Speaker height

[mellowinman]

I use a pair of jbl jrx125s, and have been told right here on this forum that they are an inferior speaker, incapable of sounding good. I don't have any additional subs, or additional speakers out front.

I place them on the stage, when we are on one, and I have built stands for them, for when we don't. At some dive bars, they have very poorly maintained "house" speakers that I place my jrx125s on top of.

When I have them about three feet or so off the floor, these speakers have always sounded fantastic. I drive them with a Crown XLS602 amp, in stereo, 600 watts into 4 ohms. I know very little about the science of sound; and I am poor. This was the best setup I could afford, and it is miles better than any of the borrowed PAs we were using before.

Our sound is clear, and crisp, and has decent lows. We are not a very loud band, and we do that on purpose. We have been asked to turn down before, but I think it was just club owners in the habit of saying that to every band, because our audiences have consistently said we are nowhere near as loud, muddy, or distorted as any of the other bands in town.

I know subs are better on the ground, but it's also good to get your mids and highs up where people can hear them. These speakers, about three feet up, seem to work fine.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I use a pair of jbl jrx125s, and have been told right here on this forum that they are an inferior speaker, incapable of sounding good...

Mr. mellowinman and I are in the same club. Musicians that I know and trust, who have actually seen heard my band, absolutely rave about our sound. Others who have only seen pictures tell me how bad we sound. Granted, the gear pictured below won't work in all situations but it can be made to sound pretty dang good everywhere it fits.

When I need to get my speakers up I use these fold-up worktables.

When I combined my PA with Jack's PA for this gig it was killer.

Since the Mackie speakers were on poles I left mine on the ground. For a small-ish sized outdoor gig (~1000 people), this gear rocked.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[modulusman]

Hi,



Mr. mellowinman and I are in the same club. Musicians that I know and trust, who have actually seen heard my band, absolutely rave about our sound. Others who have only seen pictures tell me how bad we sound. Granted, the gear pictured below won't work in all situations but it can be made to sound pretty dang good everywhere it fits.

When I need to get my speakers up I use these fold-up worktables.

When I combined my PA with Jack's PA for this gig it was killer.

Since the Mackie speakers were on poles I left mine on the ground. For a small-ish sized outdoor gig (~1000 people), this gear rocked.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

OK don't believe what the crack smoking marketing department at Carvin says. That rig you are showing would maybe cover 300 people.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Jeff,

OK don't believe what the crack smoking marketing department at Carvin says. That rig you are showing would maybe cover 300 people.

Perhaps so. But if you were at my gig last week, I wish you would have said "Hi". It would be a pleasure to meet you.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Big_Daws]

honestly the PRX712 with PRX718XLF are a great match...they sound great, the internal crossovers will be perfectly good to use, only need something external if you are mix and matching equipment, or rather would be recommended. the reasoning is that the JBL 700series equipment has been designed to work together in those environments.

im probably going to cop some flack from the "pro cluster subs" peeps, but don't get too caught up on clustering your subs. the only real benifit is an approx 3-6db boost. peeps can argue and show me all the pictures and documents regarding phase cancellation blah blah blah, but at the end of the day you will still get a good sound from a L/R setup with tops on poles. cluster if you want and thats your choice, my opinion is that i wouldn't worry too much personally....

 

[modulusman]

Hi Jeff,



Perhaps so. But if you were at my gig last week, I wish you would have said "Hi". It would be a pleasure to meet you.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Well unfortunately I was playing a gig that night for about 75 people and we were using a 7000 watt system . But doesn't it make you wonder when the morons at the ranch think they need 6 meyer subs to cover a 600 capacity room and your rig could cover a 1000 outdoors. They should have hired you for an audio consultant. Think of all the money they would have saved.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Jeff,

Well unfortunately I was playing a gig that night for about 75 people and we were using a 7000 watt system . But doesn't it make you wonder when the morons at the ranch think they need 6 meyer subs to cover a 600 capacity room and your rig could cover a 1000 outdoors. They should have hired you for an audio consultant. Think of all the money they would have saved.

