good mixer? is this even what I need?

[andyhix]

Hi,
I'm thinking about getting a mixer or PA, to replace the 40 year old one that we are currently using (which occasionally needs to be thumped a few times to get it to work). I basically need something that I can plug mics and keyboards, and what not into, to power a pair of fairly large PA speakers for live use. I know very little about these things.

1. Is something like this a mixer only, with no built in amp? so that I would need a seperate amp? Or not...how can you tell?

and

2. is this particular mixer any good?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...728486789&rd=1

[andyhix]

or maybe this is better? Alright, I'll stop with the ebay links....I just need some help!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting

[mshilarious]

Those two mixers are not powered, which means that they don't have internal power amps. Generally I wouldn't recommend getting a console mixer board with an internal power amp UNLESS the mixer is going into a permanent installation where it's suited.

The reason is pretty simple--you want to be able to upgrade amps/speakers without having to upgrade your mixer too, but also powered consoles are a bad combination of heavy and fragile.

Having said that, there is another type of powered mixer that comes in a road cabinet that's much better for portable PA use, like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...geName=MERC_VI

Peavey, Mackie, Fender, and Yamaha (among others) make similar units, so check those out too. These are good if the band has to do its own sound. Once you outgrow the power amp for the mains, or get a soundguy with a larger mixer, it's still useful to drive the monitors.

Depending on the size of the band, you'll want at least 6 mic channels, and 8 is better. Beyond that you'd need somebody else running sound.

Finally the particular mixer I linked probably is not powerful enough if you need to drive 'large PA speakers'. How large are the speakers? How large are the venues you are playing?

Check out this link for more:

http://www.music123.com/Mixers-with-...n=&o=topseller

[andyhix]

oh, I guess the speakers aren't THAT big. maybe a pair of 10" plus a horn in each or something. I'm totally guessing based on the size of the cabinet. I could find out tomorrow exactly.

We really want it mostly for practice, but would like to have diverse enough equipment, that maybe we could throw a show on our own/and have most of the equip we need. Most of the venues we play have their own sound guy, anyway, so we wouldn't need the amp.

Perhaps we could get one of these "unpowered" mixers, to mix the various instruments, and use our old dinosaur for its amping ability, until we scrape together the dough for a new amp. If we did decide to go that route, whats a good mixer in the same sorta price range - $130-150?

Thanks for the help, btw. that cleared up things quite a bit.

[Paj]

andyhix:

Make my day---tell me it's a Shure VocalMaster.

Paj
8^)


P.S.: Make my month---tell me it's a Bogen.