What monitor should i buy!!

[tommmy]

Recently started a 5 peice band. (Drummer, 1 guitarist who sings, 1 guitarist who just plays, 1 bassist, and 1 female singer) we recently bought a PA (peavey mixer, two 15in sound factor speakers) and have all the necessary amps/mics. Our plan is to play small bars and small backyard venues underneath tents. My question is we need monitors and i dont know what to buy. Does everyone need their own monitor or do we need just a few. I am not opposed to spending upwards of 1,000 but would rather keep it 500 or below. Hopefully i gave all the information that may be needed to make a reccomendation. If not dont hesitate to ask. Any advice/comments are helpful. Thanks!

 

[jimirb]

IMHO, any multi-musician band needs some type of monitor. Problem is, in small venues like you describe, monitors loud enough to do you any good are also loud enough to be heard by the audience and either overwhelm your FOH mix OR at least screw it up.

Our 3 piece group constantly fought these problems and feedback issues thru the monitors. We went to in-ear monitors and all these problems simply vanished. We would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go back to floor monitors.

Our group is a relatively conservative classic country band and we all remain pretty stationary, usually seated on tall stools, so we are able to get away with wired earpieces with the cables routed up our guitar cables. We bought a used Behringer HA-4600 4 channel headphone amp and 3 fairly decent earpieces. For about $200, we were in business!! If you went wireless, the cost would be considerably higher, but maybe within your budget.

The system works so well for us that we don't even set up the PA for rehearsals. We all just use our monitors.