Let's talk PA systems:

[Terry Allan Hall]

In another post, a fellow forumite was asking advice on PAs...let see what's in use.

My rig is ideal for my acoustic-based music, but would be a bit wimpy for a heavy metal band:

Mixer/amp: Carvin PA1200 - 3 X 333 watts @ 4ohms/200 watts @ 8ohms, 12 channels, decent FX.

Mains - a pair of 200 watt 10" + horn boxes that I designed/built, on tripod stands, sometimes augmented by a pair of subs, powered by Amp 1(R) and 2(L) of my powered mixer.

Monitors - a pair of mic-stand mounted powered Hotspots for the bassist and myself, and a pair of floor wedges, powered by the 3rd amp in my powered mixer, for the percussionist.

Mics - Shure SM-58s for vocals, SM-57s for percussion. Guitar and bass amp's are plugged into the Carvin via line-outs.

[Jahmbo]

Stereo rig, soundcraft 24 channel board, bryston 3B and 4B amps, full martin stacks

of course, when you want it loud its there, but it takes up so much frigging room

[Shovelhead]

We're using a Carvin C1644-P 16-channel powered mixer. It has 4 amps built-in, at 300 watts each. We use those for 4 monitor mixes only.

The FOH is 2 Carvin 18" subs, powered by a 1500-watt amp, and 2 Mackie SRM450s for mids/highs.

A Lexicon reverb, and 3 external EQ units (2 for monitors, 1 for Mackies) round out the rest. It's a simple system, but it works well for us.

[caveman]

I use a 12 channel system very similar to Terry's but use ear monitors. Some the places I play have no room for wedges or even a hot spot. I use a single ear bud and a headphone distribution amp, works great.

[Micky Z]

Three Bose Personalized Amplification Systems for a 5-piece pop music band. No monitors needed. Two PAS systems have a single subwoofer and are used for vocals and guitars, and the third has two subs and is used for drums and bass. Each PAS has two 250 watt amps for the Cylindrical Loudspeaker poles, and the subs are powered by a 250 watt amp of its own. These things are supposed to be suitable for rooms up to 500-600 people, although we haven't pushed them that hard yet. I've also heard great reviews of the PAS used for outdoor performances - they've worked well for me in outdoor performances so far.

[LosBoleros]

Mackie 1604 16 channel mixer. Yamaha compressors on five vocal channels. overall compressor on the mains out. Mains come out in Mono, (I see not point in sending Stereo) to a three way active Cross-over. From there the sound goes to 800 watt power amp to feed two 18" sub-woofers, 300watt power amp to feed two 12" mid-range speaker cabinets and 300 watts to feed four tweeters. I find that the highs are very directional and must be placed more strategicly that the lower tones. I usually have tweaters on each side of the stage and a couple of tweaters out in the audience a bit so that everybody hears the high fidelity. It's the highs that get lost in the crowd.

[LosBoleros]

Vocal mics are Shure sm 58. Percussion mics are Shure Beta 98 for the Congas and peavy condensor mics for the bongos and hand percussions. Sax and Flute each get an SM 57. Guitars run straight into the board from the back of the amp. (We're talking acoustic guiitars) and Up-right bass goes from direct box straight to the board with a bass amp as a monitor. Bythe way, our guitar amps are only used as monitors and are turned so low that we can hear each other without having to raise our voice. This seems to give us the best over-all sound with minimal feedback problems.

[Cortfan]

We use the Bose PAS sticks most of the time. One has one B1 sub, and the other one has 2 B1 subs. We have about a dozen other amps and 2 more P.A. systems, too. The Bose will spoil you on load in/outs though. We used it outdoors July 3 to about 250 people with great results. We were even a little too loud at first. We are a 4 piece band. 3 vocal mics, lead guitar, bass, keys, Roland V-Drums.

[fuzzball]

I sold my PA gear to add to my studio budget, but I used to have a peavey power amp, a peavey mixer, and Ev monitors. The system never failed me.

[daklander]

I'm primarily a solo guy and right now use an old Carvin CX630 powered 6 channel mixer into a pair of 822 loudspeakers. If I need more coverage I'll use a pair of Avatar 15" loudspeakers and if I need more, I'll daisy chain the two.
Because I've had such good luck with both the sound (lots of compliments) and the dependability of the present Carvin unit, I'm looking at possibly going to the C1644P though that Bose PAS is looking mighty good too.

