Hey guys.
Have started a wedding band who are now looking to purchase its own PA.
We want to go with just tops for convenience and logistics ( don't want the hassle of carrying subs to every gig )
Which speakers would you recommend that can cover the whole band? And are 12 or 15's better.
Details:
7 piece band - drums, bass, guitar, keys and 3 vocalists.
Gigs - standard weddings / corporate 100 - 150 people.
Budget IS important so ideally looking for the cheapest speakers that can get the job done.
Thanks in advance
Have started a wedding band who are now looking to purchase its own PA.
We want to go with just tops for convenience and logistics ( don't want the hassle of carrying subs to every gig )
Which speakers would you recommend that can cover the whole band? And are 12 or 15's better.
Details:
7 piece band - drums, bass, guitar, keys and 3 vocalists.
Gigs - standard weddings / corporate 100 - 150 people.
Budget IS important so ideally looking for the cheapest speakers that can get the job done.
Thanks in advance
What's your budget for this, and what equipment do you have already?
Yamaha DBR12s are about the minimum I'd recommend, and even those aren't fantastic as PA speakers go.
Are you planning on putting everything through the PA system, or just vocals?
Chris
Yamaha DBR12s are about the minimum I'd recommend, and even those aren't fantastic as PA speakers go.
Are you planning on putting everything through the PA system, or just vocals?
Chris
Hi Chris thanks for the response.
No budget as such but ideally I want the cheapest speaker that can do the job.
We don't have anything at present we are moving over to the wedding work in the next 3-4 months so wanna have all the equipment sorted and ready to go.
Yes mate everything would run through the PA
Cheers
No budget as such but ideally I want the cheapest speaker that can do the job.
We don't have anything at present we are moving over to the wedding work in the next 3-4 months so wanna have all the equipment sorted and ready to go.
Yes mate everything would run through the PA
Cheers
Hi adason.
My apologies I'm new to the forum and full range was under the loudspeaker section. I assumed it meant like full range speakers which is what I'm after so posted here
My apologies I'm new to the forum and full range was under the loudspeaker section. I assumed it meant like full range speakers which is what I'm after so posted here
Hi Kipman.
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking just to run the kick... Or kick and snare not the full kit would that make any difference ?
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking just to run the kick... Or kick and snare not the full kit would that make any difference ?
Once you startvreamplifying "everything" you startbshooting your own foot.
Let the drums, which are LOUD on their own, set up the reference sound level, which means NOT reamplifying them, at all.
Why would you (un necessarily) raise the reference level which you later must compete with?
Drums: unamplified, period.
Guitar: as loud as needed to match drums, not surpass them, so a 50-60W amp is fine, tops an 80W 1 x 12" speaker combo.
Bass again, as needed to match drums: 100-150 real watts into a 15" speaker combo.
Equivalent to 300-350 "Mickey Mouse" Class D watts driving an abysmal efficiency woofer.
Keyboards: straight to PA, again loud enough to match drums, a small personal monitor will be good for player to hear himself.
Once you have a balanced backline: drum - bass - guitar - kyboards then it´s easier to add vocals and have them stand out well.
IF you reamplify drums from the beginning, then evrything must be risen accordingly and by the same amount ... you don´t want that.
Let the drums, which are LOUD on their own, set up the reference sound level, which means NOT reamplifying them, at all.
Why would you (un necessarily) raise the reference level which you later must compete with?
Drums: unamplified, period.
Guitar: as loud as needed to match drums, not surpass them, so a 50-60W amp is fine, tops an 80W 1 x 12" speaker combo.
Bass again, as needed to match drums: 100-150 real watts into a 15" speaker combo.
Equivalent to 300-350 "Mickey Mouse" Class D watts driving an abysmal efficiency woofer.
Keyboards: straight to PA, again loud enough to match drums, a small personal monitor will be good for player to hear himself.
Once you have a balanced backline: drum - bass - guitar - kyboards then it´s easier to add vocals and have them stand out well.
IF you reamplify drums from the beginning, then evrything must be risen accordingly and by the same amount ... you don´t want that.
Do you know what that actually makes PERFECT SENSE! thank you so much for the advice... This would actually save 2-3 inputs on a mixer too meaning I could purchase a smaller one and save some cash 😁 Thank you mate solid advice
For those responding to this thread please see his other thread here.. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/just-tops.387111/
To the OP.. don't buy an analog mixer.. not in this day and age when there are products like the Behringer XR series digital mixers. These thing have all the processing onboard that you need to do a good job, in fact after using one of these you will wonder how you survived with an analog mixer. There are lots of other options available in stagebox style live sound mixers so you don't have to buy a Behringer, but even those have proven to be very good sounding and reliable, incredible value for the money.
