your high-gain profiles sound?


    Regards, Stefan

    The Headphone sound is almost identical when comparing with a pair of the better monitors (I'm using the AKG K121 Studio Headphones). Compared to the old samsons it's quite different as mentioned before.

    Yup. The issue was obviously the Samsons.


    Some monitors, such as NS10s and perhaps moreso some KRKs such as the Rokits you tried, will impart what is often described somewhat euphemistically as a "forward" characteristic onto the sound; I'd describe the latter's colouration more as a slightly pronounced and harsh top-end.


    I mention this only because, whilst the difference between, say, the Adams and the Rockits is only slight in this regard relative to the comparison of your old Samsons to any of the better models, it will nevertheless exaggerate that fizz you love so much (only kidding) when transitioning. For this reason I'd steer towards something a little less "forward", to use that euphemism again, than your typical Yamaha or KRK-style monitor. I'm thinking Dynaudio, Adam, Event, Neumann, JBL... pretty much any high-end monitor really, not all of which are very expensive, especially 2nd-hand.


    The Adam A5 or A7 is an obvious candidate price-wise. Even the newer Yammy HS range may not have quite as much "bite" as the KRK / NS10 suspects mentioned, but I haven't heard these in person. There is a bit of love on the net for the Yammy HS series at their price points, from what I remember...


    Yamaha HS Series monitors review | MusicRadar
    Yamaha HS80M - User review - Gearslutz.com
    Amazon.com: Yamaha HS80M Studio Reference Monitor
    HS Series - Speakers - Yamaha
    Yamaha HS7 & HS8S - Sound On Sound

    If you've tweaked your stack EQ settings for your favourite rigs to sound right over your Samsons, you'll obviously have some work to do when you get the new ones. In the meantime, you could get started using those headphones as they'll certainly get you in the ballpark as long as they're reasonably flat, which you seem to have confirmed with your comparison in the previous post.


    Good luck, Stefan.

    Now that's a very good comment, Monkey_Man!


    I had the same experience, that monitors like the KRK or the ADAMS kind of overpronounce the high frequencies and make the high-gain sounds sound so harsh.


    Right now I am testing the Samson SE6 which do the kemper a better justice. They are not so harsh as for example the KRKs.


    I find that boosting the 2.5 kHz frequencies on high gain sounds makes the overall sound more direct, compressed and "in your face". Since my old samsons had a peak there I will experiment with that and tweak my settings just a little.