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Need help putting together a PA

#41
Somebody has been drinking the Bose marketing kool-aid.:eyebrow: Your band plays through one tower? I imagine the kick drum sounds wonderful without any subs. :rollno: All other PAs sound like cardboard, you must be smoking crack. Oh and I have heard the bose stuff, and while they sound great with a solo or duo they leave alot to be desired for a full band unless you are using one stick per band member and lots of the subs.
 
#43
modulusman said:
Somebody has been drinking the Bose marketing kool-aid.:eyebrow: Your band plays through one tower? I imagine the kick drum sounds wonderful without any subs. :rollno: All other PAs sound like cardboard, you must be smoking crack. Oh and I have heard the bose stuff, and while they sound great with a solo or duo they leave alot to be desired for a full band unless you are using one stick per band member and lots of the subs.
Click to expand...

You've never played with a drummer that doesn't bash, have you? We use it for vocals. Guitar, bass and keys fill the room with the amps only. Depending on the room we'll mic the kick cause it's only a 20' and when we mic it, it's with a Shure 57.

No you could not do this if your drummer is a basher, but then again nothing will sound as good as it could if you play with a basher. The key to a good sound is to find the right volume level and narrow down your footprint a little in the EQ. Super low bass and kick drums = mud. Screechy lead guitar & cymbals = hearing damage. Subs were invented to help your main system, not overpower it. As such, the Bose tower does have a sub, just not something intended to pulverize the building's foundation.

We've played for crowds of about 200 this way and never needed more power. Like I said in my original post, it depends on how much power you need. If you're trying to fill the Wembley stadium or recreate Woodstock, by all means get a massive rig. If you're trying to fill a room of 800 heads or less, two towers will do fine, IF you don't have a John Bonham wannabe show up.
 
#45
lol, no, but you would probably need more of them for a big loud band. They only have 3 mic inputs and one line input each. To run a fully miced band you'd need a second tower or a mixer. Which we used to do, but it's not as convenient as using it for just vocals. It's great for putting music on between sets too. Just stick an iPod into the USB and press play. You can do that with just about any PA set-up, but it sounds great on the tower. The real cool thing about it is you can fill a room without cranking the volume.
 
#47
JimmyM said:
instead of 3-ways with no sub, i would go sub/tops but that's just me i guess. don't know if that will save you money, though. also, do you need 24 channels and 6 monitor sends? if you could cut back to 16 channels and 4 monitor sends, that could save you a few hundy on a board. really, though, unless the band is willing to cut a few corners here and there, i don't see how you can do it.
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We agree - how about that :-)

Allen & Heath MixWiz (any version).

Powered isn't bad for mains, bit it's a real nuisance for monitors. And if you need an amp rack for the monitors, might as well have un-powered mains as well.
 
#50
advantages of powered monitors:
1. 4 separate mixes (from 4 auxes or course, Get a snake with 8 aux sends)
2. pay more for powered cabs but save on amps, cases, and cables
3. Less gear to pack in/out
4. If you need a longer cable to reach them, hook 2 mic cables together
5. simpler set up
6. Usually have some Volume, EQ controls that can be fine tuned if need be from stage.

Disadvantage: They cost more, can't hook 2 speaker cables together if your cables are short for where you need them, running extension/power cables to them.


with passive you would need 2 stereo amps, (4 separate amp channels) just for monitors if you need 4 separate mixes, more racks, speaker cables, and alot more stuff to carry and setup.

Also say you want 3 monitors with one mix and 1 with a separate mix. 3 powered mon can be daisy chained on one aux, 1 on its own aux, simpler than slaving amps and such as some amps can't run 3-8 ohm cabs on one side of a stereo amp and even if the amp can do that (2 ohm amp load required) the power is different with the 3 cabs on one amp channel and one on the other. Its more tweeking to get monitor volumes evened out if that is a factor for your setup.
 
#51
I second the motion on a dbx Drive Rack Pa or PA+. This unit replaces the cost of EQ, Compression, Crossover, and deessing on the back end of your system. Plus with the RTA mic, it'll automatically eek out your system for any different room you play. Plus, Hardon stands behind their stuff. I mean REALLY stands behind it. I recently bought a used PA and discovered that my new line of XTI amps were not listed. For $15, I sent my unit to there Maintenance department in Utah. They placed some sort of extra memory hardware on the board, replaced my scratched up LED display, loaded it up with the latest software and sent it back at no cost with a nice dbx golf shirt in the box. Did I mention this is used. I don't have a warranty. It's just good business. I'm more likely to get those new JBL subs, knowing my drive rack has a preset for them.
 
#52
My band auditioned a Guitarist vocalist awhile back. He had the newest Bose gear, a sub and two towers. Sounded good, not bad at all BUT it would not keep up volume wise as just vocal monitors in our practice room and we are not the loudest band I've been in either. Extremely overated gear unless you are a duo or solo acoustic act. Just can't hang with Guitar, bass, and drums at a decent level. My little 6 channel mackie mixer and two DB 500 Watt powered monitors just smoked the boss volumewise
 

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