PA Equipment suggestions?

[glpg80]

we had to pay to rent a decent PA setup which really sucks.

the PA we rented was a 15"/horn each setup on stands, ran off of one of those all on one mixers/power amps that was 1300W.

to be honest the headroom was nice, but that PA was powerful, a little overkill maybe for vocals only?

whats some great PA stuff for floor monitors, power amps, mixers, speakers, etc?

i dislike the black widow speakers that peavey offers in a 2x15 and horn setup. ive had a roundabout with those before.

this is on the cheap here, so no yamaha power amplifiers

just something decent that sounds great but doesnt break the wallet.

 

[blackba]

As you found out those 215 with horn PA cabs are not the way to go. Much better to go with a 115with horn and sub. Here are some suggestions from my PA, which was built very budget minded.

Yamaha S115IV or V's for mains
Yamaha SM15IV or V's for monitors
Allen and Heath Mix Wiz 16:2
QSC RMX 1450 amp
Yorkville LS608 subs
QSC RMX2450 amp for the subs

Check out this forum for used PA gear. http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/f/14/0/

The Yamaha speakers and QSC RMX amps should readily available on the used market. Also for speakers some of the upper end Peavey's are pretty nice, as a community speakers.

I would start with the mains, power amp, and mixer. Than add monitors, subs, and more amps....

 

[steve_k]

One thing about PA is you can always add to it. Try to go separate power amps for vocals, monitors, crossover's etc. For a normal sized indoor place like a bar, 1000W on the vocals is plenty. Its monitors that start eating into power because they are all usually daisy chained. Unless everyone is using in ears. For power amps, cheap is good. I don't think anyone would notice the difference.

Steve

 

[daveg62]

I'd buy your stuff separately as you can afford it. Start with a decent set of powered speakers and a mixer and a few powered monitors. I wouldn't screw with power amps, just go with powered speakers. Hard to recommend depending on budget and needs.

 

[mboogman]

If you just need to amplify vocals, Definitely do not get 15's, unless you're getting a three way box. Make sure you get 12's with a strong, efficient HF driver. 15's tend to start having comb filter problems around 800 hz (physical tendencies of the driver size) and 12's tend to start going wonky little higher, typically past the crossover point for the compression driver. At that, even a strong double 8' would be even better for vocals. The QSC I-282H is an amazing speaker for the money. Loud, and extremely smooth. You could also try to find some good used EAW LA212's. For the money they're hard to beat! Vocal clarity for days!

Kyle

 

[Chris6870]

check out Carvin. they make some nice 3 ways that are reasonable.

 

[glpg80]

awsome guys, thank you for the info

ill bookmark that website and keep an eye out for good deals.

12's or 8's for vocals? will do. i did notice a hard problem trying to EQ this low-end section in the PA system. it sounded woofy in this one general area and if you tried to take it out, you lost the depth of the whole sound itself. it was really gay. finally managed to find a place that it wasnt so bad.

i'd rather get a decent power-amp, mixer, etc and do it all in pieces. the all in one stuff is nice, but if it goes down it puts a crunch on everything. if a power amp goes its possible to re-arrange accordingly and keep the show going.

there are a few places we dont need subs and all the monitors, and some places like bars that we couldnt fit a monitor on the stage even if we tried. so the expandability would be nice.

so yamaha speakers sound pretty good? can they do music alright too? because we play a good amount of stuff between sets and in general at parties to help pay for equipment and PA that we rent - gotta pay it off somehow.

it just gets old having to do that, time to buckle down.

thanks again, anymore info anyone has i'd definately be all ears.

-matt

 

[blackba]

I'd buy your stuff separately as you can afford it. Start with a decent set of powered speakers and a mixer and a few powered monitors. I wouldn't screw with power amps, just go with powered speakers. Hard to recommend depending on budget and needs.

The problem with powered speakers, is that you can't really max out the power amps. If you go with separate power amps you can always chain more speakers off each side of the power amps. Most amps can easily run 2 speakers per side, some up to 4 (down to 2ohm load). You can also rearrange if a power amp goes down. If a power amp in a powered speaker goes out, that speaker is done. Powered speakers are really nice for monitors though. Its nice if you have 4 monitors and everyone gets their own mix.

I recommended the 15" speakers so you could get by without a sub. My buddy uses EV Gladiator speakers with 15's for places where a sub won't fit, they work well. Vocals will be better on speakers with 12's though. Yamaha Club speakers are nice for the money, they sound good with music too. The powered QSC speakers are also pretty nice, but on the heavy side and not that inexpensive.

I did forget to put in the DBX driverack. It will cover you compression, EQ, and crossover needs on the mains anyway. The Crown XTI power amps have some EQ and crossover features built in, but I am not sold on the reliability of those amps.

 

[glpg80]

what do you think about QSC power amps?

and yeah we have to haul all of this ourselves, and set all of it up before and after the gig. so the more stuff we have to haul, the more stuff we have to carry to and from and setup and take down for gigs, so portability, weight, and design is a little of a concern (handles, not too big, etc)

ive never experienced the power of subs in a PA system - we would use it to mic the drums, and the PA would be used for vocals, and thats about all. most of the outside stuff though would be nice to have them. but i have no experience on running subs, what sounds good for the money, what power amps sound best for subs, or anything like that.

for smaller venues, no subs of course. although feedback control is a must for us, as important as the mixer itself. EQ's for monitors and mains would be nice, crossover control for the subs/pa speakers i have no idea and would need some guidance in.

thats about all as far as overall goes.

im really curious as to what power amplifiers everyone is using to be honest. most the stuff i have experience is absolute junk.

theres only 1 instance where something was somewhat decent, and that was the AIO peavey power amp we used - however it had a history of cutting out when the guy let us rent it so again dependability is an issue with peavey, because i had bad wraps with their PA speakers too

 

[blackba]

QSC makes nice amps. I was very happy with the QSC RMX2450 I had. I currently have Crown K1 and K2's. I just sold a K1 that you would have liked. It took a while to sell, so I am sure deals are out there on PA amps.

 

[glpg80]

i know crown stuff sounds alright, just dependability is a problem just like behringer, mackie (sp?), and peavey.

ill definately look into QSC then. they seem to get good reviews and the price for what you get seems to be good.

what about lower-end yamaha? are they as good as their upper-end brothers and worth a little more or no?

 

[shredhead7]

I'll second the carvin stuff, as would my other guitar player that has a full PA of carvin stuff as well. It's inexpensive, but not cheap. Yes, there are better sounding, more expensive everything, but to the audience and 95% of the world, they won't know the difference.

 

[Phrygian]

The Tapco stuff being made by Mackie is really nice for the price. Might be worth checking out.

QSC is quality for sure, decent price too.