Members WithNoHands Posted September 11, 2010 Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 So i've been trying to get a little bit more serious with my band lately, and we've been looking for some recording equipment and a PA system. Well, with our luck, we were able to score a JBL mixer that's not used anymore from my more, it's and Eon MusicMix 10, as shown here(http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12883456). Now that we're started I was hoping you guys could reccomend me some recording mics, at the freaking most dirt cheap price for value you can think of. and Some reccomendations for power amps, (the mixer isn't powered) and some live speakers. Also, two questions,1.) Do you think it would be better to get powered speakers instead of a power amp and passives?2.) Do you necesarrily need a powered amp to record things? sorry, i'm new to this.Thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoundMan Posted September 11, 2010 Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 I hope they fired their industrial designer and locked him away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted September 11, 2010 Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 1.) Do you think it would be better to get powered speakers instead of a power amp and passives?2.) Do you necesarrily need a powered amp to record things? sorry, i'm new to this.Thanks guys. Good powered speakers are best. They are easier to move, set up and tear down. They also offer the proper power for the component and are usually bi or tri amped. No rack to carry around with crossovers and amps. It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WithNoHands Posted September 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 Good powered speakers are best. They are easier to move, set up and tear down. They also offer the proper power for the component and are usually bi or tri amped. No rack to carry around with crossovers and amps. It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 11, 2010 Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 Okay, we've got some amps, so no need to worry much about that haha. Thanks for the advice. But what i'm seeing is we could get a pretty weak powered speaker in our budget, but for not so much more, you could get a fairly powerful power amp and speakers. So i'm kind of torn on that one. What doesn't help much is i'm not sure about what wattage equates to volume. If it's similar to guitar amps, then 200 should be plenty, but I don't know. Do you or any of you guys have specific suggestions?if you are going passive, what power amps do you have to use with the mixer and speakers? Then try and match your speakers to whichever amp you are planning to use. Volume depends on wattage and efficiency of the speakers, among other smaller things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WithNoHands Posted September 11, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 if you are going passive, what power amps do you have to use with the mixer and speakers? Then try and match your speakers to whichever amp you are planning to use. Volume depends on wattage and efficiency of the speakers, among other smaller things. Nah, i didn't mean we had power amps, i mean we had guitar amps so that we wouldn't have to run directly into the board. I'm looking for cheap power amp suggestions though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members banddad Posted September 11, 2010 Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 For inexpensive power amps, check out used QSC RMX series.For inexpensive speakers, check out the Yamaha club series, such as the SM12;s or SM15's. Speaker efficiency has more effect on volume than watts - and no, a 200 watt PA will NOT keep up with a 200 watt guitar amp.For powered speakers - the JBL PRX series are well thought of.For mics, the Shure SM57 for instruments and SM58 for vocals are a good start.Anything less, and I think you'll be disappointed with the sound quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted September 11, 2010 Members Share Posted September 11, 2010 You don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted September 12, 2010 Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 I hope they fired their industrial designer and locked him away. No kidding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WithNoHands Posted September 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 Thanks for the input guys. But you have to understand, we're teenagers in highschool on a shoestring budget. Four hundred, MAYBE five hundred dollars. At this point i'm much more concerned about being heard; professional quality is obviously out of our range for the moment. For now we'll only be using the speakers for vocals. I ask that you please don't scoff at our equivilent to 3 cents in the music world.Anybody have experience with Kustom speakers? http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kustom-KPC15-Phonic-MAX-1000-Speaker-and-Amp-Package?sku=584990 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted September 12, 2010 Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 We are still going to suggest better quality gear even if you put your system together piece by piece. You can get a system for your budget but it will not be good. In fact, you will probably hate it from the get go. Look into older EON15G2s. You might be able to score a pair for very close to your budget. They are powered and are very loud. That would be where I would start. Try to avoid those cheap systems on MF or GC. They really are not very good at all. Check eBay and Craigslist. You will be much happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 12, 2010 Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 Thanks for the input guys. But you have to understand, we're teenagers in highschool on a shoestring budget. Four hundred, MAYBE five hundred dollars. At this point i'm much more concerned about being heard; professional quality is obviously out of our range for the moment. For now we'll only be using the speakers for vocals. I ask that you please don't scoff at our equivilent to 3 cents in the music world.Anybody have experience with Kustom speakers? http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kustom-KPC15-Phonic-MAX-1000-Speaker-and-Amp-Package?sku=584990definitely not. Go used and you can move up to something usable. And I'm sure that mixer will do fine, at leat for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 12, 2010 Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 Thanks for the input guys. But you have to understand, we're teenagers in highschool on a shoestring budget. Four hundred, MAYBE five hundred dollars. At this point i'm much more concerned about being heard; professional quality is obviously out of our range for the moment. For now we'll only be using the speakers for vocals. I ask that you please don't scoff at our equivilent to 3 cents in the music world.Anybody have experience with Kustom speakers? http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kustom-KPC15-Phonic-MAX-1000-Speaker-and-Amp-Package?sku=584990 what is your location? