Amp/Speaker Configuration for a Trio

[Tituscrow]

Having been in a trio for years, we generally have two set-ups....a practice set-up, with the three of us effectively forming a triangle all facing inwards, and a live set-up which is as straightforward as you like, ie three of us in a line, drummer in the middle.

However, on that perpetual quest to find the best sound, we occasionally tinker...you know, speakers at angles or different heights, standing on the opposite side of the drummer to your amp, we've even had the drummer play stage-left facing towards stage middle.

Anyone got any good tips for optimal positioning of speakers/monitors etc for a trio?

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

What type of music?

What size of venue(s)?

What kind of SPL?

Main attraction or background music? (Some honesty required )

How heavy handed a drummer?

Well, the list goes on forever IME.


The approach I've found out to be most effective in smallish places with low to moderate SPL is a single point source, ie. one sub, one satellite next to the drummer. A kind of variation of the wall of sound if You wish. No additional monitoring required.

Ideally, IME again, both the assumed guitarist, or any other "trebly" instrument player and the bass player go direct, or their amps are close to the "mains". On stands obviously. In a corner it works very well, but if one plays along the long wall of the venue, another satellite next to the first one widens the mid+high frequency distribution nicely.

If the required SPL is too high for regular mics to work without feedback in WOS arrangement, then the satellites are placed on their "standard" positions on both sides of the stage. The sub somewhere near the acoustical plane of the mains, unless there's a way to phase align the PA.

These are some crude guidelines I've found out to work with trio and quartet SR, but there's probably more than one way to skin a ... rat.

Regards
Sam

 

[MNAirHead]

I'm a fan of the new powered mains clustered

 

[Tituscrow]

Wow. Plenty to think about there...far more than I had considered. I guess it's the geek in me trying to visualise the acoustics, but bottom line is, it's got to sound good from as many different standpoints as possible.

As far as type of music goes, we rock. Hard

 

[Tuned]

Yorkville NX25's are the only affordable powered speaker I know that is not in dire need of EQ. They're as plug-and-play as they get. QSC's are great too, but much more expensive. JBL PRX's are highly overrated, all 2-ohm drivers on class D amps (including the subwoofers!), and the 600 series have digital processors that introduces noticeable latency.

If you really want to pound grab yourself a Peavey IPR 3000 and Yorkville LS608 subwoofer. You're probably wondering why get powered tops and a passive sub. First, the LS608 is not available powered. The powered LS801P is 140lbs compared to the LS608's 86lbs and IPR 3000's 7lbs. Every subwoofer smaller/lighter/cheaper than the LS608 sucks, they all have not nearly as much punch and instead lots of overtones.

The IPR 3000 has a built-in crossover which you obviously set to subwoofer (100Hz LPF). Class D is not great to use with subwoofers because of a low damping factor of 200 but if you drive the sub with both sides in parallel it ups the damping factor to 400, pretty close to class AB amps. That'll get you about 600W at 8 Ohms, trust me, it'll be plenty, the LS 608 is very efficient. Worst case scenario you can also slam the limiter on IPR amps all night and they never even heat up, and the LS608 won't take damage either. Definitely the best boom for the buck, size, and weight.

 

[MNAirHead]

for a trio.. often we use a single EV live X... only amp is a bass amp.

 

[4Mal]

MNAirhead got it right up above. Generally I run a very small amp as a monitor for my trio. The mains carry the room. My trio is acoustic guitar, percussion,bass and vocals. We all sing lead and harmony. Lot's of Eagles, PPL, Sheryl Crow, etc... Acoustic pop. So the vocals are just about the whole enchilada for us. So stage volume is very low so that we can really hear each other singing...