Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

The band is throwing around ideas for the dream P.A. system, my only stipulation is that absolutely no Cerwin Vega speakers be involved, I still have headaches from 30 years ago thanks to those abrasive sounding SOBs. My preference is always JBLs.

Yes but... pristine, high end loud will make you just as deaf.

We moved away from the "dream PA system" because it was simply overkill for most of the shows we play and it weighed in at around 1600 lbs of gear. We decided we still needed high quality sound but in a musician friendly package. Our current system will fill a 100' X 100' room to 110db with headroom to spare and weighs in at around 200 lbs. We no longer dread load out at 2am and we gave up very little in sound quality. Set up and sound check are much quicker now too.

You could start here. JBL VRX's around $14,000.00


and a Soundcraft GB2 anound $1,000.00



a very very flexable system for large or small venues.

Wow, I keep expecting those speakers to do a TRANSFORMERS thing and start chasing people/shooting buildings and cars.

Chief Engineer Scott wrote:Wow, I keep expecting those speakers to do a TRANSFORMERS thing and start chasing people/shooting buildings and cars.

LOL some band's deafening noise coming out of their speakers does chase people out the door...

RGM, That picture you have is very similar to what we are using except we are using 3 of those subs per side and the speakers alone cost $20,000 everyone that comes to see us can't believe how good they sound. They have built in power amps, signal processors, and they are capable of 130+ db the tops we are using are called JBL Venue Performers. They have the same drivers that are in JBL's Vertec line array series. They also use VERY little electricity in comparison to the older p.a. systems. Just when I think live performance sound gear can't get better it does! These days the newer gear is so much more efficient in terms of converting the power they draw to the quality and db's they are capable of putting out. If you do your homework and have the money to spend you really can sound just like they do at the big concert shows you go to see!

I assume that most people here are playing in venues a little smaller than the Sprint Center. I guess if somebody has the money ($20 thousand) then it's okay to buy a system that's overkill for most small clubs. I don't have that kind of money lying around. I've got 2 used Black Widow speakers I bought for $300 and a Peavey 8 channel powered mixer I bought for $600 new, a couple of used monitors I bought for $150 and four mics and stands I bought for $300. We've played in many different sized venues with this "crappy" (I've heard it called that by several snobs) equipment and never had a problem. No matter what system you're playing through if you CAN'T UNDERSTAND the vocals you are doing something WRONG. Just my opinion but when I go hear a band and the vocals are noisy mud I LEAVE. This is a saying I live by: POWER IN MUSIC HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VOLUME. The stronger the emotions you get your audience to feel, the more powerful your music is. All the sophisticated equipment in the world isn't going to make you a more powerful musician (but it doesn't hurt to have great equipment)

LOL, Aint Yo Mama is still an overkill band, LOL

Our speakers are Yamahas, 1-18 bottoms and 2x15 tops, I would prefer 2-18 bottoms and a 1x15 top, but I wasnt in the band when those speakers were bought.

We have around 8000 watts of power on board, but we monitor the room dbs and 110 is our goal, he dont have to push into everything too hard, so everything is crystal clear.

But we are old school and want the impact of big gear, gives all the gear heads gear envy, LOL

As fas as guitar Ive experimented with just a preamp straight into the board and sounds great, but I have reverted back to the ole Mesa halfstack for our gigs, just has a certain swagger to it.

If I were to start all over I would go for a super efficient system, in ear monitors, and electric drums and preamps into the board, this would be the killer setup, low power no monitors to deal with and no amps. And if your too loud you just turn the whole deal down, or if they say turn it up you just turn the whole damn thing up. BUT, at this point in life I doubt I will ever change my ways.

Most gigs my cut goes to a sound guy who runs it and tears everything down while Im playing rock star and signing bras, breast and panties after the gigs!

...maybe I should switch to rock...signing bras, breasts, panties...I think women are afraid of me...

Now, Bob if you want to achieve pure, accurate sound reproduction in wide bandwidth; wide, constant dispersion; and deliver clear, honest sound without blowing out your venue then Once you hear the difference with 6 Bose L1 Model 2's, you’ll never be satisfied with “run of the mill speakers” again.





Good for small outdoor setup's or 300 to 500 people indoors

Cost around $18,000.00

Now if your on a small budget then that is different however, as you know there are still severl different systems out there that are very good for less than $3,000.00. Just bring a strong back.

TheJohnny7Band wrote:Yes but... pristine, high end loud will make you just as deaf.