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members W. M. Hellinger Posted September 12, 2010 Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 Speaker efficiency has more effect on volume than watts - and no, a 200 watt PA will NOT keep up with a 200 watt guitar amp. I'd like to add some specifics on this subject based on my experience: One very rough rule of thumb could be to suggest your PA wattage should be sized somewhere in the ballpark of 10 times your guitar amp wattage. IOW: If you're running a 50 watt guitar amp, then 500 watts of PA power might be somewhat of a suitable match. If you're running 200 watts of guitar amp(s), then 2000 watts of PA (doing vocals only) might stand a chance of keeping up... if your band dynamics are good. The weekend warrior band I play in runs 50 watts of lead instrument amps, approx. 250 watts of bass instrument amp (no bass instrument through the PA), just enough kick drum & snare through the PA for "presence"... we typically run approx. 2000 watts of FOH PA power (EAW system). We have to watch our dynamics very closely as the instruments can totally bury the vocal capacity of our FOH PA system. So in our case, we run approx. 40 times the PA wattage (not counting monitors) as lead instrument wattage. Of-course, if the instruments are loud enough to bury the FOH PA, then we Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WithNoHands Posted September 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 what is your location? Around buffalo NY.And thanks for the input on the wattage, though that does kind of make me less optimistic about getting anything loud enough in our price range. And I will try to check out the used market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 12, 2010 Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 Around buffalo NY.And thanks for the input on the wattage, though that does kind of make me less optimistic about getting anything loud enough in our price range. And I will try to check out the used market.define "loud enough". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WithNoHands Posted September 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 12, 2010 define "loud enough". Loud enough to be heard fairly well over a full backing band (drums, bass, guitar), and at the most an outside venue from 20-100 people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 13, 2010 Members Share Posted September 13, 2010 Loud enough to be heard fairly well over a full backing band (drums, bass, guitar), and at the most an outside venue from 20-100 people.shouldn't be too tough for vocals only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnMCA72 Posted September 13, 2010 Members Share Posted September 13, 2010 Thanks for the input guys. But you have to understand, we're teenagers in highschool on a shoestring budget. Four hundred, MAYBE five hundred dollars. At this point i'm much more concerned about being heard; professional quality is obviously out of our range for the moment. For now we'll only be using the speakers for vocals. I ask that you please don't scoff at our equivilent to 3 cents in the music world.Anybody have experience with Kustom speakers? http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kustom-KPC15-Phonic-MAX-1000-Speaker-and-Amp-Package?sku=584990 You can spend $4-500 on mics, cables, & stands pretty easily. I'd start with a mixer & mics & build outward from there in stages. Monitor yourselves with headphones while you learn your stuff. When you're ready for others to hear you, powered speakers have some key advantage over passive: Power amp & speaker are matched for each other, for one. For another, it's easy to scale upwards by adding more units as you need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WithNoHands Posted September 13, 2010 Author Members Share Posted September 13, 2010 You can spend $4-500 on mics, cables, & stands pretty easily.I'd start with a mixer & mics & build outward from there in stages. Monitor yourselves with headphones while you learn your stuff.When you're ready for others to hear you, powered speakers have some key advantage over passive: Power amp & speaker are matched for each other, for one. For another, it's easy to scale upwards by adding more units as you need them. Yeah, it does seem pretty easy to spend a lot and get a little in this neck of the woods. Thanks for the opinion. I've been pondering getting powered speakers, and simply using them as moniters as the band grows and more cash becomes available.I also have a question regarding speakers,All of the passive speaker I look at generally have a RMS power rating, maybe a program power rating, and a peak power rating. I'm assuming peak is the max ammount of watts you want to run into the speaker, but does someone wanna school me on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 13, 2010 Members Share Posted September 13, 2010 Yeah, it does seem pretty easy to spend a lot and get a little in this neck of the woods. Thanks for the opinion. I've been pondering getting powered speakers, and simply using them as moniters as the band grows and more cash becomes available.I also have a question regarding speakers,All of the passive speaker I look at generally have a RMS power rating, maybe a program power rating, and a peak power rating. I'm assuming peak is the max ammount of watts you want to run into the speaker, but does someone wanna school me on this?as long as you are speaking of models/brands with fairly honest ratings, stay in the RMS or maybe a hair higher range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted September 13, 2010 Members Share Posted September 13, 2010 1 good speaker is better in most cases than 2 crappy ones. At least you can expand by getting a second speaker when funds become available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.