Fumble fingers wrote:can someone explain or give a crash course on Monitors or have a good link ??...... I think it would be nice to have something where I can hear my band mates playing ..... I know nothing about them , don't know what I need and or all that's involved with monitors ....
To do what you want you'd need to get a signal from each of the guys in your band - either mic'ing them up or via DI - into a mixing desk. Assuming you're in a four piece band with perhaps two singers/vocalists then you're already up to 7 or 8 channels of the desk, depending on how you mic the drums up. Then you'd have to balance the levels on that mixing desk each and every time you play with them, not to mention setting it up and packing it away after every gig/jam/rehearsal. Have I put you off the idea yet?
You could probably get everything you need (powered monitor, small mixing desk, DIs, mics, cables, stands, bags for lugging it all around in...) for not a lot of money if you buy used but IMO it is not worth the hassle by a long shot.
I'm also going to assume that this is for a rehearsal/jamming situation, and not gigs - if this is correct then you're far better off adjusting where you're standing and in which direction you're amps are pointing. A circle is much better than a straight line!
The only times I've
ever had a personal monitor in which I can get my own mix personal mix sent back at me has been on big stages with expensive PA's and a sound guy, and I never want anything in it except vocals and, if its a big stage, perhaps a little bit of whatever the person on the other side is playing if it's something I absolutely
need to hear clearly. Unfortunately I've found that good fold-back (monitor) is all too rare.