I've been looking online without luck, so I'm asking here in case somebody already knows the answer.
I'd like to fing a rack mountable PA/mixer combination... or a rack mixer that is powerful enough to double as PA amp for small venues.
If you know of such a device, please let me know
(It doesn't need to be a full blown mixer... a rackable amp head with at least 4 inputs + reverb would meet my minimum requirements)
Me? None of the above.
The only powered one you listed (which was named as a neccessity) is the Behringer and that one is very low priced and not well reviewed (in my opinion).
Just my opinion.
He needs one that will drive PA speakers. For more than a year.
Hello Pat welcome back!
Often overlooked is Carvin cause they don't sell anywhere but direct. I like their stuff & there support.They have some good deals going on.
this is not exactly what you asked for but you did mention small venues...
MF I have one of these with the rolling bag and it's surprisingly loud and clear sounding for its size, 300 watts. I'll never part with it.
I actually have a little bit of experience with Behringer rack mount powered mixers. While I normally would endorse Behringer due to my positive experience with my gutiar V-Amp 2 and rack-mount Bass V-Amp pro, I can't say the same for their rack mounted powered mixers.
Ours broke - no user servicable stuff in it. Repair cost = purchasing a new one. Guess what we did; we went and shopped for a used Peavey.
Pat, if you're racking the thing, buy something used even if it doesn't have reverb, and buy a 1 rack unit effects box and patch it in.
Silvertones mentions Carvin - that is another great choice.
In the past I've always used Peavey.
Great Rackmount Units for the whole band and we always used their Power Amps.
At the time, 80s-early 90s they were by far the best bang for the buck.
They always had 8-16 inputs, which was great for the drummer. He used his own in the end.
We always had more than enough power with 400watts for any room or outdoors. We always had a couple of them. Very reasonably priced at the time. I don't understand the huge wattage amps out now. 500-over a thousand watts. We were really loud with 400!
We always had great sound for everything. And we put everything through the PA at one time or another. They never broke either.
I also used Peavey Bandits for live shows for years. Lots of old used Peavey Bandits.
Their Speaker Cabs were good too. They stood up on their own always.
Wayne,
Rharv, my choices were meant to be just cheap solutions.
For a one man show it does not take a lot of power, since for the most part you work smaller venues. My current rig is a 60 watt kustom rig with 2 10s. not a flashy setup, but it does a great job. And i have had it for 12 years.
If Pat wants to spend more money he can work up from there. If I were going to gear up today for a live one man show i would most likey get a Bose system, or a nice Yamaha powered mixer.
One idea is a set of powered speakers, and a small behringer 802 mixer to front them.
A set of powered speakers will give a lot of options. For a small coffe shop one speaker might do. Larger rest gig maybe both speakers and a set of unpowered 10" monitors to piggy back off the mains.
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For a one man show it does not take a lot of power, since for the moist part you work smaller venues. My current rig is a 60 watt kustom rig with 2 10s. not a flashy setup, but it does a great job. And i have had it for 12 years.
My last year of gigs I did solo with a Peavey Acoustic Guitar Amp with a Mic Channel. One 12" with Tweeter and 80 watts. It filled small rooms to big Churchs. I never turned it up over 3 or 4. Big sound. Keyboard Amps worked well too.
Wayne,
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Keyboard Amps worked well too.
Wayne,
Absolutely - they are made to be full-range as opposed to guitar amps. Normally have at least a couple channels. They work better than 'acoustic guitar amps' in many cases for acoustic guitar - and you don't have to pay extra for the brown tweed cloth that is ubiquitous for acoustic guitar amps.
You know just what I mean. I traded my Acoustic Guitar amp in for a Peavey Keyboard Amp and it worked much better.
Closed back gave it a much tighter bass. I just brought a tiny mixer, an SM58 and my Guitar.
What a sound and only 80 watts. Very good sound and never had to turn it up over 4, even outdoors.
Wayne,
(ah, memories)
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One idea is a set of powered speakers, and a small behringer 802 mixer to front them.
That thought hadn't even crossed my mind, but it's worth looking at. I already have a Behringer XENYX mixer (not rack, but paid for)
How much of a signal do powered speakers need?
My preferred option is to find a singer who already owns a PA system...
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One idea is a set of powered speakers, and a small behringer 802 mixer to front them.
That thought hadn't even crossed my mind, but it's worth looking at. I already have a Behringer XENYX mixer (not rack, but paid for)
How much of a signal do powered speakers need?
My preferred option is to find a singer who already owns a PA system...
Your XENYX will have enough output - they just need line-level inputs. Be careful of JBL powered PA speakers - I've had two different occasions where there were cold solders inside the case (fortunately the cases could be opened and I had a soldering iron with me).
Not the very best, but very affordable.
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kustom-KPC15P-15-Powered-PA-Speaker?sku=485595I have a set of the 10s with a small amp, 10 years old and still running strong.
They also have 12s and these can be bought in sets look at the powered speaker page and just kustom
Read the specs all they are is a 15" with a piezo tweet.
I bought the unpowered KPC15s for $189 for the pair free shipping.They have conpression drivers with a crossover. Spend $200 for a small power amp.
Kustom KPC15 OHH!!!! They are up in price.Might call and offer.
The powered ones may be OK. Robh are your 10s powered?
no i bought them bundled with a small 60 watt Kustom amp 10 years ago, they have been workhorses. I want to add a pair of 15s and a larger amp, or go with powered 15 speakers, but then i have to upgrade the 10s or such. I am not sure the old amp can handle both the 10s and 15s at the same time.
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no i bought them bundled with a small 60 watt Kustom amp 10 years ago, they have been workhorses. I want to add a pair of 15s and a larger amp, or go with powered 15 speakers, but then i have to upgrade the 10s or such. I am not sure the old amp can handle both the 10s and 15s at the same time.
