FRFR vs IEM one man live rig

[swarfrat]

After my recent attempt at doing the electric guitar version of the solo singer/guitar thing, I found myself pondering gear again.

Most of the time I play acoustic and sing. I'd like to occasionally try it with electric guitar and maybe tracks. Reinforcement is hit or miss and mostly miss, I'd like to just give them either a stereo feed or separate guitar and vocal feed.

I find myself using my Eleven Rack for virtually all my electric guitar playing at home now. I don't really see myself dragging the Carvin combo out.  I was looking for a budget FRFR and thinking maybe about the Behringer F1320D, so I could at least have some guitar in the room, but some of the threads have me wondering if I should be looking at a hardwired  IEM instead. I could certainly do stuff with click / pitch correction that way.

What think ye? IEM or wedge? Talk to me.

 

[Rick]

Are you playing outside or inside?
How many people?
Intimate space or spacious?

 

[swarfrat]

Inside. 50-100 people, but large rooms. They could probably hold 2-3x that. Church, but usually solo, not in a band.  Even for electric guitar you can still think one dude I'm a restaurant with people at tables nearby talking. I have played a jumbo unaccompanied (using a quarter for a pick for some more volume and zing) when I had absolutely no guitar amplification. But I can't play everything that hard, so some amplification is helpful

 

[TBurst Std]

If the only purpose is to monitor yourself, then IEM.
You mention that reinforcement is mainly miss, then FRFR is needed. 2 different needs- 2 different solutions.

 

[mayfly]

Nah - just get a little PA behind you that covers the room.  Run the guitar and mic into that.  If you use a line array thang you'll cover that audience size without difficulty and not blow your ears out because it's too loud.

We do this with a Bose L1 pole all the time.  Like hundreds of gigs.  And this is a full 5 piece band with a drummer.  100 people no problem.  Outside no problem.  My guitar is through an AxeFX into the PA.

 

[swarfrat]

By miss, I don't mean there is none. Just that of late I can't count on Bob Clearmountain to be running the board. 

FRFR would be nice at home too (my JBL305's just don't move enough air when I get the opportunity to crank it when others are out of the house) , but it's space constrained. I'm thinking that getting used to IEM might be worthwhile.

I don't really need wireless, but I would like something with limiting. I'm not really seeing that under 4-5 bills though. 

My live rig is basically a Boss VE-8. And I'll probably run the Eleven Rack through that too, as it gives me mic pre, vocal effects, and mix. 

 

[Rick]

More than 50 less than 100 go into a small mixer then into the pa of your choice

 

[TBurst Std]

Not sure why people count is used to determine sound reinforcement, especially in today’s unique situation of limited capacity.
I have always used cubic room volume.

 

[swarfrat]

With the Sweetwater blowouts right now I might do both. I don't really need a wedge for acoustic guitar. For electric it might be nice to occasionally have that guitar monitor close by.

 

[swarfrat]

Update: I capitulated yet again. I think a FRFR would be awesome for electric guitar, and even (perhaps especially) at home. So I got a Headrush 108 coming. I plan to use it on a stand at waist level very close to my body to keep the ambient level down and be able to use it for feedback (not a lot of that at the church gig but still nice to have it super close).

I never did find an adjustable limiter headphone amp, unless you count the Behringer XR12, which I may get next, but thats a couple months of toy fund trickle charge.

One thing I don't like about the FRFR108 is the pole stand places it in a vertical orientation. But I don't know of any amp stands that go higher than 18" or so. I'd like this 30" or more off the floor.

 

[swarfrat]

Glad I got the 1x8. The wife judges box cost by physical size and this thing was in a huge oversized box. The 12 version is much bigger.

A little bit of playing with it today, but no window rattling opportunity yet. Not what I bought it for, but it'd be welcome for jamming at home, and any band situation that may hypotheticaly arise.

I have some preset tweaking to do. I also drug the FCB1010 out and quickly realized why it's been leaning against the wall for a couple years. It has  Eureka prom and it's truly dizzying, tries to do way way too much via dancing on pedals. Double triple summersault, followed by Singing In the Rain to switch to "preset mode". I want the thing to act like some dummy wired up a bunch of SPST's into the amp. Still, I think it's worth figuring it out, even if I just need to bump "effect #1" at one point in a song.(which is pretty much exactly what I need it for)

 

[swarfrat]

Hot tip for Eleven Rack users. If this is the only rack gear your lugging, do not place the unit on the floor with the power switch where you can kick it off on the third verse of the song. Took nearly a whole verse to reboot.

 

[Rick]

Just was reading some reviews on the headrush, they look good!

 

[swarfrat]

The 108 is handy. My opinion is mixed, it's nowhere near as loud as they claim, has a huge bass hump to hype up the 8" speaker which needs to be tamed. But in the end there is nothing* else that fits the bill for this big, this loud, this much money. (*Except for the Alto and now Alexis, which are pretty much all the same box).

I wish I had a 2x8 combo box for the 11R. That would totally rock. But it covers my needs well for now

 

[ChrisMC]

I have an 8” Headrush. I’m cramped for space or I would have gone the 12”, but I have my Helix going into one input, and my Roland TD17 KVX kit going into the other channel, and it actually does pretty well. I had to reduce the bass on the TD17 module because it distorted on the floor toms and kick drum, but other than that, it’s done just fine. As a bonus, I use the TD17’s Bluetooth as a connection point for my phone, and jam along to guitarless YouTube tracks or whatever is in my music library that I’m in the mood for.

Those Headrush’s are pretty decent for the money, no doubt no doubt.

 

[swarfrat]

For some reason I can't seem to post this from my phone. Not sure if it's attachments, or mobile or what. But...

I came up with a way to get the Eleven Rack power switch off the floor out of foot tapping zone, and put the knobs up to within reach ( a far reach, but better than the other Sunday's on the floor - I was doing one song, so once I got it tweaked I just ran. Sounds crazy but doable.)

So I have a 3D Printer. And for the past two years it's sat torn apart waiting on me to get back to it Sure you could build this out of wood faster but I got a printer. This is just a prototype so I only printed one bracket. I'm still tweaking sizes and printability, but here's my idea.  Basically it hooks on to the handle, and has legs in the back to support it in 45 degree tilt mode. The medium tilt side will hold the 11R on top, but I prefer it tilted further back so that it's at my feet up in my face, but that's not gravity stable without some support back there.

(grrr - google drive is a PITB to share pics)

 

[PhilHill]

Looks like a good idea. If it does what you need, that's what matters....... :headbang:

 

[swarfrat]

Its done! Lots of learning process. Nozzle/heatbreak clogs, stringing/retraction, layer shifting.. but I made my first functional print!

 

[swarfrat]

Spent the last two weeks working on the printer instead of actually using the metronome, but I got it working again and made a nifty little holder to clamp my Tama Rhythm Watch to the mic stand next to the music stand. One set of legs on the floor, everything right here in my face.

Ironically none of this has any bearing on the original post, I'm about to start using in ears for practice, but I love having it on the stand.