I am looking for advice about a suitable powered speaker that would serve as the main/only monitor for playing electric guitar and bass at home. I am hoping for something in a $200-$300 range, preferably, or less.
My daughter plays bass, and I play guitar. We do not use any instrument amps: we use preamps and a few other effect pedals to create tone, feed instruments into a small mixer deck, which goes to a powered speaker - that's the speaker I am looking for. (Currently, we use an old Yamaha home theater sub and a cheap Squier guitar amp together as a makeshift monitor, which does not sound great.)
So, I am hoping for a single PA speaker that would work reasonably well for both bass and guitar, and - occasionally - for both together when we jam.
We play in a regular-sized living room, so thundering volume is not needed but reasonable frequency response would be nice.
As I understand, for bass, a 15" speaker would go a long way, so I was paying special attention to the 15" options. Which options below look in the right ballpark? Are there better, more optimal choices? I am looking at these:
1. Samson RS110A/112A/115A - the 10"/12"/15" options - they go for $200-$270
2. Alto TX 310/315 - these are $150-$250
3. Pyle PPHP1244B - 15" PA for just $110 !?
4. Acoustic Audio by Goldwood - $170
In many ways, any of these are overkill in terms of volume but I do not see cheaper/quieter options with large enough speaker to support bass and guitar. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
My daughter plays bass, and I play guitar. We do not use any instrument amps: we use preamps and a few other effect pedals to create tone, feed instruments into a small mixer deck, which goes to a powered speaker - that's the speaker I am looking for. (Currently, we use an old Yamaha home theater sub and a cheap Squier guitar amp together as a makeshift monitor, which does not sound great.)
So, I am hoping for a single PA speaker that would work reasonably well for both bass and guitar, and - occasionally - for both together when we jam.
We play in a regular-sized living room, so thundering volume is not needed but reasonable frequency response would be nice.
As I understand, for bass, a 15" speaker would go a long way, so I was paying special attention to the 15" options. Which options below look in the right ballpark? Are there better, more optimal choices? I am looking at these:
1. Samson RS110A/112A/115A - the 10"/12"/15" options - they go for $200-$270
2. Alto TX 310/315 - these are $150-$250
3. Pyle PPHP1244B - 15" PA for just $110 !?
4. Acoustic Audio by Goldwood - $170
In many ways, any of these are overkill in terms of volume but I do not see cheaper/quieter options with large enough speaker to support bass and guitar. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
There are 2 problems with using a powered PA speakers for guitar
1. Way too much highend output due to the fact they are built to have a flat response out to 15khz or so
2. Not great low bass output despite some models having large LF drivers.
If you have some way to lowpass the speaker at 4-5khz so it more closely mimicks a guitar amp that would go a long way to addressing the first problem.
Better quality 12" and 15" PA speakers can do a decent job on electric bass, where you will first see issues is with the plastic enclosure of lesser quality speakers audibly vibrating and coloring the output, the next is with reliability... every component in these is as cheap as possible.. it's amazing some of them work at all.
Pretty much all cheap PA speakers are plastic these days and the really cheap ones are really flimsy so there isn't anything in your list I would recommend, I think you would be better off looking for something with a wooden enclosure.. new or used and even passive if you have to. If you had an old 12" or 15" Yamaha Club series speaker for example 10-15w into it would be rockin loud in a living room.
1. Way too much highend output due to the fact they are built to have a flat response out to 15khz or so
2. Not great low bass output despite some models having large LF drivers.
If you have some way to lowpass the speaker at 4-5khz so it more closely mimicks a guitar amp that would go a long way to addressing the first problem.
Better quality 12" and 15" PA speakers can do a decent job on electric bass, where you will first see issues is with the plastic enclosure of lesser quality speakers audibly vibrating and coloring the output, the next is with reliability... every component in these is as cheap as possible.. it's amazing some of them work at all.
Pretty much all cheap PA speakers are plastic these days and the really cheap ones are really flimsy so there isn't anything in your list I would recommend, I think you would be better off looking for something with a wooden enclosure.. new or used and even passive if you have to. If you had an old 12" or 15" Yamaha Club series speaker for example 10-15w into it would be rockin loud in a living room.
