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Small vocal monitors


Stub Mandrel

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Yesterday at dojndcheck I couldn't here the vocals because the vocalist uses an iem and the pa was well forward of the stage. Had a monitor wedge set up gor me snd drummer and realised how much we've been missing since he went iem.

 

Been looking at small 50w 5" monitors, are these any good? Would one be enough to help me with bvs? Don't want to switch to iems as I find in ear phones very hard to use.

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I've tried both the Behringer 205 and the TC VoiceSolo, they both work after a fashion. They are built to work on a mic stand but that is a bit of a nonsense as they make the stand too top heavy for anything but the most tame of gigs. They both are loud enough to cause feedback so extra volume isn't useful. The Behringer sounds like a very loud portable radio the TC is much cleaner sounding but as a practical proposition for vocals only the behringer works better as the mids are what you need and you will get early high frequency feedback from the TC IME. I sold my Behringer to my drummer so he could hear the vocalist and he liked it, with no vocal mic he could position it close and no feedback. For monitoring my backing vocals they are only OK if your drummer is loud. The gain you need to hear yourself over the drums is enough for anything that close to the mic to cause feedback issues. It's just good enough to pitch but that's it once you've cut it to stop it howling. (some say my bv's are howling)

 

I lost them when I started using an RCF ART310 as a floor monitor. The much flatter response and the floor positioning allow all the gain you need.

 

I'm losing my hearing, too much exposure to high levels of sound. Too late I'm turning to IEM's they don't just give you the sound they cut the sound level at your ears to levels that don't cause damage. Using earplugs is a matter of fit, I struggled with poor bass, falling out and tight uncomfortable plugs. All of these are cured by well fitting in-ears. I thought I'd feel cut off from the audience, you'll be amazed just how much audience sound comes through the vocal mics. On a good day I get hi-fi/studio sound through my in-ears and my playing has improved because I can hear everything. I wish I'd done this when I started gigging and if I could pay £20,000 to get my hearing bck to where it was 15 years ago I'd take your arm off. Do yourself a favour and try some nice comfortable over-ears in rehearsal where no-one cares what you look like. Once you get that set up how you like it you will want that at a gig. Even those little Behringers are going to damage your hearing.

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The little Behringer ones are great as mic stand monitors, otherwise a small powered wedge is what you want. When our singer and keys player started using IEMs me and the drummer bought a small JBL 10" monitor and just used that, worked fine. Better options are available for more money obviously!

 

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Lots of food for thought. I am happy we keep sound levels sensible on stage, I just need something to bring a bit of clarity to vocals now Alex isn't using a personal monitor and obviously he doesn't want to bring a big floor wedge as that's why he's gone to a single IEM just for his vocals.

Sounds like it may be worth trying a mini monitor.

 

 

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I have a TC Helicon VoiceSolo, which works very well. Clips onto the mic stand, so you can have it pointing directly at and close to you. Tannoy speaker, clean sound, nice reverb/eq settings and you can still send a dry signal to the PA when you use them in the monitor.

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17 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

The little Behringer ones are great as mic stand monitors, otherwise a small powered wedge is what you want. When our singer and keys player started using IEMs me and the drummer bought a small JBL 10" monitor and just used that, worked fine. Better options are available for more money obviously!

 

I have a JBL EON 10 powered cab which is great for a monitor. Small and sounds fine.

From my experience the stand mounted models like the Behringer are okay but 

don’t sound overly pretty. Mate of mine has an Alto powered cab which also is

great for a small floor wedge, and not expensive either.

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20 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Yesterday at dojndcheck I couldn't here the vocals because the vocalist uses an iem and the pa was well forward of the stage. Had a monitor wedge set up gor me snd drummer and realised how much we've been missing since he went iem.

 

Been looking at small 50w 5" monitors, are these any good? Would one be enough to help me with bvs? Don't want to switch to iems as I find in ear phones very hard to use.

What is it about IEMs that don't work for you? Be good to understand, as its something we're actively exploring. 

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4 hours ago, casapete said:

I have a JBL EON 10 powered cab which is great for a monitor. Small and sounds fine.

From my experience the stand mounted models like the Behringer are okay but 

don’t sound overly pretty. Mate of mine has an Alto powered cab which also is

great for a small floor wedge, and not expensive either.

 

That's what we had, the old grey plastic one which did us fine, sold it a bit ago and eventually only got £40 for it after a couple of months so they're cheap to pick up as well.

 

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4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

What is it about IEMs that don't work for you? Be good to understand, as its something we're actively exploring. 

 

Hard to put into words. I haven't tried IEMs, but have to use earplugs sometimes in my workshop and have used various earphones. I just find them very difficult, I think it's psychological perhaps.

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Gone for an HH powered speaker, sound is a bit more balanced than I'd expect from a 5" one, price was silly cheap at £89. May find more applications than just a vocal monitor.

 

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/hh-hpx108-active-moulded-speaker-300w?gclid=CjwKCAjwmJeYBhAwEiwAXlg0AR7IxodnYb3xBU2UFtKCLQ6Jtx7zjrLWxiHDLEYqcUSZWIa7XRK83xoCW20QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

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I used to use a little behringer powered 10 inch pa speaker. Good enough for vocals. I used it for years and it got loads of abuse and was still going strong when I flogged it. I tried the Mike stand one but the sound wasn’t as good and it made my mic stand unstable.

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On 22/08/2022 at 17:50, grandad said:

I bought 2 of the Behringer B205D monitors for my music club. They are very good but quite local if you get what I mean.

+1 another vote for these - use them  in church. I like the fact that they’re mic stand mounted and therefore audible at low-ish volumes. Their frequency range is pretty good and they can put out a fair bit of mid&HF heft when required. Finally, when they’ve been dropped on the floor, no issues at all.

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Laney CXP-X110 active wedge monitor does the job for me. Our drummer has an extension speaker off it for him. Plenty loud enough on stage with 2 x backline and acoustic drums.

Edited by mep
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On 24/08/2022 at 16:26, Stub Mandrel said:

Gone for an HH powered speaker, sound is a bit more balanced than I'd expect from a 5" one, price was silly cheap at £89. May find more applications than just a vocal monitor.

 

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/hh-hpx108-active-moulded-speaker-300w?gclid=CjwKCAjwmJeYBhAwEiwAXlg0AR7IxodnYb3xBU2UFtKCLQ6Jtx7zjrLWxiHDLEYqcUSZWIa7XRK83xoCW20QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

That looks like a no brainer! 

Should do the job just fine, will be interested to hear your thoughts.

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On 22/08/2022 at 19:28, Phil Starr said:

On a good day I get hi-fi/studio sound through my in-ears and my playing has improved because I can hear everything. I wish I'd done this when I started gigging and if I could pay £20,000 to get my hearing bck to where it was 15 years ago I'd take your arm off. Do yourself a favour and try some nice comfortable over-ears in rehearsal where no-one cares what you look like. Once you get that set up how you like it you will want that at a gig. Even those little Behringers are going to damage your hearing.

£20K? Yep, this. In spades. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back in the late Seventies I built a monitor around a 12" JBL so I could hear myself in the harmonies we were doing. A little later I built a 10" version and that worked so well I built another. Finally I bought a IEM system and that worked best of all without the cost a a separate power amp to drive the monitors

Edited by BassmanPaul
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