Making an equipment road map, please help!

[JeffC]

Ok, so in my experiences with modifications and upgrades on various projects it is easy to just buy what you think you want/need at one time only to find out it won't really help much with the final goal.

I am only about 3-4 months into playing bass but it has completely taken a hold of me. I play on my own every night unless my band is over as my house has the jam space. Right now there is me, a drummer and a couple guitarists (usually one or the other).

At the moment I have a older Peavey TKO 15" 80w amp and a couple pedals. The amp is OK for now I guess but I really want a setup that we can gig with, like a couple powered speakers and a mixer board, or something.

My main concern right now is vocals...we have nothing. I don't really know the best way to set things up or what a mic or two should be plugged into.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff but any help on building a map of what I need to build a competent rig would be appreciated.

Thanks

[AdlerAugen]

for the most basic microphone, at least make sure it's XLR cables that it needs to use NOT quarter inch line jacks. This can plug into a mixer (I use the alesis multimix 8 USB, however if you want to multi track then go for something with firewire, there is a multimix 8, 12, and i think 24 in firewire varieties.) or special soundcards which have XLR inputs (I believe M-Audio has a few soundcards like this).

However since you're talking about live, I'd say you want a mixing board instead of a specialized soundcard. Get as many channels as you need, with room for expansion. Vocal microphones are a must, but you don't need one per person, at the minimum one for the lead and one for all the backup to get behind at (might be a bit of a squeeze though with all the instruments). You also want LONG XLR cables to go with those mic's. The longer the better. A 20ft/ 25ft cable will cost somewhere between 20 and 30 bucks at radioshack. Don't forget LONG quarter inch cables for your various instruments (bass, guitar, etc) and of course you'll want a power amp and speakers to go with it. If you were recording, I'd say AKG C3000 is an awsome vocal mic, but i'm not so sure how it will hold up in a bar doing gigs all the time with beer bottles flying. Get something cheaper like an SM57 or somethin like that. Those a multipurpose and I've heard they're much more rugged.

[NKUSigEp]

Start with mics (I like Sennheisers), get yourself a decent powered mixer (300 MINIMUM), and two 15" 2- or 3-way monitors.

From there, you can add a power amp, subs, and whatever else you need.

[JeffC]

Ok, thanks! Thats a good start.

I was at my local music store and was poking around the rental center. Turns out I can rent an alright setup for fairly cheap.

I am going to rent a powered mixer, couple mics, stands, 1 200w speaker at a price of $77 for a month. I figure this is a good way of figuring out what I want before I invest in equipment.

For now it will serve as a practice rig.

Thanks again

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by JeffC

Ok, thanks! Thats a good start.

I was at my local music store and was poking around the rental center. Turns out I can rent an alright setup for fairly cheap.

I am going to rent a powered mixer, couple mics, stands, 1 200w speaker at a price of $77 for a month. I figure this is a good way of figuring out what I want before I invest in equipment.

For now it will serve as a practice rig.

Thanks again

$77 a month for all of that doesn't sound too bad to me. That's better than buying all that junk for a Grand or more, keeping it for 3 years and then selling it for less than half of what you paid for it.

[JeffC]

Yeah $77 seemed pretty reasonable and it will be split up 3 ways between the band.

[Thunder Lizard]

I rent gear out for a living, and that price is tremendously fair!
Nice deal you found, congrats!