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I was reminded by another thread of my $30 NADY cable tester from Musician's friend. Almost bought the Behringer version but that did not have the Speakon test jacks the Nady has and cost more! A cable tester is fantastic to have when making a lot of cables and buying used snakes like I do. And for $30 everyone should have one. Great to push that dollar amount into the free shipping range ;>)

Boomerweps

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I was reminded by another thread of my $30 NADY cable tester from Musician's friend. Almost bought the Behringer version but that did not have the Speakon test jacks the Nady has and cost more! A cable tester is fantastic to have when making a lot of cables and buying used snakes like I do. And for $30 everyone should have one. Great to push that dollar amount into the free shipping range ;>)


Boomerweps

 

 

One more plug for audiopile....the bugcatcher cable tester is great! It's a little more than the Nady but is built like a tank and tests 7 types of cables: xlr, 1/4", midi, speakon, rca, 1/8" and BNC!

 

I've had it for years in my audio toolbox and has been a very nice addition.

 

http://www.audiopile.net/products/Electronics/Bug_Catcher/Bugcatcher_cutsheet.asp

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I was reminded by another thread of my $30 NADY cable tester from Musician's friend. Almost bought the Behringer version but that did not have the Speakon test jacks the Nady has and cost more! A cable tester is fantastic to have when making a lot of cables and buying used snakes like I do. And for $30 everyone should have one. Great to push that dollar amount into the free shipping range ;>)

 

 

If you ever need to test cables with weird connectors and more than 3 or 4 pins, go buy a cheap Cat5 network tester. Cat5 cables have 8 wires - so you can then chop a short Cat5 jumper in half and solder on whatever connectors you need for a particular test. I got my tester for around $35-40 from some online computer supplier. Made it much much easier to troubleshoot a video studio installation with a lot of Sony 9-pin control cables - especially since network testers often come with a little "remote" dongle for testing installed wiring.

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Here's another cheap but good deal.

Behringer XM8500 microphones. Adaquate to use for the mic droppers & swingers, i.e., mic destroyers. $20 each, easy to get them to pay up. If you don't like the mic, throw the body away but the ball is pretty much interchangable with SM58 & clones, & comes with a really nice mic clip and a foam padded plastic case. I use one of their cases for my Audix D6, much better protection than those cute zippered envelopes most mic makers call "cases". The D6 rides in my DRUM HARDWARE CASE in the mic case!

Boomerweps

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I would second the vote for Behringer mic's, but the model that i've found to be a TREMENDOUS bargain is the XM1800S. I've A-B'd them against a lot of more expensive mics and they always come out "very respectable" at the very least. In more cases than not, i've had performers actually prefer the Behringer's over several different Shure's ( 57's, 58's, 55's, etc...). To be quite honest, i've actually gotten rid of most of my Shure's after finding these Behringer mic's. For what i sell one used Shure for, i can replace it with several of these mic's!!!

Given that the Behringers cost me less than $30 ( wholesale ) for three mic's, three mic clips and a padded carrying case, it's hard for me NOT to be overjoyed with these. After all, having someone damage / destroy an $8 mic is a helluva lot easier to take than something that costs easily 10x that price. Sean

PS... Here's a good source for these mic's. You might be able to find a better price if you really look around. I just posted this link as a matter of convenience for those on the prowl for "budget" stuff that works good :)

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=248-626

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Damn, that does sound like a good value. I looked around, but $39.99 for the three-pack was the best I found. I did find one place selling a single one for $29.99.

Sure the similar but more-expensive ones are better, but one has to wonder how much better, and how much profit is being made on some of them. Cheaper labor and better technology, yet the prices on some haven

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For me the EV 767a microphone is the best price/quality deal out there in any musical category, i bought some of them of e-bay, brand new, for $66 each, there are a lot of people out there paying $129 for them from major retailers, awesome sound that kicks shure sm series in the ass!

Rod

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Just performed some testing on several different mics the other night using both audible listening tests and digital spectral analysis. Included in that testing was a brand new Behringer 1800 that i had just pulled out of the case. Evidently, there's very little ( if ANY ) quality control on these mics. Then again, for about $9 - $13 a mic, you can't really expect TOO much.

In this instance, the Behringer 1800 sounded and measured extremely thick, congested and dull. In comparison, an older Shure SM58 sounded FAR more lively and open, even though the Shure itself sounded thick and congested compared to some of the other mics tested. In other words, this specific B 1800 sounded REALLY bad. As previously mentioned, this is the exact opposite results of what i've experienced in the past. That is, the Behringer typically sounded far more sharp, open and spacious than other SM58's that we've tested in head to head's.

