Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

I'm pretty much an ignoramus when it comes to PA gear. I just don't know anything.

Our band is going to be acquiring some PA gear in the near future. My drummer is talking about getting powered mains. I am wondering what the advantage/disadvantage of those are over a more traditional poweramp/speaker configuration?

Looking for enlightenment!

Colors on paper powered look great. Mackie made some the last few years. Just run a line from your mixer to your speaker and you are good to go. The con to this is if the amp goes out, you just lost both your speaker and amp. The whole box will more than likely have to go to the shop. Most of the folks I know who got the powered Mackies moved to something else. Something to consider, speaker boxes tend to get thrown around a lot, sometimes dropped, not the best spot for an amp.

On the flip side if you were to get say a Carvin Powered Mixer, they have a sub out. I think Sans can confirm this. Its just a crossover built into the board that sends a signal to your sub speaker, which might be a nice speaker to have powered.

As in any thing there are pros and cons.

I think I gave you an example of a simple system in another thread.

Good Luck

Watch your local Craigslist for PAs or even your local newspaper, sometimes you stumble across some killer deals. Im sure a lot of pa systems get bought and after a handful of gigs dont get used again. Ive bought a lot of used gear thru the years with very little problems.

Yeah, big JBL subs are the only powered spkrs we use. I would imagine that powered spkrs would be kinda heavy to put up on stands, too, if they have any power at all.

Only venues I can think of that they're really useful would be in a very large place, where you can send a wireless signal to them.

JW is correct on his information related to the Carvin powered PA system.
The one I use is 1200 watts. (4x300)
I am still using a bass combo for my sub application, untill I can afford a propper powered subwoofer.
I had thought about the powered speakers for future use but I really think when we out grow our pesent system I will do a mixer and rack system set up for my power and EQ management.

To me the powered mains always seem to be underpowered especially if you play outside festival type gigs. I am against using powered mixers especially if you plan to do this long term. Everyone I have ever known including myself have regreted buying a powered mixer, they can be very easy to set up if that is what you are looking for, but they are also very limiting once you start to get into sound reinforcement. I can't stress enough lots of power= less distortion at lower and higher decible levels.

Haley, I feel like you do about sound systems, but when I bought my son that little Behringer mixer i was suprised. It will get up and honk, For a lower volume or acoustic gig it would work. SOme of our area clubs are paying less and less for gigs, so I would be tempted for some gigs to just take this mixer and an extra power amp and eq i have sitting around and maybe doing a few shows. I live near Memphis and go down to Beale Street and hang out and listen to some of the players there and most of those groups use pa heads like this or Peavey XR 600s. They sound really good and some of these guys are killer players. I mean they play for tourist request. I sometimes try to stump them with request and they ussually can play whatever I ask them too. Some of these guitarist amaze me. So gigs can be done with a lot smaller systems than what Im used too.

My band is used to massive overkill when we play gigs, but it doesnt actually put any more money in our pocket.

I still think if someone has nothing a small powered setup would be a good starting point. How many people get started in this without realizing that they probably will never do many gigs. Sure if someone is committed and plans to get on the road they need a lot more, but most folks I meet just do a hand full of gigs for very little money so its hard to justify spending 5 to 10 grand on a killer system.

Im not disagreeing with you, I jsut think that the user or buyer should realize what they are getting into money wise before they start this process. Im sure you can rent systems for a few gigs just to make sure the group is committed.

That is a good post J and I am sure your information is valid. The powered mixer has worked well for us with the types of shows we are doing. It would seem that the greatist limitation of the system we use now is in the realm of recording.
but as I said, as we grow, the limitations you refer too will be more prevelant.
Unless you go off to college somewhere and get a degree in sound engeneering the only way to learn this stuff seems to be the hard way.

Yea George powered mixers are more plug in and play than a system like Haley uses or the one my band uses.

I mean a few weeks ago we were setting up for a gig and went to check our monitors. We use 2 sends out of the board for this so we get 2 monitor mixes. Well one didnt work, so we went back thru the wires. The cord from the mixer to the eq had gone bad. Luckily we carry some spares and it was a quick fix, but it still took 15 minutes to figure it out. Also it was a gig close to home where we went in in the afternoon to set up, not one of those last minute deals right before gig time.

