pa setup for 4-5 peice band (playing clubs and for practices)

[OverdrivenEL34s]

Would a set up like this be decent for 4 or 5 piece rock/hard rock band playing small to medium sized clubs/venues? What would the limits of this set up be (how much could it handle)? I assume it could only get away with using is for vocals only with maybe a drop of drums (only kick and snare or whole kit?) Not looking to play at ridiculous volumes. Some of the better/larger venues have full pa systems anyway so it wouldn't be for all gigs .

 

peavey xr8600 (600 watts per channel)

 

2x Peavey PR15N Neo PA Speaker Cabinet - 15 Inch

 

2x Peavey PV12M Floor Monitor

[Gary in NJ]

What is a small venue? What is a medium venue?

 

The speakers and powered mixer are a little mis-matched. The speakers are 400 watt program, 8-ohm speakers and the amps 300 wpc at 4-ohms, so by running each mix in parallel you will get 300 wpc, but only 150 per speaker.

 

If a small venue is less than 100 people, in a space 2,000 sq/ft or less (less than a 12' ceiling), you may get away with the above set-up. Because of the room size, you will not need to mic the kick (nor will the system reproduce the frequency).

 

If a medium venue is 200-300 people, in a space between 2,000 and 5,000 sq/ft, the above set-up is going to run out of power (clip). Moreover, there is a good chance that everyone will not hear the mix through the monitors. That makes for a crappy night.

 

I think that is a good rig for rehearsal, but if that is all your budget will allow, you might consider renting for medium-sized gigs.

[dboomer]

 

What is a small venue? What is a medium venue? The speakers and powered mixer are a little mis-matched. The speakers are 400 watt program, 8-ohm speakers and the amps 300 wpc at 4-ohms, so by running each mix in parallel you will get 300 wpc, but only 150 per speaker.

 

 

I think you are thinking of our smaller mixer amp. This is a well matched setup. Each speaker could receive 300 Watts

 

Just to touch on one other point ... Peavey amps don't clip, they limit. You would have to overdrive one by 20 dB to get it to clip. Our DDT circuits put the amp in limiting and thereby hold more power in the power supply when the next peak comes along. The result is that the total output is louder, longer than a clipped amp and you don't end up sending square waves to your speakers. Other manufacturers may have limiters ... but they limit the drive to help keep from clipping the amp ... we actually limit the amp itself.

[Gary in NJ]

 

I think you are thinking of our smaller mixer amp. This is a well matched setup. Each speaker could receive 300 Watts Just to touch on one other point ... Peavey amps don't clip, they limit.

 

 

I've been bitch-slapped by Da-Man!

 

You are right, I read 600 wpc but processed 300. Serves me right for typing too early in the morning.

[jbutler1982]

If you had the budget to upgrade the speakers to SP2s, the difference is incredible. Go down to your local store and listen to the PR15s and then the SP2s under the same conditions (same amp, same tunes, etc...) and you will hear the difference. PA is the last place you want to skimp on cash.

 

Grab a used crown or peavey amp and some used wedges, and upgrade to the SP2. Im also assuming that mixer is 600/ch at 8 ohms... which means you could drive the SP2s nicely with it. It will cost a little more (if you do the amp and wedges used and the SP2s new, maybe $6-700 more) but the sound is right on.

 

Sorry to gush about the SP2s, but I was very impressed with them and find myself recommending them pretty frequently. If you dont want to step all the way up, I would strongly suggest you listen to the PR-15s before you buy them. I thought they sounded really bad, even for their price point.

[GCDEF]

That doesn't look like enough for a 5 piece to me. I'm a big believer in micing everything, so you'd run out of mixer channels in a hurry.

[witesol]

that looks more than sufficient in my opinion. I'm quite the opposite, rarely do I feel the need to mic everything. In my experience guitar players are seldom too quiet, or bass players on small to midsize gigs. The poster didn't mention, nor did anyone ask a little more about the band, what kind of rigs do they run, how many vocals? Depending on the mains, a little kick, some bass and a bit of snare wouldn't tax the system. If there is but one vocal or even three, 5 to 7 channels would be left: kick, snare, bass, guitar, guitar/keys, etc. I'd suggest getting main cabs that are readily available so you can scale a system. 4 mains would always work better than trying to get more out of two by pushing it. Used is a good plan. You might even consider getting all monitors as well.

[GZsound]

Since I have both PR 15's and SP 5's, my recommendation would be to upgrade the speakers. I used the PR15's two weeks ago with a powered mixer and they simply don't sound as good as the SP5's..not nearly as good.

 

In my experience they are very mid range heavy..

