Members pikappant82 Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 Ok, I've posted on this forum several times and I've read enough previous posts and done my research. Now here's my dilemma.... I'm in the military and moved into a new area in Washington state. I'm gona start playing at some of the local bar/pubs etc doing solo acoustic/vocals. I know that some places have house PA systems, but I would prefer to have my own set up so I always have an idea of what kind of sound I will get and how to set up my mix myself. (There is nothing worse than having to keep familiarizing yourself with a new set up every time you play!) What I'm looking at is something like the package on the audioeast site. The pair of Yorkie NX55P on stands, mixer, and eventually a powered monitor. The mixer in that package may actually be a little more than I need, but its a good deal. Given that I do not have that kinda cash on me right now....and I do not want to settle for a "cheap" PA setup, I have a problem. Should I depend on the pubs' house PA and save? Or would I be better off say, buying one NX55P and a small mixer, and then buying the rest as I have the cash? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jess Posted March 18, 2008 Members Share Posted March 18, 2008 If it were me, i would get enough to get me going and as a solo/acoustic goes, 1 powered yorkie and a desk will be fine as long as the rooms your doing ain't HUGE rooms. I have done plenty of solo gigs with just 1 good powered box sitting behind me (slightly off axis to the mic of coarse) and a lot of punters love the fact that your not rippin there heads off, and they can have a conversation, then listen when they want. I think this concept has been lost somewhat in certain circles.. Anyways it gets you gigging with your own gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pikappant82 Posted May 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 So I'm in the process of making my connections here in the area. Some of the places I want to play do not have a house PA. I can rent from one of the local music stores, but it will run $60 per day which includes a powered mixer, pair of 2 way cabs, speaker cables, and speaker stands. Enough to get me buy, but nothing special. So as soon as I can I think I'm gona buy one Yorkie NX55P. But one question....has anyone ever used a yorkie as a stand alone without a mixer? How would an acoustic guitar and a mic sound plugged directly in? Would the built-in mini mixer get me buy until I can pick up a mixer? My whole point here is that I do not want to lower my standards of the quality of gear I want. I'd prefer to buy a little at a time and eventually have exactly what I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Peet Nel Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 Hi, Though I have no experience with this speaker, it seems the mixer has 1 mic input, with tone controls and 1 line input. That means you will need a pre amp / mixer for the guitar? It might be an option to get a pre amp for the guitar (not a guitar player, but maybe something like a pedal with a pre built in?), running that into the line in, your mic straight into the speaker's mic in. That would probably be as good as a small mixer with that speaker, just saves the cost of the mixer. (I do not know what a pre / pedal would cost - maybe not a saving?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Will Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 But one question....has anyone ever used a yorkie as a stand alone without a mixer? How would an acoustic guitar and a mic sound plugged directly in? Would the built-in mini mixer get me buy until I can pick up a mixer? My whole point here is that I do not want to lower my standards of the quality of gear I want. I'd prefer to buy a little at a time and eventually have exactly what I want. We use Yorkie NX25p for monitors. I've used one independently as a stand-alone PA for small solo gigs and it works just fine. Plug your mic and guitar directly into the speaker's built-in mixer and you're good to go. Admittedly, it doesn't give you a lot of control over the mix, but neither do most low-cost, small footprint mixers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 Not to take business away from Dan, and I know the title is "I know what I want", but another option would be the RCF Art-310A. The cost is less, it's a quality box and a bit smaller too. I've not heard is specifically, but have the 322A and 525A (other "Art" series boxes) and, IMO, the 300 series is a step up from the Yorkville NX series (I have the NX550P's, the precursor to the NX55P). You're also right regarding the mixer. If it's just you and you're talking about 2-3 channels, you can certainly get a smaller, cheaper mixer and have comparable results. Anyway I think you can score the RCF 310A for about $500 and something like a The Soundcraft EFX 8 mixer for $390. So under $1900 for 2 mains, a monitor and a mixer with built in effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pikappant82 Posted May 9, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 Not to take business away from Dan, and I know the title is "I know what I want", but another option would be the RCF Art-310A. The cost is less, it's