PA Suggestions

xStonr

xStonr

Kick Henry Jackassowski
Happy Holidays to all.
I've been asked to form a duo and play small gigs with a bass player. Since I don't have one, I'm wondering what you all would suggest for a portable PA system that won't break the bank. We would be playing small rooms. Reverb would be nice too.
 
If it was me I would go this route because it’s upscalable and usable in full band scenarios.
1. Mixer. Any inexpensive little 4 ch will do, but I’d buy the most channels I could afford. The larger ones will have some built in effects. Digital ones can intergrate easily into a computer based home recording set up. But for this you don’t need anything fancy. Any small mixer to mix two channels will do.

2. Speakers. I’d get a couple of inexpensive powered 10”s, or 12”s if you can afford it. I’ve had 2 Berringher powered 10”s for 10-12 yrs and they’ve held up fine. You can always use em for monitors in a larger band.

3. 1 speaker stand, but they are usually sold in pairs.

4. 2 SM58 mics and stands.

Put one speaker on a stand for front of house. Put the other on the floor as a wedge monitor between the mic stands. If your mixer dosn’t have reverb, patch in a reverb pedal.

Or alternatively set both on stands and angle one or both towards you slightly to hear. Gotta be careful with positioning tho or you’ll get feedback thru the mics.
 
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@xStonr ... I have your winner right here.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PRXOne--jbl-prx-one-powered-column-pa-speaker

A buddy of mine who is a professional gigging musician bought one of these and he uses it for his solo and duet shows. He uses a bit more gear for trio and 4 piece, but this is more than a compact PA speaker.... connect with an ipad and there's a full blown 7 Channel digital mixing console built in!!!. He plugged in his acoustic pedals and mic into it, then showed me where he dialed in the compression, EQ, and verb... and it sounded great! Plus, when it's time to take a break, he just streamed music wirelessly from the same ipad!

 
For a small, all in one PA, you can't beat the Fender Passport. It's actually useable. Nothing else is. Well, I'm sure there is something out there but, lots more money.

If you decide to build your own, Yamaha for the mixer https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Yamaha/MG06X-Unpowered-Mixer-117621787.gc

and, Alto for the speakers. I know the first gen of Altos are great, no idea of 2nd, 3rd, ... One of these- https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Alto/TS112A-12in-2-Way-800W-Powered-Speaker-117077440.gc
 
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baimun said:
@xStonr ... I have your winner right here.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PRXOne--jbl-prx-one-powered-column-pa-speaker

A buddy of mine who is a professional gigging musician bought one of these and he uses it for his solo and duet shows. He uses a bit more gear for trio and 4 piece, but this is more than a compact PA speaker.... connect with an ipad and there's a full blown 7 Channel digital mixing console built in!!!. He plugged in his acoustic pedals and mic into it, then showed me where he dialed in the compression, EQ, and verb... and it sounded great! Plus, when it's time to take a break, he just streamed music wirelessly from the same ipad!

Click to expand...

That looks great, but is a bit, in my mind, in the "breaking the bank" category. If xStonr is interested in it, I would suggest buying through Zzounds; their payment plan makes it easier to break a purchase into doable bits without a lot of extra cost. I'd look at it myself, but the weight puts it out of my range.
SRM-Flex_Full_3qtrR-1-_807884-23bdf4570c1a94ef35fed9cf8c201960.jpg


I have been looking at this to replace the Fishman 220, which is a bit heavy for me, especially trying to lift it onto the pole.
https://www.zzounds.com/item--MACSRMFLEX
Mackie SRM-Flex Portable Column PA System

This comes in at 30 pounds, and the heaviest part stays on the floor. At 70, this is what I look for - ease of carrying. :old: I have Mackie speakers for studio monitors and attached to one of the Amazon Echo devices and like them. They also have a sense of humor. This is from the manual for the PA:
Mackie Super Powers.JPG
 
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baimun said:
@xStonr ... I have your winner right here.
A buddy of mine who is a professional gigging musician bought one of these and he uses it for his solo and duet shows. He uses a bit more gear for trio and 4 piece, but this is more than a compact PA speaker.... connect with an ipad and there's a full blown 7 Channel digital mixing console built in!!!. He plugged in his acoustic pedals and mic into it, then showed me where he dialed in the compression, EQ, and verb... and it sounded great! Plus, when it's time to take a break, he just streamed music wirelessly from the same ipad!
Click to expand...

