It looks like the Minimax has an effects loop, so you can use this as a power amp (into a passive cab).
They're not bad. Good for the price. I would grab one of these before the Headrush.
GC seems to have lots of used JBL PRX (512/612/712) speakers around the 300-350 mark. That's a great option as well.
Cabinets that are marketed as "flat" are at least attempting to be so... A vocal wedge not so much. You could possibly "flatten" the response with EQ but if you were to send that same output to FOH it's going to sound not so great.
There are different kinds of PA speakers... Some are for amplifying the band for the audience (called Front of House or FOH) and some are for the band to hear themselves on stage (typically wedge speakers that point back towards the band).
Yes. When you're gigging through a PA, the PA is blasting your sound out into the crowd; not at you. Most of what you hear of the total mix is the PA sound reflecting off the back wall in a muddy, time-delayed mess. Meanwhile, the drummer is crashing cymbals behind your ears, the other instruments are blaring at you, the singer's monitor firing away...if you don't have something producing your sound and firing right at you, you can't hear yourself — and your performance is screwed.
Three or four instruments all facing each other while enclosed in a tiny box is a very different sonic experience from playing to a crowd in a room.
Yes. When you're gigging through a PA, the PA is blasting your sound out into the crowd; not at you. Most of what you hear of the total mix is the PA sound reflecting off the back wall in a muddy, time-delayed mess. Meanwhile, the drummer is crashing cymbals behind your ears, the other instruments are blaring at you, the singer's monitor firing away...if you don't have something producing your sound and firing right at you, you can't hear yourself — and your performance is screwed.
Three or four instruments all facing each other while enclosed in a tiny box is a very different sonic experience from playing to a crowd in a room.
Both. The same goes for most small- to mid-sized full-range speakers (the really big ones aren’t practical for stage use). If it has an angled surface so you can set it on the floor and aim it up at you, it can be used as a stage monitor. If it can be mounted on a pole or flown above the stage, it can be used for FOH. Most of what’s available will fit both descriptions.
Usually, the same mixer handles both FOH and monitors. But not always. Larger shows often have a separate monitor mixer off the side of the stage, manned by another sound tech. In some venues, the band brings their own PA. In others, it’s provided by the house.
A forum search would be useful for you...