Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

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ohmygodtheykilledkenny
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Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

Post by ohmygodtheykilledkenny » Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:40 pm

So at some point soon, one of my bands has to invest in a P.A since vocals through a Bassmaster don't cut very well. :lol:

I'm just looking for some suggestions from you guys as to what would be good stuff to keep my eyes open for on the used market. Mixers, power amps, speakers...

It would need to be powerfull enough to bring the vocals up to a level where they can be heard over a loud drummer, and it would be nice to be able to use it at small venues (100 seats) for vocals.

Let me know what my best bang for buck is on P.A items and where the best place to look for them is.

Travis
If yer ears ain't ringing, yer amp ain't singing! -JimiJames

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45auto
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Post by 45auto » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:29 pm

maybe peavy makes something for the band on a budget. they used to be ok. i would think that stuff had really gotten alot cheaper over the years.
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Post by blfrd » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:58 pm

For just rehearsing you can get away with powered monitors. Most powered monitors allow for inputs from a mixer as well.
If there's no quiet, there can be no loud.

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ohmygodtheykilledkenny
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Post by ohmygodtheykilledkenny » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:32 pm

Powered Monitors. Could work. I could start building off those till I've got a full set up. I just don't know if they'd have enough juice, since we usually are up pretty loud. Peavey decent for monitors?

Travis
If yer ears ain't ringing, yer amp ain't singing! -JimiJames

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Flames1950
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Post by Flames1950 » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:46 pm

My last band had a crap-pile of Peavey stuff. It sounded OK and was probably good for the money back then. But they're practically mid to higher priced now (must still be all USA made......) there's stuff out there as good (or better?) for less or the same money. And if you've ever A/B'd a Peavey amp next to a nice upscale amp (such as the Yamaha P2200/2201's in my rack right now) you'll realize they're kind of brash sounding. (Although that means they may cut through better in a crowded room I guess....)
We always set up the stage monitors for practice, to try and emulate the stage as much as possible in rehearsal. Mixer, amp and all four monitors at stage volume. You can get away with a small mixer with just enough inputs for the vocal mics for rehearsal of course.
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Post by blfrd » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:45 am

ohmygodtheykilledkenny wrote:Powered Monitors. Could work. I could start building off those till I've got a full set up. I just don't know if they'd have enough juice, since we usually are up pretty loud. Peavey decent for monitors?

Travis
A freind of mine has a pair of yamaha powered monitors that are 500 watts. They're not bad.

If you're usually pretty loud, then get an in ear monitor system. You'll save your hearing and hear how "good" the band is....
If there's no quiet, there can be no loud.

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ohmygodtheykilledkenny
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Post by ohmygodtheykilledkenny » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:54 am

Eh, my hearing will be fine, my bass player is phoning around the city today, he's gonna try and locate some decent powered monitors. If we can find some with a line out, I can rig up an in ear system using an old A/V receiver I've got lying around.



Travis
If yer ears ain't ringing, yer amp ain't singing! -JimiJames

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Re: Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

Post by Guitar-Sam » Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:59 pm

When building a PA stick with top name stuff.Behringer stuff will crap out three gigs in.Peavey while it will survive a nuclear holacaust sounds very muddy and "unclean" to me.I've heard the same of Carvin stuff.Mackie tends to be middle of the raod while it is durable and sounds decent there stuff tends to be a bit light in the lows.
Good brands to look into for
Mixer Boards: Yamaha,"Old" Soundtech Proffesional,Allen and Heath,Soundcraft and evan Mackie boards are OK on a cheaper price level.Older EV boards are decent too and can probably be found for a few hundred bucks.Evan old Tapco stuff was good pa gear.
For EQs: Rane EQs are great prolevel EQs that can be had pretty cheap on the used market.Ashley,Yamaha and DOD are also great pro EQs.
For vocal FX the old Lexicon MPX 100 or Alesis Midi/Quadraverbs can be had cheap used and are easy to use and sound great.
For amps Crown,Crest,QSC,Yamaha all make great amps.And a good ebvay hunt can have ya a small/mid powered(800-1200W bridged)amp for a couple bills.Keep in mind the high wattage is more for clean headroom than loudness.They say you should actually run approx. double the power of your speakers continuous wattage rating.
Honestly if your poor like me.Get cabinet specs online for a good pair of semi-compact prolevel 2 way(15" and horn) cabinet like eaw or jbls and build um yourself outta 3/4" ply.A nice set of compact subs w/ 15"s in um will help the lowend allot too.Or hell if ya got a big @ssed truck to carry um build a set of scoops.Then buy up a few dead JBL 2225 15"ers and have um reconed.
You could Put a passive internal x-over in the 2-way cabinets and run fullrange off one amp(just don't overdo the kickdrum or you'll blow speakers)or with two amps and an active x-over you could run a set of subs for lowend reinforcement.
IMO Your better off with flat black painted ply wood loaded copy cabinet with great cones than with a cheapo MDF pa cabinet.
Hope this helps
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Re: Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

Post by Guitar-Sam » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:13 pm

Just noticed the date....................I think I'm a little late w/ my reply... :roll:
74' Stratocaster
Several Frankenstrats
Orange Tiny Terror & PPC 1x12 cab
Marshall 2210
69' Marshall 4x12 "B" cab
Dean Markley CD-60

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ohmygodtheykilledkenny
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Re: Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

Post by ohmygodtheykilledkenny » Tue Dec 29, 2009 12:36 am

No mate, the reply is still much appreciated! I am indeed quite poor, so any suggestions from guys with experience is helpful.

We still haven't settled on a real P.A. yet, my old Traynor Bassmaster through a 2x12 handles vocal duties alright, sound isn't great but it's better then other crap we've tried to rig up, the tubes warm up the vocals a bit which is nice. We went through a couple line-up changes which kinda stalled our progress, but we're finally getting active again, ponying up for some merch etc.

I recently found out that my bassists brother is taking carpentry at his high school, and is apparently a natural, so the cabinets themselves would be virtually free. If we can land a couple steady gigs (we're tight, it's a matter of us being anti top 40), we're gonna pony up for an actual system, at which point that post will definately come in handy.

Thanks mate,


Travis
If yer ears ain't ringing, yer amp ain't singing! -JimiJames

Guitar-Sam
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Re: Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

Post by Guitar-Sam » Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:33 am

Yea us poor guys and our homemade plywood pa cabs. :P
We got a set of JBL double 15" scoop cabinets and a pair of EV 18" cubes and both work as well as anything.Coating them in a 2 part epoxy will tighten up the sound a bit and deaden standing waves a bit.A good freind of mine owns a fairly large sound company(18 eaw scoops and tops 40,000 Crown Watts on tap)And he coats all his cabs in epoxy which is were I learned that from.
While the epoxy isn't a MUST using 3/4" ply is a MUST,one of my bands has a set of 18" single scoop cabinets made of 1/2" ply and they rattle like shit,they are almost useless when you need to drive um hard.
Look online PA cab plans can be had free.Or you can buy actual JBL etc... plans on ebay.
74' Stratocaster
Several Frankenstrats
Orange Tiny Terror & PPC 1x12 cab
Marshall 2210
69' Marshall 4x12 "B" cab
Dean Markley CD-60

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ohmygodtheykilledkenny
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Re: Need some suggestions for practice P.A. for my jam space.

Post by ohmygodtheykilledkenny » Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:01 pm

Cool man thanks a lot! I'll keep my eyes open for plans and drivers. And thanks for the tip about the ply and the epoxy, it'll definately come in handy.

Travis
If yer ears ain't ringing, yer amp ain't singing! -JimiJames

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