I play in a Rock/Pop/Funk duo as a guitarist with a male vocalist playing to backing tracks recorded with live instruments. We use a high quality Adlib Audio PA with subs, but using a Marshall amp on stage, I'm struggling to hear the backing material and vocals over the guitar. . (I won't consider a POD they sound rubbish! ) The guitar is one of the main focal points of the act so needs to be prominent enough and that means a fair bit of volume.

FOH mix sounds fine but the stage needs some sort of foldback. Obviously light/ portable etc but it'll have to be active to work with current equipment.

I've been looking at the Mackie SRM450's (We'd only need one) but the Mackie Thump has caught my eye and is more affordable. I'm not sure we'd need something with loads of low end because the subs are unidirectional but playing smaller places the monitor is going to add to the FOH sound so I'd rather it be as high quality as possible and robust for regular load ins etc..

Any favourites? Are 12 inch enclosures better than 10 inch for this purpose"? Will I have problems if I go for a speaker that has a lot of low end? In ears would be an idea but I'm not sure I'd get two decent sets for the money.

I've seen a few 'Hot Spot' mic stand type things around the internet but they seem a little fragile and easily stolen/ damaged for me.

Budget is around £400 quid and I don't mind buying second hand if it makes enough of a difference in quality.

Cheers

Six

Have you looked at the Mackie SRM150? Don't come much smaller, cheaper or more portable. Doesn't need to be incredibly powerful, though it is loud, as can be put on a mic stand so is closer to your ears. I play in a four piece band - drums, electric bass, two electric guitars - and we all have one. Haven't played a place yet, where we have had to supply the PA - even outdoors, where they haven't been OK.

NeilE

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lazy joe - alternative/rural blues/acoustic and tons of fun!
www.myspace.com/lazy.joe

Have you looked in the Readers Ads PA section?

A friend of mine uses the budget Thomann active PA cabs for monitors (The Box 302's I think) - and he has a very impressive client roster who often hire him because he gives them a decent monitor mix. Thomann sell plastic stands which angle them in the right direction.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

Have a look at the Alto TS110A or TS112A. I use a pair of 12's and although they are budget speakers, they do the job

Have had them about a year now with no problems.

Link to a good deal from a reliable trader

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I eat kebabs when i'm sober!

I can't answer all your questions and it depends a lot on your available budget, but I highly recommend the RCF ART 312-A or even the 310-A if you're not very concerned about low end and you want something more compact. I've used a 315-A as a monitor for drums with nice results and I even use a pair of 315-As along with a sub for FOH uses for live bands and for small crowds (around 150 people).

Now since it is a bit pricey, if you're on a tight budget you could even look into BEHRINGER territory. Yes BEHRINGER stuff has a bad reputation and can have reliability issues, but they're kind of unbeatable for the price. I've used their B215D active speakers as monitors even for drummers (as a rock drummer myself I can tell you we need some serious SPL from our monitors :P) and though their sound is certainly not amazing, they get the job done. As far as the reliability goes, out of the three I own, the first one started having a problem with the amp powering the woofer after a few months from the purchase, the second one was just not sounding right (not sure what the problem on that one was) out of the box and the third one worked fine. In any case, I had full warranty so either I got them repaired for free or even replaced (the one that had trouble out of the box). I don't know if that's because of the BEHRINGER people or because of the THOMANN people (that's where I bought them from), but apart from some time lost I had no other problems with support.

Anyway...long story short, quality wise there is no comparisson between the BEHRINGER and the RCF. The RCF is more powerful and more importantly has way much more clarity hands down. In a monitor, I think you need both . If you can't afford something on that price range though, you can consider the BEHRINGER B212D or B210D, but just be aware of what you're buying.

In my opinion, it's just that better quality (the RCF in this case) is better on the long run.

I'm sure Behringer marketing have infiltrated this forum

All you got out of my post is that I'm promoting behringer?

If you're actually serious about that then I really think you should read again...

I can highly recommend the Alto Tourmax SXM112A. Its super-cheap, but pretty decent, and above all easily portable! It has a concentric horn, so that keeps the cab compact. My only real complaint with it is that the control/ input panel faces the audience, so it doesn't look as nice as a passive monitor. But you could cover this, as long as you leave some vent holes.

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http://www.theregularjoes.com
http://www.kmusic.co.uk/the-regular-joes/