Quote:
Originally Posted by Zooberwerx  Buy used and locally. You can find some stellar deals on CL, etc. as PA gear can be bulky, heavy, and expensive to ship...a wise seller will be motivated to cut you a deal just to avoid the headache and expense of shipping. The real bargain is in "lead sled" power amps as owners are doing the cut 'n run in favor of the newer lightweight stuff (Peavey IPR). What's your budget? We can use that figure and go from there.
Riis |
Buy local gets a +1!
There is alot of good used gear from bands breaking up and guys getting out of the biz all over the country. Craigslist (CL) is a great place to find things.
+1 on the self powered gear as well. QSC has a lot of great cabs in the K-series, cannot go wrong! JBL's new EON stuff is also good as is the Mackie.
On non powered stuff, you should look more at QSC (older USA-series stuff is heavy but very reliable). The new QSC GX-series amps are very good and very cheap. I stay away from Crown more often than not. I know things are getting better at Crown, but I see way too many burn outs. I just replaced 22 5 year old Crowns at the Milw. Auditorium with QSC's because their amps were dying left and right. And the old Crown CE-series amps are something to shy from if you have the option.
Speakers, man, there are many great sounding speakers. I'd stay with either EV or JBL and you will get good gear and great sound capabilities. Not a big Peavey speaker fan. They sound fine and they usually are at good used prices. But the high frequency response as well as the bottom end tend to be a little tighter in the EV and JBL lines. There are certainly many good brands of boxes available, but remember, the cheaper it is, the less power it probably handles usually. JBL has a nice assortment of lower cost subs with built-in crossover filters too so you can get a 15" or 18" sub box with a pole and put a nice 12" with a horn on top. A 12" two-way top box with a sub is a bit smoother than a 15" two-way on top of a sub box.
PA 
