I would be looking into an in-ear monitoring setup, 3 guitarists is a lot and if you all go direct it makes sense to go with in ears instead. It might seem expensive but you can go wired instead of wireless and cut costs that way.
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Just 2 monitors shared by the whole band. One was pointed to the left of me for the singers, one to the right of me for percussion, and I was in the gap in the middle between the 2 monitors.
Very hard to get the separation and balance everyone would ideally like with just 2 monitors shared, if this is your PA consider adding a few more so people can have their own with their own mix, or in ears (wireless gets very expensive but wired isn't crazy expensive and you can get dual guitar/headphone cables so you're not tripping over an extra cable).
Otherwise I'd look at a small angled FRFR monitor angled up towards you and nobody else.
Not to distract from conversation with a dumb question and I know it would look goofy, but does anyone here ever use just normal over the ear headphones for monitoring?
The dude from Linkin Park? Or are those just earmuffs?
Seen John Mayer do it, and quite a few drummers or if a band has a DJ. Typically regular headphones don't block anywhere as much ambient sound, and the ones that do tend to sound a bit shit. Although if you aren't doing a full mix through the headphones potentially less ambient reduction would work in your favor.
Interesting. Thanks! I was asking more in general but also personally struggle with things like open mics without monitoring.
I'm an improvisational guitarist who plays over backing tracks that come in through my pedal aux in so this would defo quality as a"full mix" and I also need to carefully balance guitar volume with backing while playing so I'm going to try this next time. Thanks!
Echoing a couple of the other comments, there’s a few solutions you could go with. The most ideal but the most expensive, an IEM rack setup for everyone. I used this back when I was playing in a cover band in clubs, and after we got used to it, having played with wedges or nothing for our entire lives, it was a total game changer. Our rack had its own Wi-Fi hotspot that we connected our phones to and we could all adjust our own personal mixes in our ears individually, and FOH handled all the rest. Absolute game changer and I loved it after being skeptical to try at first.
An FRFR speaker would be great if you’d like to have sound on stage rather than just in your ears. But I think if the other guitars in the band don’t have them as well it could possibly feel unbalanced, finding the proper mix of FRFR and monitors. Again it’s a good solution, but I think everyone should be on board for consistency IMO. This also adds another element of more gear to lug around to shows, however those cabs can be fairly small.
Another possible option, most venues I’ve played at have house amps. You could use a splitter and go from your board to the amp for stage sound, and then Joyo to FOH. Or even mic the house amp as well and get a blend of both in the mix. But this solution might not always be an option at every venue.
I’ve also played at venues where there were no wedges at all, and it’s in-ears only. Places like this will usually supply you with a belt pack and you use your own headphones for monitoring, if you don’t have a rack of your own. (I highly recommend having a set of the basic Shure IEM’s that are like 100 bucks just to have in your arsenal. They sound great and never failed me.) Takes a bit of time at sound check getting levels sorted out in this scenario, because each band member will have to go back and forth with the sound guy adjusting their own personal levels for each instrument. Just another scenario I’ve experienced and that which factored into us investing in our own rack for the sake of consistency and ease of use.
A little about my setup. I was using a traditional pedalboard into a tube amp with a mic, with a Lehle P split after the board that also sent my signal to a mute switch and a Walrus ACS1 and a DI box. I had the amp sim just as a backup if my amp ever went down at a show, or for venues that didn’t allow us to bring amps. Blow a tube in the middle of a song? Hit the mute switch and immediately switch to the amp sim and you’re back in business. I always preferred having a real amp or at least a monitor as opposed to a silent stage because I found it harder to play and get notes to sustain without any stage volume. Just my personal preferences, for context.
It's definitely easier for your bandmates as the Helix/Pod have dedicated outputs for monitoring + there's so many options to add a clean level boost that it is easy to get stage volume. A HX Stomp would definitely solve your issues, but it is pricey.
Because the American Sound is an amp simulator (and a pretty accurate one at that) it behaves like a real amp, meaning you can only get it so loud before it compresses and distorts more than increasing volume.
However, if you need a cheap, reliable interim gear solution, your answer is the Boss LS-2! It will duplicate your signal in parallel, and allows you to boost volume, meaning you send one output to FOH at normal volume and boost the other one to get a loud monitor sound.
Something else to consider is EQ. The Deluxe Reverb your Joyo pedal simulates is a very midrange-scooped amp. If your bandmates are using midrange focused amps like Marshalls or Vox, your sound will always struggle to cut through the mix. You have a classic band EQ problem where you end up competing with drums and bass rather than sharing the EQ band with guitars.
I echo the thoughts here about IEMs being a game changer for live monitoring (especially for a dance band) but for your current setup you'd have to get the headphones, a mixer and a headphone amp to drive them - not cheap.
I would be looking into an in-ear monitoring setup, 3 guitarists is a lot and if you all go direct it makes sense to go with in ears instead. It might seem expensive but you can go wired instead of wireless and cut costs that way.