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Croco, maybe finally time to try out my original suggestion, it's pretty cheap and has built in DSP compressors on all three channels. It will also out bass and output more that the types you are looking at. None of the usual Yamaha types active PA can touch it for deep loud bass and your flamma and mixer would fit right in as that's pretty much similar to my setup... give it a go man, you can always send it back. The drivers inside are all high quality items from a brand and will cost much more if bought separately. There are no tweeters to blow, either. The treble comes from the very heavy for its size 2.75"FR drivers. The amps inside are Class-H using AB chips built very tough by a specialist company
Mine has lasted close to 15yrs of hard use. These things are still available
Mine has lasted close to 15yrs of hard use. These things are still available
In no particular order:
* First two options in your list should be best, forget the ultra cheap ones, things are already bad as-is 😉
* 15 inch does not give you any special advantage here, since shoebox size cabinets suffocate them anyway.
That said, pick a 15" if you wish, only remember those are not magic bullets by any means.
But they should do in a Living Room environment.
* Those are not overpowered by any means, a lot of power is wasted just creating some synthetic Bass by way of overprocessing, so ....
* You will not find cheap plastic powered speakers fitted with guitar speakers, so use the full range ones as-is (what else?) BUT insert a cabinet simulator between guitar preamp or last pedal and your mixer.
It will add the necessary guitar speaker response.
FWIW most any decent modern pedalboard and a couple pedals already include something like that.
If not, get a direct box which does.
Thank you! Would having an equalizer somewhere in the effects chain, and killing all above 5-6kHz do the trick?
I am going for something that would do better than the 20-year-old home theater sub + $80 Frontman 10G. Is there really nothing in the $300 range that would outperform this badass combo?
I will look for Yamaha Club - not familiar with what it is yet. What else would you recommend?
(For those who might not know - that's a DIY option repurposing Logitech 623 gaming system - it seems to work well). Randy, I do not want Logitech at this point for ergonomics reason: I am really looking for a single box, to minimize components and wiring. That's why I also do not want passive. Shelling out upwards of $150 for a new Logitech, then start building а custom box does not appeal to me right now. Otherwise, no objections to MacGyvering Logitech!
Got it - thanks! Is there a better bang for the buck, for my use case?
Should I pick smaller size but better quality? I have no special preference for 15"s except I thought they are a must for better bass. They do seem to cost more than 12" or 10", so perhaps I should get smaller but better-quality for the same money? How do I tell where the sweet spot is?
I got that! I have the Flamma FS06 preamp, which has the cab sim built-in.
My main hope is to find a single speaker that would do a decent job and would be commensurate with the rest of our setup. We have a $300 Allen & Heath ZEDi 10 FX mixer board, and a couple of multi-pedals with basic effects, the Flamma preamp. The mixer also has a 4-channel interface with pretty low latency - we can play live through it (stil learning about that part but it works).
+1 on what JMF has said here.
The Alto stuff is actually pretty reasonable for the price. I have no affiliation with the Alto offerings, but I have heard various models of them used several times in live situations;; they acquit themselves reasonably well, provided they are not being caned.
A cab simulator (or the current way: an IR loader) will seriously improve things for the guitar. There's many different flavours of IR loaders out there to suit differing requirements (and price ranges!). I have a TC Electronics IR Loader that I've tinkered with: it's pretty reasonable on the end of a pedalboard to go direct to PA / monitor. I also use the IRs within my Quad Cortex to go direct to PA (or cheapo powered speaker); works well.
Cheers, and regards,
Ant
Bear with me for a moment. I AM actually on the same page with your question.
Consider a Line 6 Spider Valve 112 combo. Line 6 gets a bad rap, and so they sell for your price range. (Here's one for $250.)
Line 6 has come a long way from their beginnings.
Line 6 Spider Valve 112
But here's the cool thing about this amp. Use the "Power Amp" in jack, and you have an all tube, 40-watt Bogner amp, complete with a bonafide Celestion G12-Vintage 30 speaker. It's a Bogner "Power Engine." (With apologies to Tech21 for borrowing their trademark.)
