Best place to put your money?

[Thurbs]

Hi folks.

I have some pretty good gear these days, but have some money burning a whole in my pocket and am thinking about upgrading. I play all sorts of music from folk, jazz, rock and blues so am looking for a "once size fits all" setup rather than a "ultimate thrash metal" stack. I am never going to play the O2, or Glastonberry, more like the Dog & Duck, Working Mens Club, Weddings etc.

Part of me always thinks that money should be spent at the "root" of the signal chain (ie my brain), so I am already spending sh*t loads of time and money on practice & lessions.

The next logical step would then be a nice guitar. I use a Ibinez BTB 575 and a Honer Defretted 6 stringer with active EQ. I am sure as with everything there is a law of diminishing returns, so is a 1k guitar going to sound that much better than the BTB (which set me back £700)?

Cab wise, I use a Ashdown Little Giant (2 x 500w) and a Midget T or a Ashdown LB and a LB212 cab. So if a guitar isn't going to gain me that much, how about adding a Compact to the cab setup to give a awsome 1Kw rig which would fit every occation? On the other side, I have never felt the need for a Compact (the midget is simply awsome) and when gigging on a big stage, I always just DI to the PA and forget about it. So what's the point?

PA wise, I use a old 400w 8 channel Peavey 400w with some old 15" subs and 15" tops. This set me back a whole £150 from a DJ and it has had plenty of use. The speakers are old, but don't fart or anything and work just fine for the 100-400 sized audiances I use it for and often put a bit of bass through it for some re-enforcement. Anything bigger and I am just part of a line up and it's someone elses problem. The thing I always think about a good PA is, it makes the whole band sound good. From the singer to the drummer (we regularly mic up the kick), it adds to the overall sound.

Lighting wise, we have 4 spots on a T bar, it's been around since the dinasors but has a sound chaiser feature. Functional, but hardly current or curring edge.

So, where would your (max £1k of) money go?

[Mr. Foxen]

Bass is entirely taste call, rig seems fine, so PA would seem appropriate.

[hamfist]

In your position, definitely the PA.

[Kevin Dean]

I'd upgrade the PA you I have a peavey 1212 & a CS3000h 15UL tops & 15UL subs everything can co through it & it's great getting a stadium type sound in a pub.

[Dad3353]

Is there a monitor with the PA for the singer..? Haven't seen it mentionned, but I'd make sure that there was...
If those spots are not LED, I would consider upgrading them. Same rig, but LED.
All the rest seems fine to me. There's an old adage: "If it ain't busted, don't fix it".