more PA nonsense from rockironwebb

R

rockironwebb

senior newbie caveman
Here it goes. I currently have a peavey cs-400 amp. I also have two shit wedge boxes each with a pretty shit 15" and non working 4" X 10" horns. As far as the specs on the speakers, I believe one of the 15"s is an 8 ohm 400 watt "pro studio, and the other one is anyone's guess, I am pretty sure that neither one of these speakers is actually meant to be used as a PA speaker. Basically the setup sounds like shit. We have all agreed that we want to throw down a little cash for an "acceptable rehearsal PA. By a "little" I'm talking a couple hundred bucks.The guitar guy thinks it is more economically feasable to just buy replacement speakers for the wedge boxes we already have and still use the Peavey cs-400. I am always down to save money since I usually don't have any but I am pretty unclear on what to do. I have looked on amazo and musicians friend and see that I could get a complete PA package for a couple hundred bucks, like this.

Phonic Powerpod 410/S710 Pa Package

The issue I am dealing with is after reading all about watts and peak power and ohms and matching speakers to amps, I am a little intimidated by the whole idea of buying just speakers.

ADVICE??????????????????
cs-400
200watts per channel at 4 ohms
 
As long as it's working properly the Peavey CS400 is a good little amp, streets ahead of the Phonic one in build quality and longevity. I know of a venue in the UK that uses one to drive monitors and it's still working fine after more than 20 years.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to scour fleabay for some better quality second hand speakers and pair them with the Peavey rather than buy any package that cheap. I don't know that specific Phonic one but I used to spend far too much time trying to repair dead amps and blown drivers on the cheap "package" PAs my son and his friends used to buy as teenagers. Fortunately, now that he's almost 30 he's buying better stuff!
 
Bobbsy said:
As long as it's working properly the Peavey CS400 is a good little amp, streets ahead of the Phonic one in build quality and longevity. I know of a venue in the UK that uses one to drive monitors and it's still working fine after more than 20 years.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to scour fleabay for some better quality second hand speakers and pair them with the Peavey rather than buy any package that cheap. I don't know that specific Phonic one but I used to spend far too much time trying to repair dead amps and blown drivers on the cheap "package" PAs my son and his friends used to buy as teenagers. Fortunately, now that he's almost 30 he's buying better stuff!
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^^^^ ditto to all of this ^^^^^
 
Yeah you could pick up a few old peavey Sp2 cheap for a rehearsal PA! But the big question is do you have a mixer?

Be sure to get those speakers up high - for the 200watts won't be much if their not at ear level especially if the band is play the instruments on 11!
 
Sp2s are actually pretty bad ass little speakers ...... kinda heavy but pretty decent sounding and decent bottom end
 
My CS-400 was bought by a guy who filled shipping containers bound for Ghana. I bet that amp will still be working in Africa long after that Phonic is landfill. The Peavey has twice the claimed power and I bet it's more conservatively rated.

If you really work Craigslist and/or eBay you can scrounge a mixer, a pair of wedges and some cables. There's a pair of early series Yamaha SM12 wedges in my local CL for $150, which would be better than cheap new ones, and they have pole sockets in case you want to use them as mains. There's an old Biamp mixer for $75. Add some cables and for $250 you've got a crankin' little rehearsal setup. Add stands, more speakers and cables and you've got a basic PA setup. Add some eq and start swapping out components for better ones as money becomes available.

You could save money rebuilding your speakers compared to buying new, but buying good used stuff is easier and often cheaper.
 
I already have the mixer part covered. Basically have everything we need except a way to hear vocals. We now have a bit of rough finished material and would like to start haveing folks come by to try singing. I'll get on the used sites and see what I can find.
 
moresound said:
Be sure to get those speakers up high - for the 200watts won't be much if their not at ear level especially if the band is play the instruments on 11!
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True. However, it's also worth noting that all speakers are certainly NOT created equal in terms of SPL (volume) output for a specific amp power. Speaker sensitivity is generally specified as a dB(SPL) figure produced by 1 watt input measured at 1 metre. The differences between cheapies like the Phonics and really good professional speakers can be as much as 20dB or more. This means that at 200 watts per channel, certain really good speakers could produce more output level than some cheap ones with more than a thousand watts (assuming the cheapies could handle that sort of power which they can't).

