P.A. What does your band use? And is it any good?

[Jesso]

I suspect I am not alone here in being the main sound guy for our band

It's a wedding band, so we bring all our own equipment to every gig, including P.A. and lights. Being the one who mans the desk and tweaks the overall sound, I have developed quite an interest in P.A. systems. Especially since we will probably be upgrading our system at some point in the future.

So... whatcha using, and what are your thoughts? Especially interested in wedding / function band set ups! Looking for some real world feedback.

[geoffbyrne]

I have a rag-tag of stuff.

Amp is an elderly Peavey 8 channel PA amp that originally had 2x300W amps, but the right hand side is blown & it's 300W mono - big enough for the small pubs we tend to play.

Speaker cabs are Carlsboro, have 2x12, a horn + piezo tweeter. Heavy little pigs, but actually sound pretty decent.

The foldback is handled out of the Peavey into an elderly Laney 150W power amp donated to me for free by that kind gentleman CasaPete and the ELO Experience.

This goes into a 1x15 + horn which I built out of bits & pieces.

The amazing thing is that it all seems to work pretty well - apart from levels (usually too quiet!!!) we haven't had any probs or complaints.

G.

[mrtcat]

We do weddings, functions, pubs, beer festivals and parties.

I am solely responsible for our FOH sound as everyone else in the band would happily settle for a crappy cheap system. I'm an authorised BFM builder (although my day job has recently curtailed much of my building - to be fair I am usually bombarded with enquiries for custom built gear by people expecting a bespoke build to be far cheaper than an off the shelf solution) so as you can imagine all our cabs are self built.

I have 4 x BFM DR200s and 8 x Titan 39's, a mackie 1640i desk, a Behringer DCX2496 crossover (best on the market by a country mile due to it's brickwall limiters), a Behringer DEQ2496 (again exceptional value as it has RTA function built in which is essential with BFM cabs), three crown XTi amps (1 for subs, one for tops, one for monitors) and a bunch of rack mount plugins (reverb, eq's, compressors etc).

We get tons of bookings on the back of the sound quality. I always start by soundchecking drums, then add bass so it fits nicely on top, then guitar and finally get vocals to sit on top. To be fair these days most settings stay the same and I just tweak to combat venue acoustics.

As I built all cabs myself and scoured ebay/gumtree/basschat for electronics our entire rig cost less then a pair of mackie subs and tops (Mackie SRM450's are undeniably the worst speakers I've ever heard - so so harsh).

Is it any good?








Oh hell yeah it's f###ing killer.

Edited August 25, 2012 by mrtcat

[bertbass]

+1 on the BFM cabs. We use a pair of T39s and a pair of Otop 12s. Yamaha mixer, Peavey 3 way x/over, Behringer and Matrix power amps. Peavey IPA 1600 power amp and EV Force Monitors for, well, monitors. Plus loads of other stuff.

Does it sound good? No, it sounds fantastic. I wish I could be in the audience at the same time just to hear it. Actually, as I'm totally wireless, I quite often am.

[nottswarwick]

Weddings functions etc.

Db fifty line 6 box active rig. A an H mix wiz 16 chan desk. Db divx active monitors. Easy to set up and use and sounds decent. Not the best but does a decent pro job

[grandad]

Hi, I've been in the same situation over the past few years - bass player & sound engineer. I've progressed from the cheap & cheerful to a setup I'm now happy with. Along the way I've enjoyed learning so much from so many sources - other musicians, books, internet etc & have had failure & success.

Sound engineering is a fascinating topic & populated by truely expert folk whose trained ear I wish I had. And that's the key, learning to listen & interpret the sound, & apply knowledge to the venue. It is surprising, just doing mainly WMC's, how different each venue can be.

The rig we have now suits us, a 6 piece amateur band, mainly 60's - 70's pop & rock, (electronic drums, bass, rhythm & lead guitar, male & female vocalists). Portability is important because we ain't young anymore.

Yamaha EMX5016CF powered mixer, (500W x 2 - good level monitoring & excellent feedback cancelling). The manual is informative & well written compared to others I've read. I house this in a Gator G-mix 19x21, (wheels).
Pair of EV SX300 FOH, (I can add 2 more cabs for larger venues)
Roland KC150 drum monitor & foldback
Studiomaster PAX12 foldback wedges, (knotch filters)

We always carry a spare powered mixer after a Behringer gave up in a puff of smoke some years previous.

The heaviest item is the collection of leads in my Rolsen trolly shopping cart. Everyone else expects me to have a spare lead for them! My advice is to protect your equipment well with cases & covers for everything & learn how to best stow it to avoid damage in transit. Coil all leads properly. Always have gaffa tape. Make sure every band member does their fair share of lifting. Insist on members following your instructions during the sound check, a sound check is not the time for them to practice their riffs. I'm afraid you might have to impose a little discipline on the band.

The disadvantage of being a player on stage & ic of the PA can be overcome by having someone out front who can signal you if the sound needs a little tweaking mid show. This can happen after setting up in an empty room & then the intrusion of 100 punters changes the acoustics dramatically. As the night goes on you may be requested to turn up the volume. This is normal due to hearing fatigue.

