need help with monitors for mixing

[habman470]

i'll just get right to it: a couple weeks ago i got a single-unit recording studio (BOSS BR1180-CD). my friend and i recorded a couple songs within the first couple days, which came out okay (visit my site if you want to hear the .mp3s). i'm sort of a perfectionist, however, so i spent countless hours trying to mix/master those songs to get the best sound possible. however, it seemed that everything i tried to do just ended up making the songs sound worse on actual cd players. i know that the biggest part of my problem is where i'm sending the output while mastering--guitar amps. (i also tried my headphones, but after visiting this site, i decided that was a bad idea, too.) so i'm looking into getting some monitors to do mixing with, and that's where i need help.

first, should i bother getting monitors, or should i just send the output to some typical stereo speakers?

second, if i should get monitors, does it really matter whether i get new or used ones?

third, are the smaller/cheaper units acceptable or do i really need the larger monitors to mix well?

in addition, i'm ignorant as to what brand names usually have the best products and what sorts of things i should be looking for in the monitors.

i'm new to all this recording technique and lingo so go easy on me...

thanks

[brokenwindow]

For the meantime...Send the signal to some stereo speakers and forget bout ther guitar amp..(never do that again.. )

I wouldn't buy used monitors unless i knew where they had been , how old they were, and was able to listen to them before buying....

you can get decent monitors for at least $300 or so....I wouldn't go with anything smaller than a 6 inch woofer. ( i got a 6.5 and they do just fine.)

Do a search on monitors here and you'll find more info than you need.

Whatever you use to mix with..you gotta take time and learn how they translate to other systems..( boomboxes, car stereos..etc..

I used stereo speakers for years and after awhile, my mixes translated better with them than when I first got my "real" monitors..

[habman470]

yeah, today i sent the signal to stereo speakers and i'm already getting much better results. my main problem was getting my guitar to sound good... i found that both using the effects on the recorder itself and sending the signal straight from my multi-effects pedal to the recorder made the guitar sound like crap. i actually found that putting a microphone up to the guitar amp gives me a much cleaner sound. i don't know what the deal is with that...

but overall, using the stereo speakers, i get a much better idea of what the music ACTUAlly sounds like, as opposed to how it sounded through headphones or the amp itself (guh).

thanks.