Frankly, you probably won't find published sensitivity figures for economy speakers because they would look so bad. This is yet another reason why it tends to be better to buy good quality second hand gear rather than brand new cheap rubbish.
 
I agree that a singer should have his own gear, but I have found that most in my area do not. I don't want to pass up someone who may turn out to be a good fit just because they don't own a PA.Once we find someone we like That can also tolerate us) then we will lay down the gear contribution requirements
 
rockironwebb said:
I agree that a singer should have his own gear, but I have found that most in my area do not. I don't want to pass up someone who may turn out to be a good fit just because they don't own a PA.Once we find someone we like That can also tolerate us) then we will lay down the gear contribution requirements
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moresound was making a joke.
In general the instrument a singer should have is their own mic. Many of them don't even have that.
No one expects a singer to always have a PA and, in fact, thru 40+ of gigging 4 and 5 nites a week I'm trying to think of singers that had the PA and I can't really think of one other than guys that also owned the club we were doing a house gig in.
 
Lt. Bob said:
moresound was making a joke.
In general the instrument a singer should have is their own mic. Many of them don't even have that.
No one expects a singer to always have a PA and, in fact, thru 40+ of gigging 4 and 5 nites a week I'm trying to think of singers that had the PA and I can't really think of one other than guys that also owned the club we were doing a house gig in.
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And even if a band doesn't have a "singer" somebody in the band will start singing, or someone will want to go direct with an acoustic guitar so the band needs the PA with or without a "singer".
 
In a perfect world the singer would have a PA! this is true Lt. I can only think of a half a hand full in my life time that actually had a PA. :(
 
I got a pair of 15" wedges for like $230 - they are pro-formance - similar to these:

They work fine for rehearsals - I drive them with a Crown poweramp running crossover at 80hz to a big sub.

I would say your Peavy is fine - you could buy replacement horns pretty cheap but I would do as suggested and just pick up some new (or used) speakers.
 
speaking of singers and PA`s...come to think of it, of the few bands I`ve been in here and there (pretty much just garage bands, who did ocasional giging)..anyway, I don`t remember what the heck the singers sang out of? I believe they always just had some cheap lil`setup, that would get mic`ed whenever we gig`ed...only singing I ever did was light backup..
now oddley enough, i have a PA powerfull enough for most medium sized clubs, I`m not in a band, and i still don`t sing..it seams since getting out of the band scene, I`ve managed to collect ALOT more equiptment then i ever had back then..LOL.
 
The trouble with any idea of the singer having the PA is...what happens when you decide to put other instruments through the PA? Or you decide to add backing vocals to a number.

The singer needs a microphone perhaps, but as soon as possible the PA needs to become a general piece of kit shared by all.
 
In my experience what usually happens is there'll be one or two guys in the band that are really into the equipment side of things ..... I mean into it almost as much as playing. So they'll have the PA.

In the vast majority of bands I've been in it was me ..... I've always been a gear and instrument nut. Stereo systems too.
Probably a couple hundred gits and many multiple PAs from small to pretty good size for bands back then.
I had 4 A-7's for a while. Then went to those JBL cabs that were similar to an A-7 but a bit smaller .... 4 of those with the Big radials and 4 EV T350 tweeters on top powered tri=amped with S.A.E. amps.

That was fun .... we enjoyed the whole process of making it sound good ........ anyway ..... it's usually some insane person like me that carries the PA..
 
Lt. Bob said:
In my experience what usually happens is there'll be one or two guys in the band that are really into the equipment side of things ..... I mean into it almost as much as playing. So they'll have the PA.

In the vast majority of bands I've been in it was me ..... I've always been a gear and instrument nut. Stereo systems too.
Probably a couple hundred gits and many multiple PAs from small to pretty good size for bands back then.
I had 4 A-7's for a while. Then went to those JBL cabs that were similar to an A-7 but a bit smaller .... 4 of those with the Big radials and 4 EV T350 tweeters on top powered tri=amped with S.A.E. amps.

That was fun .... we enjoyed the whole process of making it sound good ........ anyway ..... it's usually some insane person like me that carries the PA..
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I am glad you said this. I am the crazy gear guy in my band. Like you said, for me the gear is half of the hobby. I have told people before that I would probably be an amazing drummer if I hadn't bought all of this home recording equipment.
 
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