HEALTH & SAFETY - Yup.

I carry a 13A mains plug adapter trip but most stages will have them built into the sockets. Take care lifting & shifting, you may be young & strong but look after your back, share the load. Look out for trip hazards, use the gaffa tape but instruct everyone how to de-gaffa when you're packing up, this will avoid a gungy set of leads after a few gigs. Visually inspect all mains power leads before use everytime. PAT test all mains powered equipment annually. Some venues will require this verified, it is the law. Double check things like speaker stands that might collapse & fall on a member of the public. Never allow drinks near a mixer. Yup, all the boring stuff will become your responsibility I bet.

I appear to be waffling on a bit now. Anyway, hope I've been been helpful & I hope you have some great times in the future.

[police squad]

allen & heath ZFX24 (sometning like that)
QSC K12 top cabs
Ksub bass bins.
4K.
nice and portable and makes a damn fine noise.

We're a pub band but I've used this rig outdoors and was amazed how good it was.

[pietruszka]

I have a behringer xynex x2442 USB, 2 RCF's ART 310a's, all powered. We've done weddings with this and it sounds great, excellent portability, surprisingly loud and very easy to use. The drummer in one of my bands is buying an RCF 705 AS and both bands will use the full lot.

For m ep launch we borrowed a sub and as no one in the bands has a clue how to work them I did the sound. I seem to be doing something right as there were compliments all round!



Dan

[pete.young]

We're doing a mix of function gigs and pub gigs, 5-piece pop covers band.

Peavey 2600 amp, heavy but brilliant
Peavey subs and tops with crossover build into the subs. Built to a price but sounds great.
Yamaha MG206C mixer
Carlsboro powered/slave monitor used with Peavey feedback destroyer for vocals
W-Audio 600 drives 12" generic monitors for everyone else

No backline - everything goes through the PA and back through monitors. I DI off the V-Bass straight into the mixer. Luckily we have a quiet drummer so this keeps the volume on stage to sensible levels, and we can mike the kit if needs be. The Yamaha mixer gives us 3 separate monitor mixes.

[bobbytodd]

we use

yamaha n12
4x rcf 718
5x mackie srm 450v2 (2 foh and 2 as monitors and drummer uses 1 for his roland td-30 kv pro)

overkill i think so

[JTUK]

We are between two atm.... and the quest was to make a bit more portable P.A that could still deliver.

Old P.A was Martin Audio ICT500's with C audio into Soundcraft. BOLLOCKING, IMO. Don't need subs on 90% gigs.

Currently running QSC KW12's and they are well regarded on paper... but they don't/cant match the Martins and we went for the wooden construction over composite for that little extra
The QSC will need the bins and then maybe you will get there... but the bins are HUGE at nigh on 80lbs in weight so it isn't a lighter portable option in that format and the single 12 active cabs aren't cutting it atm..maybe we will get there with them.
RCF were another option but again..good on paper but need subs...

Just my 2p on recent use and observations.

But ...bands round here do not generally have good enough P.A's to put across decent vocals so I am sure a few listed on here would be enough to better the job.

300-600w vox P.A are not enough against a poweful punchy pub band IME.

[bobbytodd]

the rcf's are built like tanks the mackie srm450v2 on the other hand have been the mose problematic and temprimental tops we have ever owned.one of them mackie had longer than us after 3 failed attempts at fixing it we got a new one.now we are thinking of going back to a passive set up

[nottswarwick]

When we change (the fifty line is old.....) I think we will go for a 4 box system - RCF 7 series tops, and some matching subs, whatever they may be.

[ben604]

We use a pair of FBT Promaxx 14a active tops and a single Mackie SWA1501 sub mixed through a Presonus Studiolive 16.0.2 desk.

Light, powerful and totally sweet!

[swanbrook]

Full time wedding band, we use
Kme speakers 2 x Kme prestige tops and 2xmatching bins but I have another set of the exact same agin for big venues. Kme 2400 amp for the bins and a 1600 amp for the tops and a Kme cross over
A&h desk too and out mons are 4x Ev sx300 with two 1600 amps.
Mos weddings the pa is at about half but man it's sweet sounding !

I do believe in keeping everything matching it for sound so much as its less likely to cause and damage.

I am very interested in the new line 6 powered pa, it seems quite
Well Priced, but I would love to play with it first !!

[Count Bassy]

2 Shermann full range cabs (15" + 8" + Tweeter) , Audio Management 2 x 300W Amp, old Studiomaster Club 16-2 mixer, two unidentified foldback speakers.

Sound is great in the sense that apart form the volume you'd hardly know it was there. Heard a few that sound better, but an awful lot more that sound worse. Mind you you often don't know if its the PA itself or the person driving it that determines the sound.

All second hand by the way.

Edited August 26, 2012 by Count Bassy

[Phil Starr]

Anything technical has to be sorted by the bassist is the rule, well just about.

