silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I just wanted to open a discussion on PA's and also I had a few questions of my own. Since my band is starting to get serious we will probably need a real PA instead of a guitar amp for the microphones, we also need a mixer to mix in the drums' mics. What we had wanted to do was but a power amp, a mixer, and one or two speaker cabinets. Would this power amp be sufficient for small-medium sized gigging? My band right now has about 365 to spend. If I got that then this mixer and this speaker cabinet, would it work alright for small clubs and auditorium performances with vocals, backup vocals, drums, and possibly keyboarding going through it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'd be really curious to see how they came up with the numbers for that amp, 100W RMS @ 8 ohms stereo 175W RMS @ 4 ohms stereo does not mathmatically work unless they changed the method of the rate in which produces USELESS statistics. It would be difficult with that mixer to mic a drummer let alone a full band with 8 channels and only 2 of being mic XLR. The speakers are okay for most smaller club settings. I completely understand you're on a budget but what you have show is maybe good for a practice environment for vocals and maybe some drums but do you really need it, most places I've played have their own but there is the occational party, wedding reception (gawd..glad those days are WAY over)....etc I'm going to give you a secret word that you will understand later. RENT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 also I have another question, what is the difference between RMS and peak. You bring in a good point about most places having their own PA, but since a lot of my gigs are self-setup they are in someone's house or backyard or similar places. This means that they probably don't have a PA of their own. I was planning on bridging the Power amp to be 450 watts mono, would that be loud enough? Do you have any suggestions of an arrangement of peices of equipment that would suit my budget speakers, amp, mixer and all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Buy some used equipment- cheap but acceptable mixers can be bought from Behringer QSC would be allright for a power amp yamaha makes some decent cabinets- definitely get two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 RMS basically means continous power Peak is Peak power or other words short burst. What I was trying to say with the amp is it's power rating is of little value. It's depending on the formula they used to produce those statistics which can yield some drastic differences. IE One amp may boast 300w of power while another boasts 30w of power and it is very possible the 30w will have more power than the 300w. The statistics are rubbish unless they define how they came up with those numbers. Would really suck to discover you thought you had 450w and it's really more like 45w? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 do pawn shops have power amps etc.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 do pawn shops have power amps etc.? ← why dont you go check one? Pawn shops really depend on what people give um. Who knows you might just get lucky... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 (edited) cuz im the same crappy age as you and I can't go to one uintil i find a ride which aint happening too soon. Bassman, why would you say definitely get two if 1 suits my purposes? oh i just had an awesome idea but it probably is bogus. if i put 2 power amps in a series, would it multiply wattage by wattage? eg. 20 watt in series with a 20 watt=400 watts? would i have to calculate a complicated impedence for that kind of thing?or would it just be twice as loud (and gorecki this is all assuming the amp actually is as loud as it's wattage claims). Edited March 23, 2005 by silvertonessuckbutigotone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePlague Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 i'd also get two speakers. where would you put just one? you put it on either side of the stage and one side of the audience is out of luck if they were hoping to hear vocals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 (edited) you could set it up monitor style backwards right in the middle Edited March 23, 2005 by silvertonessuckbutigotone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 That speaker is rated at 500W, I assume peak. Pumping 450W RMS into it might lead to issues down the road--believe me, I learned from experience. Also, 450W mono RMS is plenty for small gigs. Any place that would need more likely has its own system. I've done gigs with one speaker; it worked perfectly well. We got a gig at a retirement party for a Kindergarten teacher... but make every gig count, right? Behringer makes perfectly good mixers; check pawn shops/music stores/eBay for used equipment. Just avoid bidding wars on eBay; we ended up paying the new price on a used eBay QSC power amp because the keyboardist got a little overzealous.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 hey guys, I complete forgot about building our own cabinets which would be very helpful in a situation like this. my questions are these: are subwoofers needed if the woofers you are using have low enough frequency response? would these speakers work for making 2 cabinets to equal 450 or more wattage (i've done my math and it equals 510 but just amking sure). i could play with the impedence to equal almost whatever I needed: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cf...tnumber=290-276 http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cf...tnumber=280-050 one more: if i were to wire in parrallel, thats just soldering both + in its designated spot an both - in it's designated spot right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorecki Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 To step back a couple of posts, you can't run amp's in series. More higher end amps will have additional outs/thru so that you can daisy chain many of them for multiple speakers. My Mackie 1400i does that so you can have 40 speakers being pushed by 20 amps if you like. I would suggest you do some research on how power works and how it is rated so you will understand the points I've made previously because at this point you're guessing in ways that will cause equipment to burn up. Building your own cabs is an option but frankly for the cost of materials and labor, you're probably better off just buying the things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 For the cost of materials? dude thats 80+shipping, adhesive, carpet and plywood for 2 Pa speakers at 510w total. Tell me how for the cost of materials I would be better off buying my own. Labor's not an issue I love doing this kind of stuff. Also, how am I guessing at things, I'm asking you guys if stuff will work and you automatically assume I'm buying it? If there's a problem with what I'm doing point it out instead of telling me to go research, this is part of my research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 You don't want to get into GEM or Nady stuff. At all! The mixer you picked out is half what you need. Look at a powered mixer (Beringer, Yamaha, etc.) and get at least 8 mixable channels. You can't build cabs for what Beringer sells them for and cabs are one Beringer product I have real respect for. Their heads and mixers have quality issues but their cabs are a real value and TOUGH! Midsize venues do ok with 200 watts RMS but your drummer needs to learn how to work without kickdrum mics or he will run your equipment costs up. Also, mic choice can make a HUGE difference in how happy you are with a small PA system. The low-end AKGs are about as far down the price list as I would go. IMHO. IMHO. IMHO. Did I mention, IMHO? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted March 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 I also just came up with another idea, what if you got two smaller size amps and ran each for a different channel into two different cabinets, like left and right amps. that would be pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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