In-ears or floor wedges?

Here's one for all of you who play live, which do you prefer for monitoring, in-ears or floor wedges and sidefills? I have recently begun to use in-ears and there is a sub underneath my riser so I can feel the low end better. I don't miss having a wedge blasting me in the face at all and my ears don't hurt at the end of the set, it's great!

in-ear all the way!

I love it! After years of fighting with monitor techs and trying to enjoy playing music without permanently deafening myself, I can hear exactly what I need to hear at just the right level. It has taken so much of the aggravation out of live performance for me.

In ear are great. I learned playing along to records with headphones. So it isn't awkward for me like others have told me that in ears can be at first.

James B. wrote:

In ear are great. I learned playing along to records with headphones. So it isn't awkward for me like others have told me that in ears can be at first.

I was super nervous about it at first because I was so used to the old wedges and sidefills approach, but then I got my mix settled in and added just a little bit of crowd noise from the room mics and I felt right at home.

I've never used in-ear monitors. I know its the best thing for a drummer, but I don't even know how they work.

Lurideath wrote:

I've never used in-ear monitors. I know its the best thing for a drummer, but I don't even know how they work.

Well, instead of your monitor mix going to a power amp and a speaker, it goes to a headphone amp (with a wired system) or a wireless monitoring reciever. You can get as much or as little of everything as you want in your ears at a volume you can deal with without your ears ringing or feeling like your head is wrapped in a pillow after the performance. The drummer I play with all the time uses a small powered sub right behind his throne so he can feel his kick in addition to his headphones.