I have read with interest the discussion regarding mixers here and need advice. I play with a guitar player, mostly for fun, not profit. He has his own amp and I have two separate amps/speakers for my Tyros (for stereo). Our problem is controlling our volumes when playing to an audience. We do not use a PA system. I had hoped to find a mixer or something from which someone could control each of our volumes. Of course a mixer's intent is to mix and in our case I just want to control our separate volumes. I do plan to get a new mixer that I can use to record us (mixed) to my laptop (the Alesis mentioned in the discussion looks cool). But can a mixer be used to control the volumes to our amps separately or do we need something else?

I also have the problem with not being able to monitor myself when playing to an audience since I sit behind my amps. The Tyros doesn't have built-in speakers and I don't want to cart around the Tyros screw-on speakers and subwoofer (they really are pretty cheezy). I suppose I could use headphones but then I wouldn't hear the guitar.

Any advice?