Hey, Sans. I've been using the Carvin 1200 (mines the older 3 X 333) for some time now, mainly because it's quick and easy to set up. The only drawbacks are one monitor mix (yours has 2 I believe) and the EQ. I've never gotten a great sound with it and when I cut frequencies with the graphic eq, it gets a hollow sound. I don't know if yours does (I'll bet it does as they probably haven't changed that section), but I read reviews on it in different music magazines and they all said the eq was the weak point. They said they used the pre eq inserts and put an outboard eq on it and it was great. I've got loads of equipment from when we used to carry the massive setup so I've been busy the last couple of days putting together a PA using an unpowered 16 channel mixer and separate power amps, eq's, effects, and crossovers. It'll be more trouble, but I've grown tired of the sound of the Carvin. I was coming out of the main outputs on the Carvin and going to a separate power amp into some subs for more low end, but the eq was driving me insane, and now I'm playing in a band with a drummer that always needs more kick in the monitor mix, so I needed a separate monitor mix for him. If you're happy with the sound of your newer Carvin, and you've got plenty of monitor mix for the band, I would suggest you try another power amp and some subs first. You'll be surprised at how much more that adds. Also you'll be investing in something you'll need down the road even if you go to a nonpowered mixer system.

I have considered that option as opposed to a powered sub.
I could just get the next size up of the roadwarrior case to hold a power conditioner the additional amp for the subs and possably an EQ / Speaker management system as well as my RX1200.

I just read the reviews at https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/ ... uct=RX1200 and the last one talked about using a separate power amp with subs. Since you have that sub out on your mixer, you won't even need a crossover. COOL!

Yes, that feature is what allows me to use the bass combo that I am using now in leu of a bonafide subwoofer. It does help the sound at the mains quite a bit to pull the low ends off those speakers.

That is one of the really cool features small format mixers have these days. Small Format=20 channels and below because most 20 channel mixers feature 2 stereo channels and 16 mono channels which = 20 preamps my 16 channel Allen Heath has the same feature of which you have 2 stereo master faders and one additional master fader for subs. Most people don't run their subs in stereo you save that for 250 htz. and above. Oh no not yours truely I like the option of being able to put the floor tom to one side and the bass guitar in the other so my system is true stereo all the way down. It takes way more power amps to do it this way and I wouldn't recomend this unless you are playing classic rock I mean 60's and early 70's stuff because that is the way the early mixdowns were done. Drums on one side and stringed instruments on the other or you play a lot of outside festival gigs. The driverack PA allows you to do the same thing but you really have to know this peice of gear because you have a low, low, and a mid low, there is a point to where some of your upper frequencies in your subs couple with the lower frequencies in your tops and you have to know how to navigate thru this or you will screw your auto EQ up. All you have to do is hit the crossover button on your driverack and you can curser down and turn your subs up or down just whatever you do don't save it and then hit the program button and be sure your are turning up the low, lows and not the mid lows. Then when you are done with the gig and you shut down your system it will revert back to the auto eq funtion you had originally set. The only person I know of on here that will benefit from this info is JW. The rest of you have the option in your newer mixers to just turn the volumn up on the extra mono sub master fader now isn't that easier. Even though I have that function I prefer the option that I have, it is much more complicated untill you get used to it but way more precise.

Mybad 18 pre's

Well, they're expensive but...

JBL PRX series active speakers.
The 535 is a three way system....15" low
6.5" mid horn...1.5" HF horn.
Crown 650 watt and internal crossover.

The 525 is the same as above without the mid horn.. it's got a second 15" instead.

They weigh about 80 lbs.
The 525's sound good even without a sub but the 535 brings the vocals to the front a bit more.

I like powered because after years of lugging racks of 60lb amps around..well, you get the picture...downsizing is good when the technology will do the job for ya.

I also like powered monitors because I've never cared for a 15" w/Horn. I need to hear the vocals more than anything else and a 12" w/horn cuts throug a bit better. Most of the time, unless you're involved in a pretty substantial production, there will only be vocals in the monitors so...smaller is fine...there's no need for anything larger than 100 watts in a powered monitor. If you can't hear that..your stage volume is TOO FRIGGIN HIGH..that's what all that PA gear is for to begin wtih....lol