Acoustic Band

tycobb73 · #1 08-21-2010, 08:35 AM

After 8 months of revolving membership between the lead guitarist and drummer position me, the rhythm guitarist/ vocalist, and the female vocalist have decided to make it just us 3. I've never run PA before so I need all the advice I can get. For the simplicity of set up I think I want a powered PA. I was hoping to run everything through the PA, which would be 2 vocals, acoustic guitar, and my bass. That way we wouldn't need amps. We plan on playing bars but I don't want to get stupid loud. What do you suggest I get and how easy is it to learn to run sound for this type of setup?

Wes Whitmore · #2 08-23-2010, 07:22 AM

You could go a bunch of ways with this. I don't have any experience with powered PAs. If you are starting with no PA at all, and you are playing small bars acoustically, maybe consider a "nice" powered mixer head (Yamaha or Mackie to name a few), and a couple of Yamaha Club series 12"s on stands. Get something with at least 6 XLR inputs. Listen to the club series Yamaha's too. Probably the best sounding speaker in it's price range, and you can find them used. I would consider bringing one of your smaller bass cabs just in case you aren't happy with the amount of PA support you are getting, but everything else can go direct to the board only. You will also need at least one monitor on stage. Most mixer amps have a separate monitor amp to handle a custom monitor mix. Most even have some built in EFX, a tape input for your ipod, and a decent EQ.

Maybe people like the Bose "stick" PA's, but for the money, I think you can get further piecing together a good set of speakers and a decent mixer amp. Those yamahas can be used for much louder gigs if you just add a good subwoofer and give them some power.
Wes

tycobb73 · #3 08-23-2010, 01:19 PM

I was thinking Jackie, yamaha or peavey powered mixers. How easy are they for newbies to get to sound decent? How much power? Since I'm buying used anyway should I just get the most power and channels since you never know what the future holds?

rockstarbassist · #4 08-23-2010, 01:57 PM

I played in a bass/acoustic/drums 3 piece for years and we jammed pretty good.

We used a pair of the old Mackie powered 215's+horn mains and I usually just plugged straight into the board via a J48 unless it was a bigger gig then I had my rig with me, and still plugged in just to get the signal into the mains.

If I were doing it nowadays I'd get the smaller 112 or 115 powered mains + powered 115s or 118s on the bottom.

Wes Whitmore · #5 08-24-2010, 06:25 AM

We have a Mackie 406m. It has a pretty decent EQ. Enough power for an acoustic show. The 808S has more power and more XLR channels, and can be had for just a little more used.

MNAirHead · #6 08-24-2010, 07:20 AM

YEs to the powered mixer..

you'll want your mains on stands...

Some type of monitor will help as many singers need to crutch with them.

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If it helps you, PM me and we can discuss the setups I've used over the years.