twostone

I use the older Alto T212 for wedges for past 2 years they've been solid as a rock work horses for me. From hard core metal to bluegrass they getter done.  I like the lite weight of them. Do they compare to my EV's and RCF FOH ?  no , but when slicing out FB with a 31 band nobody ever complained about how they sound because they able to hear themselves is all that matters. 

More Gain Stucture info.

1. Turn power to amps off.

2. Use pink noise and set level into and out of the board so that the output just flickers the clip (or full scale digital) on the output meters.

3. Do the same on the next piece noting that you may have to reduce the input gain to reduce the level (output gain on the drive device is not the issue). Continue doing this until you reach the amps.

4. IF you have a DSP speaker processor, note that the input and output levels MAY be different as some have programmable level features that can cause this offset. Generally, if you have an option, something around +24dBu on the input and output is pretty close. There are also some that have a significantly lower operating level (ie. the BBE DS-48) and it is not adjustable (hardware limited) so in this event you will HAVE to then lower the level at the mixer to get down to avoid overloading the input. That's just the way it is, and you can't use a pad in this case because there is not adequate make-up gain and limited maximum output level (M.O.L.). In fact, if you have a unity-thru (ie. 1:1) device that has limited M.O.L. and no make-up gain provisions then that will be the limiting factor in the drive electronic's M.O.L. for headroom calculations.

5. Turn power amp's sensitivity knobs to the point where the limit LED just begins to flash. TURN OFF THE PINK NOISE AND TURN DOWN THE CONSOLE... and NOW (this is the important part), decide how much headroom you will need to insure adequate limiter operation on your amps (I choose between 9dB and 12dB for the average user) and turn the sensitivity controls up by that amount. This works on all amps that have an input overload point equal to or greater than the lowest M.O.L. device in the drive electronics. I mention this because there are a few amps that have an input overload point of less than typical (+22 to +26dBu) which will cause the input to clip before the limit/clip detector inside the power amp circuitry.

Generally, a good rule of thumb ends up that operating the power amp about -6dB below rated sensitivity is just about where you will end up and the result will be that the amp limits at +12dBu (give or take a few dB) with a limit point about (22dBu-12dBu=10dB) below the clipping point ofthe drive electronics. This means that you can limit ~10dB before clipping will occur at the speaker and this will be either from clipping the drive electronics or the input stage of the amp (before the limiting circuitry).

There's really not need to go through all of this if you follow the rule of thumb, but it's good to understand why. When we design powered mixers (or musical instrument amps) with all the procesisng inside, we draw out a level and headroom diagram detailing each stage and pay close attention to operating margins at each step, taking into account available boost and cut within eq's, filters, dynamics, etc.

Newbies please disregard Dave's method of clipping the kick and snare channel he's a pro so don't try that on your system.

EQing techniques and how to by Dave Ratt sound man for the RHCP and many more pro touring bands.[video=youtube;cU9BmupC62c]

Here some free room analyzing software tools to help tune your PA.

You will have to register but it free to register to.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

Here's a link to practice on training your ears on how to ring out your monitor system for offending feedback frequency don't worry it's free and also is virus free.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sft/

Hey way cool thread thanks Mark I'll start off with my musical background first i started playing music at the age of 6 my first R&R band at the age of 10 I'm 45 now. I'm also multi-instrumentalist vocals ,guitar, drums and bass guitar out of the 30+ years I've been in music I mainly was a lead singer for 30 years but now i just can't sing anymore the doc says I need throat surgery to repair the vocal chords and it just huts to damn bad to sing lead vocals now. My main role as a musician now is bass guitar since I jacked around with one for the past 20 years I finally took it serious enough to be in a band. As of now I'm in a classic metal cover band doing covers from Sabbath to Iron Maiden and also some hair metal glam bands we're in dire need of a new singer the one we have now sucks. But anyway here's my small club rig.

