You could put everything direct in, but then everything will only be coming out of your PA speakers and it's going to be hard for everyone to hear themselves. If you mic each amplifier, the amplifiers become the monitors and supplement the main PA speakers. The only thing you would need in order to do this is a dynamic mic for each instrument. In your case that's 3.
Well, if you can't set up the mixer out in front, then put it anywhere, and just physically stand in the crowd's position and get a bandmate to adjust what needs to be adjusted prior to starting the show.
And no, you would not use headphones, as that wouldn't make your adjustments representative of what the crowd is hearing in the acoustics of the venue, which is why you use a mixer in the first place.
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