General Music Chat

My band currently has a couple Peavey PV115s and Samson powered mixer and couple of Fender monitors we play through. Recently I have sought out equipment that would adequately provide good quality sound..not necessarily loud. We intend to be playing out soon and would prefer to have our own pro-audio such as to not have to use a venue's or other band's equipment. We don't anticipate playing anything than small clubs/bars. Constructive feedback invited and welcomed.

Recently I priced out the following:

- Allen and Heath ZED16FX mixer

- 3 Crown XLS 1000 amps (I understand perhaps right or wrong) I need 1 for the bottoms, 1 for the high and mids and 1 for the monitor mix)

- 2 Peavey PV118 bass enclosures (currently on lay-away)

- 4 Peavey 12M floor monitors

- 32 Band graphic EQ

- 2 power conditioning units

My band consists of 1 guitarist, bassist, vocalist, 2 back-up/harmony vocals. I play a DW kit with 2 mounted and 2 floor toms, 4 varied size crashes, 2 splashes, 1 China, 1 ride and of course hats and 1 snare.

The band's dominant style is Classic Heavy Metal and Hard Rock.

We are currently looking for a bassist that is solid personally/musically and has a passion for playing Classic Metal and Hard Rock. Age is not as important as someone that is personally reliable.

Are you happy with the Peavy PV115 sound as it is now? Do you have enough volume, but want better sound, or need more volume, too?

Stepping up to 'good quality' would typically mean going from a middle-grade product (like peaveys) to something the next rung up the ladder - QSC or Electrovoice, for example.

"Small clubs/bars" - yet you need 1000 watts of subs + 1000 watts of mids/highs?

Are you miking the amps and drums (how many mics)?

Are you happy with the Peavy PV115 sound as it is now? Do you have enough volume, but want better sound, or need more volume, too?

Stepping up to 'good quality' would typically mean going from a middle-grade product (like peaveys) to something the next rung up the ladder - QSC or Electrovoice, for example.

"Small clubs/bars" - yet you need 1000 watts of subs + 1000 watts of mids/highs?

Are you miking the amps and drums (how many mics)?

Mike
We are on a budget so to speak therein lies a huge dynamic financially. The 115s sound good and are loud enough. We've used them out and they worked well. I want to get the 118s to get a better representation of the total frequency range. The XLS1000 would produce 215W per channel at 8ohm or 700w Bridged at 8ohm. The pro sound guys at guitar center said I would need separate amps for the high (115s) and low (118s) as well as a separate amp for the monitor mix. I am not schooled in all this pro-audio and it's part of the reason I put this post up. I intend to mike my drums eventually...I think most places we play the drums will cut through for now. The drums will eventually consist of 8 mikes. Additionally, 3 vocal mikes and 2 amp mikes (bass and guitar). I read recently that many bands under power their speakers and fail to get good quality sound out of them. Not sure if I answered your questions. I open to suggestions equipment wise and from whom provides the best, reasonably priced equipment.

Stick with what you have for now if you like the sound, and add some powered speakers. The Peavey PV118D is a powered subwoofer, and has a crossover: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PV118DP/ - you can probably get away with using just one sub, as bass is mono-directional anyway.
And then get some powered monitors, it'll still be cheaper than the whole package you are looking at.

Stick with what you have for now if you like the sound, and add some powered speakers. The Peavey PV118D is a powered subwoofer, and has a crossover: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PV118DP/ - you can probably get away with using just one sub, as bass is mono-directional anyway.
And then get some powered monitors, it'll still be cheaper than the whole package you are looking at.

Mike...the info provided is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

These things come down to economics.

It sounds like you guys play music like my band does.

Yes you probably want some 18 subs, make sure your amp matches them wattage and ohm wise.

To have seperate amps running the tops and bottoms you will need a crossover which splits the signal, someone mentioned a Drive Rack, my band uses one, and its great, its a crossover, but you can use it to eq the room, so it takes the place of a crossover unit and a eq unit.

As far as micing drums, get a good mic for your kick, and an SM57 on the snare. We use two small CAD condensor mics which use phantom power and fly them over the drums so catch the toms and the cymbals. Its a simple way to mic the drums, using 8 mics will give you all sorts of problems. Keep it simple.


Good Luck

To have seperate amps running the tops and bottoms you will need a crossover which splits the signal

The powered Peavey sub I referenced has a built-in crossover and the Crown XLS series amps have built-in crossovers (pretty neat idea!)

To have seperate amps running the tops and bottoms you will need a crossover which splits the signal

The powered Peavey sub I referenced has a built-in crossover and the Crown XLS series amps have built-in crossovers (pretty neat idea!)

Reason I was leaning toward the Crown XLS (built in selectable crossover). I priced powerd monitors and bottoms....they are a bit pricey or as pricey as what I intended to purchase (the Crown amps, PV118s bottoms, and PV12M floor monitors).

I appreciate input from all of you!! I have done a little loking at the Mixwizard and other things mentioned. I just want to have a good sound and for the 4 of us to hear each other well. I appreciate the feedback on drum miking...I have a Beta 52A for my kick..an SM57 would be nice for snare and.... a couple good overheads for all else....much less expensive than miking everything.
The learning curve is very steep for me in this pro-audio venture. Thanks again all!!!

If you want a big rock N roll kick from your floor toms, kick drum, and bass you need a good powered sub. JBL MP418 would be my choice. For vocals and guitars you don't. I am a fan of powered speakers because the amp and speaker were engineered to work well together. A lot less weight and gear to set up, and less opportunity to blow stuff up by connecting it wrong in the dark.

And the other advantages of powered speakers: expansion is easy (just buy another, hook it up in series; no worry about matching impedances.

As I mentioned, you don't need 2 subs for your small club set up, one will do as bass is mono-directional - in other words, place the speaker anywhere, you can't tell where the low bass is coming from. That's why home theater surround sound systems only have one sub woofer.
If you're not miking your drums, the only thing the sub is going to pumping out is the bass guitar - is that really needed?

I take it you are running all members thru the mixer? The only problem I have had with overhead condensers for drums is they tend to feedback thru the monitors. That can be fixed via eq or don't run drums in the monitors. I would use two subs one on each side with tops filtering via your crossover points I have mine lapped at the bottom of the top speakers and top of the subs. I have the Mixwiz 16 2 and I use the drive rack it handles everything you need for front of house sound, parametric eq on input graphic on output, time alignment of drivers, compression for mains, spectrum anilizing and auto eq, limiter, and compression all of this for your mains. I have 2 JBL Mpro 418's that I have 2 dedicated QSC 1500's 1 for each sub bridged and 2 Peavy SP2G's ran with a QSC 3602PLX you wouldn't believe how punchy and powerful this little system is! I would recommend a Driverack by DBX if you can swing it because it will help you optimize your system. Find someone that can help you set it up. You can also follow the setup prompts you will need the reference mike with it. Once you make it thru the learning curve it will be a plug and play system and sound better than most other systems the competition will be using! The beautiful thing is you can do this a little at a time.