Equipment/Gear for Jam Room

M

Meister67

New member
Hello all,

I did a search of the forum and did not find an answer that fit my problem.

I moved into a new house that has a great space for a jam room. Currently I have it set up with an electronic drum kit, 2 1/2 stack guitar amps, and a somewhat all purpose old Fender amp that I run the drums, bass, and vocals through. Obviously this is not a great solution. The "drum/vocal" amp is ok, but not what I would like. Also, the guitar amps are way over powered for the space and it is difficult to get a decent balance.

My intended solution is to get a mixing board, power amp, and a couple of PA speakers. I have guitar modeling floor pedals that I can run my guitars through, a bass modeling pedal for the same, and of course I can push my drums and vocals direct from the mixer.

What I am hoping for is if someone here has some experience with a good all purpose mixer. I would need no more than 10 channels and probably not use more than 8. I have reviewed the Yamaha mixers that have built in effects, but I really don't need them as I already have an outboard effects rack with reverb, delay, and EQ. This would be all I need for the vocals. The guitar/bass pedals handle their own effects.

Also, I have reviewed quite a bit of power amps and speakers, but I am unsure what output I would need. A 50watt 1/2 stack guitar amp is more than enough by itself, but I have read that PA amps aren't necessarily similar to individual instrument amps when it comes to power ratings.

The space I am using is approximately 15' x 20' x 8'ceiling. I don't wish to over power the room mainly due to the cost of equipment goes up in relation to power rating. In general anyways.

Budget is always a concern, but I am selling all of my amps which should fetch about $1,100. Also, I do currently run and would like to continue floor monitors for the drummer. So any power amp I get would need outs for this or the speakers would need to have outs to monitors.

Does anyone have experience in setting up something similar and what equipment would work?

Thanks.
 
I like a power rack I can swap amps with if one melts myself, but everyone I ask sez powered monitors are the future...and the present.

A/B testing in stores, I gotta admit, powered Yamahas and JBLs both sound sweet. And you save on a crossover too.

This may not be you, but there is NO WAY I'd do what you're doing, and start w a hardware mixer. Somehow, some way, you accessed the net to write this post, and if you can build this thing around a PC and audio/midi interface from the gitgo, its gonna open SO MANY MORE doors down the road for you.

Can't even list em all, but there's

...recording.

...mix automation.

...effects processing.

...accompaniment, including drums, bass, keys, strings, horns, la la la...

...setup repeatibility, load one file.

...built in MP3, CD, DVD, Youtube, Skype, and e-mail attachment playback capability.

...burning.

...the ability to provide a near infinite quantity of monitor mixes.

That said...my playback (jam) room is built around a Behringer 1622 mixer, a Sony 250 watt amp, and a pair of flown Behr Eurolive 12 inch stage monitors. Passive cross.

I've gotten 137db, A, out of it without tearing paper or melting coils. If you're pushing much past that, you won't be hearing it very long.

But...that's all fed by several rooms of PCs w audio interfaces, a fat pipe to the net, decent reference monitors, tons of software, and racks of fx. The mixer is noisy AF, and the monitors need significant EQ. 250 watts a side is a little light for continuous paint peeling, u might go 400.

If I was starting from scratch like you, it'd be:

1. PC.

2. Interface, midi and at least 8 ins, and ADAT lightpipe.

3. Pick yer poison in powered speakers. JBLs been a roadbeaten standard for decades, Yamahas not as many decades, Mackies are prob loud enough, and I hear good things about QSC.

If you gotta go w discrete power, Crown rules the charts since Columbus Day, 1492, and, QSCs have a reliable rep.

Back in the day it was hard to beat a Peavey CS 400/800 series power rack and as many HDH stax as u need to drive the room, for a roadworthy PA. Ebay maybe.

Hope this helps.
 
"Jam room" - is this just for fun, or are you aiming at actually getting a real band together? Let each player bring their own instrument amp.
Modeling pedals are never going to sound as good as decent amps, you just need smaller amps or power soaks for the outputs.
 
Thanks for the responses.

mjbphotos -

1.) This is truly just a "Jam room". Just for the fun of it. Myself and my friends that use it have already done the whole "band" deal over the last 30 years, and are over and done with doing anything more. We all have very good equipment for live shows, but getting a great balance in a living room is quite challenging. The guitar amps are so uni-directional. We can't stand far enough away that the balance of two guitars is even. Also, the drummer can't hear a good balance unless the guitars are routed through a mixer to his monitors. I could place the amps facing everyone, but then the mic feedback gets brutal, and there is still a balance issue due to the size of the room.
2.) I have heard the arguments against modeling pedals, and if I was wishing to record anything of quality, I might have a problem with them as well. For just jamming covers, our old songs, and lengthy drunken jams, the modeling pedals are fine. :)
3.) I didn't think of using power soaks for the amps. Mainly because I am not familiar with them. Thanks for the suggestion. I will look them up.

