Buying gear for band

ImDave

Not sure exactly where to post this so Mods feel free to move.

My band is looking to get gear together. We have played about 25 gigs over the past three months, and feel it's time to give it a proper go, because up to now we have been borrowing PA equipment. Basically what I'm wondering is, what is the best way to finance a loan to get gear? Theres 3 in the band, and we need about 7K for gear and a van. Just wondering if anyone has been through this kind of thing before?

feylya

It might be better in Music Production/Bands and Musicians but I'll leave it here for a while.

Before you buy anything, make sure you get an agreement drawn up and signed by each member of the band. Once any sort of money starts getting involved, bands can turn sour very quickly. Make sure you have it defined so that if the band finishes or if someone leaves that you know how the gear will be split etc.

Sergio

go your local credtunion my friend and get aloan there.thats where i go for all my loans over the years for cars,amps,guitars etc
the loans are much more flexible than banks and they interest rates are much better also.

darrenw5094

Recently we got the PA sorted......finally.

2 x HK 400w@8 ohm tops - thomann.de €400
2 x HK 500w@4 ohm bass speakers - thomann.de €500
2 adjustable poles - thomann.de €20 each
Crown Xti 2000 power amp for tops - dolphinmusic.co.uk €714
Crown Xti 1000 power amp for bass - dolphinmusic.co.uk €514
Soundcraft M12 mixing desk - dolphinmusic.co.uk €495
3 x Second hand unpowered dynacord monitors 300w@8 ohms - €250 each
2 x t.amp TA1050 MK-X power amplifier for monitors - thomann.de €198 each
About €300 for leads
€100 for each vocal Sure SM58 mic.
€100 for each guitar amp Sure SM57 mic.
Berinhger crossover - thomann.de €150.

For everything else there is mastercard.

thumpybum

Ive extensive experience on this. Few things to consider, if you buy a van, someone has to have it in their name which means tax and insurance and somewhere to store it which means added responsability for one of the band members. Investigate one of you owning it outright and taking a cut from each gig for recompense.

Darren has given quite a good list of what youll need for a rig, keep an eye on adverts and buyandsell and youll get things together very quickly. think he covered most with 2 tops, 2 bins, monitors, amps, leads,

Id add a couple more things that Id class essential like lighting - buy cheaply at first, if things work out spend more on this. Dont go for DJ gobos or scanners, go for splash or stage wash type. Id advise try and get some of the new LED par cans on thomann, if you go for normal bulb lights and if youre doing 10 gigs a month you'll be constantly spending money on bulbs as most of those only have 80 hour lifespan, do the maths, LEDs have 100,000 hour lifespan and they run cold.

If you have the cash try for a digital desk, else you should be able to pick up a SH analog for anything from 300 upwards.

dedicated drum mike set - depending on your kit, thomann have sets starting from about the 200 mark,

If you have the digita desk you wont need FX, grafix, delay units, gates etc but if you go for analog I think the following IMHO are essential

house grafix - DBX on thomann - 185 e

monitor grafix, as above or some of the cheaper T stuff on thomann

vocal delay - can start cheap with something like this

drum gate

Get advice on everything before deciding.

As the guys have already said, despite best intentions things can turn sour very quickly where money is concerned, so everything has to be written down. Human beings, cash and grey areas are not a good combination.

Id advise signing up to gmail if not on already and start using their spreadsheets, start one for the band, share it between the lads to track all the gear and the finances. track it to the penny.

unclebill98

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055291037

Have a look at this tread. Folks in Music Production can help you out.

Savman

EI-DAV wrote:

My band is looking to get gear together. We have played about 25 gigs over the past three months, and feel it's time to give it a proper go, because up to now we have been borrowing PA equipment. Basically what I'm wondering is, what is the best way to finance a loan to get gear? Theres 3 in the band, and we need about 7K for gear and a van. Just wondering if anyone has been through this kind of thing before?

Slippery, slippery slope!

darrenw5094 wrote: »

Recently we got the PA sorted......finally.

2 x HK 400w@8 ohm tops - thomann.de €400
2 x HK 500w@4 ohm bass speakers - thomann.de €500
<snip>
Crown Xti 2000 power amp for tops - dolphinmusic.co.uk €714
Crown Xti 1000 power amp for bass - dolphinmusic.co.uk €514
<snip>
Berinhger crossover - thomann.de €150.

Just curious, any reason why you have a Behringer Crossover if your Crown XTi amps have built-in DSP?
Also, if you ever want to get better performance from your speakers they could sure take a wee bit more power than you're giving them currently. 600-800w for your tops and easily 750-1000w for your Subs.

That aside, I'd say that's a nice rig?

darrenw5094

Savman wrote: »

Slippery, slippery slope!


Just curious, any reason why you have a Behringer Crossover if your Crown XTi amps have built-in DSP?
Also, if you ever want to get better performance from your speakers they could sure take a wee bit more power than you're giving them currently. 600-800w for your tops and easily 750-1000w for your Subs.

That aside, I'd say that's a nice rig?

Don't have the crossover yet.....our sound man does something with the cables from the desk to the four speakers. There is only 2 outputs on the souncraft desk, as normal, but there is 4 speakers to hook up to. The crossover will also act like a multi input/output....2 inputs/6 outputs.
We have the Crown amps working the DSP alright....

Not sure about the speakers.....the tops are rated at [email]400w@8ohms....the[/email] crown XTI gives [email]475w@8ohms....whic[/email]h i thought was ok.
Then the bass bins are [email]500w@4ohms.....the[/email] Crown XTI 1000 gives 500w@4ohms.......i didn't want to go overload.....

As you can probably tell from this....the sound part is not my job....just the guitar playing.

Savman

Nah you won't overload them, but down the line if you ever want a bit more power just give it to 'em, anything up to 2x they're RMS ratings in fact.

darrenw5094

Would more powerfull amps give the HK speakers better sound quality??

Not understanding the watts/RMS stuff....

Savman

Ideal power for a speaker is 1.5 to 2 times it's RMS rating. Your HK's are probably 400w RMS / 800w Program. Technically as long as you are giving it anywhere between those 2 numbers then it will perform as it should, but it would be no harm aiming to give it closer to the Program power rating where possible.