|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
69.217.124.66
Greetings,I play in a rock band and am looking to put together a decent, reliable PA system. Our equipment on stage is very quiet -- just a drum kit, my 5-watt Gibson GA-5 amp, and our bass player's 25-watt Ampeg Portaflex -- so we're not looking for a PA that needs to compete with a loud stage volume.
We're not looking to blast our audience out of the club with excessive volume levels. We do, however, want clear, distortion-free sound reproduction with enough spare power to reproduce the "grunt" in the kick-drum and bass guitar. We'd prefer sound quality and system reliability to overkill in the SPL department.
Any thoughts are most appreciated!
Follow Ups:
You haven't mentioned an SPL level, so I'll just go on your implication that it doesn't need to be "loud".Take a look at the self-powered JBL, Mackie, and Yamaha speaker products. Also take a look at the Mackie and similar mixers. Mics? At a minimum, Shure SM58.
Buy used stands. Buy quality cables.
Whats your budget?No one can give a recomendation without knowledge of what you want
to spend
Greetings,Oops... That would be helpful wouldn't it? ;-> Let's keep it under $1,000.
Vocal Mic stand $35.00
Kick mic stand $35.00
Guitar Mic stand $35.00
Kick drum mic $200
Bass Direct Box $75.00
4 mic cords $85.00
2 speaker wires $60.00
Vocal mic $100.00
Amp rack $200.00Now all you need is another $2000 for 3 amps, subs, monitors, mains
And $4000 for speakers 2 mains, 2 subs, 3 monitors
And then of course, $2500 or so for a mixer.A decent small club PA is about a $20K investment.
Without lights, without power distro.
scott: " ... We do, however, want clear, distortion-free sound reproduction with enough spare power to reproduce the "grunt" in the kick-drum and bass guitar. ..."This may seem a little strange as a "starter" PA ... but:
1) decent mixer, 4 to 8 mic inputs, balanced line, stereo out, portable = < <$200 used
2) decent medium power solid state amp, stereo, balanced inputs, level control (or not), able to handle 4 ohm loads all night long = < < $300 used, possibly new.
3) Three or four quality mics ... pick 'em, balanced lines = < < $150 to maybe $200.
4) Two MMG planar flat panel speakers ( http://www.magnepan.com/_mmg.php ) = < <$600 delivered, new. (You will have to build roadie cases and stands for these). ...This is basically the system we will be installing for the house PA t our local boat club for small stage, acoustic sets and low power amplified sets.
...MMGs for a house PA? I do a good bit of live engineering, and that seems like a very bizarre choice to me. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE magnepans; I have a pair of SMGa's (the predecessor to the MMG) at home for my hi-fi. But among other things they're VERY delicate (particularly the real ribbons, though that's only on the higher end models), very inefficient, etc etc etc...But, above all else, what about the fact that they're dipoles? Your blasting equal energy on stage as you are out front (albeit inverse phase). That's never been a problem for you?
Anybody else out there using planar (magnetic, esl, etc) speakers for pro reinforcement? Magnepans certainly do excel with acoustic music in a home system, so I'm very curious to see what other peoples' experiences have been using these in a live environment.
For what he's doing with them I can see maggies; so long as the intent is to run at average hi-fi levels they'd certainly sound nice. But they'd be woefully inadequate in output even compared to a $299 self-powered 1x12/horn el-cheapo PA top if things get louder.
Greetings,While I'm certain that a $20k system would sound incredible, it's well beyond our means. We're doing this for fun. Unfortunately, while I'm rather knowledgeable about vintage tube amps, I'm not educated as to what is good or bad in PA equipment.
Therefore, I'm more interested in hearing about experiences with brands or components that have proved to be reliable work-horses or whether it's better to use, say, powered speakers or and amp/speaker combination, etc.
think modular,
i started out w/ a pair of jbl self powered eons and a mackie mixer.
you can add on as you go.some bits of advice,
stick w/ quality products : mackie,shure,jbl
stay away from guitar center salespeople,go someplace that will help you,prices are pretty much the same all over.
if you need an 8 channel mixer get a 12
get quality cables but don't overspend (stay away from monster cables or mogami cables,all hype there)
i have mine made by (www.bayoucables.com) great products, service and prices
shure sm58s and sm57s are the industry standards,stick w/ them
cheap mic and speaker stands don't last,buy atlas mic stands and ultimate support standsit's better to spend a little more on quality gear up front.everything i ever bought i still have and use
Basically your at or a bit over 1000 dollars for that system
and mixer I sent the links forAs a start
Just mic the kick drum (get a kick mic)
Mic the vocals (need vocal mics)
Run the bass guitar direct line (get a direct box and mic cable)
You will need mic cables for the mics and mic stands for the vocal
micsIf you play as quiet as you say you can get away with just mains
in a club and no monitors for nowYour gonna need at least another three to four hundred for mics
and standsThis is all just a start and can get you a full sound out front
with a sub and satelite system
This will give you a start to mix the band down to that system
- http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Eurorack-UB1222FXPRO-Mixer?sku=631229 (Open in New Window)
This has a built in amplifier for the system for mains
Check out my blog on myspace.
No seriously.
I try to explain why it's not good economics for a band to buy into a PATry and find some kind of soundguy that's halfway decent and reasonable.
You'll be happier in the long run.
http://www.myspace.com/oldroadie
I don't mean to burst your bubble, I've seen this happen to too many bands.
Greetings,I wanted to thank you folks for the advise thus far. I really appreciate it.
| ||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: