Guidance and opinion on PA choices sought

[pete.young]

Our lovely lady vocalist has decided to invest in some new equipment and has offered the following two suggestions to me for comment:

[url="http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/650W-Active-Speaker-and-Subwoofer-by-Gear4music/BBP"]http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighti...-Gear4music/BBP[/url]

and

[url="http://www.getinthemix.co.uk/Peavey-Pro-15--Pro-Subs-MK2-&-IPR1600-Package-.htm"]http://www.getinthemix.co.uk/Peavey-Pro-15...00-Package-.htm[/url]

I don't know much about PA equipment, but both these solutions seem to offer a lot of bang for a reasonable amount of buck. I'm leaning towards the Peavey solution (the second link) because of weight issues (the gear, not mine!) and because I've never had any duff kit from Peavey over the years.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone knowledgeable about these matters, and of any other alternatives around the £800 quid mark.

Also, if there is anyone in or near York who fancies popping into Gear4Music and having a look at their demo rig, please get in touch.

[chris_b]

Out of the 2 systems you list the Peavey is the only one I'd look at.

If your PA only takes vocals, and you only play pubs and small clubs then you don't need bins. In my opinion, spending your £800 on EV speakers would be your best first move.

[Stewart]

A pair of RCF 310A will be around £800 - great sound, light, small and astonishingly loud.
(Assuming you don't actually need subs...)

[pete.young]

Thanks for the comments.

At the moment we don't use subs, but we think it would be better for keyboards and possibly bass to go through the PA.

[chris_b]

Bass is usually the last thing that gets DI'ed. I would start with the bass drum and then think about fold back for your singer.

[pete.young]

[quote name='chris_b' post='897267' date='Jul 17 2010, 01:31 PM']Bass is usually the last thing that gets DI'ed. I would start with the bass drum and then think about fold back for your singer.[/quote]

Our current PA is a pair of budget powered cabs, one of which is starting to sound a bit ropy. We do have a bassdrum mike and keyboards split between backline and PA. I think we'd need some subs just to get the best out of the keyboard sound, before we start to worry about the bass as well. Trouble is we've recently heard bands using very expensive PA including subs and of course it sounds great.

Since we don't have a power amp, the budget will need to include one which will rule out the RCFs you suggested, unfortunately.

Edited July 17, 2010 by pete.young

[Happy Jack]

Hmmmmm.

If you need to put the keys through a pair of subs, doesn't that mean that your keyboard player is using a lot of left hand? As the bass player, is that something you want to encourage?

And yes, as you know Pete, those comments link back to some unhappy personal experiences!

[cameltoe]

Yeah like they have said above, subs can tend to be overused. Too often they're glorified stands.

I've seen bands use them in literally tiny pubs, and then not even bother mic'ing the drums or DI'ing the bass. What's the point?

Ideally, with subs, you'd want crossovers, then another amp, etc. Gets messy then.

Monitors are important, especially if you're planning to use subs. How will you hear yourselves?

Someone on here was selling a whole Yamaha PA which might be a cheaper option?