Members ToneGrail Posted September 19, 2008 Members Share Posted September 19, 2008 I can't emphasize how much I love these things! They have saved my butt so many times when a clueless "ad hoc" sound engineer had no idea how to turn on the monitors. Anyone else use these? For those of you who aren't familiar with these : http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/TC-Helicon-VSM-200-XT-Voice-Solo-Active-Personal-Monitor?sku=601088 I never go to a gig without them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted September 19, 2008 Members Share Posted September 19, 2008 I can't emphasize how much I love these things! They have saved my butt so many times when a clueless "ad hoc" sound engineer had no idea how to turn on the monitors.Anyone else use these?For those of you who aren't familiar with these : http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/TC-Helicon-VSM-200-XT-Voice-Solo-Active-Personal-Monitor?sku=601088I never go to a gig without them! I've got to admit I'm extremely tempted to get one of these as a monitor. I do a solo acoustic thing, so it would be perfect, particularly since it's so small to carry. However, is it loud enough to do a small gig or party on it's own? That's my only real reservation about getting that as opposed to a small powered floor monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToneGrail Posted September 19, 2008 Author Members Share Posted September 19, 2008 I used it last weekend at an outdoor festival. My vocals were crystal clear through it. This was with a loud rock band too with a Marshall halfstack blaring behind me. It took me like 30 seconds to set up too. I unplugged the provided vocal mic and busted out one of my own XLR cables. I plugged one end into the monitor, the other end into the mic, and then plugged the monitor into the cable that I had just unplugged from the mic. I then plugged the power cable into the power strip that was by my feet. I would get the VSM-200XT, not the VSM-300XT, because of it's simplicity in setup. The VSM-300XT would require more setup time because there is a floor unit interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted September 30, 2008 Members Share Posted September 30, 2008 How loud are these things? Could they compete with a loud rock band? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToneGrail Posted October 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 1, 2008 How loud are these things? Could they compete with a loud rock band? Like I said, I played an outdoor festival with a Marshall JCM800 50 watt halfstack blaring behind me. The master volume was around halfway up. I had no problem hearing myself. I was also able to angle it perfectly so it was pointing right at my face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted October 2, 2008 Members Share Posted October 2, 2008 Is it loud enough to serve as a small PA for guitar and vocals, like in a coffee shop type venue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jersey Jack Posted October 2, 2008 Members Share Posted October 2, 2008 Is it loud enough to serve as a small PA for guitar and vocals, like in a coffee shop type venue? Perhaps, but the speaker is really designed as a monitor, and I don't think the sound quality is good enough to serve as a PA system. Also, note that the monitor doesn't have any effects--not even basic reverb. The recommended use is to connect your mic directly to the monitor and then wire from there to the PA; this doesn't work well for me because I need reverb. (Trust me you don't want to hear my voice without reverb! ) Finally, you would need a mixer to amplify the guitar, because the unit has only one input. Also, if you get the 200xt you should be aware that the unit doesn't have phantom power--if you use a condenser mic you may want to get the 300sx instead. But this is only relevant if you run directly into the monitor and not route the signal through the PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChordGirl Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 Perhaps, but the speaker is really designed as a monitor, and I don't think the sound quality is good enough to serve as a PA system. Also, note that the monitor doesn't have any effects--not even basic reverb. The recommended use is to connect your mic directly to the monitor and then wire from there to the PA; this doesn't work well for me because I need reverb. (Trust me you don't want to hear my voice without reverb! ) Finally, you would need a mixer to amplify the guitar, because the unit has only one input. Also, if you get the 200xt you should be aware that the unit doesn't have phantom power--if you use a condenser mic you may want to get the 300sx instead. But this is only relevant if you run directly into the monitor and not route the signal through the PA. That thing looks overpriced to me~~especially without phantom or reverb. You could get a real powered floor monitor that could be used as a speaker in a small coffee shop, etc., for about $100 more. If your head is set up to power a monitor, etc, you can get an unpowered monitor for even cheaper than that thing, and it won't be limited to vocals. I'm sure it's useful in the situation where someone clueless is behind the soundboard, or someone's amp is so far up your ass that you can't hear anything, but that situation doesn't usually apply to me. YMMV. I'm not in a loud rock band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoundMuppet Posted October 5, 2008 Members Share Posted October 5, 2008 I've been using them for a couple of years now...mostly we've had some great soundcrews, but playing guitar, keys and singing, it's given me the chance to run my entire rig through them and get 'my' monitor to my liking without having to strain to hear myself...especially as I usually end up with the horn section blowing over my left shoulder. I run a pair of them for the bigger shows, and for the acoustic setup with another guitarist and a drummer, I just run a single unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToneGrail Posted October 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 6, 2008 I'm sure it's useful in the situation where someone clueless is behind the soundboard, or someone's amp is so far up your ass that you can't hear anything, but that situation doesn't usually apply to me. YMMV. I'm not in a loud rock band. This is situation I find myself in 90% of the time. Hence my need for this thing. I often find myself in situations where we're playing with multiple bands an we need to get on and off the stage as quickly as possible. We usually only get a quick line check before we start. Often, our first song serves as our sound check. More often than not, the same guy who is running the sound is the guy who is working the door. These aren't pros by any stretch. Sometimes, when we're on tour, we play an occasional basement show where there aren't any monitors. So this device is a godsend in those situations. We always pack along our mics and stands just in case we have to whip them out in a scenario like this. Now mind you, this is for the rock band that I play with. The Motown cover band I play with, I have no such issues since we provide our own PA and I run the sound myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted October 13, 2008 Members Share Posted October 13, 2008 Will it handle an acoustic guitar being played through it? I play solo acoustic stuff, and I was thinking this would be a great monitor choice for me since there's never really a "stage" at places that I typically play. Rather, I'm jammed in a corner somewhere and floor space is at an absolute premium! All I would run through it is acoustic guitar and vocals, my thought being that I would just run a line out from the PA to feed the monitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WowieZowie Posted October 13, 2008 Members Share Posted October 13, 2008 Perhaps, but the speaker is really designed as a monitor, and I don't think the sound quality is good enough to serve as a PA system. Also, note that the monitor doesn't have any effects--not even basic reverb. The recommended use is to connect your mic directly to the monitor and then wire from there to the PA; this doesn't work well for me because I need reverb. (Trust me you don't want to hear my voice without reverb! ) Finally, you would need a mixer to amplify the guitar, because the unit has only one input. Also, if you get the 200xt you should be aware that the unit doesn't have phantom power--if you use a condenser mic you may want to get the 300sx instead. But this is only relevant if you run directly into the monitor and not route the signal through the PA. Hey Axcelson, knowing that you use the Create and Correct, can you use the monitor out from the Create to send a signal to one of these little monitors? Thus giving you the reverb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.