FOH speaker cabs
2-EV SXA 360
2-Yorkville LS700P

Mixer console
Peavey RQ2314

Rack gear
1-QSC PLX2505 ran @4ohms for wedges
1-Alesis midiverb 4
1-Sabine FBX 2400 (monitor eq) I love this thing
1-Rane ME15 EQ
1-Peavey EQ for monitors
1 DBX 223 Crossover

Monitor Speakers
2-Yorkville NX35's
1-Yorkville NX750P

I know most here eq their monitors with a 31 band eq but since I bought the Sabine FBX I just use the Peavey 215 to add sparkle on the monitors which I use the NX750P one one side of the PV eq and Sabine FBX for a Roland V drummer who likes insane loudness and the YX15P' go to the other side of EQ&FBX for vox and guitar the combination off the Sabine FBX and Peavey EQ works great for mixing on stage I don't have to dick around in a moments notice for a stray FB freq. the Sabine does it on the fly without altering my PV eq setting it's a great FB unit and thanks to Don AKA dboomer for your recommendation on the Sabine I really love this unit not only does it eliminate FB but also gives moe waaay more gain before FB and IMO that's a Godsent..
Racks and Cases
Twostone DYI 1/2 ply with laminated fiberglass lightweight but sturdy enough to take on the duties of the road.
Stands and Whatnot's
4-On stage mic stand all with boom arms
2-Samson mini boom stands
2-On stage adjustable speaker stands
1-Telex wireless instrument
1-Nady IEM ( I know) but it works for the singer which he bought this for himself
Mics I have 1-SM57 for lead guitarist 1-Senns silver e609 for rhythm vox 3-Heil PR20's and a vintage SM58 that has the windscreen replace just recently from a stupid drunk who came up and knock it over urgh

Cables
EWI from Mark&Liz at Audiopile great bang for the buck cables thanks guys

Backline gear
Lead guitarist Epiphone Les Paul Custom copy with Morley wha playing thru a Marshall JMC head and slant Marshall 4x12 cab great sound mic'ed with the SM57 on the Samson mini boom
Rhythm guitarist My Hamer sunburst XT Q/T with a MXR Phase 90 played thru my Peavey Valveking head into a Peavey 4x12 slant cab great sound when cranked mic'ed with the senns silver e609 on the Samson mini boom
My Bass Rig 200 wattt Ampeg Diamond Blue Tweed amp combo with built in DI. straight into Peavey mixer
Bass guitars a modded Fender JP90 with Ducan quarter pounder P&J PU's and hipshot tuner and a Warmoth maple neck and strap locks.
My other bass a Schecter Diamond custom 5 string with EMG active eq tone pots pretty great sounding for a Korean made bass won't replace my fender but sounds good and looks nice.
Drummer's rig a TD10 Roland V drums with expansion upgrade these are the bomb I own a set of TD6 for my home studio project but the TD10 is amazing with tons of features we tried this kit with real cymbals but really the on board factory cymbal sound better then what the drummer owns, these drums are also I consider another godsend they totally sound fantastic, are breeze to set up and have no FB issues and only use 2 inputs on a stereo channel on my PV mixer when used on the stereo channel and you pan them on the module you get unbelievable stereo image but hey who can afford these bad boys we just got lucky our drummer has good credit. Anyway this system works great if you have a E-kit but as usual I opt for more bigger PA system if I had the Budget yea line arrays would be my choice but I can't imagine having line arrays in a small club I'm afraid the club owner might ask us to turn down and that would be well kinda like if your to loud your to old theory. Anyway this system works great for our small club circuit usually a crowd of 50-100 folks and only problem I ever had was clipping the amp out because we had the signal gain set to high on the V drums but then again I was using 1 YX15P for a drum monitor and like I posted our drummer like it loud but since I now use a NX750 that problem doesn't exist no more hey folks some of you guys got some killer rigs thanks for sharing.

Only works with dual core and gotta have more ram?

Most kiddie bands I record love the POD's for some reason I have 3 different kinds Line 6, J-station and of curse the infamous Behringer, I use them with a headphone amp which each member has a POD signal in their cans and a clean signal which they can't hear, the clean signal will be re-amped later on. The reason I do this way is because I get the whole band in one room with the drummer and then I can track the drummer with the whole band playing their tune without bleed issue from the real amps in my kind of small spare room/studio. Then when I 'm ready for mix down a lot of the guitar players that are using the POD's just for a scratch track insist that I leave it in and blend it in with the re-amped guitar which I do. So yea I say you can have the best of both worlds a real amp and a POD blended mix hell I believe I read some where they're were even commercial studio's using this techque guess that where I learned it .

Exactly what kind of hollow body guitar do you play, could be from guitar pickups.