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pa setup question for this weekend

R

rcroach

Dec 21, 2010
17
0
#1
we are playing at a place called the tipsy teapot this weekend in greenville, n.c. my buddy went there to a show last week to see this or the apocalypse (which wound up not playing) and some other touring bands. he said they had no pa to speak of and the room has a 30 ft ceiling and the bands play on the floor. i just learned that my friend has 2 fender 18 inch subs and two 15's and a 1200 watt powered board. my singer also has two 2x15 jbl's and behringer mixing board with 2 power amps. im not familiar wth the ins and outs of live sound so im asking if anybody would know how i could best set this up.it looks like we are going to try to sound at this one. we played at a place like this once with no p.a and a high ceiling and it was horrible, we play rock/metal by the way. we have some mics for the drums and possibly some for the guitar but the main thing would be getting those 18's running for the low end. the 15's should be sufficiant for the guitars and vcals in that room i would think. what do you guys think? any help would be greatly apperciated. if you need more info on the room or our equipment for an answer please just ask thank you and god bless, AARON
so we have: two fender 18 inch cabs, 2 yamaha 15's, two 2x15 jbl's, a behringer mixer w/2 power amps (not sure of the wattage) and another powered 1200 watt mixer (not sure what brand). we only have 3 mics for the drums however and i think we have 2 for the guitar cabs. not sure what im gonna do with the bass yet. weve never had to use any of our stuff before for live sound so im wondering what will be most effective in a rectangular room with a high ceiling while playing in the floor.
 
#3
If you can't afford to hire someone for this show to provide sound then in my opinion just run a vocal only PA.

There are too many things you are leaving out of what you have (crossover, EQ's, power amps, etc) to even provide enough info of were to help.
You would be better off hiring a local sound tech to come and check out the gear you have to even see if it is worth while using for your application.

Even if you do that, you will not have enough time to figure everything out by this weekend.

Avoid the un-needed stress and panic on gig day, go with a simple vocal only PA and have fun.
A room with high ceilings tends to get very loud all on it's own and it's real easy to make it sound real bad when using equipment you don't have figured out.
 
#4
I would hire a complete sound guy if you can afford it this time. Too much stuff to figure out in too little time. Getting the gear, cables, stands, mics, EQ, crossover, and efx is one thing, getting it all together in 2 or 3 days is another, unless someone in the band is already pretty experienced in pro sound. I know it costs money, but you need to ask is it a gig that you have to sound good at? You remembered that the last band sounded bad, and your audience will remember the same thing about your band...

If you think you can get it together, I like the vocal only PA idea as a starter. Use the powered board for your main board, but use the internal amp for the monitors on stage. Use one amp and two mains for the audience. Maybe one of the amps has a built in crossover. If so, use it for the subs. I don't know of any 18" fender subs, but maybe they exist. You need to find some mics to sing through. Maybe pull one of the mics from the drums and just mic the snare and kick. It's added stress that a soundman will take care of for $$$, so good luck!
Wes
 
#5
How did the gig go?

I was off line last week or I would have chimed in.

The biggest thing to remember in big high ceiling rooms is too not drive the room too hard. All too often I see bands with small, loud PAs pushing them too loud. If you do you'll be fighting the echo all night and (unless you're in an anechoic chamber) the echo always wins.

You're better off with more speaker cone area at lower volume.

And a good graphic equalizer (or two) is a MUST.
 

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