Playing Outside. What's the Minimum PA We can Get Away with?

[::::BASSIST::::]

My three piece 'roots rock and rockabilly' is playing an outdoor car show in a few weeks and we have to provide PA as part of the deal. We aren't being paid very much so we don't want to have to spend too much on rentals.

Whats the minimum we can get away with?
PA amp and two large monitors for the audience and two smaller ones for the band?

How about 2 of these for the audience?
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Yorkville - YX15 - Speaker - 300w, 15 inch / 1.4 inch

Do we HAVE to mic the drums or could we get away with just micing the bass kick drum?

 

[modulusman]

For a car show you are basically just there for background noise. You could probably get by with those speakers. Maybe mic the kick just don't expect a lot of thump.

 

[jmcgliss]

One helpful tip is you'll get more coverage and a better sound by running two 8 ohm speakers per side (most PA heads will handle 4ohms per side) than if you crank the amp to '11' with just an 8-ohm load.

In other words, you may think you have a 600watt PA, but that may be the 4ohm rating. Adding speakers may also be cheaper than saying you need a 1200w power amp.

Ahh, you probably know this already from building your bass rig.

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

Yeah, we'd definitely be getting two 8 ohm large-ish speakers.

Nobody thinks I'm crazy so I guess my initial post details will do okay?