Need advice on Portable Sound system for performances

[shellsings]

HI

I will be doing some gigs where they asked I provide my own sound. I have no sound equip to take with me right now, and I need something very simple and portable for small to medium rooms. It needs to be light, without many pieces and easy to hook up. I would be plugging in a Uke, guitar, keyboard and mic or two at max. I had back surgery a couple years ago so don't want to be lifting a lot of equipment and risking injury or sweating to death setting stuff up before I need to perform
OH, and I don't want to pay a lot of $$
Recommendations??

[CHuckmott]

I'm going to blatantly ignore the "not spending a lot of money " bit and plug QSC gear. Seems all the cover bands use their systems these days. COuld practically carry both speakers and the board in one trip without breaking a sweat and still sound as hi fi as you get. That said, are there other less expensive alternatives that are similar to QSC that are still lightweight?

MAckie has always been pretty good with the small setups, the Thumps are nice.

Or try the All in one gigging setups , i.e. amp, vocal all through the same rig, i.e. Genz Benz although I think there is a noticeable reduction in sound quality in my opinion they get the job done. Mazz's phrase it's not the gear it's the ear also applies to live playing.

In my cover band our on stage sound man is also the drummer and tears down his drum set and PA (himself because he usually insists) and has everything packed and in his car in 30 minutes. More often then not, with our 4 piece classic rock band, have never used more then a small board and 2 QSC 10s (using one as a vocal and one as a monitor), and a QSC bass bin....Uses the same system with his 7 piece dance band.

[eeoo]

These are great, not cheap but not out of reach. You get what you pay for...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SA220

eo

[johntwistmusic]

Make sure you get to listen to yourself with whatever system you choose. It sounds to me that you will be making a compromise between cost and sound quality. That's the real world. That said consider how often you expect to gig. What quality of sound are you comfortable with. I've gigged consistently for a long time. I have often been frustrated with live sound quality. These days good live sound is doable. It isn't always cheap.

If you need to keep it really simple and cheap check out: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... pa-package

If you feel that you will be making enough cash to justify it check out Bose and QSC.

Good luck. Let us know what you get and how you feel about it.

[shellsings]

I'll check em out

anyone used these before?

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/380252.html


I am just starting to get a few gigs in small venues. Not enough to justify the big boys yet. but I do need something.

[jdhogg]

Might be of interest

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/?src=3TP3DAA

Kustom Profile 300 Portable PA System

Today's Price

$399

MSRP: $999.00

Regular Price: $599.99

[dencol]

Last year I was looking for a portable battery operated PA and found the Roland BA-330.
This thing is awesome. Long battery life (on 8 AA rechargeable batteries), lots of inputs, FX, decent power.

I absolutely love this unit... I just ordered the travel bag.. Should get it tomorrow

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... -pa-system

$599 at Musicians Friend.... Kind of pricey, but I have no regrets...
Musicians Friend has 10% off orders over $250...

Check it out... You can't go wrong with this one.

Dennis

[Hookjaw Brown]

Having lugged a lot of PAs around, the lighter the better is my motto. Those Fender suitcase PAs are a dream for an acoustic act. Carry them in, plug in, tune up and play. Ten minute setup and ten minutes out the door.

[RonKujawa]

I have owned the Kustom Profile and I would not recommend for anything but small coffee house gigs and even that is a stretch. I used to do solo acoustic, vocal gigs with a powered Behringer speaker, but it lacked enough volume for medium sized gigs and had way too much low end. Last year I got a single QS. K10 powered speaker and it works wonderfully. You can plug in a mic and a line in at the same time. If you need more simultaneous inputs, you could get a cheap mixer. The K10 has handled a medium sized hall with 150 people.

Ron

[mojobone]

A pair of very lightweight Peavey PR10s or PR15s, two speaker stands, a compact mixer like this one: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ProFX8/ and a Crate Powerbloc or similar power amp will get your job done, unless you need stereo. (you'll also need a couple of decent speaker cables between 25 and 50 ft; I'd suggest one of each, since you can put the amp closer to one or the other, in most rooms) It's way better if your mixer includes a graphic EQ, or if you add one. (preferably with helpful feedback detection) The above, and a mic or two will let you cover most small to medium rooms with aplomb, the caveat being that you gotta learn to use the EQ to tune the rig to the room, and that you might also want a way to monitor, cuz you can't usually hear what the audience hears, when you're on the other side of the speakers they're listening to.

*If you have a little more budget, The JBL Eon systems are nice, (powered or otherwise) and if you're flush, the QSC K series can cover larger venues, 200-350 seaters. (powered only, no amp required)