Consultation on PA on the cheap?

[Da LadY In Red]

Hello, I'm in 5 member band (guitar, bass, keys, drums, and vox) who's playing an upcoming block party. Our gear is as follows: 65 watt 12 inch Peavey guitar amp, 540 watt with 2x10 bass amp, 200 watt 15 inch Roland keyboard combo, 1 monitor/mains molded 400 watt powered Carvin 15 inch speaker.

We're playing outside. We're planning on playing to the drums volume with a good mix and that's it. We have 2 Behringer UB-802s (2 mic pres each) to put up and a budget of about $300. We're not planning on using this PA for anything but drum volume playing.

We need a power amp, can anyone suggest a power amp under $200? My idea is to buy a Samson Servo 260 (130 watts each channel) and 2 Kustom 10 inch PA speakers (total is under $200).

If we did this, we'd run the powered monitor off the effects send or headphones send, then place the Kustom 10's on the main out left and main out right and run the power for the Kustom 10's. We'd place the 10's on something to elevate them to ear level. Does this sound like a good idea?

The name of the game is cheap but decent quality. We're not asking for the best sound, but we're asking for enough volume and a respectable set-up for random low volume gigs (including outside). Will this work?

Thanks a ton!

[Da LadY In Red]

Update, we've decided that the Kustom 10's are both crappy quality and not enough oomph, so we're buying some higher end speakers.

[Diggler]

You're going to need a lot more than 130W/side, even to keep up with the drums.

Rule of thumb: for adequate headroom, use an amp that will provide 2x the RMS wattage of the speakers you plan on using (at whatever ohms you will be running).

If you're on a budget, (I'll get slammed for this) I'd go for the Behringer EP1500 as a minimum. You can get them new on ebay for $250 or under. Personally we use the Crest CPX1500.

Now... speakers... I wouldn't go with 10" speakers. My band uses 15" subs and 12" Yamaha 112V's. If I were NOT using subs, I would go with 15" speakers, you'll get a little more full-range sound out of them. However, speakers have a difficult time doing everything well (too much going on in one cone), but separate speakers can do their intended jobs very well.

So... my suggestion (which will allow you to grow later)... Find a pair of 15" speakers that have full-range capabilities, like the 115V's. They can go on speaker stands, which are cheap and safer than sitting your speakers on stuff. Get a 1500W amp like the EP. You can run each speaker on each channel, and if one side of the amp goes out during a show, you can run both speakers off of one side of the amp for almost the same output (sortof an insurance policy). If you wish to add subs later, we run our subs off of another bridged 1500, but a non-bridged 2500 will run cooler and do a little better in the long run.

Stay away from Gemini, Samson, Kustom, etc. equipment. Buy once, cry once... buy often, cry often. It will cost you more money in the long run if you buy dirt cheap, and you will quickly become depressed when you realize that you're stuck with playing with crappy equipment because you're invested in it.

As you can see by the Behringer suggestion, I'm not a gear snob. When we got our band reunited and had to purchase gear again, I was considering going with cheap PA speakers from ebay. But your band is nothing without good sound, so I bit the bullet and got some reputable stuff. Now we don't have to wonder if we could sound better, if we only had better equipment. It's not top of the line JBL or anything, but it's plenty for a bar band.

ETA: I see that you are in high school, I would suggest looking at this as a long-term investment. If you can buy speakers, buy good ones and rent an amp. Keep adding equipment until you have a decent system, no matter how long it takes. Good equipment lasts a long time; there's lots of sound systems from the 80's, and even before, out there gigging every week. Crappy stuff ends up in the garbage after a short amount of time and you're out the money. Also, I suggest that one person (preferrably you, it gives you an advantage and some more pull in the band) invest in the system and take a little larger cut of the money for wear and tear. Going in as a group to buy equipment, especially at your age, is a NIGHTMARE.

[Akami]

Originally Posted by Da LadY In Red

We're not planning on using this PA for anything but drum volume playing.

We need a power amp, can anyone suggest a power amp under $200?

I don't have a particular amp in mind but seeing your budget and requirements reminds me of some of the pa systems I used to see when I was growing up.

Lot of bands used to use whatever guitar/bass amp they could get their hands on and run the mics through them and if you have a mixer it would just be that much easier.

I know as food for thought it's not much but you can at least think of it as an appetizer.

[Wesley R]

1. Do not buy junk. Rent, beg & borrow a cobbled together system for the day first. Do you know other younger bads that could lend stuff. In Jr. & Sr. High we did a lot of that.
2. Bang for the buck stuff can work out well, Peavey, Sonic and Yorkville come to mind.
3. Buy a peice at a time and rent the rest.
4. Making PA cab can be fun (typically you will not save a fortune) plans can be had for free or low cost. Between the ages of 12 and my early 20's, I would build a good cab designed for EV's or other high quality speaker and load them with whatever I had, until I could afford the designed for speaker. We even built VOT's once (goofiest idea we ever had).
5. Some power amps will not die, if cleaned up to reduce the amount of heat build up, they just don't die easily and some are very easily fixed, yet are not worth a lot of $$. They are too heavy and big for most people. The ever beatable and way outdated technology wise (and not sonically flawless) CS800 comes to mind.
6. Buying gear as a band often ends in trouble. After my first experience at it, I prefer to own the PA.
7. The easiest thing to upgrade is the power amp(s). and an old one with a bizillion watts can become part of your garage stereo or the start for your monitor set up.
8. A decent powered mixer can be a darn good start.


Best of Luck,
Wesley R.