We moved away from the "dream PA system" because it was simply overkill for most of the shows we play and it weighed in at around 1600 lbs of gear. We decided we still needed high quality sound but in a musician friendly package. Our current system will fill a 100' X 100' room to 110db with headroom to spare and weighs in at around 200 lbs. We no longer dread load out at 2am and we gave up very little in sound quality. Set up and sound check are much quicker now too.

Absolutely...a performance to weight ratio is one of the criteria we're talking about.

jw123 wrote:LOL, Aint Yo Mama is still an overkill band, LOL

Our speakers are Yamahas, 1-18 bottoms and 2x15 tops, I would prefer 2-18 bottoms and a 1x15 top, but I wasnt in the band when those speakers were bought.

We have around 8000 watts of power on board, but we monitor the room dbs and 110 is our goal, he dont have to push into everything too hard, so everything is crystal clear.

But we are old school and want the impact of big gear, gives all the gear heads gear envy, LOL

As fas as guitar Ive experimented with just a preamp straight into the board and sounds great, but I have reverted back to the ole Mesa halfstack for our gigs, just has a certain swagger to it.

If I were to start all over I would go for a super efficient system, in ear monitors, and electric drums and preamps into the board, this would be the killer setup, low power no monitors to deal with and no amps. And if your too loud you just turn the whole deal down, or if they say turn it up you just turn the whole damn thing up. BUT, at this point in life I doubt I will ever change my ways.

Most gigs my cut goes to a sound guy who runs it and tears everything down while Im playing rock star and signing bras, breast and panties after the gigs!

I would really like to go with 2X12 plus horn for the tops if only so the mids for my amps sound natural coming out of the fronts rather than being tweeked with board EQ to make up for the 15s

That makes a lot of sense Dajax, I never really thought about it.

We tend to play a little bass heavy anyway so it just suits our sound, and I have to admit that I kinda prefer a harsher guitar tone than most people really like, I have to be careful on the mids cause it can get spikey in the PA mix, but our system with our DBX Room Analyzer of whatever you call, is just crystal clear, weve tested our system outdoors and it will easily get up into the 120-125 db range, so we have a load of headroom in our system.

Bob mentioned something abut dynamics, my band has a really good sense of that, we dont compress our mix, so if we back way down it really comes across. I tend to change my picking attack and guitar volume based on what part of the songs we are in.

RG that Bose system just looks weird to me, wheres the damn paper man! I have some bose speakers for my home stereo and they make great speakers, but I just would think my band would look funky with that setup, I did try a tower for acoustic guitar a few years ago, and dynamically it sounded very natural to me ears, I havent heard a full band use one of those setups, but man pack up would be a breeze, pricey thou!

For my acoustic gigs I would take a Behringer 500 watt all in one head, and some of our monitors, which are peavey wedges but they have pole mounts, I would use one as a monitor and one as a main, worked great for that, and in all honesty I could probably just use that head and drive two monitors as mains, and two as monitors for our band gigs and we would sound great, We just have that ole school image to live up too.

Hell I havent done a full gig in awhile and i think Im gonna take a full stack with me and get our bassist to bring his 8x10, just for chits and giggles.

Rock on Friends

Those bose systems work fairly good in VERY SMALL clubs. I have heard bands that use them. I am not impressed with them at ALL. To anyone contemplating buying them my advise is DON'T. A freind that has run multi million dollar sound systems and I have had many discussions about these CHEESY bose systems and we agree they sound JUST LIKE THEY LOOK!

J-HALEY wrote:Those bose systems work fairly good in VERY SMALL clubs. I have heard bands that use them. I am not impressed with them at ALL. To anyone contemplating buying them my advise is DON'T. A freind that has run multi million dollar sound systems and I have had many discussions about these CHEESY bose systems and we agree they sound JUST LIKE THEY LOOK!

I have a pair and I think for small bands and small clubs nothing can touch them.

and so does this guy
http://youtu.be/2CEozzi-ng8

one thing is true, these are not for anything Heavy metal or Rap and for small outdoor gigs there is no sucking the air out of your lungs like some good ol 18's

I really love them and hope thay will last as long as the JBL'S

They do require kid gloves however, just like with any PA system thay have their place and time.

The JBL's are a step above because you can break them down to one sub and two mains, two subs and two mains, two mains, or the kick your ass and take names 4 subs and 4 mains.

This weekend we are gonna try the Bose as monitors and the JBL's for Mains...should be fun or not. I am thinking the combo will cause to much feedback because of the Bose's wide dispersion.