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Looking for a decent PA system for a band on a budget

J

Jon_West

Jan 8, 2009
388
14
GTA, Ontario
#1
I'm with a small jazz combo (guitar, trumpet, drums, maybe keys, and bass (me)) and we're getting ready to do our first gig. Just jazz standards right now in a small venue. Nothing loud at all.

I was wondering what you guys would recommend for a nice good quality (for the price) portable PA system on a "working man's budget", or have any tips on what to look for when purchasing a PA system.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks. :D
 
#5
For a grand, you should be able to put together a nice little PA... Especially if you shop used. I would recommend Peavey. For a small PA you could either go with a powered mixer and a couple speakers or powered speakers (amp is built into the cab) and a mixer. Don't forget to save some cash for microphones!
 
#6
The question of how much PA you need/want really depends on where it willl be used, and how many people you are playing to. I did a PA gig for a friend's band with similar instrumentation to yours outdoors for about 300 people. I took a 4500 watt mono tri-amp setup and it worked out perfectly. Inside in a small venue this system would be overkill.

You could start with a small mixer and a pair of powered speakers. Then you need mics cables and a couple of DI boxes. After that think about some monitors.

If you are mic-ing drums and bass your channel requirements go up rather rapidly and you will want to add a sub-woofer.

-mike
 
#7
How much of your instrumentation do you think yo'll need to run through the PA? I assume the guitar, bass, and keys are each playing through their own amp and if you're playing small clubs you probably won't need to mic the drums. So all that's left is the trumpet and any vocals.

You could start with something as small as this:
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140 watts a side @ 8 ohms isn't going to give you ear-bleeding volume levels, but you could still put a little guitar & keys through it just to help get them over the drums.

I would suggest running any bass through it, nor would I mic the drums with a setup this small, but it would get you out & gigging for under $1,000.00
 
#12
Kirkowitz said:
I have the XR8600 and it sounds great. If you want or need to add monitors later there are two power amps in the mixer. Pretty cool. I think you have a lot of options in that price range.
Click to expand...

I use the XR 8600 at least once a week and It has been holding up great. Just enough options, plenty of power, rock solid. Yamaha makes great powered mixers too, just keep an eye out for some used stuff and you can definately be in business for $1k

Stumbo, where's the links man? :D

I feel let down..
 
#14
Heres my cheapy p.a.
We had a mini festival with 5 bands on saturday , outside and it sounded really good.
2x chinese digisynthetic 500 watt 15 inch active speakers, HK$4000- US$500
behringer 1832 10 input mixer HK$3000-US370
2 x old yamaha 100 w full range powered cabs with self added tweeters, second hand pair HK$800- US$100

So total 970. Everyone complimented the sound.For 1000 bucks you have to suck up not having the brand name stuff, forget mackie etc, or go with with second hand stuff , but it is possible if you shop around, thoug of course chinese gear is MUCH cheaper here in Hong Kong
 
#16
^^^^^This.^^^^^

I found an almost new Kustom P.A. off Craigslist for $375. Powered [200watts x2] 8 channel mixer head, 2-15" Mains, 2-10" monitors, Speaker stands, 2 AKG Mics, speaker cables, mic cables! Not a bad little system. And yeah, it's cheap but it works. I could use some powered monitors and a powered sub and I'll be good to go. I plan to step up to a Mackie powered mixer head that pushes 800 watts x2 at some point.
 
#20
i've bought a good bit of Used gear in my 35 years of playing out ...

i would never buy Used PA speakers ..!! anything else ..yeh ..

but speakers usually get used and abused by idiots who know nothing about Sound ... or power/distortion/blah/blah .

i would agree with a mixer and some powered speakers ...
then ad a sub later ... get the most power for the bucks you can afford ... and whatever you can carry ..! more power equals Cleaner Better sound quality - not neccesarily more volume ...

good luck ...! Dave C.
 

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