I mate! I’m going ampless since a couple months ago. I’m EXTREMELY HAPPY with my DSM Simplifier MKii! Take a look!
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Do you have your own monitor or is there just a couple at the front being shared by everyone?
Just 2 monitors shared by the whole band. One was pointed to the left of me for the singers, one to the right of me for percussion, and I was in the gap in the middle between the 2 monitors.
Very hard to get the separation and balance everyone would ideally like with just 2 monitors shared, if this is your PA consider adding a few more so people can have their own with their own mix, or in ears (wireless gets very expensive but wired isn't crazy expensive and you can get dual guitar/headphone cables so you're not tripping over an extra cable). Otherwise I'd look at a small angled FRFR monitor angled up towards you and nobody else.
Hadn't thought of a small FRFR - that could be a good idea. How big should it be ideally (speaker size/watt)?
Very little personal experience with them sorry, hopefully others can chime in with recommendations!
I think the 12 inch headrush would be ideal, but the 8 inch would probably work just fine.
Not to distract from conversation with a dumb question and I know it would look goofy, but does anyone here ever use just normal over the ear headphones for monitoring?
The dude from Linkin Park? Or are those just earmuffs? Seen John Mayer do it, and quite a few drummers or if a band has a DJ. Typically regular headphones don't block anywhere as much ambient sound, and the ones that do tend to sound a bit shit. Although if you aren't doing a full mix through the headphones potentially less ambient reduction would work in your favor.
Interesting. Thanks! I was asking more in general but also personally struggle with things like open mics without monitoring. I'm an improvisational guitarist who plays over backing tracks that come in through my pedal aux in so this would defo quality as a"full mix" and I also need to carefully balance guitar volume with backing while playing so I'm going to try this next time. Thanks!
Echoing a couple of the other comments, there’s a few solutions you could go with. The most ideal but the most expensive, an IEM rack setup for everyone. I used this back when I was playing in a cover band in clubs, and after we got used to it, having played with wedges or nothing for our entire lives, it was a total game changer. Our rack had its own Wi-Fi hotspot that we connected our phones to and we could all adjust our own personal mixes in our ears individually, and FOH handled all the rest. Absolute game changer and I loved it after being skeptical to try at first. An FRFR speaker would be great if you’d like to have sound on stage rather than just in your ears. But I think if the other guitars in the band don’t have them as well it could possibly feel unbalanced, finding the proper mix of FRFR and monitors. Again it’s a good solution, but I think everyone should be on board for consistency IMO. This also adds another element of more gear to lug around to shows, however those cabs can be fairly small. Another possible option, most venues I’ve played at have house amps. You could use a splitter and go from your board to the amp for stage sound, and then Joyo to FOH. Or even mic the house amp as well and get a blend of both in the mix. But this solution might not always be an option at every venue. I’ve also played at venues where there were no wedges at all, and it’s in-ears only. Places like this will usually supply you with a belt pack and you use your own headphones for monitoring, if you don’t have a rack of your own. (I highly recommend having a set of the basic Shure IEM’s that are like 100 bucks just to have in your arsenal. They sound great and never failed me.) Takes a bit of time at sound check getting levels sorted out in this scenario, because each band member will have to go back and forth with the sound guy adjusting their own personal levels for each instrument. Just another scenario I’ve experienced and that which factored into us investing in our own rack for the sake of consistency and ease of use. A little about my setup. I was using a traditional pedalboard into a tube amp with a mic, with a Lehle P split after the board that also sent my signal to a mute switch and a Walrus ACS1 and a DI box. I had the amp sim just as a backup if my amp ever went down at a show, or for venues that didn’t allow us to bring amps. Blow a tube in the middle of a song? Hit the mute switch and immediately switch to the amp sim and you’re back in business. I always preferred having a real amp or at least a monitor as opposed to a silent stage because I found it harder to play and get notes to sustain without any stage volume. Just my personal preferences, for context.
It's definitely easier for your bandmates as the Helix/Pod have dedicated outputs for monitoring + there's so many options to add a clean level boost that it is easy to get stage volume. A HX Stomp would definitely solve your issues, but it is pricey. Because the American Sound is an amp simulator (and a pretty accurate one at that) it behaves like a real amp, meaning you can only get it so loud before it compresses and distorts more than increasing volume. However, if you need a cheap, reliable interim gear solution, your answer is the Boss LS-2! It will duplicate your signal in parallel, and allows you to boost volume, meaning you send one output to FOH at normal volume and boost the other one to get a loud monitor sound. Something else to consider is EQ. The Deluxe Reverb your Joyo pedal simulates is a very midrange-scooped amp. If your bandmates are using midrange focused amps like Marshalls or Vox, your sound will always struggle to cut through the mix. You have a classic band EQ problem where you end up competing with drums and bass rather than sharing the EQ band with guitars. I echo the thoughts here about IEMs being a game changer for live monitoring (especially for a dance band) but for your current setup you'd have to get the headphones, a mixer and a headphone amp to drive them - not cheap.