 

Spend the money now on decent speakers and you won't have to later.

[OverdrivenEL34s]

thanks for the responses. what about going with 2x Peavey PV 15M 15 Floor Monitors? they can be used as mains and appears to have better specs and cost a bit more then the pr15's. plus they look way more solidly built(not sure if thats true). the the sp2s looks great but they are $499 each (and weight quite a bit more) while the pr15 are $199 each and the pv15m's are $249 each.

[OverdrivenEL34s]

so no one wants to jump in and recommend saving $200 and getting the new behringer powered mixer instead of the xr8600? hehe

[jwlussow]

NOOOOOO. You are about to release the hounds. Don't mention the "B" word. If you happen to be one of the few that get a Behringer that actually works you will be in the minority. There are people here that have been satisfied with the performance of Behringer stuff but probably 10 times more people that hate Behringer's gear and support. Do a search. Not too many happy customers. Seeing your similes, I assume you already know that.

 

I am in the school with people that put everything in the mains. I've seen too many shows where guitars or drums or bass is not in the mix and it never sounds as tight as it would with all the sound coming from a set point. I used to always mic the kick, snare/hi hat, and floor tom. Now every drum is in the mix because we use a TD-20 and don't really have a choice.

 

I would upgrade the speakers and put everything in the FOH mix.

[tlbonehead]

that looks more than sufficient in my opinion. I'm quite the opposite, rarely do I feel the need to mic everything. In my experience guitar players are seldom too quiet, or bass players on small to midsize gigs. The poster didn't mention, nor did anyone ask a little more about the band, what kind of rigs do they run, how many vocals? Depending on the mains, a little kick, some bass and a bit of snare wouldn't tax the system. If there is but one vocal or even three, 5 to 7 channels would be left: kick, snare, bass, guitar, guitar/keys, etc. I'd suggest getting main cabs that are readily available so you can scale a system. 4 mains would always work better than trying to get more out of two by pushing it. Used is a good plan. You might even consider getting all monitors as well.

Wouldn't even be close for a gigging pop/rock band in 100-200 capacity venues.I definitely don't recommend trying to get all of your room guitar volume from behind you up on stage. Just doesn't work very well at all. Miking the amp(s) is about coverage and room balance moreso than just raw volume. And not miking severely limits how you can set up your on stage amp.

[congaron]

My band is a 5- piece band. Two guitars, bass, conga/percussion, three vocalists (the guitarists and myself...the percussionist) and drums. I second the need for more inputs. As for the power, we played a youth rally in a school gymnasium last night. The small stage was at one end of the basketball court. Because our peavey monitor and sub amp failed, we were once again forced to use our behringer pmh 2000 for monitors and mains, forcing us to play with a "measley" 125 watts per main and no subwoofer. Main volume was just above 1/4 on the PMH2000. The fan ran occasionally during the two hour event. Our speakers are PAS 15 inch cabs with horns (quite efficient, obviously). We did our sound check and had 117 DB at the far free throw line. The sound was crystal clear and plenty of everything in the mix with highly intelligible vocals. I run the sound from the stage while i play percussion...it gets busy, but is very manageable. I have an assistant in the audience who sends me information for instant adjustments..although this is more during the sound checks than live. Only an occasional tweak, and the scheduled fader adjustments for lead changes, etc. I say this to offer a perspective you may not hear often.

 

We have been asked to repeat this monthly as the regular band for this event, due in part to the perfect sound...which was mentioned to us as we loaded up to leave, along with the unexpected check we received from a group effort to help us cover expenses. I only say that to show it's far more important what you do with your sound and your music...how you get there is really up to you.

 

After this failure we will retire the peavey as the last straw and will not replace it with another peavey...ymmv. In fact, we aren't even going to take the other mains we couldn't use last night..just a sub and new amp (not asking for suggestions, BTW)...next time. The power is totally adequate, and the two mains did the job. Live and learn, and simplify.

 

We mike the drums with a kick, snare and overhead mics. Since our guitar players switch between acoustic and electrics, and I also play the mandolin, inputs are a big deal to me. We have 34 available between our main mixer and sub mixers for the drums and percussion. It's more than adequate, but I think the setup shown above will leave you short on inputs for a five piece band IMHO. Power requirements will vary, and speaker efficiency can save your act (along with backup equipment and good contingency plans). Regardless of what you read about cheap power these days, speaker efficiency should not be discounted as you shop.....read up on everyone's experience and try not to under buy.

 

It's important to remember that sound reinforcement isn't instead of musicianship...the gymnasium was rockin' last night...and it seems unlikely anyone would ever recommend the setup we ended up using , from a power or number of speakers, or even brand name perspective. It wasn't our plan either, but it worked great and got us the permanent repeat gig.