Looks great but it's overkill for my needs.
 
I'm not sure I can make a recommendation in the budget range. I have been using Mackie and QSC gear for the last 30 years and it's been fairly bulletproof. Mackie did have the "Thump" series which is less expensive. I would definitely go with the powered speaker and small mixer with some digital effects in it route, though.

Speakers and stands setup: https://amzn.to/3qiCYGE

Mixers of various sizes: https://amzn.to/3yVUGnz

I only have two powered speakers right now so when I do small gigs like you're taking about I put one on the stand for the audience and one on the floor for us to use as a vocal monitor.
 
Mark Wein said:
I'm not sure I can make a recommendation in the budget range. I have been using Mackie and QSC gear for the last 30 years and it's been fairly bulletproof. Mackie did have the "Thump" series which is less expensive. I would definitely go with the powered speaker and small mixer with some digital effects in it route, though.

Speakers and stands setup: https://amzn.to/3qiCYGE

Mixers of various sizes: https://amzn.to/3yVUGnz

I only have two powered speakers right now so when I do small gigs like you're taking about I put one on the stand for the audience and one on the floor for us to use as a vocal monitor.
Click to expand...

When I started my PA 10-12 yrs ago I bought 2 Mackie Thump 12s and a Peavey 12 ch mixer. Both have worked well with no problems and have served as the mixer and mains for many gigs and are the core of my practice space/studio set up.
Went looking for some monitors a couple of yrs later and got 2 Berringher 10s and they have also worked well and given me no problems.
The leader of my last band had 2 Berringher 12s, basically clones of my Mackies, he's had them as long as my Mackies or longer and they've never failed. We used them for monitors, along with one of my little 10s for the Drummer. Went looking for a sub and I got a Berringer and its also been fine, no issues. All this stuff held up thru 3-4 years of almost weekly gigging and it all still works. Currently using the Mackies and the sub in my practice space and the 10s are loaned out to my keyboard playing buddy for his piano, he likes the sound better than the built in speakers. Can get them back any time if needed.
 
It's hard to recommend anything other than springing for one of the towers. They're just leaps and bounds beyond lifting some 70 lb speaker up on to a wobbly stand.
 
Assuming you already have microphones and mic stands, and all the xlr cables, extension cords, etc you need to hook it all up:

Mixer 2 xlr inputs w/effects- $119
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-multimix-4-usb-fx-mixer-with-usb-and-effects

Speakers-2 powered 12"s for $500. Weight is 32 lbs. each. Very manageable.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B212D--behringer-eurolive-b212d-550w-12-inch-powered-speaker

You probably dont even need speaker stands. You can always set the house speaker on a chair, little table or something, or heck in a lot of situations just sit it on the floor.

Total cost: $619, with the majority of the expense totally usable in other situations.
The mixer is limited, but could be integrated into a small home recording set up and is totally adequate for your application. If I was gonna spend substantially more I spend it there.
You could also save $ and weight and get 10"speakers. Totally adequate for the present need and would make decent monitors in a bigger band. I recc 12's cause they could be used as mains too.

Those tower systems are nice but expensive. Well worth it if a solo, duo, or small acoustic thing is all you ever plan to do. But I'm not convinced they would be useful in a 4-5 piece rock band with a drummer, should that ever be in the cards. IDK I could be wrong.
 
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I know it's a ton of money all at once, to get it going but, for instance... Take the mixers Mark posted. 6 channel Mackie vs. the 10 channel Mackie. The 10 channel a a mid knob. 6 channel doesn't. I'm guessing that would really help cuz, you probably aren't planning on a 31 band EQ. 10 channel has a knob for how much effects. 6 channel has a on/off button. $150 vs. $230. For $80 more, even though you don't need more imputes, sounds like it's worth it.
 
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