This Just In.. Steel Play Hears Himself Play

Dean Brown · Post by **Dean Brown** » 1 Apr 2001 7:43 am

Last night I used ear monitors for the first time and it was incredible. I heard what I wanted to hear (me included) and filtered out who I didn't need to hear and it was great. I was hitting licks like never before. In tune all night long because I could hear every note. If you're struggling to hear yourself on stage these babies are the answer. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg either. I constructed mine with ear buds from Best Buy (28.00) that do a great job filtering outside noise, an XLR to Phono adapter (8.00) at Mars and a Pocket Rocket pratice amp for volume control (40.00). I could have paid more, but why?

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 1 Apr 2001 12:43 pm

What a great idea. I had a gig on an outdoor stage where I was placed between a bass and guitar that were so loud I literally could not hear what I was doing, and for all I knew, the audience thought I was a mime.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 1 Apr 2001 2:25 pm

Dean - How did you hook all that stuff up? Were you getting a signal off the PA?

Lee, from South Texas

Dean Brown · Post by **Dean Brown** » 2 Apr 2001 4:35 am

Here's what I did..

1 Set of GOOD earbud phones. I got mine (Koss) from Best Buy for 25.00
2 Some type of portable stereo amp for the headphones. I used a Rocket Mini amp, but any amp that will take a stereo signal in and let you use headphones should work fine. A friend of mine uses a Danelectro mini amp.
3 The input to your mini amp should come from the soundsystem. I used the XLR port my stage monitor was connected to. You may need an XLR to 1/4" adaptor. This gets the monitor signal to your mini amp.
4 Plug in earbuds, set instrument levels on the mixer and set the volume on the mini amp and you're in business.

Michael Holland · Post by **Michael Holland** » 3 Apr 2001 12:07 pm

Don't you need a line level signal to input into the headphone amp? Where did the input come from?

Dean Brown · Post by **Dean Brown** » 4 Apr 2001 5:32 pm

The input comes from the same xlr port on the snake as the stage monitor. I'm not a sound guy so maybe our sound man had to set the channel differently, but it worked fine.

Chris Walke · Post by **Chris Walke** » 5 Apr 2001 5:14 am

Rolls makes a product that I've seen listed in musicians friend catalog. It's a headphone amp but it has two channels, one for monitor, one for your instrument. I think both channels take 1/4" inputs. You can blend the channels however you like.
I haven't tried one, but it seems like the same concept Dean is describing.

It's usually listed in the M.F. catalog by the headphone amps in the recording gear section.

Glenn Austin · Post by **Glenn Austin** » 5 Apr 2001 8:40 am

An important point that wasn't mentioned is that for in-ears you should always have a limiter before the power amp so the volume cannot go over a certain level.Protect your hearing!!!

Jeff Peterson · Post by **Jeff Peterson** » 5 Apr 2001 9:21 am

The Koss work fine, I've heard most guys prefer Sony or Aiwa....I like Sony's. You should also try a 'More Me' for your earphone power, so YOU can control your own level as well as the rest of the bands and mix yourself, not rely on the monitor guy.