Anyone know about PA systems ?

[evil len]

I play in a pub/club type band, fairly standard 5 piece rock covers jobbie.
Sadly our singer's just left, taking the PA system with him !
Whist we search for a new singer, we're looking round at what kind of PA system to get next.

Budget is around £1k total. We were thinking a mixing desk with built in 2x500w amp, and a couple of 15" 4ohm speakers on poles. Need at least 8 inputs to the desk, two monitor outputs (that must be tweakable, e.g. one output must be lead vox only), some kind of feedback indicator would be nice.

We quite like these speakers :

Wharfdale DLX15

And maybe this desk :

Yamaha EMX512SC

Though this desk is nice, but it pushes us over budget

Yamaha EMX5014C

Any thoughts, feedback, experience ? Would the 512 cut the mustard or not ?

Thanks !

[timbob]

For a £1k budget, I'd go second hand. I have a smallish vocal rig which I use in small venues with my soul band, which sounds almost exactly like what you're after: 2 top speakers, 4 stage monitors, a desk, amps etc.

I bought a big Behringer desk from ebay for peanuts (one year old, as new condition desk with 24 XLR inputs for £200!). This one would suit your band better, and it's cheaper.

I use a pair of Peavey HiSys 2s, which are great. Plenty of oomph with a nice sound. Personally, I think you'd get better vocal clarity and a better bottom end using some 12" tops with a single bass bin, but if you want an all-in-one solution, these would be fine.

As for monitors, I recently bought some SoundLab cheapo wedge monitors. They are quite light, and feel a bit cheap with fraglie plastic corner pieces, but they're only £50 each new! They aren't particularly great sounding either, but they put the volume out, and you don't need a particularly hi-fi sound for monitoring.

I don't like buying 2nd hand amps, but for the money, you can't go wrong with Tapco, and their Juice amps. This should drive the Peaveys nicely. The next model down would provide plenty of power for your monitors. Those ones are 8 ohm, so daisy chain 2 together on each side of a power amp to give a 4 ohm load, and 2 seperate monitor mixes.

If you're monitoring onstage, you NEED a graphic EQ - else you'll be forever plagued with feedback problems, and never get any volume out the monitors. I have this and it does the job nicely.

So, in total:

Desk: £100
2 Peavey HiSys 2 XTs: £200
4 Monitors: £220
2 Tapco amps: £340
Graphic EQ: £130

Almost exactly a grand. But don't forget you'll need cables too.

[Dr John]

I'd agree with 2nd hand, provided you know what you are looking at. There are some great bargins on ebay.
Don't skimp on the amp; nothing sounds worse that an amp that is struggling with insufficient power.

This is a great site for advice (with a very appropriate topic):
http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=33...

and some good quality 2nd hand from here:
http://www.sseaudiogroup.co.uk/sse_audio_group_sal...

Good luck
John

Edited by Dr John on Tuesday 3rd March 15:58

[chevy-stu]

I don't think your budget will go to a seperate sub/yop set up sosI'd go single 15" + horn tops from Peavey, HK, Yamaha, etc.. even the better Behringer stuff is OK in that price range, and get a decent 800 - 1000k mixer amp.

Questions are :
Do you need/want monitors ? If you do, you'll be knocking money off the budget for the other stuff, but good to have at least one.
How many mics do you use ? Don't get a mixer with loads of channels if you don't need them.
Is size & weight and issue ? don't get big stuff if you've gotta get it in your car with other gear & people.
Do you have mics/leads/stands etc.. ? gotta add them to the price too. !

here's a good un', just add a mixer and go..

.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PEAVEY-PA-SYSTEM-HISYS-2XT-PV-1500-AMP-Flight-Case_W0QQitemZ130290851346QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ConElec_SpeakersPASystems_RL?hash=item130290851346&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

[evil len]

Cheers for all the replies folks, lots to think about.

Kind of put off s/h kit a little bit ... the last mixer we were using was bought s/h from ebay and it was a nightmare reliability wise !

Will check out the links Dr John, thanks.

chevy-stu, when you say decent mixer/amp, is the first one I posted above (512) what you'd think of as decent ? To answer your questions, we've already got monitors (two Carlsboro wedges, and two TC Helicon Voicesolo's (which don't need any integration with a desk)). We use 3 mic's, and we've already got mics and stands. We like to mic up the bass drum, and occasionally both gutiar amps, so that comes to 6 in total. An 8 line desk like the 512 would still leave us a couple free.

Cheers !

[chevy-stu]

evil len said:

Cheers for all the replies folks, lots to think about.

Kind of put off s/h kit a little bit ... the last mixer we were using was bought s/h from ebay and it was a nightmare reliability wise !

Will check out the links Dr John, thanks.

chevy-stu, when you say decent mixer/amp, is the first one I posted above (512) what you'd think of as decent ? To answer your questions, we've already got monitors (two Carlsboro wedges, and two TC Helicon Voicesolo's (which don't need any integration with a desk)). We use 3 mic's, and we've already got mics and stands. We like to mic up the bass drum, and occasionally both gutiar amps, so that comes to 6 in total. An 8 line desk like the 512 would still leave us a couple free.

Cheers !

Don't be put off by second stuff, particularly speakers, as they either work or don't, just need to check speakers and horns all are ok..

The Yamaha 512 looks great value for money, their mixer amps are generally good.
I presume the monitors you have are powered, so you've got decent money to spend on speakers...

If you mic up the Kick then you will want at least 15" speakers. You'll never get a really decent bottom end without seperate subs & more power (and more money of course)