Any Gear One PA2400 users here?

[Jim_L]

Yep, old guy here re-starting a 'just for fun' old timey country band thing up again.
Been browsing the net for PA system deals and money being very tight if practically non-existant, came across Musicians Friend & Guitar Centers pages for the GO/Kustom setup. I'm gonna buy the thing. The few reviews seem good. Sadly i can't find anything online about the GO brandname other than it's from China. Even GC can't tell me anything about them (like lead content??? ;>). But the qty of system components works well (at the price which I can juuust pull off wit my budget).

I'm just wondering if anyone else has the system or just the mixer/amp & has it posed any problems. I've read that the speaker cables have cheap plugs (no problem, i make my own as well as building speaker & amp cabs) & the Kustom (made in China) cabs has weak speaker jack mounts (again, nothing i can't fix & improve) & the main speaker cabs have some problems with the pole mounts. All minor things.

I'm not worried about being rough with any of the equipment as the 'band' wll be a house band & also run an open mic (a selling point for the system as it has the floor monitors & mics/cables, i just need to get more mic stands). We won't be gigging around.

So again, i'd like to hear from anyone with experience mainly with the amp/mixer to give me a heads up with if/any problems or tips & tricks with the unit. My first thought that because the amp/mixer only has one output for the mains (in series? really?), i'd need to build a splitter box to have both the mains & monitors each have their own equal length cables rather than running the respective cabs in series from a single respective output from the mixer.

Thoughts are appreciated,
-Jim

[modulusman]

Looks like crap to me.

[abzurd]

I know the speakers are junk. As for the package in general..... the cost of the whole thing isn't even as much as an "OK", but not high end, powered speaker or one "pretty good, but not great", passive speaker.

If your sole purpose is to get a large quantity of stuff that will allow some kind of sound to come out of it at an amplified level, at least for a while, at the absolute least cost possible, then you've hit the mark. I doubt there's anything cheaper out there. If you also want any kind of respectable quality and dependability, you're likely not going to get positive affirmation of that here.

If it were for occasional basement practice use....eh, maybe, but open mic nights can be tough with many folks plugging in and out and different gain and EQ levels needed for everyone. The system will be screamed into, jacks and knobs stressed by nearly constant turning. My guess is it will be run to the point of clipping at nearly all times. That's just how small systems go. The amps are weak and the speakers are generally not very efficient.

Put simply, it's bottom of the barrel gear. In fact if you lift up the barrel, you may find this under it.

[modulusman]

AS far as being worried about lead. The only lead you might need to worry about is people shooting at you for sounding so bad.

[Bobby1Note]

 

Originally Posted by abzurd

Put simply, it's bottom of the barrel gear. In fact if you lift up the barrel, you may find this under it.

 

[jonthomas]

Link for the lazy .

Used gear is a better option in that price range and a old time country band should have a old beat up PA rig IMO.

[abzurd]

Originally Posted by jonthomas

Link for the lazy .
Used gear is a better option in that price range and a old time country band should have a old beat up PA rig IMO.

It's not even that one. It's the $300 cheaper (All Kustom speakers) $549 setup.

[jonthomas]

Originally Posted by abzurd

It's not even that one. It's the $300 cheaper (All Kustom speakers) $549 setup.

Probably has a 50 cent piezo tweeter in them .
The good thing about it is that anything will sound better after using them.

Here are some used sp2's
for $250.

[Unalaska]

There's nothing usable in the cheaper package at all. Even the cables will fail within 6 months. Seriously I'd look elsewhere, there are great deals on used passive speakers these days and some on powered as well.

[justrobme]

 

Jim_L,

 

Just curious how your Gear One PA2400 held up?  My band is thinking of purchasing

Gear One PA2400 / Kustom KPC15 Mains and Monitors Package  

( http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/gear-one-pa2400--kustom-kpc15-mains-and-monitors-package?pfm=sp )

 

Just curious how your held up and if you think it will last 2 to 3 years?  We play about 70 to 80 gigs a year.  Please let me know if you can thanks.

 

 

[StratGuy22]

If you're doing 70 - 80 gigs a year, put $100 from each gig towards a PA with $5000 and pay it off in 50 gigs.

 

 

[BillESC]

^^^ What Strat said.

[justrobme]

my budget it $1000 (not a penny more)  and i'm sending this PA to the virgin islands.   it will only be used to play beach bars 6 month out of the year each year.  I realize this is not a great system but i'm just curious if anyone has owned one and knows how long it will hold up?  I have a real PA with amps and crossovers etc for use on the main land but I'm tierd of renting gear every year when touring the VI.  

