Al Krow

Not considered these, but they do look well featured! £700+ though. The smaller Zoom LiveTrack L-12 could, however, be just the ticket for us.

Yeah the Soundcraft Signature series has on-board fx and, as we know, our singers do like a bit of reverb! 🙂

Cheers. Do you need a separate tablet or mobile phone to set up the desk and how easy is to tweak the settings on the fly?

We've been using Allen & Heath mixing desks (Zed10FX and Zed60-14FX) models for a long while and they've served us very well. However, we're coming up against the constraints of the limited monitor outputs on the A&H desks though (one aux-out and one headphone out). I've recently come across the Soundcraft Signature series, which look well featured, and have three individually controllable aux-outs as well as a headphone out. Seem to get pretty good reviews online. Any of you come across Soundcraft gear or, if not, be interested to hear what you're using and how well you rate your desks?

I did try that exact 312 rig set up recently, but when I combined my 4ohm 212 Berg with my 8ohm 112 BF BB2, I didn't feel the BB2 was adding much to the party - I mean it was a decent (and pricey!) stage monitor, but the Berg was definitely doing the heavy lifting in terms of providing the bulk of the volume, which I guess I could have anticipated.

Check out Vanderkley MNT 210 which is available in 4ohms. Handles 600W RMS. It's a quality and great sounding cab. An additional 8 ohm 1x12 could make good sense as others have mentioned, but I'd suggest only if your existing cab is also 8 ohm and not 4 ohms.

Well if you see me putting a high-end cab and a decent amp in the FS at some point in the autumn you'll have your answer as to whether the 912s are any good 😁

You'd kinda think/hope that vocalists would be providing band PAs as they are the ones who need it the most? Nope - haha! And, yup, we bass players do seem to end up being the sound guy! Although after a lengthy campaign I managed to persuade the drummers in both my bands to get onto PA duties, as they needed to be driving anyway with their kits. It's been a blissful few months of me not having to take a PA to gigs, whilst I've been looking at replacement options. Will all come crashing back to earth once the 912As arrive in Oct... PS maybe just me, but I've found that I can hear the bass just fine from standing near a PA speaker ie no particular need to rely on stage monitor or IEM.

Are you currently using an amp & cab for bass? If so, the 12" PA set up may allow you to ditch your backline. I've certainly spent as much on my two bass rigs as I just have on RCF 912As, so I may end up getting a chunk of cash back if I end up selling one of my rigs.

Well is the original better than it's more famous cover? Actually maybe!

Actually, that's super helpful for me in confirming the decision to go with two 912As over two 910As. I wouldn't be expecting too much of a difference at all between the 910As and your 710As. I'm hoping the 912As will be fine without a sub, with both bass and kick drum given the 12" speakers. But we have the option of adding a sub if required.

Ah ok - thanks for clarifying that Russ. The tangible improvement in low end handling delivered by the RCF 912A is going to tip the balance. Decision made 🙂

Re. your Q of whether they still qualify as compact in my books - well the 912As are approximately 50% heavier than my former 310As, so brushing up at the limit that I would really be wanting, and also 50% more expensive as it turns out. So if they are 20% "better" (power/bigger sound etc) then that's probably a decent trade off. So in terms of choosing between 910As and 912As as a stand-alone, is your instinct that there's not likely to be not much in it between them then as far as an audience is going to hear? If so, I'd probably head back down the 910A route as being both more compact and a lower cost.

Cool thanks. In terms of "non negotiables" / where I'd like to get to: I guess best possible sound with units weighing around 40 lbs or so and as compact as possible, for around £1k would be great. Two RCF 912As seems to get me a largely there, and I'm hearing from you and Phil that these would be a better option in terms of bigger sound than the 910As? Certainly we can HPF both via our A&H desk, and via my pedalboard (I have a Thumpinator on that). Drummer in one of the bands has a RCF 702 ASII, we can add into the mix, if needed.

No worries, Russ. Be very interested in your views about my getting 912As instead of 910As, as well. They're actually not too much more in terms of price, but will be a bit bulkier/heavier. Have I got my thinking correct on the key advantage of the 912As in my post above?

