Change of equipment advice

[LouiseJames26]

Hi all.

 

Hoping for some advice - I am a solo female singer who gigs mainly in pubs and social clubs, though sometimes in larger venues or outdoors (but very rarely), and I work with backing tracks rather than any instruments. I use effects on my voice and use my laptop to play my tracks.

 

I currently have a Dynacord Powermate 1000 mark 1 paired with some EV ZX4 Speakers, which have worked well for me for over 10 years now. I have always had my dad with me to do all the heavy lifting and setup, but sadly as he is getting older, these are getting a bit too heavy for him to carry around, and have always been too heavy for me!

 

So I am hoping to sell these and get something else. I need a setup that provides the same decent sound as my current dynacord and speakers do, but something a lot more lightweight that I will be able to carry myself. If they could be more compact as well that would be ideal as I have a tiny car, but that is not the most important thing to be honest. I think something around 15kg per item would be fine, and my budget is around £1000-£1200.

 

Any advice would be great as I did go in to a music store to see if I could try anything, but the guy there didn't seem to know what he was talking about.

 

Thanks in advance =)

[Shaster]

Although I own the Bose L1 Compact system, I don't normally like Bose (although I do like the L1 Compact). However, for backing tracks and a female voice I think Bose just might work for you. The system you have now is very nice. I'm a fan of the Dynacord stuff and of EV but I'm thinking if you can get the volume you need out of a Bose system that could be your solution. I know a couple of female singers that have the Bose L1 model 1S (their mid line model) and it serves them well. I'm not wildly crazy about how they handle male vocals, but female vocals sound quite good through them. Here's a Canadian link https://www.long-mcquade.com/82376/P...ray-System.htm

 

BTW, while I like the Bose L1 Compact and it's price to performance ratio, I don't think it would be loud enough for some of the gigs you do. I'm not even positive the system I recommended would be. You would have to try it and see.

 

You'll also need a small mixer, but I wouldn't bother with the Bose Tone Match mixer. Get a small Soundcraft, allen & Heath or perhaps Yamaha

[Drummer44]

The EV ZXA1s weigh 8.62 kg. We have ZXA1-90s, and I believe they'd be fine for most (maybe all) of the pubs I ever visited, and presumably for most social clubs... although we also mate those with the ZXA1-Sub (20.9 kg).

 

The unpowered ZX1 versions weigh 8.4 kg, might be more compatible with you Dynacord (I'm not familiar with that).

 

If the ZX1/ZXA1 weights seem useful, maybe audition at a store to see if compatible with your voice?? Then if still promising, maybe rent some for a trial at one of your venues?

 

Might not be enough for especially large venues, but maybe hiring speakers for those occasions could be an option.

 

-D44

 

[daddymack]

Welcome, LouiseJames26, to our little corner of the musical world...

 

The drawback will be that the 15" speakers you have now give you excellent bass response which you will lose to some degree by going to an 8" woofer like in the ZX1-90, although you would get twice the wattage. So odds are you would need a sub.

I have yet to find a compact sub that sounded really good, or a full-on sub that was not a PITA weight-wise, kind of the nature of the beast. Not knowing the type of music you are performing, it is a little hard to give you a definitive answer, but something like the Bose Compact, which has a decent bass module might meet your needs, but large venues and outdoor gigs are going to be a challenge.

There are a number of new linear array/sub combos on the market, and I would think this is the right direction for you, but as far as the weight...hard to say.

[Shaster]

For a couple of months, I used the ZX1-90's on a once a week gig I was doing. I really liked them. If you're pushing any volume with tracks though, you will need a sub. They only go down to 60 hz at -3dB. The -10dB number is useless IMHO. I'm also not sure they "throw" as far as the typical mini line array system (like the Bose ones).

 

Note that although the ZX1 90 claims to be 800 watts, that just means the power amp is 800 watts. If you look at the unpowered version the speakers are rated at 200 watts, which is still perhaps a little optimistic, depending on the source material. They also claim they can hit 126 dB but that might be a number they've arrived at magically.

 

If you are used to two speakers on stands and have based your set-up based on using stands, the powered EV's (with a sub) would probably be pretty nice. Due to processing and maybe some better components, it looks like the powered 8" versions get about 3 dB more SPL than the unpowered ones - but again, those figures could be all smoke and mirrors. For instance the Yorkville PS12P is rated at 128 dB and is a cannon. I've done a seven piece band with two of them, no sub, kick and bass through them and they were great - sorry I digress.

 

Although I hate to say it, I would probably go with a Bose system over the EV system, for a female vocalist with tracks.

 

Anyway, here's the EV linHere's the EV link https://www.long-mcquade.com/54836/P...er_-_Black.htm

[Drummer44]

Good point about the bass response. We're using our ZXA1s with a single ZXA1-Sub, and it's fairly heavy (20.9 kg). Sounds good (in our situation), and it's easy enough to roll it on a cart, but dead lift into/out of an auto could still be an issue.

 

Think I'd be inclined to look further at the Bose line array too, if individual component weights are a major driver. If that still works on paper, an audition could help decide...

 

-D44