Hi,

One of the first things you said was "I’m slowly building a small home studio"

I missed the 208i info thinking it was a Tascam 208M in one of the other posts.

DI or direct in is the most common way bass guitar gets recorded of the several methods that exist. Most all professional studios use Di along with bass microphones on real bass cabinets. I only ASSUME "I'm slowly building a small home studio" indicates you have the intention of recording your live bass playing through one of the five or six typical methods of recording bass. Here is a video describing five of the most common ways to record bass. https://youtu.be/8_BYSw5ZWjM

You can listen to music in any of the various forms, MP3, .wav, FLAC on the JBL 305P speakers and you can listen to the bass guitar in real-time as you are recording from your DAW or simply play through your DAW without any issues if you manage the volume. You can do the same thing through your headset.

There are three basic types of speakers. Production speakers, like the ones you play your bass through at church, reproduction speakers of the type you listen to music on your stereo, and studio speakers which normally try to produce a flat response and not add anything to what you put in them.

I only told you what speakers/headsets I own so you have some idea of what I base my thoughts and recommendations on and the fact that I own the speakers you were asking about. I have played my Fender P bass, Musicman bass, and my Fender Jazz bass, my Robin custom bass, and the bass I gave to the neighbor through all the monitors and headsets I own without any issue.
I have a Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI V2 to use as a bass preamp into any interface.

If you want to understand why what I am saying is true you can go to this electronic engineering website and read what Elliot has to say. https://sound-au.com/articles/guitar-voltage.htm

Just so you know, I am not an electronics engineer. I build custom professional tube amps for those few people who want top-quality tube guitar amps and are willing to pay the price. I am certainly not a professional studio recording engineer. Everything I have said here is about my own experience with equipment that I actually own and have used.

The one really off-subject thing I detest is evening having to think about producing music that will get played on a boom box. I am happy to let Justin Bieber have that space...lol

And again, to answer your question about the JBL speakers. I don't think you will be unhappy with them. They are just low-cost speakers that do a pretty good job for the money. What they sound like to anyone is subjective and they will sound very different in different rooms.
Here is where you can buy the ADAM-A7 new or used from about $1000 to $1500. https://reverb.com/marketplace?product_type=pro-audio&query=ADAM%20Audio%20A7X%20Active%20Nearfield%20Monitors%20%28Pair%29

Billy

Last edited by Planobilly; 02/17/22 06:11 PM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”