@Phil Starr - cheers. One of the drummers has a RCF 702 sub - so available in one of the two covers bands I am gigging with. Just one point that's left me a little undecided is your comment about "how hard you can work a 10" woofer". The set up here would effectively be a 2 x 10" and there are plenty of bass cabs that are 210s which are a popular alternative to a 1x12". Should we not therefore be reasonably expecting the two 10" PA speakers to put out as much "bass" as e.g. a solitary BF BB2? If the 910A set up is going to fall short of that, you've got me thinking that I should spend a little more and get two 912As instead? Particularly if those will better match what I'm getting from my bass rig, and without the need for additional support from a 702 sub in the band that doesn't have one. The two 12" will obviously be pushing a bit more air out than the two 10" speakers, assuming that they both have the same speaker excursions, which I understand they do.

Cheers Phil. That does all sound about right. The 310As are already "traded-in" so I have clean canvas with what I go for. But having been very content with the 310As - our pub audiences have been more than happy over the years, then if the 910As are going to give me a marginal improvement which ties in with a relatively modest increase in price, and also deliver superior bass handling then I think I'll jump in with that. We do have the option of adding a sub to the PA (RCF 702 AS II) should the venue warrant it and I guess that would then take your 60-70 figure up to closer to 85-100? I totally love the BIG sound that @bassfan's band 24K get with their rig, it really is huge! But that is neither a compact nor budget set-up, haha! So I guess we'll just be 24K Lite in the meantime 😊

Cheers fella. Yup size and weight ("compact" is key). The RCFs seem to have built in x-overs (see spreadsheet on post above, at 1.8kHz or 1.6kHz) Not sure where your cost figures are coming from, but the 910As should come in for less than £1k for a pair - see spreadsheet comparison above.

Cheers Russ. Our 310As were fine for my 5 /6 piece bands (3 vocals, acoustic guitar, kick drum and, on occasion, sax) without me putting my bass through and actually aren't too bad at all with bass going through as well. But the plan is to be putting my bass through much more regularly. Our drummer has bought my 310As off me for use with his other project and to provide us with a back up rig - so I have the opportunity to upgrade. I think having 2 x 700W RMS on the 910A for mid / low frequencies vs 2 x 300W RMS on the 310As i.e. an additional 800W on tap across the two speakers should provide the additional headroom at mid/lower frequency range to mean that the PA handles the full band with bass without breaking into too much of a sweat. And frankly the difference in price between the two models is pleasantly less than I was expecting.

Think I may just have stumbled on a really good answer to the original question in my OP! I've always loved the the portability and articulation of our little RCF 310A PA set up. In terms of an upgrade, I guess the answer was staring me in the face i.e. simply to upgrade to the either the RCF 710A or more recent RCF 910A model. Given the 310A can handle a full band including bass in smaller venues, I suspect the 910A, with its additional headroom, would be able to handle medium sized venues and the dancefloor area of larger function venues. @Phil Starr as a fellow RCF fanboi and a much greater expert on PA speakers than me, be very interested to get your thoughts on this. I've pulled together a little comparison table for ease of reference. I'm very pleasantly surprised that there isn't a bigger price premium between the 910A and 310A given the step up in power, components and finish.

Dep guitarist wanted a bit of reverb on bass line on "Feel it Still" at our rehearsal earlier this week. Pulled this little patch together ahead of tonight's gig: Reverb [AK-Reverb].zb1f

EMGs

Yup, basic stuff like setting and saving individual patch volumes so you don't get volume spikes and adding the Zoom Noise Reduction effect as standard to all your patches should get you a long way there. Editing on PC with the freely available ToneLib software makes editing patches quick and easy. I've used various, albeit decent, multi output PSUs but they all provide individually isolated outputs which I personally would always want to have, to avoid PSU related noise. The HB Iso Pro series are compact and very good value for money.

Enjoy the Zoom B1-4 - I'm still loving mine and it's sitting at the heart of my pedal board. A few B1-4 patch idea downloads at the start of this thread. You'll need to download the free ToneLib software to be able to access.

What is it about IEMs that don't work for you? Be good to understand, as its something we're actively exploring.