We use Yamaha S112's and S118 subs. I used to leave the subs behind because of the size but now I leave the bass stack behind and just use a Hartke kickback for monitoring and let the subs do the work Overall the sound is much better with the bass through the PA and the subs though big enough have a smaller footprint than the stands. The compression driver in the S112's is a gem and the vocal quality is really clean and sharp.

As an amp I use a Peavey IPR1600 for its light weight but for years I used a Behringer EP2500 which worked without a hiccup and i keep as backup. We use either a Phonic active mixer with the amps driving the monitors or an ancient Yamaha mixer before this we used a Behringer Xenyx which never let us down but we ran out of channels. The vocalist likes a clean monitor and uses a Yamaha Stagepas 300 for monitors with the rest of the band monitoring through some cheap PA speakers. They are the next upgrade I think. Mic's are mainly SM58's but I want to move to AKG's as the none I use sounds so much better than the Shures.

I'd really recommend the Yamaha speakers and the IPR1600

Our FOH sound is probably better than most bands I hear especially the vocal sound but we need a little more talent mainly. It really is crap trying to mix from onstage though and my bass playing suffers whilst I try to tweak the balance. It is much better when we have someone mixing from the front.

[gelfin]

Small gigs, Soundcraft FX16 mixer. Carlsbro gamma active speakers. Simple foldback, crown power amp cheapo stage monitors.

Larger gigs Soundcraft LX7 24 channel mixer, Carlsbro gamma actives on poles. Crown power amp driving 4 15" cabs (own design using ATC drivers) Crown power amp driving 2 18" subs (own design using precision devices drivers.) Foldback crown power amps 4 monitors brand unknown..

Mostly sure SM58 and 57 mics. Sabine feedback destroyer, Alesis compressor/gate.

Bass Di'd from GK head. Guitar and drums mic'd

Sound check done with my bass wireless and wearing headset mic. Roadie on mixer listening to me via h/phones.

18" subs only used really to get best from Moog Taurus bass pedals.

[sime17]

Jeesus guys - htf do you guys play bass in a party band and do the mixing desk!? I couldn't do it! Get the lazy friggin guitard or singist to do it. They have natural gaps. In our band we segue nearly the whole set, which seems to work well keeping people up on the floor. Me and the drummer don't stop from the start of a set to the end - I can't even scratch my arse unless it happens to be a bar full of open strings

[swanbrook]

Get it right at the start and the rest is small adjustments, I have only 2-3 times in a 2 hour show that I can make changes. Unless it something really urgent it's gonna wait until I have a break.

Over the years you get to know your sound and venues you play so it's much easier than it sounds.

[Gully35]

Hi guys. I have just rejoined my old band who always played our own original material. We are going to start playing some weddings. We were thinking about DI'ing bass and guitar straight into the desk hopefully to reduce amount of equipment as we have probably 3 cars to carry it.

What sort of PA would you guys recommend to get us started?

Thanks.

[JTUK]

3kw and about £4k .... and then you can go light on the backline...

You will work very hard to get cheap AND good. IMO.

Also, not sure what you mean by get started..?? Started as in doing weddings..??
That market can be pretty keen so you need to be able to deliver.
People don't mind paying £800-1000 for a photographer but struggle to see that value in a band..??

and if you can get £800 for a wedding..which is cheap music for what it is.... then you are going to have to look, play and sound
good. A 300w PV P.A is not the starting point, and nor is shot SH stuff... IMHO..

[Gully35]

Hi thanks.
Well I live in Northern Ireland and bands here get up to £1400 for a wedding.
The majority of 'bands' don't even play instruments; ie. standing behind keyboards and pressing play for the music. They all play the same songs pretty much as well.
Yes we are all very good musicians and will be able to deliver a performance.
By getting started I really meant what is a good basic setup to get us off and running which we can add to as we go along.
Thanks again!

[JTUK]

Decent enough money...so it will be worth spending.

I would check out QSC..as it is li8ght and decent.

A 4k rig will use 10 or 12" active tops, plus 2 subs. The 10" are supposed to compliment the subs very well... but aren't much use apart from a VOX P.A without them.
The subs are big but they support the P.A well.
You may have to decide on either K or KW cabs..the latter are wood and IMO, far better.
Subs help out in and negate the wooden cab decision to a degree.
I think the 4k QSC rig will do a decent marquee but begin the run out of steam at some point.
For example... for most pubs the QSC is EASILY enough and good enough, but in a big marquee that can hold 1000 people, it has no chance, IMO.
I guess I am saying be careful believing in their watts.

4k should be enough, but............................????

If you can get £1400 for a wedding, deci8de if you can afford to hire in at £300 per day..and let everyone else do the work..and you can turn up with small monitor backline and split £1100 for a FAR easier ride.

It might seem that hire-in is wasted money, but, IME...it mostly really isn't if you do it properly. The P.A loads in early and packs down late..you get the easy part...

[Toddy]

[size=5][sup] HK Actor systems,,,, really good... [/sup][/size]

Edited February 17, 2013 by Toddy