29 Worship Tools for Under $29, Part 1
By Jon Nicol
January 31, 2012
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at 29 relatively inexpensive "tools" to aid the musician, tech or leader in their worship role. [affiliate disclosure]
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1. The MicroMON
Can’t afford Avioms? Or even it’s less expensive cousin from Hear Technologies*?
Then check out the Behringer MicroMON (MA400 Monitor Headphone Amplifier
What sets this apart from other headphone amplifiers is the “more me” feature. Run your own vocal or instrument signal through the through the MicroMON and now you’re able to mix more of yourself into your ears. The in and out is an XLR. So for instruments, you’ll have to go into the unit post direct box.
In my last church, my monthly budget matched my bowling score (and I’m a lousy bowler), so I used this to create a “poor man’s” Aviom system. Each instrumentalist had one of these with a signal coming from one aux channel (split by a 4-channel headphone amplifier).
Was it cluttered and glitchy at times? Yep. But it reduced our stage volume by at least 50%. (Contact me if you’d like to know more about setting this up.)
If you don’t like Behringer (which is completely understandable), there are other products like this – but not for $22. So if you’ve got a little more to spend, check out a similar product from Rolls
2. Water Dispenser
Give your team the gift hydration without the cost of buying cases of bottled water every month. For a couple bucks, you can refill the large 5 gallon jugs with purified water at a water systems store like Clearwater or Culligan. Would one of those $150 hot & cold dispensers be nice? Yep, but we want something $29 or less.
So here are two products on Amazon for under $30 that can dispense the water.
But won’t the water be room temperature? Yes, and this is where vocalists get their way. They don’t want to drink cold water when they sing – it tightens up the vocal cords.
So point your electric guitarist to church kitchen to get his own ice if he likes it cold. (Being a guitarist, you might need to show him how to use ice cube trays.)
3. Back-Up Cables.
Get one 1/4” instrument cable, one XLR cable (mic), and one maybe even an extra speaker cable for your wedges. Then, stash them away as a back-up.
I understand why you hesitate. When you’re on a tight budget, the last thing you want to spend money on cables that you don’t need right now.
But you will, and probably at a crucial time.
Just don’t succumb to the “10 cables for $49” that you can get from the big box music store, and definitely don’t blow the whole $30 on a 10 ‘ Monster Cable. Get a good middle of the road brand like a Rapco
Next up: the poor band’s loops…
*Hear Technologies, by the way, at only $1500 for a 4 Pack is not a bad substitute for Avioms. Especially if you just want mixable in-ears for your band. But they’re still a little above our $29 threshold.)
Affiliate Disclosure: just wanted to let you know that many of the links are affiliate links to these products on Amazon. If you click-thru a link and purchase that item, I get untold riches. "Untold" because I'm not sure how to do the math on such a small percentage.
Post Image - Adrian Gtz, Stock.xchng
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