Background on my band: we are weekend warriors playing rock / country / drinking music at small to medium sized drinking establishments. Rarely is house sound part of the deal, as these places are focused on serving booze and not serving live music. Being the equipment geek of the group, sound reinforcement has always been my #2 love behind playing the bass. Recording is probably love #3, but like Alton Brown says, that's another show.
At our gig last night, outside on the patio at a local winery, one of the band WAGs snapped this photo which, while a decent pic of us playing, is a great shot of our stage setup for discussion and analysis.
As you can see, we're your everyday two guitars, three vocals, bass, drums rock band. Both guitarists have 12" Fender combos that are mic'd at fairly low volume. The kick, snare and hat are mic'd. The bass is not currently run through the PA, but my Henry cab has enough goodness to carry the stage and room without overpowering either one. I don't get that same effect with smaller bass cabs.
I use a Mackie DL1608, my iPad is on my mic stand connected wirelessly. I have a router on a shelf in the rack you can see along with a Behringer four channel power amp and a rack power strip. The rack allows me to power the mains in stereo while still having two monitor mixes. Each channel on the amp is 2-ohm stable, giving me the intense option of running up to 16 8-ohm speakers, if the need ever arose. So my entire sound setup is contained in a 4U rack with the DL sitting on top.
Right now, speakers are the "weak" link, though have never been an issue. Everything is 12" Yamaha stuff, old mains and newer floor monitors. You can see the one in front of me and our singer; there are two more, not visible, for the other guys. By having the monitors all close to us, stage volume is not an issue and we hear everything through them.
We don't have any subs right now, and I think that's my next upgrade. Given the actual volume of the show, I'm probably going to stick with Yamaha and get a single DXS12 to add some subtle punch to the kick. I have the channels and mics available to mic the two toms on our drummer's kit, just need a few more clip-on's to mount the mics. The sub would help round those out as well. I don't need the volume capability of 18's, nor do I have the physical room to store nor transport that size sub. Eventually, powered 12" mains will be part of the mix, and I'll be able to use the 4-channel amp to give each guy his own monitor mix without having to carry any additional gear.
TL;DR version: I have a small system that makes great sound in the venues we play, and we get continuous compliments on the quality, audibility and not-too-loud-ness of our show. I completed assembling this setup in the last 4 months, and we've never played better than we do now; all as a result of the improved system.
Discuss.
At our gig last night, outside on the patio at a local winery, one of the band WAGs snapped this photo which, while a decent pic of us playing, is a great shot of our stage setup for discussion and analysis.
As you can see, we're your everyday two guitars, three vocals, bass, drums rock band. Both guitarists have 12" Fender combos that are mic'd at fairly low volume. The kick, snare and hat are mic'd. The bass is not currently run through the PA, but my Henry cab has enough goodness to carry the stage and room without overpowering either one. I don't get that same effect with smaller bass cabs.
I use a Mackie DL1608, my iPad is on my mic stand connected wirelessly. I have a router on a shelf in the rack you can see along with a Behringer four channel power amp and a rack power strip. The rack allows me to power the mains in stereo while still having two monitor mixes. Each channel on the amp is 2-ohm stable, giving me the intense option of running up to 16 8-ohm speakers, if the need ever arose. So my entire sound setup is contained in a 4U rack with the DL sitting on top.
Right now, speakers are the "weak" link, though have never been an issue. Everything is 12" Yamaha stuff, old mains and newer floor monitors. You can see the one in front of me and our singer; there are two more, not visible, for the other guys. By having the monitors all close to us, stage volume is not an issue and we hear everything through them.
We don't have any subs right now, and I think that's my next upgrade. Given the actual volume of the show, I'm probably going to stick with Yamaha and get a single DXS12 to add some subtle punch to the kick. I have the channels and mics available to mic the two toms on our drummer's kit, just need a few more clip-on's to mount the mics. The sub would help round those out as well. I don't need the volume capability of 18's, nor do I have the physical room to store nor transport that size sub. Eventually, powered 12" mains will be part of the mix, and I'll be able to use the 4-channel amp to give each guy his own monitor mix without having to carry any additional gear.
TL;DR version: I have a small system that makes great sound in the venues we play, and we get continuous compliments on the quality, audibility and not-too-loud-ness of our show. I completed assembling this setup in the last 4 months, and we've never played better than we do now; all as a result of the improved system.
Discuss.
