PA systems/gear/good deals

[Faldoe]

I'm thinking of putting a PA together. I just got an Alesis HR-16 and SR-16 for next to nothing and I'm looking to do some heavy stuff with them. Plan is to get two speakers - 12'' or 15,'' a sub and power amp. Any recommendations on good, used-market obtainable, gear? I don't need the best but willing to invest in the right stuff if it can be had at a decent price. Would be using the system with my half stack and my friend would be using his half stack so it would have to be able to hold up to that volume level.

[PeteeBee]

I recently picked up a keyboard amp for free off Craigslist I was using for vocals only. Bought a little Mackie mixer. Everyone I've talked to says the best deal in speakers right now is the Mackie thumps. The 12in ones are like 300. Some local promoters have two and they sound great with all sorts of bands and different volumes. My plan is buy two of those once my band gets some more shows under our belt.

[K2000]

If you get a sub and separate power amp, you need a crossover unit (some subs have it built in, but not all of them. Some power units will have crossover ability too). Crossover rolls off the highs to the sub and rolls off the lows to your 12"s, so that each speaker can can reproduce the frequencies it was meant to handle. No big deal, just something that might come up if you buy everything 'ala carte' or whatever.

A good bass amp (or two) with a tweeter might work for you too, by the way.

This amp setup might be most useful for the practice room, whereas live you can run your drum machines though the PA. Unless it's a small venue, usually nothing is going to be as loud as the PA (and that means less stuff for you to carry).

[Faldoe]

Yeah, it would just be for my practice space.

[Warpsmasher]

I had a pair of behringer b300 powered monitors for a while, they were internally bi-amped with 15" woofers, and sounded good for not a lot of money. A sub isn't necessarily mandatory if you go with a pair of 15's and are just playing acoustic drum samples, but it will definitely spice things up, and really brings out the power of synth bass drums. I have the KRK 10s powered subwoofer and it is loud enough to vibrate a club easily. I use it on very low levels with my desktop monitors, but it has more than enough power for stage use with some JBL Eons or something similar.

[K2000]

Your KRK subwoofer will not be loud enough for a club. The bigger the room is, the less impact your sub frequencies will have (all other things being equal). When you hear a car go past and they are jamming hip hop and it sounds like the bass is massive, it's only because the internal space of the car is so small. That's known as "cabin gain". The smaller the room, the more impressive your sub will sound. I have 18" subwoofers that make your pants flap in a small room, but in a bigger club they sound a lot less awesome. A desktop/home theater sub might sound good in your practice room, but won't make big impression if you are doing a show in anything bigger than a coffeehouse. It's not going to cut the mustard when it's up against two blazing half stacks.

To be fair, he's talking about using this stuff in the jam space, so maybe it would work for practice purposes. But folks should understand that the size of the room has a huge impact on how much sub firepower you will need.

[K2000]

I really think a bass amp would be a good bet, pick one with a tweeter so you get that initial percussive attack. Subs are an expensive and unnecessary sidetrack unless you are playing bass heavy drones. A bass cab will be able to give you gut-punching percussion. And it's equipment you might already have on hand. A 15" PA speaker with a tweeter would also work. Those should give you enough thud for your practice space. Look on Craigs List, those can often be found for cheap because nobody wants to ship them.