Still, fact speaks louder than rumour in my book.

 

God bless!

 

-Ron

[witesol]

 

Wouldn't even be close for a gigging pop/rock band in 100-200 capacity venues.I definitely don't recommend trying to get all of your room guitar volume from behind you up on stage. Just doesn't work very well at all. Miking the amp(s) is about coverage and room balance moreso than just raw volume. And not miking severely limits how you can set up your on stage amp.

 

I don't disagree with some of this in theory. While I don't gig as much as mix other acts, even in my own band the amps rarely get mic'd on smaller gigs..or they get mic'd and not used. Again, we don't know about the poster's band, how many vocals. In reading the poster's information I'd still say this is a decent starting out point. If there are only a few things onstage that have to run through the PA, that leaves a handful of inputs left. You might not "recommend" getting all the volume for the gig from onstage amps but more than often it's all that's needed, even with smaller amps.

[BlueHeaven]

You are sorta going for the same setup that I am currently running.

I would say one thing you will need is a separate amp for the monitors so you are not splitting the power of the powered mixer 4 ways. Use the powered mixer for the front of house and use a send (not sure what sends are on your mixer) to go to the monitor amp.

 

I always run the bass drum and guitars thru the front of house for presence and the guitars thru the monitors, so you can actually hear what your playing. I think if you added another amp, something that compliements your monitors wattage, you should be fine.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

Would a set up like this be decent for 4 or 5 piece rock/hard rock band playing small to medium sized clubs/venues? What would the limits of this set up be (how much could it handle)? I assume it could only get away with using is for vocals only with maybe a drop of drums (only kick and snare or whole kit?) Not looking to play at ridiculous volumes. Some of the better/larger venues have full pa systems anyway so it wouldn't be for all gigs .

 

 

If the mixer has enough inputs, this should be fine for the typical small bar/coffehouse/corner of the restaurant type gigs that rarely if ever have any house PA support. This would be considerably smaller than 100-200 souls though, or you need to assume lower volume....most people underestimate just how much room 100 people occupy. Couple vocals, kick, guitars for fill, and you're set to go. Don't attempt to rock the house literally...

 

I second the advice to consider SP-2's. While the PR's are my go-to for least budget, you can get considerable improvement with the SP line.

 

FWIW, the PV line and the PR line share many identical driver components. The main difference is the wood vs composite cabinets.

[witesol]

 

You are sorta going for the same setup that I am currently running. I would say one thing you will need is a separate amp for the monitors so you are not splitting the power of the powered mixer 4 ways. Use the powered mixer for the front of house and use a send (not sure what sends are on your mixer) to go to the monitor amp. .

 

I often do it similarly, but use an external amp for mains, internal for monitors.

[oldrock]

I am using the yamaha EMX512sc which is pretty close to that peavey and I will first say it will do smaller stuff very well but runs out of steam on a medium sized venue. We use it with crowds of about 50-60 and it works great. We tried it once in a much larger space that would hold around 200 folks with a high ceiling and it wasn't enough.

 

re speakers though, I will say that after testing all the lower priced options, I was most impressed with the yamaha club series. I got the SM12V set which are the monitor configs which I highly recommend. They can work equally well as monitors or FOH and have very good sound for their price. I use my powered yamaha pa with a pair of the club series speakers and a pair of cheap peavey 12" monitors. Setup sounds very good for vocals in a room with 50-60 folks. Only big weakness of the speakers is they don't really help with the bass from kick drum too well. I still need a sub to carry bass better from kick or the bass guitar.

[tietjen]

 

That doesn't look like enough for a 5 piece to me. I'm a big believer in micing everything, so you'd run out of mixer channels in a hurry.

 

 

+1

 

If you have the money get in ear monitors and take them every where you go... it will clean up the house mix, is less to haul around, and depending on the venue/mixer you can have 5 seperate mixes.

 

And I'd vote power mackies over those peaveys... but once again more $$

[Electric Al]

I need a very basic diagram ,to connect a mixer.....amp....speakers ... signal processor .... monitors .

 

I have not done this before , it was always someone else's job.

 

I think I have it figured out from watching You tube tutorials .

 

But if any one can help with a line diagram , it will be appreciated !

 

 

 

 

[wesg]

Start a new thread. In that thread, show us what you've got.

[Drummer44]

Yeah... tagging on a 9 year old thread, bound to be new stuff out there by now... useful to start a new query, include existing equipment, describe what kind of group/room/music/audience you're trying to solve, whatever other constraints might be involved, etc.

 

-D44