Buying a PA.......HELP!!

emoKILLER

Hi,
The band im are thinking about buying a PA over the summer. there are 5 of us (2 guitar, bass, drums, vocal, 1 backing vocal). We play mainly pubs, some are pretty big so the whold backline will have to be mic'ed up.
We started gigging over the summer, and have been hiring a PA, as we didnt get many gigs when we were starting off, but we are getting more now. The systems we were playing through were 1000w and 1100w, (the 1000w had two 500W tops and a dynacord power mixer, the other system had tops and bins, cant remember the breakdown of power though, and the same dynacord mixer).
Ideally, we would like to get a system with tops and bins with a seperate deck and mixer of around 1000w - 1500w. This will more than likely be bought second hand as 4/5 members are in college, and money is an issue!!!

When it comes to looking at a PA, what parts should we be paying particular attention to? also what makes are good, and what makes should we run away from!!

Help would be greatly appriaciated!

highlydebased

Buy cheap buy twice

emoKILLER

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Buy cheap buy twice

well we will be upgrading it eventaly, the more giggs we get, the more money we have to buy on a better system!! id love to have a proper system around 4 or 5k wats, but we cant afford it, and we dont play night clubs! The only reason we are buying one is in case the one we hire is not available, we have got ripped off a few times before when we had to hire systems at the last minute.

Savman

2 good tops, 2 good subs, a good mixing desk, some good wedges and some good mics.
No specified budget = no answer to your question

Post exactly what you have and then post what you think you need, assuming you've actually bothered doing some googling and this wasn't just your first and last stop in sourcing information.

Man I wish we could make this a sticky.

Savman

BTW Mods, can we please start moving these PA system threads to Music Production as I suggested before, this has nothing to do with Instruments tbh

emoKILLER

Savman wrote: »

2 good tops, 2 good subs, a good mixing desk, some good wedges and some good mics.
No specified budget = no answer to your question

Post exactly what you have and then post what you think you need, assuming you've actually bothered doing some googling and this wasn't just your first and last stop in sourcing information.

budget of around €1500 - €2000

no i have been looking for a few weeks, and yes i have googled...a lot: most systems on thomann are either **** (the box!), or way too expensive.

Ive seen a few systems on the buy and sell that would probably be good enough for us, pretty much looking for any advice when it comes to turning up at sombodys house, and actualy trying out a potiental system. Anyting we should be looking out for, or anything we should be paying a lot af attention to?

Grolschevik

Savman wrote: »

BTW Mods, can we please start moving these PA system threads to Music Production as I suggested before, this has nothing to do with Instruments tbh

(Imagine Aretha Franklin's Voice:) "You need some sugah in yo coffee, big time!"

In all seriousness, if you think a question is a waste of time, then why in the hell would you post a response to it? All you are doing is making me and others like me click on the "last posted" icon in order to see something like "plus one plus one smiley face smiley face". If you don't like the question, or could care less, don't bother to answer. It's not like we're wasting your time, unless you want your time to be wasted. In which case, you're wasting your time!

And while you're at it, google "tolerance". I love google...

Savman

Grolschevik wrote: »

(Imagine Aretha Franklin's Voice:) "You need some sugah in yo coffee, big time!"

In all seriousness, if you think a question is a waste of time, then why in the hell would you post a response to it? All you are doing is making me and others like me click on the "last posted" icon in order to see something like "plus one plus one smiley face smiley face". If you don't like the question, or could care less, don't bother to answer. It's not like we're wasting your time, unless you want your time to be wasted. In which case, you're wasting your time!

And while you're at it, google "tolerance". I love google...

What are you on about? I never said the OP's question was a waste of time, but it's clearly unrelated to Instruments when there's a Music Production forum.

What any of this has got to do with you is anyone's guess, so pipe down unless you've got something worthwhile to add.

emoKILLER wrote:

budget of around €1500 - €2000

Good luck with that, seriously. If that's your max budget then I'd suggest getting the best you can afford with a view to adding more later if you need to. IMO you'd be better off ditching the powered desk set up and getting a straight forward mixer + amps + passive speaker combo. You can look at self powered speakers if you prefer not lugging around poweramps.

If I was spending that budget I'd look at a pair of Mackie SRM450 and one or two dB Technologies Sub15. There's no fast and easy rule of thumb for buying second hand, completely depends on what gear you're after so each has to be taken on its own merit.

If I was you I'd take time and get the right rig, this could be the best €2k ever spent or it could quite possibly be the worst €2k you've ever wasted.

emoKILLER

Savman wrote: »

If I was spending that budget I'd look at a pair of Mackie SRM450 and one or two dB Technologies Sub15. There's no fast and easy rule of thumb for buying second hand, completely depends on what gear you're after so each has to be taken on its own merit.

If I was you I'd take time and get the right rig, this could be the best €2k ever spent or it could quite possibly be the worst €2k you've ever wasted.

Thanks, i build a system with 2 Mackie SRM450s and 1 dB Technologies Sub15. came to nearly 3k with mixer, amp, cables, mics and stands. we might have a bigger budget in the summer! il let ye know how we get on when we eventually get a PA!

Savman

If you can't stretch that far well then I'd recommend you seriously consider the SRM450's and a good desk (A&H MixWiz or market equivelant). You can always add Subs later if you wish.

But if you do go with just the 2 tops, I wouldn't recommend sending a Mic'd kick drum thru the rig til you get the Sub(s). The Mackie's are good at guitars and vocals, if you're trying to run a full kit thru them not only might you blow a woofer but they'll run out of steam in no time.

unclebill98

Just to add, Mackie have release a new version of the SRM450's, so there are a lot of place doing good deals on the older version.

Savman

True but the new ones are a horrible blue :eek:

unclebill98

Oh, yeah...I suppose....

Demeyes

I would recommend going for a mixer/poweramp/passive speaker system instead of getting a powered mixer. That way you can upgrade much more easily in the future.
I've seen bands get away with a decent system on that budget. You might want to get some parts used, as long thay are in good nick you won't have a problem. I'd say go overkill with power if you can, its always beter to have it than to not, and you don't want to push a PA too hard which you'll end up doing if its underpowered.
Go for a good set of speakers. If you don't have the money for subs you can get a decent set of tops that will get you by for a while, then add the subs later. Very cheap speakers will not hold be worth it for you, they'll die and you'll have to replace them. Thomann brand speakers are not bad though and are priced well.
As for putting kick through the system without subs, its not the best practice I suppose but you can get away with a bit, maybe cut some of the lows. People do it all the time.