United States

not really a topic but i have a question. im in a band and im looking for advice on a pa system. strickly used for 2 vocalists that will be loud enough over drums and two cabs. ideal wattage for bars and smaller venues of about a 100 people or so. any takers?

It all depends on what genre and how loud you want the band to be...a little more info would help...

Bob's right but for a rough estimate I would say a minimum of 1,000 watts. My PA has 1,200 if I run it two-way or 1,600 if I run it three way with subs.

It sounds to me like you want the P.A. just for vocals, yes? So you don't want to mic the instruments. Are you not using monitors then either? Your vocalists will have a hard time hearing themselves without monitors...


In such a situation, you can probably get away with a cheap powered mixer type of P.A, like something Peavy makes.


Jimmy has the wattage right.

My bands pa system has around 7500 watts, probably overkill

For acoustic things I do I use a Behringer with 500 watts and 2 monitors on stands. This setup will get up and honk if you keep the instruments low enough.

It all depends on how loud your drumss and instruments are.

thanks for the info evereybody. We play a heavier rock type of music and we dont plan on micing the drums yet so they will be strickly for vocals two of us singing one lead and one back up looking to spend like a grand or so is it better to get a complete system or piece it together?

also as far as loudness goes loud enough to compensate for a venue of a hundred people want to play pretty loud but not to the point were the vocals will distort

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

We have been using the Carvin Rx1200 with good results.
Not enough watts for large venues or large open out doors areas.
But under the conditions you mention I feel it would perform admirably.
Two monitor outputs 300 watts each @ 4 ohms.
Two main outputs 300 watts each @ 4 ohms.
Built in crossover for subs, and lots of other features.
Worth a look IMO.

I agree with Sans. If you are on a tight budget that Carvin gear can't be beat!

Ive got a Behringer PA head that has 500 watts, I think it was 349 dollars, our band uses Peavey Wedge monitors, Im not sure which model but they have the 15s in them, GC had a deal on these for 249 each a while back. They have pole mounts on them, the mixer has 2 eqs for stereo or main monitor operation. You could buy a set up like this with the poles mics and cables for a little over $1000. I use this for my acoustic shows but it will get up and honk, plus if you build a larger pa later you could use these speakers and amp for a monitor system and it would be a killer setup for practice.

Yeah man, JW's on the right track. 7500 watts in a small bar will do nothing but piss the management off. Bartenders can't hear the drink orders. You got enough amps and drums to hear everything but the vocals and kick drum. Now get a small two way system that cranks for the vocals and a sub for the kick. Used stuff sounds just as good. A 4 mic input mixer, a GX5 amp and a couple of Behringer or Yamaha Club Series speakers and 2 monitors. I've played with lots of full boat systems, miked up everything, bar owner always tells us to turn down. End up with all the faders all the way down except vocals and kick.

I disagree Wayne Train, I have a 7,000 watt system and the good thing about using a system like that is at lower volumns it is very clean. However in order to utilize a system like this it takes discipline your guitar player has to turn his amp down and play at a lower stage volumn and let the p.a. do its job. If your guitar player is one of those that says (my amp has to be cranked to sound good man) then forget it you are better off with a smaller system with just vocals and kick drum in the p.a.

Hey Guys,
Keep in mind, he is talkin' about playing for 100 people. I'll say it slowly, one - hundred - people.
I have been in the music business for years. Just for vocals, inside a club, (or) any enclosure for that matter, with no-more than 100 people ?
If you use any P.A. rated over 210 watts, it is definitely OVER-KILL. Over the years I have owned several P.A. systems of varied power ratings. I have noticed, with-in the past 20 years, most all Bands use wayyyyy too much P.A. for the size venue they are playing. There-fore I have started using as minimal sized P.A. as possible. Just enough to get the job done. I receive a lot of comments as to how clean the vocals are. Other comments like, everything sounds SOOOOoo Good. the volume was just right. AND......., I haul most everthing (all the P.A. and my instrument) inside my medium sized SUV.

Groove, I hear ya.

We use an old Kustom 200W PA with 2 columns and 2 mics, but only for the vocals and I just read in wonder when these guys talk about setup over 1000 watts.

We don't mic instruments and we play loud enough that I have to wear ear inserts, but never have any issues with the pa not being loud enough.

Then again, the drummer is a really good one and not beating his skins like they owe him $.