7000 watts for 75 people. Cool. I guess anything worth doing is worth overdoing!

The rig at my outdoor gig last week was only a total of 1600 watts, not counting the monitor amps. It got the job done. The rig at The Ranch is total overkill and usually runs about 10%-15% of capacity. But the owner has the money and he wanted to spend it. I'm glad you have the resources to run a big PA.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[monkeyland]

I have been doing more research and the qsc kW 153 looks much better with the pole mount ability and with the marching subs being smaller and having casters they definitely seem to be the way to go.

I own 2 kw153 and 4 kw181 and will tell you that they are good stuff. Very clean and clear. I also own some jbl prx 600 series stuff which is good as well but I like the mounting options on the qsc stuff.

Ive used them for some sizeable gigs this year. Of course I have to include a pic or its not real.

 

[modulusman]

Hi Jeff,



7000 watts for 75 people. Cool. I guess anything worth doing is worth overdoing!

The rig at my outdoor gig last week was only a total of 1600 watts, not counting the monitor amps. It got the job done. The rig at The Ranch is total overkill and usually runs about 10%-15% of capacity. But the owner has the money and he wanted to spend it. I'm glad you have the resources to run a big PA.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Actually you were only using 1400 watts but who is counting. Trying to do more than a few hundred people outside without real subs is asking a lot.

 

[Big_Daws]

Well unfortunately I was playing a gig that night for about 75 people and we were using a 7000 watt system . But doesn't it make you wonder when the morons at the ranch think they need 6 meyer subs to cover a 600 capacity room and your rig could cover a 1000 outdoors. They should have hired you for an audio consultant. Think of all the money they would have saved.

im going to go on a limb here and say that this is peak total amp power rated at 2ohms....and if its the system you are showing off in the pics, then its definitely not 7000w

if you are going to quote the watts of a system, make sure its at least accurate to the power you are using....and monitors DON'T count!....

 

[modulusman]

im going to go on a limb here and say that this is peak total amp power rated at 2ohms....and if its the system you are showing off in the pics, then its definitely not 7000w

if you are going to quote the watts of a system, make sure its at least accurate to the power you are using....and monitors DON'T count!....

Well the rig in the pictures belongs to BassCliff. The 7000 watt rig I own is a pair of EAW NT59 over NTS22 subs.

 

[mellowinman]

The point remains. I've taken crap about being "underpowered" from other musicians, but we have great sound, and so many bands I go see are muddy, overly loud, and sound like total crap. They brag about all their wattage and speakers, and they don't even mix in stereo!

 

[walterw]

The point remains. I've taken crap about being "underpowered" from other musicians, but we have great sound, and so many bands I go see are muddy, overly loud, and sound like total crap. They brag about all their wattage and speakers, and they don't even mix in stereo!

forgive the left-handed compliment, but a good soundguy mixing a good band that has their sonic s**t together can make just about any kind of PA setup work.

with proper top boxes up higher in the air over actual subs, i don't doubt you guys could sound even better, as in more even coverage in the room, actual low end, all maybe even at less overall loudness.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Jeff,

Actually you were only using 1400 watts but who is counting. Trying to do more than a few hundred people outside without real subs is asking a lot.

I apologize. I did misquote the specs for the gear we were using last week. The Mackie 808S is rated 1200 watts (2x600w) and my Carvin XP1000L is 1200 watts (3x400w). We were using only two of the 400w amps in my rig, for a total of 2000 watts.

See:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

We use our own PA gear only on the smallest of our gigs, average once a month or less. Most of the time the sound is provided so we let the sound company do their thing. Out of 16 dates next month we will use our PA once. We're playing for Kelly's mom's homeowners association chili cook off. As a favor to her the band is making only $200 each. Otherwise I just have to play my bass, sing my songs, then put my amp and bass in my van, and go home. No hauling/setting up/tearing down speakers, no running cables, no lifting flight cases, no wrapping cables. Heck, half my gigs this summer are even backlined. Walk on stage, plug in, play my show, unplug, walk off, go home. Yes, it's a cushy job. But somebody's got to do it.

