PA gear: What brands do you like? Dislike? Why?

[Charlie Bernstein]

Sold my PA during lockdown. Now I'd like to assemble a smaller, simpler rig: just a four-XLR mixer, a 10" powered speaker, and a strand.

What brands do you like? Which would you avoid?

For example, if you're familiar with their gear, what do you think of Allen & Heath, Alto, Beringer, Bose, EV, JBL, Peavey, Mackie, Rockville, Yamaha, or Yorkville?

Thanks!

 

[Rocky]

Lightweight and simple rules these days. For solo/duo shows, you could do a lot worse than a Fishman SA330X rig, with the subwoofer and auxillary expansion mixer. I wouldn't play bass though it, but I haven't encountered a reasonable sized gig that it wasn't suitable for, indoor or outdoor. The subwoofer is optional - it still sounds pretty good without it, but it fills out the bottom, and makes the footprint even smaller for tight spaces.

I've got an Alto RX308 and mixer for the really tiny gigs too. Sound quality is so-so. Definitely in line with the price.

 

[fronobulax]

No personal experience. The local gigging musician that I have the most respect for is using some variation of the Bose Line Pro. She has two "poles" and woofers and uses one or both depending upon the venue. I've seen at least one venue where something that elevated a speaker on a stand would not fit - basically the stage area was triangular at the top so she could sit/stand but there was no room for a speaker. She plays solo, sometimes with a percussionist, so one vocal mike and the input from her pedal board. Percussionist usually has a cajon and he may plug it in to the PA if he wants to use the electronic effects. Quality is important to her - she is a professional musician who is living on gigs and not teaching or a day job - but so is size since all the equipment has to fit into a compact or sub-compact car and be moved and setup/taken down by one person.

If I needed a PA I would be comfortable forgoing the analysis paralysis and just buying what she is using.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I gig with a friend with a Bose stick. One place we play, he has to take the drop-ceiling foam panel out to make it fit!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . If I needed a PA I would be comfortable forgoing the analysis paralysis and just buying what she is using.

I like to know a few things before I plunk down the ducats. And like all classic P's, I like browsing a lot more than I like buying: P's versus J's.

 

[Rocky]

I would think for that kind of application, any of the quality 'stick' type line arrays would do well. They do very well in sound dispersion and lack of feedback. Old school woofer/horn PAs have their place with full bands, but the sticks outperform them in the acoustic solo/combo format, and are a lot easier to deal with.

As mentioned, positive experience with the Fishman (great customer service too), but the Bose, JBL and Turbosound get pretty good marks too. I think a lot of it comes down to features - do you want the mixer/fx integrated or separate, how much power, etc.

If you're looking for fidelity, I would stay away from the 'consumer grade' stuff. Alto, Behringer, Harbinger, Samson, etc.

 

[richardp69]

Although not everybody is, I'm a huge Bose fan; Always have been and always will be.

 

[crank]

I bought a pair of the Bose L1's off Craigslist for a friend who is involved in a small venue planning to host singer songwriter and folk type acts. I had them in my jam room for a month or so and if I were looking for a small system for solo or duo type gigs I would look into getting one of those.

I have a Mackie mixer and pair of Mackie SRM450's, the older, Italian made ones, and 450 is a misnomer as they are around 800 watts rms each and they sound really good and are heavy as heck. Mackie is considered pro gear, but lower end pro. I think mine sound better than a similar size Yamaha speaker that my old band gigged with. Allen and Heath though is better regarded. The best sounding PA speakers I have heard are QSC and you will pay for that quality.

I have a small pair of older JBL Eon powered speakers, 8 or 10", not sure, 200 watts. that I use as monitors and have used for the odd acoustic gig and they sound pretty good. I alos have a pair of 10", 400 watt Harbringer powered speakers that are OK, not great. Got 'em because I'm cheap, I needed 2 more monitors they had a great Stupid Deal of the Day price.

Studio we jam at has Alto PA speakers and they sound pretty good.

Behringer is considered to be cheap and not so great though I have no personal experience there.

I would go with one of the line array systems like Bose over a 10" powered speaker. You will still need a small mixer. Yamaha and Mackie are pretty comparable in what they offer in that regard IMO. I would not go digital... PITA.

 

[Maguchi]

Sold my PA during lockdown. Now I'd like to assemble a smaller, simpler rig: just a four-XLR mixer, a 10" powered speaker, and a strand.

What brands do you like? Which would you avoid?

For example, if you're familiar with their gear, what do you think of Allen & Heath, Alto, Beringer, Bose, EV, JBL, Peavey, Mackie, Rockville, Yamaha, or Yorkville?

Thanks!

Peavey and Carvin. Reliable, durable and good sounding. Of the ones on your list Mackie, Yamaha and Yorkville are good too.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Peavey and Carvin. Reliable, durable and good sounding. Of the ones on your list Mackie, Yamaha and Yorkville are good too.

All good to know. Seems like the same brands keep getting the love. Hadn't thought of Carvin. Thanks!

 

[Longnose Gar]

I only play at low volume in my home studio. I started with 2X Behringer Eurolive B210D 200W 10". Then upgraded to 2X QSC CP12 1000W 12". I made the switch because I wanted the 12". The QSC is significantly warmer and fuller and left the Behringer sounding tinny in comparison. I'm only doing guitars and vocals.

FWIW, I love my Zoom Livetrak mixer which records and lets you do a mixdown right on the mixer afterwards. Outputs a master WAV file on SD card.

 

[fronobulax]

I like to know a few things before I plunk down the ducats. And like all classic P's, I like browsing a lot more than I like buying: P's versus J's.