Yes robh your 10s also have real compression drivers with cross overs. That's what I don't get about their powered units. They removed the compression drivers and crossovers and stuck in a $10 piezo tweeter.
I use my KPC 15s along with a pair speakers that have an 8"woofer & paper tweeter.I run these with my Alesis RA100 and they are fine. The RA100 is 100 watts per side into 4 ohms. That Kustom is probably the same or more.
I had this gig a while back that was in a tiny lounge upstairs. Almost ordered a pair of the 10s on sale for $89. Then they decided not to have music.
Pat, I agree with Silvertones about Carvin equipment. They have a real compact amp that is three channel for guitar, bass, mic. Give it a look. My brother plays a custom built Carvin guitar and it is a beaut! He also uses two Carvin amps. I have played through that equipment and it is as good as anything out there. Dennis
For what it's worth: I bought a new set of very compact active PA speakers last year. Have them in use for about 8 months now and I really love them. I decided on a QSC set, their K-line. I have two K-subs (2*12"each) and two 10" (!!!) tops. This light and compact set gives me 4K Watts RMS !!! Haven't seen the club where I was underdressed with these
For smaller clubs and bars the QSC K-series is a very good price/quality deal. Yes, you pay way more than you would for a Behry-set. But you'll hear the difference AND you will enjoy your set for years to come (6 years guarantee on these babies !!)
thanks to everybody for all of your experiences with various speakers/amps. I like the idea of powered speakers for convenience. Setup would be no more than plugging one cord from the mixer to each speaker... the other devices could stay permanently plugged into the mixer in my rack.
Cost wise it appears to be about the same price to buy regular speakers and a rackable PA amp, So that approach could end up being equally convenient. So my decision would probably end up being made on what I could find on Ebay or Craig's list at a good price.
One other question: if the powered part of an active speaker fails, can it still be used as a passive speaker? Or do you lose both speaker and amp at the same time?
Citaat:
One other question: if the powered part of an active speaker fails, can it still be used as a passive speaker? Or do you lose both speaker and amp at the same time?
Some active speakers do have the ability to be used as a passive speaker. But you would have to carry a spare amp to power it.
On the other hand: If you use passive speakers and your amp blows up, you're left with no sound. If one of your active speakers should fail, you will still have the other one to carry on with your show...
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Setup would be no more than plugging one cord from the mixer to each speaker.
Not true.How do you think these powered speakers get their power?
Both Mikenl and Silvertones make good points. Powered speakers do require AC line cords of some type. Some manufacturers have semi-proprietary cables for these - so they don't get kicked out during a performance.
For example, we use a set of ElectroVoice SxA360 powered mains (nice size for a roughly 100-200 person venue) which have Neutrik 'speakon' type of connectors - not for the audio, but for the AC power. These have a 1/4 turn locking mechanism.
Works great for the intended use - but don't lose that cable! Not so easy to replace. We really should have a spare set made and keep them in a different case, etc.
What's interesting is that the audio connects on these speakers are NOT speakon connectors, just a bog-standard combo 1/4" / XLR jack.
Here's a back-view of them:
http://www.keymusic.com/gfx_productcode/91176/2/Electro-Voice-SXA360.jpg-Scott
BTW one nice thing about these is that if you want to you can press them into service as floor monitors as well - their wedge shape is designed just for that. Many of these powered main speakers are designed for such use - including the JBLs that I would not recommend - simply because of those cold solders (hopefully their QC has that taken care of by now).
That is why i like powered speakers, the fact that if one fails the other one can get you thru. On the other hand, they are expensive and difficult to repair.
Darn, equipment there is not perfect solution.
Scott, those connectors are called Powercon. Same principle as Speakon.
Yup guy says to me, those are the way to go they don't come out. Then the sales guy trips over the cable, which would have come out, but the speaker topples. I just said no.
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Setup would be no more than plugging one cord from the mixer to each speaker.
Not true.How do you think these powered speakers get their power?
Obviously the devices themselves need to be plugged in.
I was referring to the convenience of not having to individually plug cords from multiple other devices to a separate mixer,getting them in the correct labelled inputs every time. With this approach all that stuff could stay perpetually connected to the mixer, and only the mixer itself would have to be patched to the power amp/speakers
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Yup guy says to me, those are the way to go they don't come out. Then the sales guy trips over the cable, which would have come out, but the speaker topples. I just said no.
Mr. Salesman didn't have the cables run properly nor the tripods set correctly. Run them down around the pole and around one foot of a tripod and unless the person tripping weighs 500 lbs the speaker should stay just where it is.
No guarantee on the speaker not toppling with a typical AC line cord if he didn't have it run this way anyways. Simple physics problem. Cables not run around and down a speaker tripod is a recipe for disaster and a potential lawsuit in waiting as well.
-Scott
If he had tripped over the line cord with a standarde IEC connector at the back of the speaker, he could have damaged the IEC socket beyond use...
But *nothing* can be designed to account for every case of abuse, although one can come close, most musicians wouldn't pay the price for that much overdesign anyway, not with other companies selling "the same thing" for much less.
--Mac
Citaat:
, most musicians wouldn't pay the price for that much overdesign anyway, not with other companies selling "the same thing" for much less.
"same thing". You're right on the money there. You get what you pay for, not more, not less (you hope not less)
I will go for quality any time when it concerns gigging material. I HATE crappy stuff that needs tinkering and crossed fingers to work.
The mechanics in the garage won't work with crappy tools either; they work with pro-level tools and not with cheap imitations (hey a wrench is a wrench). There's a reason for that.
Well I'll give you that pros WANT to work with pro gear but that's not always possible.A real pro can deal & make less then top shelf equipment work.