My son's band need a PA...

PaulBM · December 16, 2008, 03:35:42 PM

... and I thought it'd be good to ask some of you experienced music types for advice.
Any manufacturers we should avoid etc?

They're on a fairly tight budget, as most new bands are. 8-)
We're talking hobby rather than living at this stage.

They currently play in small local pubs when they can and just use a small PA amp for vocals, the guitar, bass and drums are on their own.

RacingHippo · December 16, 2008, 04:50:49 PM

We used to use just a Behringer Europower...summat-or-other powered mixer and a pair of Peavey cabs we got from eBay. Did us fine.
In fact, we still use both the cabs and amp, but have a bigger mixer. Behringer kit is plenty good enough, and very nicely priced.

PaulBM · December 16, 2008, 05:35:11 PM

Funny you should mention that, their guitarist has been offered a Behringer unit at a good price from our local music shop. He's spent a few grand with them in recent years, so they do look after him. So it could be well worth looking into. I'll try to get some more info on it.

wickedwitch · December 16, 2008, 08:43:39 PM

i used to be a PA. you could probably manage with a glorified secretary.

Big Black Shed · December 16, 2008, 09:06:29 PM

Behringer. Good stuff and nice price.

Try http://www.studiospares.com/

johninblack · December 17, 2008, 01:23:54 AM

Have to say my experience with beringher goes along the line of "How the hell does it do all that so well for so little money" I'd happily recommend beringher gear.

RacingHippo · December 17, 2008, 09:47:42 AM

Quote from: "johninblack"Have to say my experience with beringher goes along the line of "How the hell does it do all that so well for so little money"

The answer to that is that they have some very clever designers in Germany and some very cheap manufacturers in China!

johninblack · December 17, 2008, 11:32:51 PM

Quote from: "RacingHippo"
Quote from: "johninblack"Have to say my experience with beringher goes along the line of "How the hell does it do all that so well for so little money"
The answer to that is that they have some very clever designers in Germany and some very cheap manufacturers in China!

It really is the best value for money gear I've ever seen.

PaulBM · December 18, 2008, 05:05:28 PM

Thanks for the info, I've just heard from the guitarist and he's got the unit on approval from our local shop. So practise at a local studio Monday night will be fun, lots of knob twiddling.

It's 600w per channel and 12 inputs I think. The guy in the shop, still recommends sticking with the 'back line' and only using the PA for the 3 vocal mics and perhaps some drums.

johninblack · December 18, 2008, 07:27:46 PM

Quote from: "PaulBM"The guy in the shop, still recommends sticking with the 'back line' and only using the PA for the 3 vocal mics and perhaps some drums.

I would as a minimum mic the bass drum. A band I used to be in had really great results miking the bass and snare plus a couple either side of the kit on a level with the cymbals picking the rest of the kit up although placement of the other amps can then become an issue. When it works well the results are great, when not it's better to just stick to bass and snare mics. Usually this method is a problem on small stages/playing areas, somewhere where you can get a little bit of space and have the back line away from the kit it will work well and you might (depending on the range of the mics) find just 4 or more feet plenty of distance. It's all about trial and error and what works best with the equipment available.

Mooncat · December 18, 2008, 08:04:24 PM

Behringer gear is great for the money - I've got a 10 channel mixer which I've used as a sub mixer for both acoustic and electric drums with no problems (yet). Also got some of their vocal mics which perform admirably.
Speaker wise Peavey Hisys/Eurosys take some beating.

As for what to mic up - we've just done the same thing with my latest band. Trial and error is the best way, but we ended up with bass drum and snare, more for clarity than volume and vocals - everything else was run off backline. The key thing to remember is that it shouldn't be a 'who can be the loudest' competition on stage (not easy depending on the age of the band members), so a trusted, independent set of ears could be called for. And they should also remember that if you can't hear someone, that doesn't necessarily mean that person needs to turn it up - sometimes everyone turning down works much better.

And they can still rock!!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: