Yesterday

[Jesstaa]

Lol, as far as ear problems go I'm lucky, I have a build up of wax blocking my ears, which has been there for ages, and while it makes them ring ever so slightly (Used to be terrible, unblocked them a bit though).
Best part, it's like attenuating ear plugs, makes everything quieter but not muffled.

But after having my ears ringing bad for a couple of months I almost went insane, I'd hate to have it permanently.

Btw, you can get what I assume are fairly decent attenuating ear plugs for like $30 on the internet, as soon as I can be bothered I'll be getting a pair, to everybody else - Stop being lazy and get some.

 

[dualampman]

I popped an ear drum in high school playing my JCM 800 at a band practice, I had the amp cranked, got some feed back, lost my equalibrium and fell straight to the ground, same thing happened to the drummer and he fell off the thrown. My right ear has permanent hearing loss of about 30% vs. my left ear. While the experience was funny as heck at time, that was 1982 and I still have ringing in that ear.

 

[kernal]

I hate sounding "preachy" but there's nothing "funny" about tinnitus if you get it to the point where you can't even tolerate a computer fan. Some peple get it so bad (I'm now one of them) that it can literally ruin your entire existence! I mean it literally forces you to hear "it" 24/7, and it gets old after the first few days. I've had mine for 2 months and I have been told by several Docs that I will have to live with it for the rest of my life.

Trust me, there is no way anybody could know what it's like until they've had loud ringing for a long period time. It will drive you nuts, and there's no way to stop it, or make it subside. There's only a bunch of BS "treatments" that don't do sh*t like 90% of the time.

Don't gamble with your ears and hearing. I used to never even think about it. I used to play through 2 stacks cranked up to 10, while standing in front of the drums and bass amps. I would always have ringing from that sh*t, but never for an extended length of time.

Now, because of this ear infection and not being able to get proper medical care (becuase I have no insurance) I have to live with loud tinnitus for the rest of my life.

I tried ear plugs, and I can't tolerate my guitars with them even at a low level. Hell, I ca't even tolerate a computer fan for 5 minutes without ear plugs - that's literally how bad it is now. It makes my ear scream for 2-3 days non-stop. It's so loud that I could turn up my JMP 100W up to about 3 and I'd still hear the ringing over top of the amp.

I hate to sound preachy, but you won't appreciate your good hearing and peace and quite (without having to hear constant "ringing" alltime) until your hearing is gone.

BTW, tinnitus is the result of hearing loss. The brain tries to "compensate" for the loss of hearing, and there is no way to make your brain stop. It will compensate (ring inside your head) for eternity. You will take tinnitus to your grave if you get it loud enough. Make no mistakes about it.

 

[darrylportelli]

I popped an ear drum in high school playing my JCM 800 at a band practice, I had the amp cranked, got some feed back, lost my equalibrium and fell straight to the ground, same thing happened to the drummer and he fell off the thrown. My right ear has permanent hearing loss of about 30% vs. my left ear. While the experience was funny as heck at time, that was 1982 and I still have ringing in that ear.

800's are beasts...we could count how many people got tinnitus or other hearing problems with them!!!!
for now im good with memory foam plugs....I know they muffel the sound but hey I dont hear any ringing at all after a rehersal or at home cranking the 800.
in the near future ill get a set of those music earplugs which have the removable inserts so you could adjust attenuation levels.....in the far future Ill get some custom mades....
Darryl

 

[Procter2812]

I popped an ear drum in high school playing my JCM 800 at a band practice, I had the amp cranked, got some feed back, lost my equalibrium and fell straight to the ground, same thing happened to the drummer and he fell off the thrown. My right ear has permanent hearing loss of about 30% vs. my left ear. While the experience was funny as heck at time, that was 1982 and I still have ringing in that ear.

I popped my ear drum around 10 months ago whilst playing a large gig. JCM800aswell lol

everytime i moved my jaw, my eardrum clicked and when i popped my ears i could hear air going through my ear drum like a bike tyre leaking. Was weird!!

 

[kernal]

I was reading about how Lars and James have tinnitus that never goes away. I'd hate to have the kind of ringing those guys have as I'm sure it's pretty loud. Seriously, I don't know how those guys do it that and continue to perform with tinnitus. My ringing gets so much louder even if I wear ear plugs. It really sucks because I have been into music my whole life - it is my life, and now I can't tolerate playing my guitar anymore because my ear can't handle the noise. Life sucks!

 

[skeezix]

.....But you'll never be able to get a tone as amazing in doors as you do outside. Sitting the amp outside, thick bush (forest, whatever you people call it) all around has the most amazing sound ever, it's not being smashed back in your face by walls, it's just roaring out and reverberating off trees.

And you don't realise just how loud a Marshall is until you use it outside, because inside the volume seems the same from about 7 - 10, just more painful.

+1.

You gotta get up to about 7.5-8.5 to start really working the power tubes and get that sweet compression goin' on....the only good thing about being unemployed is bein' able to pop open the garage doors once in awhile on a weekday when everybody's at work, and just let 'er rip. The sound goes across the street, across the railroad tracks, across the next street, and I get this amazing slapback echo off the school and playground.....

I can pull it off once in awhile on a weekend, 'cause i've been living on this block longer'n anybody else, and all the neighbors know i'm wacky, so they're all pretty cool about it.... but i try not to make a habit out of it, either.

 

[NateCordova]

you guys are scaring me, thank god i got some ear plugs LOL

Trust me, i'll use my mp3 quieter next time too LOL!

 

[MartyStrat54]

I use speakers rated at 30dB at one watt. Four of them are 36dB.

1W=36dB
2W=39dB
4W=42dB
8W=45dB
16W=48dB
32W=51dB
64W=54dB
128W=57dB

I can crank my 100 what head and listen to the TV at the same time. I can play my rig 24/7. Who needs ear plugs.

 

[darrylportelli]

so marty what you are saying is you use very inefficient speakers so you could crank the head and still get low volumes??
darryl

 

[cicone]

I use speakers rated at 30dB at one watt. Four of them are 36dB.

1W=36dB
2W=39dB
4W=42dB
8W=45dB
16W=48dB
32W=51dB
64W=54dB
128W=57dB

I can crank my 100 what head and listen to the TV at the same time. I can play my rig 24/7. Who needs ear plugs.

Wow! Those sure are inefficient speakers You sure you're not playing through soup cans and strings?

 

[ynot]

When I first got my 1987x my ears were ringing constantly,24/7 from rehearsing 3 nights a week in a concrete basement & gigging on the weekends.I invested in a Power Brake shortly after getting it.It still took a month or so more for the ringing to stop,I thought I did permanent damage.