Amp/Board Recommendations?

[Lloyd H.]

I have two EV ELX112 (passive, 12in.) speakers, they are rated as 250W continuous, 1000W peak. Any recommendations for a compatible amp, small board (no more than 12 ch.) is appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance, :-)

[dedmeet]

Budget?  Intended use?  How many monitor mixes will you need?

More details from you = better answers from us.

 

 

[Lloyd H.]

Intended use is for solo/small act, small/medium venue, acoustic oriented music. Primarily solo, flexible enough for 3-4 piece. When solo, I've been running mono/mon using one of the 112's for a monitor. For a band setup I'd use the 112's as mains and no more than two monitors.

[RoadRanger]

 

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Lloyd H. wrote:

 

 

I have two EV ELX112 (passive, 12in.) speakers, they are rated as 250W continuous, 1000W peak. Any recommendations for a compatible amp, small board (no more than 12 ch.) is appreciated.

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A used QSC RMX850 or RMX1450 would be cheap, a bit on the heavy side though. A Peavey IPR1600 if buying new.

[monthlymixcd]

QSC GX3 (~7lb. lighter than an RMX850) if buying new. Any of the little boards from Allen & Heath or Yamaha that have FX would be a good value.

[Shaster]

When I do a solo or small three piece gig, I dislike messing around with racks and connectors, and maybe adding a spearate EQ. For those gigs, I have a couple of powered mixers on hand. Of course, you would want to get a powered mixer that had at least two separate amps and two separate GEQ's. And IF you ever thought you were going to change to powered speakers then maybe not - but of course if you were going to change to powered speakers, then you wouldn't need the power amp either.

So the real question is, are you planning on staying passive? If so, my vote would be for a used powered head. Peavey makes some, as does APB, Yamaha, Yorkville and others. Spare yourself the powered Mackie, Nady, Harbinger, Behringer, Phonic, Gemini mixers. I'm not being a snob, it's just that box/powered mixers need to be fairly robust and dependable.

Here's an example of a box mixer that I've used many times, but you can get them more advanced than this  http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/64/Pro_Audio_Recording/Mixers/Yorkville_Sound/Micromix_800-Watt_Stereo_10_Channel_Powered_Mixer.htm

I picked up a used powered Yorkville mixer over fifteen years ago for $300.00 and it still gets used at least once a month (Lately I've been using my PA gear five to ten times a month).

Of course you could start fresh, get a Mackie DL1608 and a couple of active speakers, but that's a whole different road

 

[Pro Sound Guy]

+1 on the mix/amp combo setup for your application

The little Mackie all in ones are pretty reliable

http://www.mackie.com/products/ppmseries/splash.html

 

[Lloyd H.]

I already have a Behringer 1680s. It's a pretty decent little unit. Like most of its type, it has more silly effects than useful ones. It's been ok so far. Its claimed output is within parameters, maybe on the low side but not in the danger zone. However, there is an issue with using the RCA in (front). All settings being equal, it does not have the same out level with the main as it does on the monitor when playing music (CD, mp3). Setting to stereo doesn't help either. It does not do the same thing when I'm running anything (mic, inst.) through channels.

All this has made me think maybe I should go ahead and get an amp/board rig. I like the simplicity of the powered box mixer, it's certainly adequate for what I'm doing. I haven't yet found one that has decent output for the speakers I have. If anyone has any recc's for one I'm wide open.

 

Thank you all for your replies so far. :-)