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Try adding 4 monitors and see how far your 200 watts gets you.

Adequate power is not for extra volume, it's to make sure all components work without clipping/distortion.

If you run a PA without monitors you don't know what you sound like.

We use 7500 watts a play all size venues with it.

Having a lot of headroom is key to sounded good and clean. For a while we actually used a db meter to regulate overall volume, it takes discipline but I cant remember us getting a complaint about being too loud, but we sound very clean.

That being said to start out less is more and whatever your vocal pa ability is should dictate how loud the instruments are.

Looking back it seems you want to be loud so be careful.

Try adding 4 monitors and see how far your 200 watts gets you.

Adequate power is not for extra volume, it's to make sure all components work without clipping/distortion.

If you run a PA without monitors you don't know what you sound like.

Yeah you are correct Jim, no monitors in use here.

Except we run in all through a sound board, that's where clipping and headroom is addressed.

I guess when you use the same PA for long enough, it gets pretty basic to what you can do and what you can't.

I don't see where you can answer the question without knowing how loud the drummer is.

I've played with drummers (and of course guitarists too) who were unable to adjust their volume... they Played as hard as they could go. Drowning out 50 Watt tube amps with a drum kit is an amazing feat... and one I do not care to reproduce.

Others had no issues working with a 150 watts at practice (monitors) and 200 watts for mains live.

Seems a trend with a lot of the young bands I have been around.
Drummer's hit as hard and as fast as they can or don't play at all.
No finesse of technique.

For 3 years a rock band I was in, ran four Klipsch La Scals speakers and one Crown 150 watt DC300a amp. At 10 to 15 feet from the stage we were pumping out around 126DB's. The sound was cristal clear and the amp never cliped or came close to clipping. The amount of watts you need depends on the speakers you are using.

I am not quoting you again until Monday Sans.

BUT...

Yeah very correct, they beat the skins like it's their last chance to be heard before they die.

Personally, if you beat the drums that loudly I hate you. You must die.
If you hit the cymbals that hard, I hear the cell phone ringing and you must die.

I was once told by a very old and venerable master of music. He said, "if it's awful at low volume, it won't be any better at high volume so practice as much as possible and play it softly until you KNOW it's correct."


(is that the theme for AS I LAY DYING?) lol

What do you call a vocalist that lisps during performance?

I have an ancient Crate. they make great PA's that won't fry a hole in your pocket. Can't go wrong with a Peavey neither.

also
bob, check out the music and let me know what you think as far as loudness goes like i said we would like to play pretty loud but some of the tunes were my buddy sings lead, he has a heavier voice than me, as i am the one with the cleaner voice. does that mean we would need a louder system to compensate for the tone changes and loudness of or voices?
thanks www.myspace.com/chevellish

I listened to some of your stuff, and 200 watts probably ain't gonna do it. I'm normally a low-wattage kind of guy, but your stuff is so powerful, you're going to need some serious wattage to get your vocals over the instruments.


I would suggest hiring a pro soundman (and his PA) for a couple of gigs, and then make your buying decision.



Regards,


Bob

I will add, before investing thousands of dollars in pa gear make sure how much you are actually going to play. Every band needs something to practice with. A small head and a couple of monitors will do this.

I did an inventory and to build up the pa that my band uses would burn thru $20,000 very quickly new and could be done for $10,000 if you slowly bought used pieces.

If you are going to be a working cover band 3-5 gigs a month you will need a system.

If you are an original band then you will probably be using someone elses pa system and playing a set on another bands bill. I think your money could be better spent on recording and then jsut rent a pa with a sound man. In my area you can get a really good pa and soundguy for around the $200 mark a night. Original bands dont ten d t do as many gigs so just get a good setup to practice on. Besides if you are original and after one or two gigs the band blows apart, what good would spending a bunch of money have been.

If you are only going to have just vocals in the mains Mackie makes a great little front loaded 8 channel powered mixer and so does Peavey. I beleive Fisherman Bob uses one they have built in effects, Monitor power, and front of house power (mains). Thats probably all you would need.

The reason why us gear heads like to have so much power is because we run all of the band through the p.a. when you do that you have to have different sized speakers and seperate the frequencies i.e. horns take the least amount of watts usually 100 to 300 watts,15" drivers take 800 to 1500 watts 18"drivers 1500 to 3000 watts then all the drivers (speakers) need to be time aligned. So sound from each different sized driver reaches the audience ears at the same time. Time aligning the drivers results in a much punchier sounding p.a. Being musicians we should be able to tell the difference in a p.a. like j.w. runs and a front loaded p.a. with speakers on a stick. I don't know about you all but I sure can tell the difference. It all depends on how much money and time you are willing to invest in sounding better. Once you play through a proffessional p.a. it is hard to go back to speakers on a stick. Its like when I had to get glasses and I put them on it was like WOW! I didn't know what I was missing. It is the same way with sound you don't understand untill you have it and then you know what you have been missing.