I need a PA

[kay]

I'm sick of borrowing everyone's PA all the time! Anyone know of any sweet deals?

[Andrew]

My advice is to seek out older gear by about 10 years. The current trend towards powered speakers and lighter cabs means you can find deals on unpowered monitors and poweramps and mixers.

I run a cheap Behringer mixing board, a 2400 watt power amp and a pair of 2x15 cabs for our practice space PA. It blows away 90% of the PA's we play through at hardcore shows and it was a third of the cost of similar current PA gear.

I'm not sure if we still have them or not, but we may still have a pair of unpowered 1x15 PA cabs if they interest you.

[CodyCreepcore]

whats your budget?

[tylerp]

here are some super cheap speakers for a PA:
http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/ele/2509403086.html

2 x 800W should be enough power for you. all you'd need is a power amp and a mixer. if you're just doing vocals, you could get away with a crappy Behringer mixer (~$50 at Long and Mcquade or keep an eye on CL/UsedVic), though almost any other brand would be a better idea. then you'd just need a power amp capable of up to 2 x 800W channels. also you'd really want to get speaker stands. they're expensive but raising the PA speakers by 6 feet makes them -sound- like they're double the wattage compared to being on the floor or sitting on a table.

I am posting this based on your likely interest in getting something cheap, loud, and usable.

troy's PA is a simple yorkville powered mixer and two yorkville speakers. it used to be "good enough" when brian used it, still works fine for house shows and small venues, but we have run into a few situations where it's just not loud enough for larger shows and venues. I forget the wattage and model number, troy could you enlighten us? I think it's 325W total (~165W per speaker) which is way lower than the speakers I linked you to are capable of. you could probably even get away with a lower wattage power amp, like 2 X 600W or 2 X 400W, but I think having the extra power is worth it.

[Andrew]

here are some super cheap speakers for a PA:
http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/ele/2509403086.html

2 x 800W should be enough power for you. all you'd need is a power amp and a mixer. if you're just doing vocals, you could get away with a crappy Behringer mixer (~$50 at Long and Mcquade or keep an eye on CL/UsedVic), though almost any other brand would be a better idea. then you'd just need a power amp capable of up to 2 x 800W channels.

The ad/general description of these is misleading though. They're rated for 200 watts continuous/800 watts peak. I would not run these constantly with an 800 watt amp, you'll blow them. You'd have no problem finding an older poweramp that does 200-400 watts a side to work with these cabs though.

[Andrew]

I've always wanted to take another page from Black Flag's book and bring our own PA with us to shows. We don't have the room in the van, but if we ever get a trailer...

[tylerp]

whoops, I didn't look further into that. but it's still a good deal for those speakers and still a fair amount of wattage handling, though I would suggest pushing the 300W/side range.

yeah, I've always been confused as to why vocalists don't have to bring -their- own "gear" - everyone else is hauling a giant pile of crap, a smaller-than-club show-worthy setup would take up less space than anyone else's rig. I bet you could fit it in the damages van if you had a more compact bass rig and were using a smaller PA setup (seriously, a PAIR of 2x15s? where do you get all the space for this??). it'd be way easier for promoters to do shows if this was the norm.

[Andrew]

I bet you could fit it in the damages van if you had a more compact bass rig and were using a smaller PA setup (seriously, a PAIR of 2x15s? where do you get all the space for this??). it'd be way easier for promoters to do shows if this was the norm.

Hey guitar player, why don't you suggest the guitar rig or drums get smaller to fit the PA?

My bass rig seems big, but it's actually smaller than the usual SVT and 8x10 cab hc band bass rig.

[Crucified]

knowing how much you have to spend will ultimately decide what you get. for 600 bucks you could get new gear with a warrenty

something like this is small and with a set of speaker stands, would be fine for any house show.

http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/10 ... System.htm

[Crucified]

or this
http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/66 ... _Mixer.htm

with a couple of passive speakers would be good for nearly any small venue shows.

[kay]

I want to spend 200 bucks or less setting myself up. Even then this might have to be my birthday present. I'm fine as long as it's big enough to support shows at Car Pet Land or the Ministry.

[Crucified]

I want to spend 200 bucks or less setting myself up. Even then this might have to be my birthday present. I'm fine as long as it's big enough to support shows at Car Pet Land or the Ministry.

you are going to have a really hard time with 200 bucks. you're going to have to deal soley in used, likely broken stuff. two of the cheapest mics and short cables will cost you 40 bucks, 2 speaker cables will cost you 50bucks(unless you're lucky and find some cheaper somehow, even used. ), which leaves you with 110 dollars for the powered mixer and speakers.

i'll take a look around but it's going to be extremely slim pickings.

[Crucified]

http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/msg/2512716731.html
^^^
this one is a little under powered but really the only thing at your budget that will be available, he says it even comes with cables and speakers for 150 bucks, that will leave you 50 bucks to grab a couple mics for vocals. do eet.

i would even ask him if he had a couple beater mics around for cheap live use, he might throw them in for nothing or cheap.

edit - if you have the money now, i would jump on it asap.

[Human-Demise]

incase you don't end up getting one, mine is available pretty much anytime.

[Andrew]

Would a couple people going in on a community PA collectively be a viable option?

[dalamar501]

I once bought my PA off Handsome Brian when he used to do all the shows. I thought it would be a good investment as well I wanted it to be around for shows here in Victoria. So far it has been great as the in house PA at The Troyler and has been used at various shows (it has stopped seeing usage a bit... oh well) It isn't the most powerful but it works well for small hall shows and houses. the Indie scene here used to make good use of it too.

[tylerp]

troy, your PA has been an amazing resource. I think you've gotten your fair share of rental payments and show entries for owning it, done TONS of shows with it, and it still hasn't broken down.

I'm still of the opinion that those speakers I posted are a good deal. you're probably going to have a tricky time finding everything you want for $200. if your budget was maybe $600, this would be a lot more doable. but those speakers I posted, $50 for a mixer, a crappy Apex mic, and a used power amp (~$100) and some cables will build the setup you want. that's more around $300. Kevin is more on the right track of a good setup but it's probably out of your price range and I like giving L+M the "new" prices for anything. used gear til death! just remember that if you buy something from L+M new and want to sell it back to them, you'll expect maybe 40% of what you paid.

[Crucified]

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified- ... s_15372346

[Human-Demise]

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified- ... s_15372346

kay you should get this.

[deathindustrial]

Can't say I agree. Buying crap is a waste of money and those rated 50W Traynors from the dark ages are going to make everything that goes through them sound like a quiet intercom made out of ass. Good luck asking guitarists, bassists and drummers to "play more quietly" so you can be heard over them. Generally more recent gear will at least use D class amplifiers so that you actually hear more out of the power rating (instead of it being wasted as heat).

You would be better of using your cash as a down payment and then paying off something so at least you end up with gear worth using out of the deal.

Cheers