ive been in this band for about 6 months now, and until recently we had a naff 90w pa system (competing with 100w guitar amp and a 200w bass amp) that just wasnt doing the job. yesterday the postman deliviered a lovley yamaha emx212s (2x200w) to my door, so hopefully we can now have singing without it sounding massivley distorted, and hopefully we can use the 90w system as a monitor system.

none of us have much in the way of pa experience, and i was wondering what you vocalists did,- do you just plug your mic straight into the pa system, or do you use preamps/comperssors/limiters -or something else ive never even heard

any pa based advice would be greatly appreciated as we currently play in an area where words like 'sound guy' or 'local pa store' or even 'live music' are pretty alien terms:eek:, so any seasoned live musician's advice would be greatly heeded:)

WOW! There are WAY too many RIGHT answers to your questions.

try this link it is very useful and informative......and it doesn't read like a sales add for products

http://colomar.com/Shavano/pa_page.html

After looking there come back with your questions.

in fact their whole site is pretty dang useful

http://colomar.com/Shavano/

I like powered monitors. SRM 450's will do most gigs-- no need for subs if you're just running keys and vox. Never any worries about matching an amplifier to speaker, etc, etc.

none of us have much in the way of pa experience, and i was wondering what you vocalists did,- do you just plug your mic straight into the pa system, or do you use preamps/comperssors/limiters -or something else ive never even heard
:)

Just go direct to the mixer.

Using your old 90W system for monitors will only work well if you plan on putting only vocals in your other PA. In other words, when you take a stereo or mono out from your main PA to the monitor PA, you'll only be able to control volume on the monitors, not the mix. Again, no real issue if it's just vocals you're dealing with.

Keep in mind though, you can use your new emx212 for BOTH mains and monitors. Downside is at 200W per side, this will be low volume. So...your best bet is to bridge the power amps (if they allow it, check the manual and be sure ohms required at the bridge setting are compatible with speakers and their ohm/wattage ratings) and daisy chain your main speakers to it for maximum power.