Should have known. Strong J here with a history of frustration with P's. I did a lot of modeling and simulation professionally and there is a popular observation that "All models are wrong. Some models are useful." That applies to Myers-Briggs especially when people think it is an absolute description and not just a preference.

Nevertheless I am hearing a lot of love for a line array and/or Bose

 

[Midnight Toker]

Personally, I still prefer separate mixer, amp, and cabs over mixer heads/powered cabs. Yes, it requires an extra step in cabling, but if one part ever fails, you aren't out 2 parts. And it's much more versatile for mixing/matching components for either a small/med/large PA. Not to mention, when split, it makes for lighter individual components to carry/lift onto speaker stands.

PA gear is relatively cheap and easy to find on the used market. Now more than ever.

 

[Rocky]

Personally, I still prefer separate mixer, amp, and cabs over mixer heads/powered cabs. Yes, it requires an extra step in cabling, but if one part ever fails, you aren't out 2 parts. And it's much more versatile for mixing/matching components for either a small/med/large PA. Not to mention, when split, it makes for lighter individual components to carry/lift onto speaker stands.

PA gear is relatively cheap and easy to find on the used market. Now more than ever.

The converse of that - at least for traditional multiple speaker setups, is if you have powered speakers, and one goes down, you're not dead in the water. If your separate amp goes down, you are.

 

[awagner]

Lightweight and simple rules these days. For solo/duo shows, you could do a lot worse than a Fishman SA330X rig, with the subwoofer and auxillary expansion mixer. I wouldn't play bass though it, but I haven't encountered a reasonable sized gig that it wasn't suitable for, indoor or outdoor. The subwoofer is optional - it still sounds pretty good without it, but it fills out the bottom, and makes the footprint even smaller for tight spaces.

This is the exact system I use, and it is perfect for small venues. 2 singers, 1 acoustic guitar (me) and 1 bass/electric guitar

We last played at a large restaurant for a holiday party (approx. 150 people), and surprisingly it was not powerful enough to cut through the chatter.

Would like to find something portable but more powerful than the Fishman for this type of venue (in case they ask us back).

 

[Rocky]

This is the exact system I use, and it is perfect for small venues. 2 singers, 1 acoustic guitar (me) and 1 bass/electric guitar

We last played at a large restaurant for a holiday party (approx. 150 people), and surprisingly it was not powerful enough to cut through the chatter.

Would like to find something portable but more powerful than the Fishman for this type of venue (in case they ask us back).

Interesting. I've wondered what the upper limit is. I take it this was indoors. Was it all reflective surfaces inside?

I've wondered if a second 'fishstick' without a subwoofer would do the job for larger events. Some specs:

Fishman SA330x: max SPL 113 dB @ 1 meter
JBL EON ONE MK2: max SPL 123 dB (no distance specified)
Turbosound iP500 V2: max SPL 118 dB
Turbosound iP1000 V2: max SPL 122 dB
Turbosound iP2000 V2: max SPL 123 dB
Bose L1Pro8: max SPL 124 dB

So the Fishman is at the lower end of that volume spectrum. Adding a second one would add 3dB (116 dB), or is it 6dB (119 dB), because you're doubling both power and speakers? But the others would need auxiliary mixers.

 

[Midnight Toker]

The converse of that - at least for traditional multiple speaker setups, is if you have powered speakers, and one goes down, you're not dead in the water. If your separate amp goes down, you are.

True, but not in my case where I have at least 3 amps (main, mon, subs) If 1 amp crapped out, I'd just unbridge the sub amp, and run the mon through 1/2 of that, or run the mains in mono and daisy chain the speakers if I absolutely needed two mon mixes. I've dealt w/ every surprise you can think of having travelled w/ a PA fulltime. For small acoustic duos/trios...sure, a single main powered cab still lets the show go on, but for a full 4-5 piece band w/ bass/drums/electric guitars, 1/2 a FOH is just not doable. 1/2 the room will just hear stage volume and no vocals. And It's not like you can find a music store when playing some place like Hamden Sydney College in the boonies of Virginia at 9pm on a sat night. I can make anything "work". Maybe not the most ideal setup for the band...they will suffer mon loss before the paying audience loses anything in the mains. That's a given.

 

[awagner]

Interesting. I've wondered what the upper limit is. I take it this was indoors. Was it all reflective surfaces inside?

I've wondered if a second 'fishstick' without a subwoofer would do the job for larger events. Some specs:

Fishman SA330x: max SPL 113 dB @ 1 meter
JBL EON ONE MK2: max SPL 123 dB (no distance specified)
Turbosound iP500 V2: max SPL 118 dB
Turbosound iP1000 V2: max SPL 122 dB
Turbosound iP2000 V2: max SPL 123 dB
Bose L1Pro8: max SPL 124 dB

So the Fishman is at the lower end of that volume spectrum. Adding a second one would add 3dB (116 dB), or is it 6dB (119 dB), because you're doubling both power and speakers? But the others would need auxiliary mixers.

It was indoors. Very large room with a central bar (Dock's on Third Avenue in Manhattan)

The DJ's PA system was small but totally filled the room, although I did not think to find out what it was. We did not find out until later that it was an issue.

 

[Rocky]

True, but not in my case...

True enough. In a full band comprehensive setup with lots of different potential failure points, multiple redundancy is required - 'the show must go on.'

 

[crank]

Re playing cocktail hour at a holiday party. I did that as an duo and then my entire electric band played a couple of dance sets.

It's an impossible gig and I would not do it again. We had a more powerful PA but there is so much chatter that anyone will be drowned out... and should be really because it's a holiday party and people want to talk. And then after dinner they want to dance.