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PA setup for small bars


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I am looking to get a PA setup for me and my buddy playing at a local bar. Right now it will probably be just us acoustic, probably full band in the future. On craigslist there is a cheap PA setup but I don't know too much about them if anyone could give me some insight it would be appreciated.

 

For about $500 I can get

 

Behringer PMP 2000 800-watt 10-channel mixer ($350 new):

 

2 Peavey PR 12 speakers ($170 each, new):

 

Shure SM58 microphone ($100 new)

 

and 2 speaker stands

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Most manufacturers would rate the power of that behringer mixer/amp at about 150W/Ch.

 

other than that ... yeah, it's a small PA probably about right for an acoustic duo, unless you were planning to run backing tracks that had bass and drums.

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You'd be better off getting two powered Peavey's and a passive mixer. Down the road you can expand the mixer to accommodate a full band and still use the powered tops, or even get bigger/better tops and use them as powered wedges. Power speaker/passive mixer is almost ALWAYS better than powered mixer/passive speakers. :thu:

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You'd be better off getting two powered Peavey's and a passive mixer. Down the road you can expand the mixer to accommodate a full band and still use the powered tops, or even get bigger/better tops and use them as powered wedges.
Power speaker/passive mixer is almost ALWAYS better than powered mixer/passive speakers.
:thu:

 

Oh man, you're never gonna get away with that statement here.

 

I will agree that its easier for those lacking in experience to have a simple set up by going with powered speakers.

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You'd be better off getting two powered Peavey's and a passive mixer. Down the road you can expand the mixer to accommodate a full band and still use the powered tops, or even get bigger/better tops and use them as powered wedges. Power speaker/passive mixer is almost ALWAYS better than powered mixer/passive speakers.
:thu:

 

Actually I apologize, I think you're safe. I misread your post thinking you meant having passive speakers was bad. But I see you mean the combo of the passive speakers and powered mixer is no good, which does make sense, as its very easy to outgrow the mixer.

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trying to keep it under around $700 for everything including a mic and stand

 

 

That is going to be tough.

 

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Allen-&-Heath-ZED12FX-Harbinger-APS15-PA-System?sku=631041

 

This is $900 but the nice thing is it starts you off with a decent mixer. Which means you can upgrade the speakers when you need (and have the funds to).

 

Even so, if you're going to add a full band and want to have everything eventually mic'ed you might run out of inputs on this mixer.

 

I would really take a look at your goals for your sound and think about what you'll need to grow into.

 

It is always best to buy big and have extra for later than to buy small and wind up selling what you got on craigslist to help pay for the new system you need 6 months down the road.

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I think you need to up your budget a little and buy stuff you can use down the line. You could get something like...

 

-pair of Mackie SRM 350 used, pair of JBL EON used, or a pair of Behringer active speakers. Move these to monitors once you get the full band going

 

-Peavey PV6 mixer, which really won't work for a full band if you plan on mic'ing anything other than vocals

 

-SM 58, mic stand, speaker stands, and cables

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trying to keep it under around $700 for everything including a mic and stand

 

 

Try to find a MF, American Musical Supply, etc. package deal with either Yamaha or Peavey components. Behringer is inexpensive but so iffy on quality...meaning stuff that simply quits working after a few days or months. For some reason it seems to be a wrose problem in the US than overseas, but the price difference is not worth chancing, IMO.

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American Musical Supply, Zzounds and Sweetwater all have payment plans with no interest.

 

IIRC...

 

AMS : $250 - 999$ = 3 months of payments

AMS : $1000 - $3000 = 5 months of payments

 

Zzounds = 4 payments

 

Sweetwater = 3 payments

 

I purchased most of my equipment, including my recent StudioLive 16.4.2, from AMS. However, we purchased a Korg M50 from Sweetwater because they were the only seller (that we found) that had the green model and allowed multiple payments.

 

mike

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Oh man, you're never gonna get away with that statement here.


I will agree that its easier for those lacking in experience to have a simple set up by going with powered speakers.

 

 

I'll agree with Barisaxman2000. ALMOST ALWAYS you will be better off with powered speakers. Bi-amped, properly powered, properly limited with electronic crossovers, often other DSP that optimizes and/or protects the components. It's as bullet proof as you'll get and the best chance of sounding acceptable out of the box.

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how would something like this be:


Is behringer really that bad? There aren't too many full PA packages that have powered speakers, most of the packages just have powered mixers.

 

 

Those PA packages are generally just someone throwing some stuff together. You want to choose a mixer that has the features you need and the powered speakers that will do the job you want them to do.

 

The fact you said you may have the full band in the future means you're looking for a PA that can handle a full band. With your budget that's just not going to be possible. You can get powered speakers to use as mains now and monitors later so no extra money there, but you'll want a mixer capable of accepting all the inputs you're going to want and that's going to eat your $500 right there, and that's if you skimp on new or find a very good deal on something appropriate that's used.

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The fact you said you may have the full band in the future means you're looking for a PA that can handle a full band. With your budget that's just not going to be possible. You can get powered speakers to use as mains now and monitors later so no extra money there, but you'll want a mixer capable of accepting all the inputs you're going to want and that's going to eat your $500 right there, and that's if you skimp on new or find a very good deal on something appropriate that's used.

 

 

This is the key point to keep in mind. A two man acoustic show has completely different PA requirements than a full band. The systems you're looking at would be adequate for a two man acoustic show, but really wouldn't have a place in a full band other than perhaps using the speakers as monitors.

 

You need to decide if you're guying an acoustic show PA or a full band PA, or at least plan a good upgrade path if you're starting out small.

