Rider Friendly Wedge

[[Director] drew ryan]

Howdy All,

I am looking for some suggestions for Rider Friendly wedge monitors. I know a lot of tours are asking for IEMs these days, but there is going to be that artist that really wants a wedge. What are you guys seeing out there?

[Les]

One of my favorite's that's rider friendly is the EAW SM200's. I've never seen anyone turn those down before.

What I like about those is that they sound great passive so you don't need to bi-amp them to get the most out of them.

Other wedges I've seen over the last few years on tours and bigger name acts:

EV Xw series
EAW Microwedge
Radian Microwedge
L'Acoustics XT
Nexo PS
Any Meyer wedge

Of course those are all the top end so depending on what level of rider friendly you're looking for you could always look at some of the mid range line of monitors. Personlly I would be just as happy for monitor duty with any of these as their higher end counter parts.

Yorkville TX2M
EV QRX
EAW SM1X9z
JBL SRX

[waynehoskins]

Originally Posted by Les

One of my favorite's that's rider friendly is the EAW SM200's. I've never seen anyone turn those down before.

What I like about those is that they sound great passive so you don't need to bi-amp them to get the most out of them.

First to come to my mind too.

What I don't like about them is they could be made of concrete and be no heavier than they are already. Then again, that makes them pretty indestructible too. Just really heavy.

[Gracetech]

Most of the time Riders don't call out particular wedges unless they are really high end artist. Usually they just simply call out specifics about the wedges and setup. Like for instance a single 12" bi-amped wedge with multiple tilting angles. Or, a 12" sidefill loaded on a sub for the drummer.

Usually if some one calls out a particular wedge it's the MJF-212 or the d&b M4. Everything else is generally give me a EAW(or similar) monitor with such and such specs.

As long as it's a known box and a good box then most people won't have an issue using what you have. As with all riders you have to call them and touch base with them to see how flexible they are. Most divas have been shunned from venues or they just take their own gear everywhere they go so they are generally not an issue. Everyone else in the market are generally very easy to work with and will work with you on whatever wedge you have. Heck some are just happy you have wedges some times.

crt

[Tim Padrick]

Can you rent locally? It might be better to rent the artist's favorite as needed, as opposed to having a lot of money wrapped up in wedges that a lot of folks won't use (being on IEMs).

[[Director] drew ryan]

Renting in our situation does not make sense. We have a large men's choir that will use the wedges about 6 times a year. We also have some outside groups that use the facility and need wedges. This happens several times a year.

We are replacing some aging monitors that are mismatched and would like to get something that, if we had tours come through that required wedges, would work for them as well.

[Les]

If it were me I would purchase wedges in this order. Not that these are the top end, but to me unless you're bringing in A list nationals I don't think most Christian acts would turn these down.

EAW SM200
Yorkville TX2M
EAW SM129z

I think any of those would be suitable as long as 12" speakers are suitable.

I prefer a 12" wedge over a 15" but I know sometimes artists request a 15" for that lower frequency reinforcement. I try and have a small sub on standby for drummers that need that low freq reinforcement.