The Steel Guitar Forum

if I get into using in-ears, would I need to use my profex 2 as well for preamp & delays, or just run direct to board going through DD3 first?

If you just go straight into a standard PA board you will probably find it very hard to get decent tone on your steel. PA boards are made to be full range and as clean as possible. Your steel will probably sound very brittle and sterile if you don't use some sort of preamp first. The EQ on a normal PA board just isn't adequate in my experience to make a steel sound sweet. There's more to tone than just treble, mids and bass.

I've never used a profex 2, but if it's a preamp give it a try.

How do you intend to drive the in-ears?

A wired or wireless receiver...Shure probably

I’m currently using wired in-ears (Mackie). Guitar+Hilton+Profex ll+Direct box+mixer works for me.

Does the Profex have a headphone output?

Profex has headphone jack...but not Profex II

The only way in-ears work well onstage in an all-electric band would be if the whole band is using the same in-ear system. Different earphones/buds based on personal preference are fine. But using any in-ear system in isolation from the main PA monitor system and the rest of the band is going to be real problematic.

The band I play with uses a Behringer X18 Air mixer with separate monitor bus sends assigned to each player using individual headphone amps. The Behringer Mixer app downloaded to their individual tablet allows each player to tailor their own mix to their liking.

Rene: What PA board do you plan to use in-ears with? Any board that has multiple aux outputs can be used as described by Steve Riddle.

However, if your band uses a Behringer x32, or x18 air, or xr18 air, or a Midas MR18, then you can use the ultranet output of any of those boards and run a Cat 5, 5e or 6 cable to a Behringer personal mixer (P16-M). That has a headphone output and allows you to adjust the mix you hear in your ears.

I clamp a P16-M to the left rear leg of my steel and make any adjustments without leaving my seat or having to get the attention of the sound engineer. Since I don't get up and move around on stage, I don't use a wireless set-up. The thin cable from the P16-M to my ears does not bother me. A good wireless set-up can be expensive and is not necessary, unless you dance around, etc.

This setup works well for those occasions when I must use in-ears. But I still prefer to not use in-ears. I like the sound of my steel coming directly to my ears from a good JBL or two.

Steve: What headphone amps do you guys use? That's probably a cheaper option if a person already has a tablet. Recently I've been using a Samsung android tablet to control my monitor mix (using the X air mixer app), but I haven't been using the in-ears, just a standard floor wedge. That's my favorite set-up.

Rene Brosseau wrote:if I get into using in-ears, would I need to use my profex 2 as well for preamp & delays, or just run direct to board going through DD3 first?

I would think the way you get your tone is what you want to hear in the IEM's.

You would have to figure out how to do proper gain staging going into anything outside of your amp and the way you are used to hearing yourself.

That's why monitors have their own sound person/mixer away from the FOH system.

Paul, I use a Behringer P1 headphone amp powered by a OneSpot. . There was a learning curve for me in the transition from wedges to in-ears, just because I’d always used wedges. But I’ve adapted and really like the in-ears for several reasons, like lower stage volume ( no ringing ears after a gig), less stage clutter on small stages, and as I mentioned in my previous post, using the iPad lets me adjust my monitor mix ( I can turn down a loud, over-playing lead guitarist. Plus, I don’t have to carry an amp.

Thanks for all the replies! I will research more