The 4 Best Cheap Bass Traps – Reviews 2023

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Photo by Guillaume Paumier / CC BY

So why get bass traps? Well, if you have all the money in the world, you can build a recording studio from scratch that is perfectly designed to give you the ideal acoustics. For most of us, though, we’re limited to the pre-existing spaces in our homes or offices. Acoustic panels attached to the walls can certainly help, but they’re mostly a benefit in the mid- and high-range of the frequency spectrum and don’t help as much with the low end—coincidentally, the aspect that tends to present the biggest issue for recording studios.

A good set of bass traps will eliminate these issues. Where much of the equipment you need to buy to create a perfect acoustic environment is rather pricey, the good news is that you can get a good set of bass traps without breaking your budget. If you’re in the market for some, check out the options on this list, all of which can give you great sound at an excellent value.

These are our recommendations for the 4 best cheap bass traps on the market:

Mybecca Acoustic Foam Bass Trap, 2-pack

These acoustic foam bass traps from Mybecca come in a variety of sizes and quantities to suit a variety of room sizes and set-ups. A 2-pack will cost you very little, but for larger spaces you can get a 4-pack just a bit more—a more economical option if you know you’ll be needing four traps for your space.

In regards to the bass traps themselves, they’re professional-grade, durable, and effective, with a noise reduction coefficient of 1.32. They come in a standard 12”X12”X12” triangular shape, with flat sides that makes it easy to fit them in with your other sound-shaping objects. They can also be easily mounted to the walls using acoustic foam adhesive glue and are especially ideal for smaller spaces, like home listening rooms, practice rooms, and recording studios. Hands down, these are among the best cheap bass traps.

Arrowzoom Bass Trap, 8 pack

As a company, Arrowzoom is dedicated to creative sound solutions. There are pieces in their catalogue designed to improve the acoustics of any space, large or small, and at an incredible value that make them a great choice or hobbyists and home users. The bass traps linked to here are smaller than most (4.7”X4.7”X9.4”), making them extremely versatile and great for fine-tuning the acoustics in a wide range of room sizes. For most rooms, the 8-pack linked to here is the best option, but they offer everything from a 4-pack to a 36-pack to accommodate any needs (see full specs).

Just because their products are affordable doesn’t mean that Arrowzoom skimps on quality. They use a high density Polyurethane foam in all their products, a popular choice in home soundproofing because of how well it traps waves. It’s also lightweight, making it easy to shift around if you want to tweak your configuration. With a noise reduction coefficient of 1.2 to 1.35, it provides the same effective bass control as other professional equipment, but at a far lower price.

Acoustic Foam XL Bass Trap

For another very affordable option in the standard larger size, this XL Bass Trap is another strong contender. Like the versions above, it comes in both a 2-pack and a 4-pack so that you can get exactly as many as you need for your room. Made from a high-density egg crate foam, they’ll give you a much clearer low-end sound in both listening and recording applications.

The design of these bass traps is flat along the sides for easy configuration with other acoustic padding in your home. The face of the trap has been designed with care, as well, crafted to slow and dampen bass frequencies most efficiently, to make it as crisp as possible in the room and less likely to be heard outside it. This model works especially well in a home theater or gaming room to add clarity to low sound effects, making them seem louder without needing to crank the volume. These should be on anyone’s list of the best cheap bass traps.

Auralax LENRD Bass Traps, 2-pack

The three options listed above will all provide excellent bass control for home listening rooms and entertainment rooms, and even for many home recording applications. If you are designing a professional recording studio, however, you may need a slightly more nuanced bass control in your space. If you’re looking for the best value in professional-level soundproofing equipment, Auralax is an excellent way to go, with a 2-pack still costing far less than you’d expect.

The “LENRD” in the name stands for Low-end Node Reduction Device (see full specs). A node is a resonance bump in the frequency response of your room. These bass traps eliminate those nodes better than any other on the market, but without the time-consuming, complicated building required for most of the soundproofing materials at that level. This allows you to make a top-notch recording studio or listening room even in a space that’s far from ideal to start with.

How to Use the Best Cheap Bass Traps

In most listening room or recording studio set-ups, the best use for the bass traps is in the corners of the rooms. This is the area of the room where you’ll experience the most problems with your low-end frequencies because of the way the flat planes of the walls with the floor or ceiling come together. Even in a relatively small room, putting a bass trap in each corner—top and bottom—is an excellent way to improve the overall sound quality with relatively little effort or monetary investment.

The designs listed above are all made with a similar theory, using a relatively porous material to dampen the sound and control the low-end frequencies of the sound. This isn’t the only style of bass trap that you’ll find; many professional recording engineers like using resonant absorbers or pressure absorbers as the most effective means of moderating only the lower end of the sound, but these models are significantly more expensive and trickier to use. For the home studio or listening room, a foam bass trap like the ones above will give you the best performance for the best value.

If you’re not getting quite the level of bass control you were hoping for out of your bass traps, try experimenting with the position. While most people put them directly in the corners of the rooms, flush against the wall, you can also space them out from the wall slightly, or put them in other areas of the room, such as over windows or in other areas that may be impacting how the room reflects sound waves. Sometimes experimenting with your placement is all it takes to get the effect you’re looking for. Good luck!

Bass traps - With and without it

  • Micah Johnson started playing music in high school, when he taught himself the bass to join his friend’s band. He added guitar and drums during his twenties playing in local clubs, and along the way, he picked up unique, hands-on experience from hand drums to studio mixers. On Song Simian, he aims to share this knowledge from 20+ years playing and recording music. When not in gearhead mode, he enjoys photography and travel.

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