A monitor is inherently meant for the player and should be pointed at you. Not the audience.
You can do it, and it’ll work. Sort of.
Line arrays are meant to project out to the audience. Which means that up close - the sound is compromised.
You’ll never have one in front of and pointed at you. Which is how a monitor is meant to be used.
HTH.
on one gig I forgot to put new batteries in the inear receiver after the soundcheck (like an idiot) and although the batteries fought a good fight, they gave up during the (thankfully) last song of the set.
I had to stand close to the PA to have some kind of monitor 
other than that, I woudn't recommend it.
Display MoreA monitor is inherently meant for the player and should be pointed at you. Not the audience.
You can do it, and it’ll work. Sort of.
Line arrays are meant to project out to the audience. Which means that up close - the sound is compromised.
You’ll never have one in front of and pointed at you. Which is how a monitor is meant to be used.
HTH.
Hi Ruefus- I don't want it in front of me, or like a floor monitor. I want it behind me to both serve as my guitar cab for the room, and take advantage of it's wide dispersion so that the rest of the band hears it too. Our pa is only carrying vocals.
Hi Ruefus- I don't want it in front of me, or like a floor monitor. I want it behind me to both serve as my guitar cab for the room, and take advantage of it's wide dispersion so that the rest of the band hears it too. Our pa is only carrying vocals.
Fair enough - but that's not what your original post asked.
One concern with line arrays is proximity. It may have a 180 degree horizontal spread....but what's the pattern vertically? How far away do you need to be? Something like a Bose L1 Pro32 projects from top to bottom. It's also $3,000+ For the Pro8, you'd want to be several feet away to be in the vertical dispersal pattern.
Display MoreRuefus- I would be at least 10' feet out in front of the array, maybe sometimes closer to 15', and only in really tight setups around 5'.
Someone at TGP mentioned the following consideration, wonder if you have any experience with this:
"The array's vertical component sits atop a post, giving enough physical separation of where the sound is coming from to be noticed, depending on the frequency of the electronic crossover point of the speaker system- if the crossover frequency point of the full array unit is within the fundamental note range of the guitar, it will be noticeable when the notes you play change from being primarily coming from the tower component to primarily from the subs."
This might be enough reason to pass on the line array format over a standard FRFR cab type?
Absolute crap in my experience. A guitar doesn’t operate anywhere near sub frequencies. It’s a mid-range instrument.
I’ve got a set of satellite speakers with separate subs and had them 8 feet apart. Heck, I’ve had them buried in a corner outside the stereo field. Never an issue, and I’ve had these speakers for 30+ years. (They’re really nice speakers)
Sub frequencies can’t be localized by the ear. The only thing you don’t do it put the subs behind you while the other speakers are in front.
Just to be clear - the speakers I have are home stereo speakers, but the principles are the same.
A case in point. My church has an array of speakers hanging from the ceiling. The subwoofers are on the floor, under the front of the stage. 25 or so feet apart at least.
You can't tell unless you're on top of the subs (which is fun when they're at full-tilt).
I think the issue here is, its more of a compromise than a "conventional" FRFR speaker, which 10" or 12" speakers tend to work best as they cover the guitar frequencies better.
My only other comment - always trying to put the guitar through the PA. I am not aware of any venues, regardless of how small, are not equipped to put more than vocals through. I have had a couple of venues try that, but I pushed back and we always mic at least Kick, Snare and guitars ( bass eats wattage plus has a much better dispersal).
Just do what Ted Nugent does. Stand right up against the cabs. 
I have never been to a louder concert. Not even an airport runway is as loud. I had to stick rolling paper in my ears. 
Just do what Ted Nugent does. Stand right up against the cabs.
That....that.....that's just wasetful.
I
My only other comment - always trying to put the guitar through the PA. I am not aware of any venues, regardless of how small, are not equipped to put more than vocals through. I have had a couple of venues try that, but I pushed back and we always mic at least Kick, Snare and guitars ( bass eats wattage plus has a much better dispersal).
We almost never gig in places with a supplied PA, almost no venues within our preferred driving have that where I live in rural upstate NY. We do local private parties, occasional ski resorts, outdoor events for small towns, weddings, etc. Plenty of these type gigs around here. We rarely play bars (and locally they also do not have pa systems), and don't want to own/move big pa systems.
.... and don't want to own/move big pa systems.
Preach.
I despise dragging our own sound around. Even with a small system. It's not the gear, it's the time and effort added.
That....that.....that's just wasetful.
Not as wasteful as ear buds
Not as wasteful as ear buds
Wait....did you just.....with the..........yeah...... you did.
We almost never gig in places with a supplied PA, almost no venues within our preferred driving have that where I live in rural upstate NY. We do local private parties, occasional ski resorts, outdoor events for small towns, weddings, etc. Plenty of these type gigs around here. We rarely play bars (and locally they also do not have pa systems), and don't want to own/move big pa systems.
My point is, the difference between a vocal PA and a regular PA is minimal. In the olden days, yeah the combined mixer PA were totally limited to vocals..
Most modern PA systems have a decent wattage and cover most frequencies enough to use for a band, so you can get away without bass bins.
Carrying some extra mic's is literally the difference.
Note this is not about volume, its about balance.
Anyway, just my view..