As such, one might want to play around with these mic's if you're going to purchase them and see how each individual mic works. Some may sound lean, some may sound thick and some may sound pretty well balanced. For less than $40 for three of them, they are still a pretty fabulous deal for a disposable utility microphone. Sean

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We are just starting out with a garage band that will be playing small clubs and some outdoor partys and stuff. Here's what we are thinking of buying for a > $1500 budget.... There are 3, guitar, bass, and drums and we are going to play classic rock. Maybe we'll ad another guitarist on down the road.


mixer:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Europower-PMP5000-1200Watt-20Channel-Powered-Mixer?sku=630184


speakers:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Peavey-SP-5-2Way-15-Speaker-Cab?sku=601393


What do you all think?

 

Speakers... I suppose that Peaveys aren't bad, but I recently picked up some JBL JRX115 speakers that I am really pleased with. I bought a good shape used one on eBay for $152.50 + $45 ship ($197.50), then shopped online iincluding eBay for a mate. Found a new one at Amazon.com for $229.95 + $39.59 ship ($269.54).

 

$467.04 for a pair of JBLs... I'm very pleased. I own a pair of JBL JRX112M (same series) for well over a year now and they are great dependable monitors. JRX series may be 'budget' JBLs, but they certainly don't shame the name.

 

1f56_1_sbl.JPG

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For your first P.A. I'd recommend carefully shopping the used market. You can later upgrade as necessary. Here's what I did for my band and it's worked out quite well so far.
I picked up a pair of slightly older JBL 15" mains on ebay for about 325 shipped and they have been quite good. There are definately better mains on the market but night after night we get a good sound with them. I also picked up a used powered yorkville sub for about 275 shipped, that is probably the best find so far. The combo sound quite good, and all for about 600 bucks!! We also use a Yamaha MG board (these are all over the place used) and a Behringer EP2500 poweramp. This is a pretty good sounding P.A. for about 1000 bucks. Use could get some mics, stands, cables and monitors with the other 500.

To hear how our mixes are coming out check out our myspace. The live tracks posted are a combination of the board and a room mic. This would give you a pretty good sense of what we're doing with our budget P.A.
www.myspace.com/subtlegroove (listen to any of the live tracks)

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The perfect config, IMO, for smaller setups.
Anybody heard them yet? Under $500 for a powered 2x12" top cab with a plywood box seems pretty impressive, if they don't sound like crap! I've heard a couple different Resound cabs and they were ok.

 

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1837297

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i use a peavey pv 20 mixer. very,very quiet. the effects are decent and durablei think it was in the 375 range for a 16 channel mixer... with a usb port.for a low priced durable mic i got the shure pg 57... works well is durable.... thanks for a good thread

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maybe a little more than most need,,,,,but MF has QSC PL236 amps for $899 1300WPC at 4 ohms. QSC no longer makes them but they have a great track record and offer their 6 year warranty on them They work incredible on my subs

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Quote by RodClement:

"For me the EV 767a microphone is the best price/quality deal out there in any musical category, i bought some of them of e-bay, brand new, for $66 each, there are a lot of people out there paying $129 for them from major retailers, awesome sound that kicks shure sm series in the ass!"

Absolutely AGREE. I used Shure SM58's for over 25 years. Finally, one died (I owned two). A fellow solo act musician suggested I try the EV, so I bought one from my favorite low price Internet company. I paid about $79.00 for it. So Rod, you got a good deal, can't beat that price.

This mic is better for my voice because I can sing some pretty low notes (I'm a baritone) on the SM58 my lowest notes sounded garbled, they sound clear on the 767a. It has a much higher frequency response as well as a broader dynamic range than the SM58. I don't know that I would give this mic to a female who happens to be a soprano, but for a male vocalist that wants better dynamic range and good feedback rejection, without spending a fortune, this is one great microphone.

Mike T.

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Studio Projects B1 Large Diaphragm Condenser

 

I got two of these from Ebay, brand new with shockmounts, shipped to my door (I live in Canada and they came from the US) for about $300 CAD.

 

I'm a live guy and use them for drum overheads mostly. They're pretty {censored}in' nice!

Last night I used them on a Leslie and they were amazing for that. I've even had one set up and a 3 piece bluegrass group play around it and man, it was almost as good as when I used a couple Neumann KM184's in an XY pattern.

 

Just great sounding mics and cheap. The pickup pattern isn't the greatest but I can live with it. Wouldn't be much of an issue in the studio. The shockmounts kinda suck too but they're totally usable and do what they're supposed to.

 

People always say they're "good for the money". I just say they're good, period.

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