Jay Tee -

1.) Your suggestion of routing everything into a computer to "open possibilities" is not a bad one. I have had this kind of setup in the past for recording, and if I wish to record, one of my friends still has it available. The goal of this space is truly just to jam with my friends on the random Saturday night over beers. If for some reason we were to decide to record, a stereo live mix from the jam space would be all we would do. I can do that with my current computer and my old Delta 66. Which is what I use to jam along to youtube backing tracks. If we wish to get more invested in recording, my buddy will bring his gear over, my old gear, and we have up to 8 inputs to track from.

2.) Power amp - I am a little familiar with the reputation of Crown, but I believe they are fairly expensive. I am not familiar with QSC so I will check it out.

3.) Mixer - I have a little 4 channel Behr mixer, but it is cheap, cheap, cheap. For what I got it for it is fine, but not up to snuff for my ultimate goal. Does your behr mixer perform well? I am not against the brand at all, I'm just not familiar with their product line beyond the little cheapy 4 channel mixer I have.

4.) Speakers - Again I would ask, how do your current Behr speakers perform. I have looked at a number of speakers, and my question would be; how well do 12" speakers reproduce the kick drum and bass guitar? Are 15" monitors necessary to get a smooth and full low end. I never worked with monitors myself. The few gigs I did that had a PA, all had a sound guy with really good equipment running the show. I have never had the opportunity to work with smaller monitors. I am of course familiar with JBL and Yamaha and have no concerns with either brand. My concern is that I don't underpower the speakers with too low a wattage power amp. Does the 250W amp you run fill your space well?

Thank again for taking the time to respond.
 
There are a few homes around here that have a JAM Night and they have just about everything needed from PA to tambourine.
 
Not your first rodeo clearly! Ima hit all four q's but in slightly different order.

The Behringers are stage monitors, and I find them bright and harsh straight thru. Good for cutting thru ambient when you need that but as mains, it took some time and dedicated EQ to produce what I'd expect out of the box from PA cabinets. The 12s are 12s....I like what I hear, but I'd probably like a pair of 18s in folded horns better, if I had the room and permanent hearing damage wasn't a concern.

With EQ, they...disappear. They get the job done. Bass and kick thump your gut and risk cosmetic trinket damage in the room, small items "walk". Its good clean low end too, no mud.Mids and highs were not an issue to begin with.

I could use a little more power. I get all the SPL I need, but I don't have the headroom I prefer to have left over when maxing things out. A 400 or 600 watt option wouldn't be driven any louder, I stay below the 145 db instant permanent damage levels, period, but you know what the energy can do to playing style, and I don't want to inhibit that, running the power amp flat out. It takes it, hours at a time, no heat or auditory issues, but I'd rather see a little more meter left in a perfect world.

The Behr mixer is too noisy. An old studio was built around it and a PC soundcard and I just stopped recording with it. Noise floor from -45 to -30 db, it wasn't worth my time laying tracks like that, not demos, not anything. If I bypass the mixer, the current noise goes away. So too will that mixer, and soon.

I can understand how a recording setup might inhibit spontaneity and the fun of an informal jam, but...you're on a budget and you need a mixer. You could spend $200 and probably find a quieter solution than that Behr, but you might have to go as high as $400, and anywhere between those points you could get a PC interface, which, with the included DSP software, will effectively turn your PC into a dead quiet, programmable mixer with 'motorized' faders. Plus all the other features mentioned above.

You know the drill for recording, the ratio of time spent tweaking to the time you get to play, and the ratio is only slightly better setting up a jam. Individual monitor mixes are gonna tilt that negatively, as will variable session groups. Monday night acoustic session, click. Friday night hard rock w special monitor mix for the drummer, click.

Even still, you want a hardware mixer, in those price ranges, I like analog Yamahas and older Peaveys. I hear great things about Mackies but haven't used them.

One more thing. I feel for ya. Setting up a dedicated room, havin to hang w varied musicians, feet up, and a cold one next to ya, amidst all that noise, on a regular basis, I know how it is.

Yer just gonna have to endure it as best ya can. I spect you'll muddle thru somehow!
 
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