PA shopping, I was suggested this....thoughts?

[Tombolino]

Hi friends,

My rep at Sweetwater recommended these PA speakers and monitors. Wanted to know your thoughts on them? For the speakers, not only sound quality and durability are important but also the weight (the lighter the better).

My band is 6 people, all genres: drums, bass, keys, lead guitar, ocassional 2nd gtr, 2 lead vox, 2 back up vox.


Two of these:
Thump15 - Mackie 15" BiAmped PA Speaker
Mackie Thump15 | Sweetwater.com

Two of these which I think are the monitors.
Thump12 - Mackie 12" BiAmped PA Speaker
Mackie Thump12 | Sweetwater.com

For the Mixer, I am certain I will go with this:
XR18 - Behringer XR18 X-air Digital Rack Mixer
Behringer XR18 X Air | Sweetwater.com

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thank you

Sebastian

 

[RustyAxe]

On a budget (as I suspect price was a major factor), that might be fine. It would be for the kind of music I play, anyway. Behringer is what it is ... I've had lots of B gear that didn't give me any problems. The Thumps are OK, get pretty loud. But ... not knowing what the application is it's hard to tell if it's right for you. What kind of room are you aiming to fill? Is EVERYTHING going through the PA? If you run drums you have another world of complexity ... compressions, gates, limiters and such ... and you'd need a subwoofer (and crossover). Same goes for bass. The guys at Sweetwater usually know their stuff, and should have asked you a zillion questions before making the recommendation. You could always call and get a different rep, see what he/she comes up with.

 

[seamonkey]

You might also want to look at
Turbosound iNSPIRE iP2000 | Sweetwater.com

There's a lot of advantage for a simple PA to use a column approach.
Skip the monitors and look for starting IEM

 

[Tombolino]

thanks. I def dont expect to mike the drums no. This would be our PA for pubs, bars, private parties, ocassional medium sized stage.

Im not sure if I would run Bass and Guitar through PA as we will have amps, but would be nice to have the option in case it sounds better (but we wouldnt mike bass or guitar amp no).

 

[TimmyP]

I would look in the local used market. You should get more for your money.

 

[Tombolino]

skip the monitors? how? Whats IEM?

Thanks!

 

[4Mal]

Thumps. I lost 2 of 3 on a gig. Someone pulled an outlet bar during tear down and then plugged it back in. There were a few other speakers on that chain. Only the thumps blew... Yep. Thumps are cheap... AMS fixed 'em under warranty. I only had to pay for shipping to new jersey - from washington state...

 

[seamonkey]

skip the monitors? how? Whats IEM?

Thanks!

Ask your rep at Sweetwater
"In Ear Monitor" (ear buds)
They are everywhere, and a good investment. Those new digital mixers let people control their own mix.
Many options.

Singers can hear themselves, and mix in some keys or guitar and Bass, and the drums are muted because they are ear buds that block other sounds.

 

[tbirdsp]

My thoughts:
I had a pair of Behringer B212D powered speakers which I sold. I decided I still wanted a single powered speaker to use for practice/monitor if needed. Picked up a Mackie Thump 12. In my opinion the Behringers were better - the Thump runs out of power and distorts quickly - nowhere near as powerful as the Behingers in my experience. Plus I really hate that it has NO 1/4" input.
I suggest you skip the 15" speakers and get 12's. No need for the 15's if you aren't micing drums or bass. If you ever get to that point just add a subwoofer to the system.
The XR18 Air digital mixer should be a great unit. However - no offense, but do you know what you are getting into? Digital mixers can be pretty complex (our regular sound guy uses an X32). I only ask because you are asking some pretty basic PA questions otherwise. I think the XR18 is kind of overkill for where you are at - however it might not make sense to get a cheaper new analog mixer and then have to upgrade later. That said - you should be able to find a decent used analog mixer cheap which would do for now.
If you go in-ears - I think you will have to put a least a few mics on the drums and run everything else through the PA - just so you can hear everything in your ears. If you have good sealing ear buds they will block everything out almost TOO well - when I use IEM I have the drums pretty loud in my ears - couldn't hear them well enough otherwise. IEM may be beyond the budget of your band right now - I'd say $600 per person minimum for good entry level stuff.

Just my opinions and experience....

 

[slavetothegrind]

our band has a pair of 12" thumps and a pair of SRM450's Version 1.
i hear you on the weight the srm's are heavy enough but MUCH better sounding than the thumps and get more than loud enough for pubs and function rooms
we run vocals only through them, the thumps are our monitors, just about loud enough ( 5 piece rock covers band)
i would definitely look at second hand options to get better bang for your buck!
durability wise they have been fine so far!

on the mixer side we have currently a mackie vlzpro1202 and an alesis midiverb for a little colour on the vocals, it does the job fine.

i would put more budget into the speakers first and save for the fancy mixer later, no amount of eq verb or delay will make bad speakers sound good!

whatever you decide keep on rockin'!!!!!

 

[Bufalo]

Have you determined or stated your budget? That should be the place to start. I understand that the newest Mackie Thumps that were introduced within the last few months are much better than the previous iterations, but there are probably better options. Again, depending on your budget. With 6 band members, in-ear monitors will very quickly get expensive. If you're shopping in a Thump market-space, then you're probably not in that fiscal neighborhood to begin with.

 

[walterw]

Whats IEM?

!!

this tells me you probably shouldn't be buying PA gear, you're just gonna be a target for getting sold the wrong stuff and would have a miserable time trying to run it.

hire a soundguy for your gigs, let him take care of all of it! you'll sound way better and have way more fun. do this for a while, see what they're using and how they're using it, ask questions and learn about the gear for a while, then start putting together a system when you know what's what.

 

[tycobb73]

I can only repeat what I've seen on sound forums, over and over again, no personal experience but this is what keeps showing up.

The behringer board is great.

The thumps suck. If that is your budget Alto is a much better option.

15s are a bad idea. You're better to get 12s and a sub.

Talk to the guys at northern sound and light.

 

[tycobb73]

ProSoundWeb Community - Index

 

[Tombolino]

thanks. So two 12s plus the sub?

 

[modulusman]

Not sure about the newer thumps that the sweetwater rep recommended. The older ones sucked and didn't get very loud at all. Mackie either fixed that with the newer versions or learned how to lie better. I would look at the Yamaha dbr series or maybe the EV ZLX

 

[fisticuffs]

I prefer the low end EV and Yamaha powered speakers. And I like 12's and a sub better than a 15. I agree if you are only running vocals forget the fancy mixer and get something smaller. You can upgrade that later. Spend the money on the speakers. Don;t forget you are going to need cables etc.

 

[tbirdsp]

thanks. So two 12s plus the sub?

Yes. Personally I wouldn't play any modern music that has drums without running a sub and micing at least the kick drum.
Two more powered 12's for monitors would be the minimum in my opinion - you will probably want a total of 4 monitors.

Our singer has a good small system that is two EV ELX112P with one ELX118P sub. The EV ZLX are good too though.

 

[Tombolino]

Thanks guys! I ask this in total ignorance....does miking only the bass drum suffice as far as drum goes for non big gigs?

 

[Tombolino]

And why 12s better than 15s?