| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
Well...I do sidework as the "sound guy" for a couple of bands. Common component used to be the bass player...and his sound gear. Bass player no longer plays with one of the bands, so we're kinda on our own for gear now. I've reworked an old CR1604 mixer for prefade aux sends (monitor mixes) and I think we have enough stuff to get us through a gig...tonight...(fortunately small-room, so we shouldn't miss the bass cabinet). But, I'm looking to build a system for myself again, like I had years ago when this was my main gig. Looking at Mackie's 2404VLZ3 desk - small footprint, full-featured, bulletproof construction - and building an outboard rack with a Behringer 32x2 EQ and a pair of Behringer 15x2's for monitors; maybe a DBX166XL or two for limiters (although the 2404 has 8 onboard compressors), and some form of robust powered FOH speakers. We had Carvin 15" 3-ways (non-powered) and a Carvin powered 18" sub; I'd like to go powered all around. Anyone in "the biz" these days who can offer any brand tips / durability experience? I'm looking at Carvin (although the sub didn't have the punch I really wanted for the kick drum); JBL; or Mackie. Any other ideas or suggestions? Anyone selling anything good/used? | ||
| Sparky |
Sounds like a fun gig. Check in with the guys who know gear on the SurfGuitar101 forum for their opinions or direction. Some peeps there have direct connections with Fender, Gomez, etc. May not be exactly what you're looking for but these guys know their stuff. | ||
| Ourdee |
Joe, I'm no expert. Do like the Allen And Heath mix wizard 3 16-2 though. Run it through dual 32 band EQ and a Peavey amp with DDT clipping protection. Yamaha main speakers and a mix of yamaha, peavey, and an odd-ball powered monitor. I can run 6 different mixes for 6 different monitors. Electric yamaha drums running 2 head units, electric piano and a keyboard, 3 wireless shure mikes, 6 wired mikes, tape input, cd input, and a computer input. Fills all 16 channels. I leave the bass on his own amp and dirty looks to real it in. Another electric guitar is on a small amp and I sometimes mike the little amp. I do like the Allen and Heath mixer. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I'm by no means a pro at this, but none of the brands you've listed are particularly good. Mackie has questionable quality and customer support these days, Behringer is just all around cheap, Carvin ain't far off and you can't exactly buy a replacement that night if you're in a jam, and JBL isn't anything special. What do you need to do? What kind of music? What kind of room? What size space do you need to fill? That will determine what to get. Allen and Health is a good board. QSC makes a great speaker. Here's my setup for my band - typical rock and pop stuff, will fill an indoor audience of 200 comfortably, could do more with another sub. The mains are Mackie SRM450s, but these are the older "made in Italy" V1 models. The newer V1s and the V2s are noted for not sounding as good and not as reliable. Should be able to find a pair for $600 if you shop hard. They aren't great speakers, but good for the money. Would never give what they're asking for brand new. Monitors are Mackie SRM350s - not my choice, but I didn't buy them so that's what they are. Used should be around $500-600 for a pair. I use a single Yorkville LS701P sub. This is a dual 10", 6th order bandpass design, so it's not really versatile, but it hits harder than anything its size and weight has a right to, and since the kick is all I run through it, it's not really a problem. A little EQ goes a long way to mitigate it's comparatively small frequency range. Reaches down to 35-40hz just fine with plenty of volume. About $650 on the used market. For a board, I'm using a Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2. If you need more channels, you can either buy the 32-channel version, or you can link up to 4 16 channel boards together (only 2 if you want to record, though). If you're starting from scratch, I would HIGHLY suggest going with a digital board - you'll spend less money and end up with a lot less crap to lug around. The recording possibilities are huge, but the best part is you don't need any outboard gear aside from a power conditioner (and some will argue even that is optional). A&H's digital board is likely similar, but I know my PreSonus has parametric EQs, gates, limiters and compressors on all 16 channels, all 8 aux channels (2 are dedicated FX), all 4 subgroups and the main outs, in addition to 32 channel EQs for the main and all aux channels. It has two FX channels which can be sent to the other auxs. Phantom power on each channel, yadda yadda. There's not a whole lot most people would ask of it that it can't do. I had to send mine back for a repair when I first got it, but it's been about a year now and it gets used multiple times a week between gigs and practice and hasn't so much as hiccuped since. The only "neat" thing I do when I set it up is I run the sub as an aux-fed box - makes it very easy to just dial up the bass at will without increasing the overall volume. If I were to start upgrading things, I would be ditching the SRM450s for some QSC 12" mains, the 350s for some QSC 10" speakers. The sub is pretty nice as is and I like it better than the Q-Sub, but Yorkville does have some nice 15" subs that are more versatile. (Message edited by xl1200r on February 10, 2013) |
