Cheap PA system for a Soloist

[vidieowiz4]

Hi I made a post earlier asking about help with improving my sound and it became obvious I need some sort of PA system.



So what I do is I play guitar and sing (sometimes a guitarist friend joins me) while having a backing track play with the rest of the instruments, I typically play covers of Scorpions, Ozzy, and Yngwie Malmsteem are the most common.



This looked promising but I am super new to this and have no idea what I am doing


sweetwater.com/store/detail/EPS500MP3/]Behringer EPS500MP3

 

[Richard Monroe]

Given all of that, the main stuff you haven't told us is: How big are the venues you are playing? How big a room, how many people? Do you intend to plug the guitar into the PA, or are you using a separate amp? If so, what is it, and how many watts? What's your budget? If you have $200 and are playing coffee houses, it won't help you if I recommend a $5000 10,000 watt PA.

 

[vidieowiz4]

Given all of that, the main stuff you haven't told us is: How big are the venues you are playing? How big a room, how many people? Do you intend to plug the guitar into the PA, or are you using a separate amp? If so, what is it, and how many watts? What's your budget? If you have $200 and are playing coffee houses, it won't help you if I recommend a $5000 10,000 watt PA.

Sorry I didn't think about that, I am playing in coffee houses and bars, some talent shows as well so nothing huge. Some places have a PA system I can use but others don't, I have a Peavey Vypyr 30 watt right now and am looking to stay under $500 if possible

 

[witzendoz]

If you are just doing small venues the Yamaha Stagepas is a great little system, but it may be over budget, secondhand could be the go here. The Behringer you showed looks like the Behringer version of the Yamaha, I have not heard on but it should be fine for small venues in duo mode.

Alan.

 

[mjbphotos]

Electric or acoustic guitars?

Electric plugged into a PA system typically don't sound good wihtout some decent pedals/emulators in the chain.

All-in-one PA systems like the StagePas are ok, but are limited in volume and the small speakers don't do well reproducing acoustic guitars or full-band (backing track) sound at anything above minimum levels.
If you are using backing tracks regularly, consider a small unpowered mixer and powered speaker(s) - 12" minimum for decent bass/drum reproduction. For small venues you can get away with one speaker up on a stand.

 

[corndognation]

The fender passport 150 does a great job, 2 mic preamps and a stereo channel to plug in your mp3 player or iPod. The passport 300 has two more preamps so your friend can join you. You won't be able to have any monitors though (speakers pointing at you so you can hear yourselves). If you want those, there are multiple things you can do.

Buy a mixer - xenyx 1204 is great and cheap. You will be able to have 4 mic's (two guitar amps and two vocal mics and a stereo input for mp3)
You will be able to setup one monitor send so you can have one powered stage monitor pointing at you and your friend - Kustom PA KPC4P is perfect and cheap) and you must get some powered pa speakers (mackie thump are great for the price) This I think is the easiest and best way to go, if you are interested, tell me and I can help you pick out a system.

Way 2 - This is also a cool way to do it, not as versatile but very portable. Buy a Mackie SRM150 and plug your mic's and mp3 in to it. Point this at yourself on stage and use it as a monitor, then buy a pair of powered speakers and connect to them directly from the output on the back of the Mackie SRM150. You can even buy to Mackie SRM150's and chain them together, one as a monitor and one as the pa. I have done this before in small situations, it works great!

I hope this post helped...

 

[mixsit]

If you are just doing small venues the Yamaha Stagepas is a great little system, but it may be over budget, secondhand could be the go here. The Behringer you showed looks like the Behringer version of the Yamaha, I have not heard on but it should be fine for small venues in duo mode.

Alan.

I had considered the 8" Stagepass as an alt system for when quick and easy would do, for vocals mostly. I got to hear one recently- vocals, ac guitar and a bit of some hand drum (didn't see, probably conga). Outside from 50' or so, it did nicely. I like when a speaker doesn't sound like hyped up ass This one didn't do that. To me some semblance of a neutral palette' always at least allows a starting point for good sound.