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Post by matty6strings on Aug 9, 2013 8:24:06 GMT -7
Top end of budget will be around 5K for used gear.
Cabs, power, racks, effects etc. Will likely be renting powered subs to save space.
Anyone able to shoot me some recommendations from experience/
tia
M
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Post by zpilot on Aug 14, 2013 8:02:03 GMT -7
If you are looking to buy used gear here are my recommendations. Keep in mind these aren't necessarily my FIRST choices but this is good gear that I have used in the past and you should be able to find it pretty easy on the used market.
For FOH speakers I would go with Yamaha S115 Club Series. These are the ones with the cast speaker frames, not stamped. Very important. You should be able to find these in good shape for $350 to $400 a pair and 2 pair will cover what you need if you are using powered subs.
I like QSC amps. I've never had one go bad on me in 30+ years. The RMX series is heavy but that's because they have good transformers and heat sinks. A RMX 2450 will power 4 of the Yamaha S115's nicely and it also has built-in limiters and high-pass filters which will save you money and protect your speakers.
My first choice in an analog board is the Allen & Heath MixWizard 16:2. Next choice would either be a Yamaha MG series or any of the new Peavey stuff. Almost all of this stuff has built-in digital effects so that will save you money up front. You can use those effects until your budget allows for something better. The Allen & Heath is the most rugged of the bunch and has the cleanest pre-amps and best EQ's.
Don't even think about using this gear without rack cases. Used stuff is cheap or you can get pretty good entry level racks from Guitar Center. Their Live Wire patch cables are cost effective too.
For outboard equalizers and comps I like DBX.
Here is one tip about using powered subs. If you are using the active x-over in the sub cabinet make sure it is rolling off the low frequencies from the signal to your mid/high amps and it isn't just giving you a full-range signal. That will help protect your mid/high cabinet drivers and passive x-overs. I prefer to use an outboard x-over. Again, I like DBX.
Stay away from brands like Behringer and Gemini. When it fails on you no one will care that it was a bargain.
Here is something very important too. If you aren't knowledgeable and experienced with pro sound gear then pay someone who is to set up and tweak your system for at least the first show and train whoever is going to be running it. Make that part of your 5K budget. It will be money well spent.
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Post by TheRetreat on Aug 14, 2013 9:08:57 GMT -7
I have been HUGELY impressed with the system I bought about a year ago for this kind of purpose. 2 QSC KW153 powered 3-way speakers Allen and Heath Mixwizard 16 board Gator gigrig cart Alesis rack mount In-ear headphone amp (goes in the cart under the mixer) 2 behringer powered monitors (they actually sound good!)
Total cost was around $4k.
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Post by matty6strings on Sept 2, 2013 9:27:40 GMT -7
Thanks a lot you guys!
So much to learn, I really appreciate you taking the time to post your experiences!
M
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Post by Brian on Sept 3, 2013 7:14:52 GMT -7
I have used 2 Bose L1 Model 1 towers with dual subs as mains for all of my shows for the past 6 years and never had a problem with them (and we play both indoor and outdoor venues on the Texas Gulf coast). I use a 16 channel Behringer board, with built in effects. We can run up to 4 monitor mixes off the board. I use one power amp to run 2 monitor mixes. The cool thing about running this system is once you have the board set up, as long as you set everything up the same way every time...you never have to sound check again. All you do is set up the PA, play some canned music through the system to get the room volume you need, the you, as the band, just plug and play. You may have to do some minor monitor adjustments, but front of house stays the same, just adjust for room volume. We can literally load in, set up, and kick off a show in less than an hour with a four piece band with everything mic'd. When playing outdoors, I run the signal through a crossover and run a couple of JBL 1-18 subs with another amp to get the low end punch, but not really needed indoors.
You can find the Bose L1 Model 1's for $1400 to $1700 each with dual subs and maybe even cheaper. $400-500 on a decent board. That leaves between $1200 and $1800 for monitors, cables, and cases for stuff. Or you can pick up another amp and a couple of subs.
This past weekend, we played in a little honky tonk. The club had a $10,000 JBL M-PRO house system. Dual 15" ported subs, dual 15" bi-amp tops with 1" horns, with racks of amps and effect. Looked great.
I brought my little system in and we set it up next to theirs...and we played thru ours. At the end of the gig, the owner came up and said we sounded better than any other band they had ever had in there. I said what do you mean? He said, everything was so clear...I could walk around and it sounded the same almost everywhere in the building. He said, I could hear the singers and the music. I said thanks. He asked...what are those little smokestack things on stage with you. I said, that is our PA system. He asked...you didn't use the house system? I said no sir. He asked, why not? I said, I just like the way we sound through our system, and I can control it better.
The point is he couldn't tell we weren't using his great big speakers...and in his mind we sounded better. The Bose system doesn't have to be nearly as loud as conventional speakers to fill a room with sound. With conventional speakers, they sound great...right in front of the speaker, but off axis things tend to get muddy. Then to compensate people turn the volume up so you can hear it in the corners of the room...but when you do that, anyone in front of the PA gets their head blown off with sound. You don't need to do that with the Bose towers.
I'm sorry if this sounds like a Bose commercial, but I would stack my Bose up against anything out there for small to medium sized venues. And I used to use a medium sized JBL system...with 18" subs, 15" and a horn tops, and 12" monitors...not even in the same ballpark sound wise.
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Post by zpilot on Sept 3, 2013 12:37:19 GMT -7
I love the sound and portability of the Bose L1 systems. Yes, they spread the sound around better than other speakers, but that can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on the type of room you play in. Sometimes you need for your speakers to be directional. I like to have 4 mid/hi speakers in order to cover all of the situations. The best price I have found on the L1 w/ 2 subs is over $2000. That's new. They are hard to find used. They are really easy to setup and EQ.
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