I use mine almost exclusively with either a Seymour Duncan Palladium, or all-tube Twin Tube Classic, or a BBE AcoustiMax preamp. I rarely use the Line 6 modeling preamp. Although, there's nothing really wrong with that.
Just a thought.
Consider a Line 6 Spider Valve 112 combo. Line 6 gets a bad rap, and so they sell for your price range. (Here's one for $250.)
Line 6 has come a long way from their beginnings.
Line 6 Spider Valve 112
But here's the cool thing about this amp. Use the "Power Amp" in jack, and you have an all tube, 40-watt Bogner amp, complete with a bonafide Celestion G12-Vintage 30 speaker. It's a Bogner "Power Engine." (With apologies to Tech21 for borrowing their trademark.)
I use mine almost exclusively with either a Seymour Duncan Palladium, or all-tube Twin Tube Classic, or a BBE AcoustiMax preamp. I rarely use the Line 6 modeling preamp. Although, there's nothing really wrong with that.
Just a thought.
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Artie, thank you for the suggestion. I'm not familiar with these components at all: will they be ok for the bass guitar?
Killer for guitar, won't handle a Bass guitar, at all.
Go for the 15" speaker full range powered cabinet, if anything because the cabinet itself will be larger.
Both Samson and Alto are decent.
A somewhat larger/heavier cabinet is not a handicap here, in principle it's a semi-fixed "at home" use and still can fit in a family type car if needed.
It will work fine.
Glad you have this cool and fun family interaction. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Go for the 15" speaker full range powered cabinet, if anything because the cabinet itself will be larger.
Both Samson and Alto are decent.
A somewhat larger/heavier cabinet is not a handicap here, in principle it's a semi-fixed "at home" use and still can fit in a family type car if needed.
It will work fine.
Glad you have this cool and fun family interaction. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I'm not totally sure, but I think that if you use the amp-in part, the difference between bass and guitar input is negligible. A bass only goes one octave below a guitar. I haven't actually tried mine with a bass. Surely, at "bedroom" volume, there'd be no problem. For gigging volume, maybe we need a pro's input.
Bass amps, oddly, typically use use 8" and 10" speakers.
Bass amps, oddly, typically use use 8" and 10" speakers.
@Crocobar Ive been to Crocobar. Its in Løkken, Denmark.
You dont need any of that what is proposed.
You can just take the output from Flamma to your stereo system. Just make sure its cabinet simulation is always engaged, since that it what prevents a normal hifi stereo from dying from the highly dynamic signals guitars and basses produce.
You dont need any of that what is proposed.
You can just take the output from Flamma to your stereo system. Just make sure its cabinet simulation is always engaged, since that it what prevents a normal hifi stereo from dying from the highly dynamic signals guitars and basses produce.
If your stereo doesn`t have analogue input, You play along with your stereo or you want to play louder than your stereo can handle, I have another proposition. Buy secondhand 1x15 inch bass Combo. One without tweeter Guitars mostly sound great on singledriver bass cobos or bass cabinets.
Find Peavey, Ashdown, Carver. They are just as good as the expensive brands, but are dirt cheap second hand cause they dont have "premium" brand-names.
Cheers!
Find Peavey, Ashdown, Carver. They are just as good as the expensive brands, but are dirt cheap second hand cause they dont have "premium" brand-names.
Cheers!
If amp only has one input you need a y-adapter/cable. Best one with impedance compensation I thonk. Sell your mixer You dont need it.
If both are using boards you should use loop/return input so that you bypass the un-needed preamp of your combo.
To get going you can just buy any cheap modern boombox second hand. Flamma will protect it. Then use y-connector in front of Flammas input.
Cheers!
If both are using boards you should use loop/return input so that you bypass the un-needed preamp of your combo.
To get going you can just buy any cheap modern boombox second hand. Flamma will protect it. Then use y-connector in front of Flammas input.
Cheers!
Correct that to eight 10" speakers in literally a 140lb. regular fridge size cabinet and we are talking 🙂