Touring bands often piece together their live-sound rig out on the road. Sell enough CDs in Des Moines, add a wireless mic for more stage-freedom. Everybody in Kalamazoo loves the new t-shirt design, so you pick up a compressor to tighten the vocals. When you"re ready to beef up your stage mix, take a look at the JRX112M from JBL. This monitor cabinet has the sound and the power to take your live performance to a whole new level.

Specially designed for stage use

Sometimes, the monitor mix is an afterthought. Slap a couple of speakers up on the stage so the band can at least hear something, and you're done. Maybe you just upgraded your front of house mains, so you tip the old ones on their side and away you go. There's a problem with this, though. Front of house loudspeakers are usually frequency-tuned to fill a room with sound, but may not give you what you need on stage. If the monitor mix is muddy or unfocused, your performance will surely suffer. The JBL JRX112M is specially designed for stage-monitor use, delivering tight, articulate sound that cuts right through the stage volume. The singer can stay right on the groove, hearing the bass part clearly in the mix even when the guitar player's lead-channel kicks in. Backup singers will have no trouble finding their harmony part when they can accurately hear the melody line. A tight monitor mix gets the whole band on the same page, which really fires up the crowd.

Wide frequency range

The JBL JRX112M's wide… read more frequency range from 60Hz to 16kHz gives you more mixing options than you may be used to. In the past, bands pushed only the vocals to the stage, relying on instrument amp volume to carry the rest of the sound. The relatively narrow frequency range of the human voice cuts through easily enough, but adding instruments to the mix clouded-up the clarity. JRX112M monitors have the frequency range and response to deliver natural, transparent sound for vocals and instruments alike. Instead of a karaoke-like monitor mix, you can hear the whole band. Add a little bass for definition, and everybody locks-in to the pocket. Acoustic guitar picking and textural keyboard pads normally blow right by the singer, but hearing them inspires a more intricate vocal melody. This inspires the drummer to add a little cymbal shimmer, which gooses a funky new fill from the bassist. All these details make their way out to the audience, who can't believe how much better you sound. Everything looks the same, except for those little black wedges at the singer's feet...

Power and headroom to cut through the amps

Power is an important element of your stage monitors, too. When the band is really rocking, you've got to be able to hear what's going on or everything gets out of hand. Vocal cords strain to get up above the guitars, taking the singer off-pitch and possibly doing serious damage to the voice. You don't want to end the tour early because your frontman is out of commission. JBL JRX112M's are rated at 250 Watts RMS with 1000-Watt peaks. You've got all the headroom you need to match the monitor mix to the intensity of the gig. Plus, when everyone in the band is hearing what they should, they can play tighter with less stage volume. Sometimes, musicians crank up their amps to compensate for a muddy mix. When this happens, the rest of the band won't be far behind. This escalation doesn't satisfy anyone on stage, and will probably turn-off the audience, as well. Keep the mix tight and the stage volume low, and everyone's happy.

Rugged construction, built for the road

As usual, JBL professional products are built for the road. The JBL JRX112M's thick MDF cabinet material is covered by a durable carpet to prevent scrapes and dings caused by the constant in-and-out of the tour van. An 18-gauge, full metal grille guards against damage from speaker stands, guitar headstocks, and beer-bottles. Anything can happen on stage, but you can have confidence your monitors will survive. Two different wedge-angles let you position the monitor right where you need it, and the all-metal handles assist with transport and setup. Professional Speakon inputs and standard 1/4 in. TRS connections make for easy integration into any live-sound system. At this low price, you can daisy-chain them across the whole stage and provide the same great mix to everyone in the band. read less