If I go completely, and light, solo, I have the power unit, the pair of loudspeakers, amp stand for the mixer and a speaker stand bag with a pair of stands, mic and gitar stands, mics, cables & etc in it so I can load the whole shebang onto a hand truck and have one load plus the guitars. If I go with the full setup I have one more load.

[robare99]

Yorkville PowerMax16, 2 - U15 Unity tops, 2 - LS800P 18" subs, Unity crossover, DDrum Triggers, Alesis DM5 drum module, rocktron compressor, Alesis quadraverb, 2 - 31 band Peavey FLS eq's, 1 - 215 FLS Peavey EQ, Sonic maximizer, 57's 58's 3 peavey PVM something condensor mics. cords etc etc.

[riffdaddy]

We rent. Therefore, we use junk. Lots of Peavey. Lots of Behringer. Lots of problems. :(

[fuzzball]

Once again, please don't bash Peavey. I never rent because people beat on rented gear, If treated properly Peavey gear is awsome, not to mention it is very rugged. Don't judge gear based on what you rent, it is like a rental car, you know people beat the hell out of it.

[GCDEF]

Carvin C1644P as described above.

Pair Yorkville LS700P subs.

Pair Yorkville U15 mains.

Samson S1500 power amp.

DBX 223 XL crossover

2 Yamaha 12" and 2 15" club series speakers as monitors.

Horizon 16 x 4 snake

Bunch of mics and direct boxes.

[Lee Flier]

We use the Bose Personalized Amplification System too - three systems, one for each of us. We were beta testers/demonstrators for it so we got them for free and were among the first to get them... that was sweet. :D We held onto our old PA gear in case we didn't end up liking the Bose stuff, but we really do so everything else has been sold or is collecting dust. For larger shows we rent or use a house PA. At originals clubs we of course are usually sharing the bill with other bands and they have a house PA anyway.

We use Beyer M88 microphones for our vocals and they're great! We like them much better than the SM58's we were using. Our drummer uses an AKG headset mic for his vocals, and my EV ND868 for the kick drum. Bass player goes through a SansAmp Bass Driver into his PAS. I mic a Reverend Goblin amp with an SM57. We rarely mic the full drum kit at smaller venues... there's enough bleed from the drums into all the vocal mics and our drummer plays hard, so it works fine.

[KHAN]

Yamaha EMX5000-20 Board

2 JBL Soundfactor cabs wit 2 15's and a horn for mids and highs.

Two powered JBL MPro 18's , and 2 unpowered JBL MPro 18's for subs.

We use 2 subs for smaller clubs, and 4 for the bigger ones.

[Timezarrow]

Haven't upgraded the thing for awhile, as the band went through a major line-up change and didn't play out for over a year. Since we started up again, we haven't had to bring a p.a., so it's been used for rehearsal only lately, which it is more suited for:

Mackie powered mixer, Behringer 12" FOH speaker on a stick (2), Fender 15" monitor cabs (2).

If we start playing gigs that need a p.a., and need more than vocals amped, I'll have to upgrade. But I have had no problems with it.

[RupertB]

I play solo acoustic, as well as duo & trio w/ acoustic & electric.

In agregate, we have:

1 Audio Centron 12 channel powered mixer (2x200w at 8 ohms)

2 Mackie 808M 8 channel powered mixers (2x230w at 8 ohms)

2 Peavey wedges (12 + horn)

2 Peavey SP2 mains (15 + horn)

2 Mackie C300z mains (12 + horn)

1 Yamaha S112 speaker

Speaker stands, mics, etc...

We put together the best combination for the gig and have enough power & speakers to throw sound in nearly any venue we're likely to play.

