Low budget FRFR live monitor - again!

    Hello community!


    So, I've had my KPA for a couple of weeks. Loving it! So far I've been playing thru headphones at home, but last night I got the chance to finally go to our reharsal space and audition the monitors we have: the box MA120 mk II, Laney CP12 and Proel WD12A. The Proel is a bit out of my budget with new prices being around 450€ (and obviously the Laney is no longer produced LOL).


    We have need for 3-5 monitors on stage when we gig, and at the moment we're one short. Out of the three I auditioned, much to my surprise (with my iPad+JamUp setup it sounded good) the Laney sounded the least good. It was boxy and trebly compared to both the Proel and the box. And what was even more surprising, the Proel and the box were almost on par tone wise! May be the the box was just a tad looser on the low end, ie. the Proel was just a hair more defined all around. And obviously the "120 watts" of the the box, when using the line input is, well, to put it nicely, not enough in a gig situation.


    I've been skimming through the FRFR threads here and on many other forums as well, and there seems to be a consensus that two active monitors are THE budget FRFR solution for the gigging guitarist:


    - Alto TS112A
    - EV ZLX12P


    What I'm wondering is there a lower priced option as well than these two? Would anyone have ANY experience with say the the box pro Mon A12 or any other one in the roughly under 300€ price class, new or used?


    I can get by with our current selection of monitors, but knowing myself I will have to find a solution that is "good enough" for my ears in the not-so-long run :P meaning only that I WILL look until I find a better tone than the ones I can get my hands on now.


    Let me just close this long rambling by saying I would LOVE to get a CLR, DXR10 or K12 but for the time being they are all out of my budget.


    So there it is. I hope someone can chime in after they've produced a headache reading this LOL :D8o !

    At home i compared a yamaha dxr 12 to a cheap laney cxp 115 and the laney sounded much better. Could be because of the 15" driver of the laney,but the yamaha was more boxy.
    Now i run the laney together with a matrix gt 1000 and a mesa 2x12 vertical cab. I havent compared the dxr 12 to the dxr 10 but if they are close the laney would be a cheaper and better choice imo.

    Before I bought my DX10, I did a side by side comparison of:


    Alto TS112A
    EV ZLX12P
    DX8
    DX12
    QSC K10
    QSC K12


    They were all positioned at chest height, on the same shelf, in a big, wide room. I listened to a song on a commerically released CD.


    The Alto had a specific low mid character to it that made it sound "not flat".


    The EV sounded much better to me, if a bit over hyped in the bass. Of the two, I was tempted to buy it. But, the Yamahas were not much more money, so I kept listening.


    The DX8 sounded a little weak in the low end, but was very accurate in the mids and highs. It likely would be fine for all but the heaviest music, because the sound man cuts more guitar low end in the mains than the Yamaha does on stage ;)


    The DX12 sounded very balanced, but was much bigger and heavier than I wanted. I decided the DXR10 would be the right choice for me.


    Those QSC speakers sounded great, but not great enough to justify the additional cost over the Yamaha for me.

    Quote from Xander

    At home i compared a yamaha dxr 12 to a cheap laney cxp 115 and the laney sounded much better. Could be because of the 15" driver of the laney,but the yamaha was more boxy.
    Now i run the laney together with a matrix gt 1000 and a mesa 2x12 vertical cab. I havent compared the dxr 12 to the dxr 10 but if they are close the laney would be a cheaper and better choice imo.


    Oh this is very interesting! I had a Laney CXP112 on loan for a couple of gigs last summer, and it sounded pretty damned good with the iPad setup. Actually it was the monitor that encouraged me to get the used CX112 LOL.



    Thanks for this comparison paults! I wonder, what type of music do you play with your KPA with the DXR10? Our band does the old school type metal, think Eighties like Accept, Maiden, Helloween... with a twist of modern stuff, so the tones I am using are in the heavier side of things. ZLX sounded better than the Alto anyway? :D


    Nice to be able narrow down the alternatives like this with some help from friends at forums!

    Quote from Ingolf

    EV ZLX12P is a bit heavy and big but it's a good solution IMO.
    I also played through the predecessor of this http://www.thomann.de/de/the_box_pyrit_12a.htm
    in my Axe-Fx days and it surely WAS NOT GREAT!



    Alrighty, thx Ingolf!


    It seems the ZLX is "in the lead" at the moment.


    Thomann's the box is an interesting concept IMO... and as I said earlier, the small MA120 mk II sounded almost exactly the same as the 3 times more expensive Proel WD. Both very natural, albeit somewhat heavy on the bass. The good thing about Thomann is the 30 day return policy. I could easily audition these budget monitors if I had the time to spend at the rehearsal space haha!

    Quote from paults

    Yes, the ZLX sounded much more accurate than the Alto to me.


    We play Eighties, also, but not as heavy. In addition to squeaky clean and medium gain sounds, I use a lot of Marshall and some Recto sounds for thing like Billy Idol, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, etc.


    Are you a two guitar band? What is the other guitarist using?


    Yeah, we're a 5 piece with twin lead guitars LOL:


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvQcunQBFxY

    The other guitarist uses the Proel WD I mentioned earlier.


    Hey, most those tones are exactly the type I am chasing as well! May be a bit more saturated at times, but very near to what I consider THE tone. Especially EvH's tone... ;) .

    I have heard only 2 FRFR monitors playing with Kemper, EV ZLX12P and Yamaha DXR12. Well, for me the difference is obvious. EV ZLX12P is more hi-fi like, with lots of bass and treble (a lot of treble) and the Yamaha DXR12 is like playing with bigger nearfield Yamaha HS series, it sounds pretty flat, very musical and does not have it's mids scooped, which is a great plus for guitarists. I am in search for a FRFR monitor and i was going to buy Alto TS112A, although i haven't heard it (nobody has it here), but after listening to Yamaha DXR12 i decided to be patient, get more money and buy the DXR10.

    Quote from metalmike

    I have heard only 2 FRFR monitors playing with Kemper, EV ZLX12P and Yamaha DXR12. Well, for me the difference is obvious. EV ZLX12P is more hi-fi like, with lots of bass and treble (a lot of treble) and the Yamaha DXR12 is like playing with bigger nearfield Yamaha HS series, it sounds pretty flat, very musical and does not have it's mids scooped, which is a great plus for guitarists. I am in search for a FRFR monitor and i was going to buy Alto TS112A, although i haven't heard it (nobody has it here), but after listening to Yamaha DXR12 i decided to be patient, get more money and buy the DXR10.



    Yeah that's the problem here as well. Very, VERY limited access to any music gear, let alone PA stuff like powered monitors or speakers. I think the local mom&pop store has Proel dealership but that I already have covered.


    Interesting find with the EV/Yamaha. But then again, the Yamaha is almost the double the price as the EV, so in a way it makes sense to me.