P.A. Equipment

[themd21]

???Just curious on what kind of P.A. equipment you gigging members are using?
I've been using Mackie gear for ages and although I'm happy enough with the sound, I was wondering if anybody else had any recommendations.
Big thing over here at the moment is for active speakers, generally Mackie 450's or the DB Opera 405's.
Any thoughts?

Jimmy G

[rogerch]

Jimmy G,

I have 2 types, we use a Bose PAS 4 channel 500w for small indoor sets, kind of a new thing that seems to work very well, it's mono but you can't tell by the sound from it.

Also we use a 1,000w amp that drives 2 house JBL's and 2 wedge monitors. the Big gun is always set up in the pup that we are the house band in, so the PAS is for the road to use in other pubs.

If we play outside, the big gun goes to the road.

I know musicians that use powered speakers, I know one that uses a powered mixer. I think it's all preference, what ever works for you, there are pro's and con's for each and no one system will give you everything.

The thing about powered speakers to me is I would rather keep the power away from the speaker, IE in the amp. It adds weight to the already heavy things and lifting them on to poles is a ball breaker as it is.

I love the PAS because I have a small car and I can pack my whole rig in it easily and its extremely light weight in comparison, but it will not work for every gig.

There you have my input, hope it helps!

[themd21]

Thanks for your input Roger.
My system is similar to your own.
I'm driving my speakers with a 1400w Mackie and using
a Behringer desk.
I have to say though, that the difference in weight between the powered mackie 450s and the Mackie passives ain't that much and the 450's are very punchy putting out a clear 450 watts each.(Well I've tried them once or twice). But will they stay the course?

[sixstringbing]

Hello everybody
I use Peaver PRO 15 Speakers mounted on 2 EV ELIMINATOR bass bins powered by Crest Audio 1200 watt and Yamaha XP 2500 seris amps all routed thru Behringer XP PRO SERIS Crossover and 64 band EQ with an ALESIS limiter the desk is a Peavey 16 channel 2000 seris desk and the effects are generated by a LEXICON MX 200 DUAL PROCESSOR delivering goood quality sound plenty of depth and power with regard to powered speakers the Mackie tend to overheat blowing resistors and causing loss of power and thus clarity at least I had thta problem with mine.

[shyamwestwind]

We use 2 dB Opera 415 s which are 37 Watts RMS each and for the big shows we add two sub woofs of 600 Watts RMS each (custom built and better than the dB subs) We use two dB Basic for monitors. The mixer is a 10 channe; Behringer 1832 . Mics ? SM 58 bETA ofcourse !!
The only thing I find kinda missing are the mids and we are thinking of adding a small enclosure with two 10 in speakers. Still deciding about it.
Powered speakers are okay but its a darned nuisance to go to each of them to put them on or to adjust the volume levels.
Its good clean crisp sound over all so I guess we should not complain
It would be nice to hear the views and suggestions of other musicians.
Regards
Shyam

[shyamwestwind]

Gosh I'm sorry the dB Opera WATTAGE SHOULD READ AS 375 WATTS RMS each. They are known as yrics
Apologies
Shyam

[themd21]

I've friends who use the Opera 415 actives.
They've got some good things to say about the overall sound so they can be recommended.

[sixstringbing]

Listen this may be getting of the beaten track but I bought a Behringer 7 band graphic equalizer effects pedal just to clean up the Acoustic Guitar and what a difference graet little pedal wotz more it only cost £15 YES £15 what a bargain and one that does the job to

[sixstringbing]

Good thing I read on down the post list to Shyams second post 37 watts eh now that would be some P.A LOL

[guilty]

I'm in a Duo and have owned the same PA for nearly 20 years (Sad but true). It's an Australian PA made by ARX. Very versatile because it consists of 4 X 303's which are loaded with 1x12" and a horn and 2XSub-Woofers which contain 15"s. 2 x ARX amps 1200W each into 4 Ohms and a processor. Yamaha MXG16 desk and Sony Mini Disc recorders. It has never let me down and can be "broken-up" to suit size of gig. I still get comments by other muso's on the great sound and these guys have state of the art PA's.$$$$$$$$
If it aint broke...don't fix it.

[sixstringbing]

I would love to have a sustem that could be brocken down and still deliver great quality , The Yamaha MG seris are generally a great compact desk but the built in reverb effects can be tinny and spacey and can really mess your sound up (at least thats what I found) But the Aussies can build em sounds like a good rig

[guilty]

I agree...the onboard reverb is tinny and spacey. I stick to one preset only and use a rack-mount delay unit as well.

Correction on desk model...it's a MG16/6FX and yes it's compact compared to my previous desk...a Yamaha MC1202 which was 50% bigger and twice as heavy.

A quick plug for Yamaha...I've owned Yamaha stuff from guitar amps to keyboards and mixing desks and NEVER had a problem with any of them.

Guilty

[ironbaden]

I agree with the yamaha statement......reliable gear at a reasonable price. ;D

[charlie]

I am currently running 2 way stereo (not for stereo imaging, but more for cabinet configuration) - (2) JBL JRX125 full range cabs w/ (2) Crate 18" subs. Behringer EP1500 on the subs. EP2500 on JBL's. Behringer 12ch rack-mount mixer. Behringer dual 31 band EQ. Behringer 2-way/3-way Crossover. Behringer Auto-compressor/limiter. BBE sonic maximizer. TC Helicon vocal doubler. Lexicon multi-effects processor. Can use JBL's by themselves for smaller gigs. Add 18" subs...and hold on to your teeth...crystal clear and sweet

[dixon]

I use power amps by Samick (clean & cheap) Fostex VM-88 mixing board, my cabinets I made loaded with JBL, and a stereo self powered Sub. Small enough to pack and setup fast. Big enough to shake things off the walls.

[kemo]

I am using Martin f15's along with 2 martin bass bins. very good output along with an allen and heath 1600w mixing desk. I would reccomend Martin...