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I am looking to get a PA setup for me and my buddy playing at a local bar. Right now it will probably be just us acoustic, probably full band in the future. On craigslist there is a cheap PA setup but I don't know too much about them if anyone could give me some insight it would be appreciated.


For about $500 I can get


PMP 2000 800-watt 10-channel mixer ($350 new):


PR 12 speakers ($170 each, new):


Shure SM58 microphone ($100 new)


and 2 speaker stands

 

 

I am using one Roland KC-150 to support a 4 piece acoustic band in a small restaurant and a small unpowered mixer (4 channel). The band consists of an acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, small Pearl drum kit (with a very disciplined drummer), and a percussionist. Occasionally, we have a second singer come in, and all can be handled by this setup. I've been using this for a year-and-a-half, and it has worked fine. We don't use any effects. The KC-150 has four channels and accepts xlr output from the mixer (I inherited a Behringer UB1202 which still works well after 6 years). The mixer provides phantom power so the percussionist can use a condenser mic. Guitar and bass are active di'd to the board (LR Baggs Para Acoutic Di's). It is more than loud enough that the restaurant owner asks us to turn down once in a while so customers can talk. Everything is clear and rich sounding (I give credit to Roland - the KC serices are great keyboard amps that can be used for a lot of things). The voice mics we use are EV767's. If I would change anything about what we use, it would be to upgrade the mixer to a 6 or 8 channel mixer - maybe Yamaha. But I can't justify the expenditure. What we have works great, and we get asked to play in a lot of small venues. Did I mention the setup is very light an portable? I would not use this for large application, but in a small pub/bar/restaurant/home party environment, this setup works well.

 

If you use your imagination, you can stretch you limited budget and get great results.

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how would something like this be:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Behringer-UB1222FX---B215D-PA-Package-485753-i1527132.gc


Is behringer really that bad? There aren't too many full PA packages that have powered speakers, most of the packages just have powered mixers.

 

 

You're not paying attention.

 

 

 

You would be better off getting a small mixer and ONE decent powered speaker. Get the 2nd as funds allow.

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I just bought a Soundcraft GigRac 1000st for $350 on eBay and I'm astounded at the power, fidelity and portability of this head.

 

8 chan, 1000w stereo in its own 25 lb polycarbonate travel case.

 

Soundcraft

 

GigRac

 

So far, i couldn't be happier... highly recommended for your purpose if you're looking for a powered head/passive speaker setup

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+1 to what CraigV said... small mixer, 1 good powered speaker... a solid plan for growth if the need arises...

 

FWIW - I know a local duo that runs with a powered floor monitor, small mixer, and a Bose L1 Compact as their PA and they always sound great... but they never need to play very loud. They started with the mixer and the monitor.

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msbhendrixxx,

 

No matter which way you look at it, your budget is simply not realistic. Even if you do only the "acoustic" thing for now, it's not realistic. If you go "used",,,, maybe. Let's look at what you need for a barebones acoustic duo. For now, let's just forget about the "possibly for a future band " scenario.

 

Ok, you need at the very least, one vocal mic (that two can share/harmony), a stand, and a mic cable. I presume your guitars are acoustic electric; are they? You could get by without FX, but do you want to? Usually, plugging straight into a powered speaker, means no FX, so you need a small mixer with FX, and believe you me, you want those FX to be useful for an acoustic act.(delay and/or reverb for vocals) Then of course, you need a powered speaker. So here is your bare-bones list;

 

one powered speaker

one speaker stand

one extension power-cord for speaker and mixer

one small mixer w/FX

one XLR cable from mixer output to powered speaker

mic

mic stand

mic cable

 

Now, just try and split that list into a $500. budget, and still sound decent, while retaining some semblance of reliability. It just not realistic.

 

My minimum "acoustic act" system would probably look something like this;

 

one Yorkville NX25p loudspeaker w/stand

one Shure SM59 vocal mic

one mic stand

Soundcraft Notepad 124FX mixer

a couple of XLR cables from EWI (mic, and from mixer to speaker)

add a power cord, and you're looking at roughly $800. new

 

What will you have for that money? Well, plenty of power for the small acoustic gigs, and you can later use that powered speaker as a monitor, for your "future band". Buy a decent speaker stand, that can support a 40-50 lb speaker (important). For now, you can probably get by with placing the speaker on a chair.

 

The mic is an industry standard, so your future application is covered. The EWI cables are excellent, especially considering the price. The little Soundcraft mixer only has 4 XLR/mono channels, so the future band scenario will probably require another mixer. In a small room however, you could use it for four vocal mics, if you can carry the venue with the backline only (stage amps) That mixer also can handle up to four stereo inputs, and there's a -10dBv/+4dBv switch on each of those channels, which allows you to use "pro level" sources (+4dBv), or "consumer level" gear (-10dBv) The Soundcraft mixers also sound very sweet/transparent. Super-compact as well (9"x9").

 

Good luck, and have fun gigging. :thu:

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Thanks for the input. We ended up going with a JBL EON 315, a Mackie 1202-VLZ3 12 channel mixer, and a shure sm58. My buddy hooked us up with free cables/stands. I got a vox tonelab so i'll run guitar effects through that. Anyone know any good links to tips on utilizing the mixer?

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Here's what I've used in the past but I've always used subs with it but if your doing an acoustic show you can go with this a Yamaha EMX-512 powered mixer and 2 Yamaha club 115-V speakers on a stick. Very simple and as long as its a small bar or venue you should be fine.

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