PA or amp wattage

[EVOL!]

I feel like an idiot, more than I normally do, for not having a gauge or idea on this.

 

The band we share our rehearsal space with moved out and took their PA. My drummer and I need one for vocals and I am not sure how large to get; how much wattage. We aren't double stack Marshall loud, but we ain't milquetoast and the wimps. And would wattage be about the same if we bought something like a Crown amp? We have a little four channel mixer we could run through an amp.

 

btw we have a wedge and a PA cab so we are covered on the speaker front.

[Silenced Fred]

For a PA, I'd err on the side of more power than not. Assuming its solid state (as most I see are, not sure if they make a tube PA) but I'd always get bigger than smaller. You can always turn it down.

 

I've been looking at these

 

http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=XP800L-PM10&cid=101

 

Its 750 watts for the power amp, not sure what the price is just for the amp without the speakers since you said you have speakers already, but probably a bit less

 

EDIT, just saw you have a buss, so here, that should handle your needs

 

Thank me later

[Silenced Fred]

Disregard my last post, I don't know jack **** about music stuff and I should leave it to professionals.

 

I'm sorry Evol

[Surveyor]

If the music store you deal with will oblige you, try out one of the Peavey XR8600 or equivalent size powered mixers. I believe you can split those for 300 watts to monitors and mains each and have plenty for rehearsal.

[Silenced Fred]

Hahaha, thanks for the plus one guys

 

You rock

[Riffster]

The issue when selecting PA equipment is the ridicu-lous wattage ratings some brands use.

 

When I was looking at powered speaker I saw a Samson model with a single 12" rated at 400 watts...really? 400 watts out of a 12"?

 

The powered speaker I bought is rated at 150 watts, I doubt if it puts out 50 watts.

 

All above referenced watts are of course solid state.

 

PA for sale abound in Craigslist here in Nashville, my other guitarist bought one with huge JBL speakers and stands for a good price.

[milod]

Most I've seen lately are ss. I dumped my old tube pa in late 79. Big error even though the speakers were reeeeeally lousy. Still, in the early 70s it wasn't considered bad and it also hit my main criterion: can it be moved and set up by one person.

 

Probably a cupla hundred watts would do it in small venues, depending on the speaker setup. But when you start talking "live sound," there are so many, many options it's ridiculous. A lot may have to do with the type of venues you're thinking of playing in, too.

 

In ways the speaker setup can make a huge difference in perceived volume at the audience level, too. An acquaintance of mine - we both played in regionally-advertised bands in the mid '60s and he still makes his living at it - has huge, huge cabs that will blow your head off. Outdoors or in a big venue they're super; indoors in an L-shaped saloon it'll kill folks on the dance floor and around the corner at the pool table you can still talk in relatively normal voice.

 

Another friend who makes his living at it actually has several rigs to match different venues. In fact, his business is increasingly renting himself and equipment for other concert-type things for other bands. He's very skilled at setting up appropriate equipment for a lot of different types of venues.

 

The bottom line to me is, what are the types of venues to be played in, then what type of speaker setup makes best sense and finally, what makes best sense to handle the power for the speakers.

 

A solo gig for the sort of things I do, a cheapie 100 watt setup such as I now have will do most anything I'll need up to the point of using a "house system" as part of a larger concert deal.

 

If I were playing rock or country with a band, I'd do a lot of research. A lot of research that includes a realistic assessment of where I'm playing. More power and 2 big cabs on stilts or medium power and 4 cabs spread out more? What makes the best sense?

 

Today's equipment is much better than in the olden days, but there also are a billion options for the same dollar; some may fit you well, some may be wasteful and some may waste your money with more than you need. <grin>

 

Worst, some may be very expensive and high quality but inadequate for what and how you're playing.

 

m

[mcgitfiddler69]

If the music store you deal with will oblige you, try out one of the Peavey XR8600 or equivalent size powered mixers. I believe you can split those for 300 watts to monitors and mains each and have plenty for rehearsal.

I bought the XR8600D right before Christmas. You can get them for around $500 new with warranty. They are 1200 watts. 600 for mains, 600 for mons. I love it. It has the new Digital Power amps in it, and weighs about 30 lbs or less. We play small-med clubs. FX are pretty crappy, but you get what you pay for.

[FirstMeasure]

You describe the volume that my band generally plays at.

 

Our PA is just a little more power than we "Need" which comes out perfect. Most bands run the smallest PA they can and crank it to the limit, I've found that getting a pretty decent Amp powering some pretty Big speakers giver your vocals the Pristine Quality they need to be on top of the mix (were vocals belong).

 

We're running a Crown 802 (500watts per channel) into JBL 125 Passive 2x15 speaker cabs for Mains and a Crown 402 (450 watts per channel) into JBL JRX112 1X12 cabs for Monitors. (all figured at 8 ohms). All through a Yamaha 13 channel board.

 

I've never had to turn the amps themselves up more than 2/3 of the way, and generally run them at about 1/3 potential. Plenty of undistorted sound reproduction at comfortable operating levels, even outdoor gigs and one dance hall sized gig we did.