Jeff, you've got a very nice PA system. But I thought this thread was about speaker height. I covered my situation in my first post in this thread.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

forgive the left-handed compliment, but a good soundguy mixing a good band that has their sonic s**t together can make just about any kind of PA setup work.

True enough. Take what you got and make it work.

with proper top boxes up higher in the air over actual subs, i don't doubt you guys could sound even better, as in more even coverage in the room, actual low end, all maybe even at less overall loudness.

In a perfect world every band would have a top of the line PA system, the best instruments, the most high fidelity amps that would never break, guitars that would always stay in tune, never play a bad note, and only work places that have free beer for everyone.

But I am just thankful for what I have and I use it to the best of my ability. We do OK.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[mellowinman]

forgive the left-handed compliment, but a good soundguy mixing a good band that has their sonic s**t together can make just about any kind of PA setup work.

with proper top boxes up higher in the air over actual subs, i don't doubt you guys could sound even better, as in more even coverage in the room, actual low end, all maybe even at less overall loudness.

True, but it was all I could do to buy the PA gear we do have. Not to mention, we used to pay soundguys who brought in all kinds of stuff, and not one of them could even get the vocals up where they belong. I will say our drums always sounded fantastic. Seems like a lot of soundguys in this town love a good loud drum kit.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. mellowinman,

True, but it was all I could do to buy the PA gear we do have....

I hear you, brother. We can't really afford a nice, big PA either. Luckily we don't really need one. I'm thankful for what we have and we make it sound good. I'm not one to look down on anyone for the gear they use. You'd be amazed at some of the crap I used to play through. But it was good enough to get me where I am today. Which is pretty much nowhere, but I've had fun getting here!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[walterw]

True, but it was all I could do to buy the PA gear we do have. Not to mention, we used to pay soundguys who brought in all kinds of stuff, and not one of them could even get the vocals up where they belong. I will say our drums always sounded fantastic. Seems like a lot of soundguys in this town love a good loud drum kit.

oh god, lead kick drum or "soundman's disease" i've always called it.

anyway, it's not about high-dollar vs. cheap, these days we can scrape together tops+subs PA systems pretty easily, and get a better sound for not really majorly different money.

 

[modulusman]

Hi Jeff,



I apologize. I did misquote the specs for the gear we were using last week. The Mackie 808S is rated 1200 watts (2x600w) and my Carvin XP1000L is 1200 watts (3x400w). We were using only two of the 400w amps in my rig, for a total of 2000 watts.

See:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

We use our own PA gear only on the smallest of our gigs, average once a month or less. Most of the time the sound is provided so we let the sound company do their thing. Out of 16 dates next month we will use our PA once. We're playing for Kelly's mom's homeowners association chili cook off. As a favor to her the band is making only $200 each. Otherwise I just have to play my bass, sing my songs, then put my amp and bass in my van, and go home. No hauling/setting up/tearing down speakers, no running cables, no lifting flight cases, no wrapping cables. Heck, half my gigs this summer are even backlined. Walk on stage, plug in, play my show, unplug, walk off, go home. Yes, it's a cushy job. But somebody's got to do it.

Jeff, you've got a very nice PA system. But I thought this thread was about speaker height. I covered my situation in my first post in this thread.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Well you are still wrong. The Mackie is rated at 600 watts /channel into a 2 ohm load. You are only using 8 ohm speakers, the Mackie is rated at 300 watts a side into an 8 ohm load. The biggest screw up I saw in the other thread was running the signal from the Mackie into a channel on your Carvin. That is so wrong.

 

[Big_Daws]

Well the rig in the pictures belongs to BassCliff. The 7000 watt rig I own is a pair of EAW NT59 over NTS22 subs.

sorry my bad...late night posting confusion....however my point remains cos i know it happens a lot here....lol