[Greazygeo]

I just upgraded my system over the past 6-8 months...
Mackie 1604 VLZ (next probable upgrade)
DBX Driverack
Gates and comps for drums and whatnot
Alesis Quadraverb for voc FX
Digitech TSR for voc FX (soon to be replaced by a TC something
PV DeltaFex (drum verb)
31 band Ashly EQ for kick drum when needed

2 Yorkville EF500P active tops (800 watts bi-amped)
2 Yourkville LS800P active subs (1500 watts each)

Monitor rig
2 JBL MP412 for front wedges
1 JBL MP215 for drum monitor
2 Peavey Feedback Ferret's (one for each monitor mix)
Peavey CS800S one channel for front mon and one channel for drum mon.
Sennheiser EV and Shure mics....

This system sounds amazing, gets stupid loud when needed and is pretty compact.

george

[Blackwatch]

I'm as close to a solo act as you can get without being one (Just a drummer) but my sytem is:

-Berhinger PMX2000 powered board
-SM58 mic
-Mackie SM450 powered monitor
-JBL 15" mains
-Berhinger Acoustic amp
-Boss TU2 and AB guitar switch

I can set up the whole system in 20 mins.
And it sounds pretty good for cheap gear.

[Dave Martin]

I'm still in the process of buulding a new sound system, but currently consists of 4 Turbosound TXD 112 monitors, QSC power amps, KT 1/3 octaves, and an A&H MixWizard. These are monitors. for mains, I'll order another two pairs of the Turbos and a pair of 2x15 subs. Should be reasonably light, reasonably portable, and pretty dang nice sounding. I think there are 8 SM58's for vocals, and I generally pull any instrument mics that we need out of my studio

[Singin' Dave]

see sig...

[Frank Prince]

Originally posted by Cortfan
We use the Bose PAS sticks most of the time. One has one B1 sub, and the other one has 2 B1 subs. We have about a dozen other amps and 2 more P.A. systems, too. The Bose will spoil you on load in/outs though. We used it outdoors July 3 to about 250 people with great results. We were even a little too loud at first. We are a 4 piece band. 3 vocal mics, lead guitar, bass, keys, Roland V-Drums.
How loud are those when you are standing right next to them on stage? Do you have control over a "monitor" mix with them as well as the volume that the crowd hears?

[daklander]

Originally posted by Frank Prince

How loud are those when you are standing right next to them on stage? Do you have control over a "monitor" mix with them as well as the volume that the crowd hears?

What you hear is what the audience hears. With the PAS you don't need a separate monitor system.
The sound dispersal off the poles is outstanding though the subs are more directional.
With the setup I heard with What The? playing the levels were the same right in front and as far back as I could go, probably about feet and it didn't matter if you were toward the left or right, the sound and volume was consistent.

[Tedster]

I'm from the less-is-more camp...

Mackie 1402 VLZ
QSC 200 a side into 8 amp
Mackie 350 (I think, I'm model-number-impaired) speakers. The non-powered ones.

I do mostly acousticky stuff.

[TimmyP]

What I recommend: http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/BuyPA.htm

What I have: http://www.padrick.net/TP_Audio.htm (scroll down)

[mstreck]

Mackie 808S powered mixer
JBL EON 15s for mains
4 Community monitors
Shure mics

We're kinda lazy and we like to keep things simple. This setup is simple, yet powerful enough for anywhere that we've had to play (outside or in). Besides, bigger gigs tend to supply a house PA (or sometimes a full backline).

We also have a Mackie 808M that can take along if we need more inputs (to mic the drums or whatever) or amplified outputs.

There is a pair of Ross bass cabs in my garage that we've never used. Too bulky to transport.

Mike

[M-1 Fan]

Mackie CFX16 Mixer
(2) Mackie SRS1500A’s
(2) Mackie SRM450’s

(3) Sennheiser microphones
Audix OM-5 microphone

Behringer Vitrualizer

Carvin PA1200 monitor PA mixer
(2) Carvin 822’s monitor speakers

(2) S12Me Yamaha monitor speakers

Digitech Vocalist Performer

We run an AKG mic on the kick drum and (1) SM-57 on the snare, with a condenser mic covering the tom toms. (We don't have enough channels to mic all the drums.) The Carvin PA1200 is used as a monitor amp. The Mackies and the board are running at about 1/2 power. Nice little system, and it's balanced well. The vocals and instruments are clear with no distortion. We have:

(1) Yamaha keyboard - used as bass
(1) Drum set
(1) Rhythm guitar
(1) Korg Triton keyboard
(1) Lead guitar

All of us sing.