[agedhorse]

I fail to follow the logic of traveling to a far away place where service and easy replacements are not easy to come by, with cheap, low reliability, problem prone, crappy sounding gear. What will you do when you have problems?

 

Is this a troll thread of is it for real?

[justrobme]

I have a back up situation under control thanks.  I'm just wondering  HAS ANYONE ON THIS THREAD ACTUALLY OWNED A GEAR ONE PA?   I'm looking for remarks or advise unless its from someone who has actually bought and owned a GEAR ONE PA listed above.  

[StratGuy22]

By all means, give it a go and then get back to us.

 

 

 

[HSRB3642]

I own the Gear One PA 2400 and have gigged with it several times with no issues and good sound. 4 piece w/drums. I have a couple of gear snobs in my band and their only complaint is that it's not name brand. I have also noticed that gear snobs tend to spend more time complaining about stuff that's not name brand than they do rehearsing and preparing...haha!! Seriously though..I have had mine for a couple years and use it all the time, with no issues. If your playing and singing sounds good, then then you will sound good through just about anything.

[White Keys]

 

The Gear One PA2400 powered mixer itself works well, plenty loud, and sounds really good with the right EQ-ing. FX are good and the mixer has plenty of features. Just be gentle with the knobs, and especially the mute switches - most of ours are broken, but my sound guy is hard on stuff. We've had it a couple of years and used it for maybe 100 shows.

 

One quirk is the fuse at the power cord plug-in, under a little plastic cover just below where the cord plugs in, where you might not think to look. Ours has blown twice, probably from daisy-chaining too many monitors. Internal fuses are for FX and we haven't had a problem with those.

 

Yes, the package is mostly cheap - we got the whole pkg for $399, mics are entry level but not bad, but mic cables are crap. Speakers sounded good and clear, but one's going out now after maybe 20 shows and rehearsals. Speaker stands have too much plastic where they need metal, and would be better if left up like in a studio. A bolt through the plastic collar fixed the stripped plastic threads, but it's a work-around.

 

We needed everything and nobody had a lot of cash, so it was a good way to get started. For a mixer only, unless the Gear One is more like $250 or less, I'd dig a little deeper and get a Carvin 8-channel, on sale for around $500, or the Yamaha for under $600. Both are much more rugged and would probably stand up better to rough treatment.

 

I'm sure this is too late for any of the previous posters, but maybe someone currently considering the Gear One mixer and/or pkg will find this helpful.

[agedhorse]

Does this mean that "gear snobs" should ok with gear that breaks, is unrelaible, has fuses that fail? Most gear sbobs don't like to have to fix gear because it's cheaply built. Before you complain about gear snobs needing to complain less and rehearse more, I think you have no idea who is making these comments and why they do. I don't need to rehearse, I provide audio for a living and am finishing up a 35 year career, mostly at the national touring level. There are others here with similar experience to mine, and their comments pretty much mirror mine.

 

You need to understand that different levels of user have very different needs. If you guys are happy to work at the bottom of the food chain, with the cheapest of equipment, fine for you, but assuming that's good with others who are working well beyond your musical pay grade would be an incorrect assumption.

[b_f_c_99]

I gotta think a couple EV zlx12p's would just kill this thing in every way. Add a simple mixer Yamaha MG82CX and a 15 percent off coupon

you would be at $800 you could get a couple sennehiser 822s mics for 30-40 each. I gotta think you would have less feedback setting the zlx12ps' up behind the band aimed right at the mics than the 'monitors' of that gear one system.

[vaughn4380]

I gotta think a couple EV zlx12p's would just kill this thing in every way. Add a simple mixer Yamaha MG82CX and a 15 percent off coupon

you would be at $800 you could get a couple sennehiser 822s mics for 30-40 each. I gotta think you would have less feedback setting the zlx12ps' up behind the band aimed right at the mics than the 'monitors' of that gear one system.

 

 

[sarcasm alert] You are just a gear snob and want newbs to waste their money! [sarcasm alert]

[Pro Sound Guy]

I guess someone has to try to market that gear on this forum.

 

 

[b_f_c_99]

 

 

[sarcasm alert] You are just a gear snob and want newbs to waste their money! [sarcasm alert]

 

 

 

Hahaha thats me! The Gear Snob! Really I know basically nothing about high end gear, but I've seen enough garbage gear in my years of bands to know what is just pure junk and what is pretty reasonable for the price.