Jul 02, 2005 05:53 am Ya, that could work, I have seen bands do it before. Just make sure you have enough channels...what instruments and vocalists does your band consist of?
PA for whole band?
Posted on Jul 02, 2005 05:28 am
audioguru
Member Since: May 09, 2004
I'm wondering as to exactly what a PA system can and cannot do. I'm in a band that at this point basically has no substantial amplification. We all have guitars, ect.. and our drummer is running his electric set through a large cd player, along with my vocals, while all the guitars are running through tiny 10 - 15 watt amps. It's rather pitiful. However, being in Istanbul, amps are very expensive. What I'm wondering is if running us all through a 500 watt powered mixer would be doable. It seems like a rather quick solution to our amplification problem, at least for the time, for practise, and perhaps small performances. We would be able to get a 500 watt stereo PA with 6 channels, and 4 speakers for less than one guitar amp. Of course, we may try to get better than base quality if we were to go this route, but what I'm wondering is if this is feasible, having never worked with running everything through a PA before.
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Jul 02, 2005 05:53 am Ya, that could work, I have seen bands do it before. Just make sure you have enough channels...what instruments and vocalists does your band consist of?
Jul 02, 2005 06:15 am Well, we've got an electric drum set, two guitarists, a bassist, vocalist (or maybe two) and hopefully, eventually, a keyboard. One thing I'm also wondering is what to look out for in getting one to make sure it's good enough quality. Do different PAs have different frequency capabilities, or do they all basically have the same abilities, aside from obvious things like quality speakers in the cabs, etc.. And speaking of that, what are good speakers, and when it comes to this, what is too cheap, aka not good enough?
Jul 02, 2005 07:04 am Actually, Peavey makes decent PA gear for small venue gigging...and it's generally at a pretty good price.
drum kit - 2 channels
2 guitarists - 2 channels
bassist - 1 channel
2 singers - 2 channels
keyboards - 1 channel
total - 8 channels
when buying make sure you get two amps, and that the mixer has one extra output bus that you can use as a monitor system for your band so you have some speakers you can hear on the stage to run the vocals thru.
Also, get a 30-band (or more) equalizer to help ring out any room you use it in, that meaning, to turn down the frequencies which feedback in any given room...this will help you get a lot more headroom out of your system.
Jul 02, 2005 07:57 am I was thinking of getting a powered mixer. It's stereo with an amp for each channel (2x250 watts). I'm no expert, but would we really need our own stage monitors when using only our own pa? Most venues I've seen have their own pretty powerful pa systems, so if we were playing in place like that and we needed stage monitors, wouldn't we just line out to their system and use our power and speaker for our stage monitors and their system for the balls of the sound?
By the way, thanks so much for your help and advice. I'd be pretty stuck if it weren't for this site.
Jul 02, 2005 08:12 am Oh, so will this PA be pretty much just for your own practice amplification then? If a venue has a large PA like you say, then they likely have a decent monitor system to...so, if what you are buying is just for practice and small party-type gigs, then no, you could possibly get buy without monitors, however, having a good signal of the vocals that you can clearly hear is beneficial.
2x250 should be OK for practice purposes, make sure you get that EQ and ring the room out so you can get the most out of the system.
I am glad HRC is of help to you all the way over in Istanbul...didn't realize you were that far away...you have pretty darn good English.
Jul 02, 2005 08:24 am Actually, I came here from America about three months ago, so that's one of the main reasons I'm having so much trouble finding equipment. There's no lack of music stores, they just don't have much selection or low prices. And yeah, the immediate solution this pa would bring is amplification of all of us so that we'd at least be able to hear ourselves for practise.
Sep 09, 2005 06:45 am Hi,if you already have little amps you could mike them up,that way if they are behind you on boxes you should hear yourself over the others.
This avoids battles over everything trying to be louder than everything else and who is working the mixer the selfish git!
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