a quality box and a bit smaller too. I've not heard is specifically, but have the 322A and 525A (other "Art" series boxes) and, IMO, the 300 series is a step up from the Yorkville NX series (I have the NX550P's, the precursor to the NX55P).You're also right regarding the mixer. If it's just you and you're talking about 2-3 channels, you can certainly get a smaller, cheaper mixer and have comparable results.Anyway I think you can score the RCF 310A for about $500 and something like a The Soundcraft EFX 8 mixer for $390. So under $1900 for 2 mains, a monitor and a mixer with built in effects. Seems like a great cabinet, especially since it's cheaper than the Yorkie. A couple things I noticed. It doesnt have the "mini-mixer" that the yorkie has. It also only has one input from what I can tell. So that would be fine as long as I have a mixer, but I don't yet. I was gona start out using the yorkie by itself and eventually buy a mixer and then a second cabinet. One more thing, can the RCF keep up with the Yorkie, given that the 310A has a 10" and the NX55P has a 12"? I'm not sure how much it would matter in my application. I'll just be doing solo/acoustic stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted May 9, 2008 Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 You are correct in that there is effectively no mixer in the RCF. I look at it as "nothing is free". While the mixer can be very handy, if you're going to have another mixer anyway, you may as well spend the dough on the speaker components themselves. You're not paying for a mixer in every speaker that you don't really need. There are a few on this board who own this speaker so you may get some feedback if you ask in another thread. As I said before, I own 2 RCF models. They are both 12" active speakers. Compared to the Yorkville NX55P, they are both noticeably better. I will say that both cost considerably more though with the 522A being in the neighborhood of 2X the cost. The Yorkville's are competent boxes and served my band well as monitors and mains for a few years, so don't get the wrong idea. I still own 2 of the 4 I originally purchased. I also use Yorkville subs every week. I was suggesting something that would cheaper, smaller, lighter, sound good, and more than adequate for your application. They would also be OK in smaller venues for a full band with subs underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pikappant82 Posted May 9, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 Well at this point, if I were to go with the RCF I could use the extra money I saved and put it toward a decent mixer. My only concern now is will the 10" sound good enough for acoustic guitar and vocals, vice going with the 12" yorkie? I do like that its a smaller cab and lighter weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted May 9, 2008 Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 From what I've heard from others and read from marketing material and reviews (so take those for what they are) they'll be fine. I can vouch for some of the comments as far as my RCF's go. Neither box needs much, if any EQ at all, to sound good. Sweetwater will likely negotiate on the price or you can try www.rmcaudio.com. BTW, RCF isn't a prominent name in the USA, but are well known in Europe. If I'm not mistaken, they were originally spawned out of Mackie as their upper tier line. They haven't had any affiliation with Mackie for several years though. http://www.sweetwater.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12093 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ART310A/reviews/#anchor http://www.gtaust.com/articles/301105_rcf.shtml http://www.gtaust.com/filter/08/03.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bobby1Note Posted May 9, 2008 Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 What I'm looking at is something like the package on the audioeast site. The pair of Yorkie NX55P on stands, mixer, and eventually a powered monitor. The mixer in that package may actually be a little more than I need, but its a good deal. Should I depend on the pubs' house PA and save? Or would I be better off say, buying one NX55P and a small mixer, and then buying the rest as I have the cash? Audio-East's packages are customizable; you can substitute/add/subtract components to suit your specific requirement. If the Soundcraft EFX12 is overkill for your needs, you can substitute the EFX8 for example, or no mixer at all, and save yourself a few bucks. Soundcraft has a small mixer called the Compact 4 and also the Compact 10. but those have no built-in FX. You might also want to consider an Allen & Heath ZED series mixer. Now, since your guitar has a pick-up, do you need to plug the guitar into the P/A? Do you already have an amp? If so, maybe you can get-by for now, with a single P/A cabinet for voice only. A single NX55p would allow you to plug-in a mic with no external mixer required. I'd probably opt for one NX55P and the EFX8, as this will give you FX, plus when you play through a house P/A, you can use your NX as your monitor. Probably wouldn't cost much more than $1K. Later, you can add a few more cabs if required. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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