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See we thought about the xr digital mixer.
But I am worried that if something goes wrong with the connection with a tablet or the built in WiFi signal is not great at a wedding venue then we essentially won't have a mixer
But I am worried that if something goes wrong with the connection with a tablet or the built in WiFi signal is not great at a wedding venue then we essentially won't have a mixer
The kick is actually one of the most demanding to amplify. My home system has 4*15" subs and this is only just enough to be amplifying the kick. Snare much less demanding but I wouldn't amplify anything that you don't want louder, as JMFahey says let the intrinsically loudest instrument set the loudness of the other instruments for small gigs. It may be required to reduce the volume of things like cymbals if they are already too loud before amplification.
Regarding your mixer look for something digital with a minimum of a noise gate, compressor and EQ on every input channel. If possible take in keyboard and guitar with DIs so your only live mics would be vocals.
Assuming you don't have drums running through the PA, 12" options generaly have better fidelity due to the better behaviour of a 12" at the crossover frequency (directivity match and cone breakup) compared to 15". I Have heard the 8" version of this speaker and thought it was surprisingly good if you can get a deal: https://www.altoprofessional.com/products/ts312
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Oh wow really? Ok thats extremely helpful to know I wouldn't have no idea it could have affected it that much.. but does make sense really to not mic the kit.
So a mixer like the berhinger xr 18 or something? I was worried about the connection failing on this at a gig leaving us with no mixer lol
So a mixer like the berhinger xr 18 or something? I was worried about the connection failing on this at a gig leaving us with no mixer lol
Kipman 725 I was actually looking at the alto TS 315! They seem to be a great price and we'll reviewed. Would you recommend the 12 though over the 15 in this
That is a well documented problem actually that is common to all wireless mixers, but the solution is not expensive. What you need is a separate WAP(wireless access point), many people use a residential "router" which is actually a combination router/hub/WAP but there are also dedicated WAP devices you can buy that don't include the router part with isn't really needed. And the key to reliable wireles access involves using a static IP addresses on the mixer and doing your best to minimize external traffic interference... which is all about some further setting on the system. Another thing you can do is to hardware connect a laptop to the mixer as a backup. With the XR series that means it is connected with an ethernet cable via a hub, but a Soundcraft UI24 for example has HDMI and USB connectors just like a computer... which is is essentially, so you can always have a hardware backup to wireless access.
Couple of good 15"s in ported boxes do the job well enough IME, but it does depend on the kick drum.
For instance, I RTA'd one which had strong content down to 16Hz. That's difficult to reproduce at PA volumes, but 60Hz-and-loud is much more attainable, and keeps most people happy.
Bandleader, with a digital desk you'd make your own WiFi network, with a router connected to the desk. You could also hard-wire an iPad (the newer ones have USB-C, so getting to ethernet isn't difficult) as a control surface.
FWIW, I had similar concerns about all black-box mixers, so went with the QSC TouchMix 16 for a few years, before upgrading to the TM30Pro. Having done a lot of shows with those desks, I find them very easy to use. Those particular desks have their flaws, and I wouldn't recommend rushing out and buying one without understanding what they can/can't do.
Chris
Ok so external wap is the way to go if I got the Beringer or any other digital mixer like that. Thank you SO much for This advice .. a lot to take in! Lmao but extremely helpful as I dont want to buy gear and waste my money finding out it wasn't what we needed or was easier to do another way
Hi Chris. Appreciate this advice mate
We are a little limited by budget so tbh it would be very likely that will have to buy the behringer xr18 if we got a digital mixer. We could definitely upgrade in the future when the funds allowed but for now I think that's all we could afford digital mixer wise.
I just need it to be reliable and have good connection at wedding venues.
So if I got an iPad with USB c could I just run usb-c to ethernet from the iPad to the mixer?
Cheers Dan
The 15 will be able to o produce louder/lower bass but will have issues around the crossover region generally the 15"+horn small plastic speaker that's so common is a quite flawed design. Using a 12" driver provides a better dispersion match at the crossover and pushes cone breakup higher in frequency. So wether to go with a 12" or 15" depends on if you need the additional bass.