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Ok guys, need some help here. I am getting ready to go live pretty soon and this question has probably been asked a hundred times before, so this will be #101.

When producing a good live sound, what are the 3 or 4 most important rack pieces you need, not including a mixer? Right now the band has one lead man, one guitar, one bass and a drummer, playing mostly originals with some covers thrown in (Kinks, Bon Jovi, Blind Melon) for the owners.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

The two most important things for your PA rack:

1) ample power, pun intended. Without adequate power signals will get clipped and distortion will ruin things. If possible, use seperate amps for mains, monitors and subs.
2) a good EQ, at least ten band but more is better. You cannot hope to dial in a good sound for a room using the board's eq/tone knobs.

After those essentials you can think about compressors, limiters, noise gates, etc. Before getting any of that, I would make sure all speakers and microphones were adequate and in good working order.

Thanks Jimmy...if you are playing outdoors, how many watts would you need to project a solid sound at say, 100 to 200 feet? You mentioned ample power, can you give me an example from your vast experience

Playing outside is tough, especially if you're not in a bandshell or amphitheater. A minimum of 1500 watts would be required, and more is better. I run my PA on 1200 watts and would not use it outside unless I had to.

ok got it. Right now I have a 600 watt PA for vox but it sounds like I am going to need a lot more horses...any recommendations for amps, in rack and otherwise?

I currently use PAS, Crest and QSC amps. A lot of people use Crown. Maybe check Craig's List for some deals.

OK, I will scour CL and see what I can find...thanks Jimmy!

Ok guys, need some help here. I am getting ready to go live pretty soon and this question has probably been asked a hundred times before, so this will be #101.

When producing a good live sound, what are the 3 or 4 most important rack pieces you need, not including a mixer? Right now the band has one lead man, one guitar, one bass and a drummer, playing mostly originals with some covers thrown in (Kinks, Bon Jovi, Blind Melon) for the owners.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

Before you buy anything, you might want to ask yourself - what is this gear to be used for? A band working regularly, or a hobby band that plays out every couple of months? Where? Small bars or outdoor festivals?


I would determine the intended purpose, than work backward from there. If it's for the occasional bar gig, then a couple of SOS (speakers on sticks) and a couple of small subs will suffice. Jimmy is right- whatever the venue, you should have enough amp juice to adequately cover the area. Watts aren't as important as speaker efficiency. It also depends on the genre of music. Folk doesn't require the amperage of Metal, for instance.



"if you are playing outdoors, how many watts would you need to project a solid sound at say, 100 to 200 feet?"



You would need a powerful ($$$) system that will put out a "solid sound" (110- 120 dB) at 200 feet from the stage. It would be cheaper to hire a SR company for something like that.


Here is a thread that deals with providing sound outdoors:

http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.p ... msg_234265



If it's just a hobby, buy used and keep the system small. There are a lot of bands going under these days, and you can find complete PA's for sale if you look around.

Thanks 90, Sounds like solid advice. We want to start small so I am going to go cheap and find a smaller PA system and a few subs for now. Thanks again for all the advice, I will post what I buy later!

Why not rent the first few gigs? Here is a place in Tacoma, not far from you:


http://bandstandonline.com/