Personal stage monitor, no effects or pre amp needed.

[Almy]

I stumbled across this site while having no luck finding someone to sell me what I need! I run my electric, acoustic, and classical guitars through a Boss GT-8 (multiFX board.) I use it to emulate everything. From amp to amp pre's to mic and speakers, and all effects I use.

My use is always straight from the GT-8 to a PA, nothing between. At band practice it works great as I have a setup of my own PA gear that allows me to monitor just what I need. Unfortunately when I play at Church the monitoring is pretty bad.

My solution was to buy a powered speaker that would allow me to plug my GT-8 into it and then have an out straight to their board. But with a volume for the speaker that doesn't effect the signal sent to the board. Basically just something I can use to hear myself while playing without having to buy an amp. But I'm just not finding anything out there that doesn't also come with extra things I just don't want or need.

You guys have a ton of information here and I'm a bit overwhelmed so I thought I would just throw the question out on the table and hope no one kills me for not spending more time searching.

Basically all I think I need is this:

Somewhere around 5 to 20 watts?
One speaker around 8 to 12 inches.
A volume control.
One 1/4" instrument input.
One 1/4" or XLR output.
Most importantly I don't want anything that would color the tone, my FX board takes care of everything.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling I'll have to start doing a lot of searching and browsing on these forums before I start to have an idea of what I might be able to do.

Edit: Ugh, I just posted this in the wrong section. Sorry.

[bbartilson]

Have you considered using phones?

My time playing in church was made MUCH more enjoyable with headphones.

My own solution was a POD and a pair of headphones with the associated floorboard.

If you want a dedicated monitor, I wonder how the signal is getting into the PA in the first place? Are you not using a direct box?

If you are, then the other 1/4" jack on the direct box is your way of getting a signal you can adjust without affecting the signal going to front of house.

If you like the idea of a speaker as opposed to phones, there are a couple of options. Build it or buy it. I would recommend buying it.

Peavey makes a couple of models I would think are ideal for what you are trying to do. The recent model is a Rage 158. It's an 8" speaker, quite robust, and quite small as well. Good sounding, relatively flat (as in lack of coloration) and works well for your application. I see them used for $50 or so all the time. The old school version of the same thing is called the 'Audition 10'. Once again, very straightforward, but loud enough for your needs, and likely even less expensive.

If you want to get picky about high end response and need something closer to a 'real' monitor, the least expensive solution is going to be at the pawn shop, or whatever suffices for a buy-sell-trade shop in your area. Buy an inexpensive pair of stereo speakers and an old school receiver. Something with a 12" woofer, and paper mid and tweeter.

Use one of the speakers only. Keep the other for when you blow the first one up. If you decide to, you can always gut the stereo amp and put the parts you want (like the power amp only) inside the speaker you use. Instant powered monitor.

If you've got lots of budget, there are MANY commercial solutions starting at a couple hundred dollars, on up to the sky. I'd be happy to recommend something like that were it your preference.

But the central problem of adjusting your signal without making the sound guy/girl mad is inside a direct box. Starting at around $20 at any music store.

something like this:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHDI100

Once the signal is split, anything will work. This is a neat solution as well, but still requires the direct box:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produc...me=MCMProducts



Best,
Bill

[Almy]

Ooh, that MCM powered monitor looks like exactly what I want! Thanks for the link. I'll have to check it out. I'm not completely opposed to using a DI. I was just hoping to get everything in one package so I wouldn't have yet ANOTHER thing to carry around...it all really starts to add up.

I appreciate the link that mcm is really close to what I want. Nothing extra, just the basics!