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Author Topic: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA  (Read 24460 times)

Sean Barry

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Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« on: November 13, 2012, 11:06:09 AM »

Lightest (weight) possible for club/bar weddings, etc. PA
Hello all, first time I have posted here in quite a spell that I can recall. I searched threads about this topic and there are threads about light weight amps but none  about the lightest complete system.


I am an old retired live sound guy. Some of my old musician buddies are mulling over banding up again and doing about 6 weekend nights a month just to help their income out in these economic times. They aren’t as old as me so they are all still working their day jobs. Any way the goal is light and good, not the best awesomest sounding small PA. Not to sound egotistical...But... We are all accomplished at what we do. And are confident a “good” PA will do the job. Clubs up to 200-300 people max and the occasional wedding up to, say 500-600 people. You don't need massive SPL for weddings because you don't want to bum out the older folks. I should say the music will be a mixed bag, R&B, Zydeco, old soul, Los lonely Boys, Santana, Delbert McClinton, etc. Music that middle aged people will dance to, so we want punch, thump, kik and bass git presences, etc.
Money is not the main criteria but is still a consideration. Our goal is $600 a show minimum, more for weddings. Even 6 way split with me paying  my share towards the gear as I am financially OK.

It will be a 5 pc band, keys, organ 2 mics & synth, 1 git with voc, 1 sax with voc, 1 bass, drums, kik, snare, 2 rack toms, 1 floor tom, and high hat.
14 channels with the possibility of throwing up 2 more mics for guest musicians/singers. So this is what I am thinking of at this time.

4 JBL SRX712M (132#) somewhere around $4K:facepalm:, two for mons and 2 on poles for high mids.
2 MRX518S (144 LBs) 500 WRMS, around $1000. for lows.

Power amps are a major component of the proposition and although money isn't the prime consideration here there is a wide difference in price between manufacturers such as Peavy, Behringer and Crown, QSC, etc. I'll go this way because they are the lightest I could find; , Peavy IPR 5000, 890W RMS x 2 at 8 ohms 3 of these 1 for mons $1500-1700? About 6 LBS. The 5000 DSP is 13 Lbs. $700-800
The set up would be 1 Poweramp per side, I don't know about the increased cost of 2 DSP models vs the 7 LB no DSP model and a stereo 2 way Xover? I am open to suggestions about this. I have used Rane Xovers in the past with fine results and zero failures.

1 Presonus 16.4.2 and 1 iPad = no snake 100 lbs less.
3 Direct boxes, Synth 1, bass 1 and 1 spare.
Microphones some are lighter than others but I think I'll skip them since we all have a few (boys in the band)
20 mic cords of various lengths, mixer will be just off stage left or right, May be on stage as well if necessary.
We have 2 light trees with 4 Aluminum LED Par 56s on each. Can't get much lighter than that.
Any input would be much appreciated. OH, have I forgotten any components? Thanks.








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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2012, 02:26:00 PM »

If you're doing weddings I suspect a wireless mic would come in handy for speeches, toasts,...
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Mark McFarlane

John Halliburton

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2012, 02:45:57 PM »

4 JBL SRX712M (132#) somewhere around $4K:facepalm:, two for mons and 2 on poles for high mids.
2 MRX518S (144 LBs) 500 WRMS, around $1000. for lows.

Power amps are a major component of the proposition and although money isn't the prime consideration here there is a wide difference in price between manufacturers such as Peavy, Behringer and Crown, QSC, etc.

1 Presonus 16.4.2 and 1 iPad = no snake 100 lbs less.

Go look into some of Jeff Parmanian's newest loudspeakers at JTR, the NoEsis line.  Lightweight, lots of output.  Growler subs are a pretty good little beast too.

Both are in the budget.   Danley Sound Labs speakers are great, but probably out of the budget.  A pair of the new SM80's on stands would be killer.
 
Look at amps with processing built in already-Crown XTi for instance.  If not, I'd probably go with QSC PLX1104 or 1804 for ultralight power amps.  Some folks have used the Peavy iPR amps here, let them chime in.

Best regards,

John
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Tim Perry

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2012, 03:18:14 PM »

SRX and MRX are discontinued lines. I was able to get a couple more MRX this year.

I chose MRX's  (and PRX)  for the light weight.

I recommend to your attention: the QSC KW series. This set up seems ideal for your requirements.
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Thomas Lamb

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2012, 03:23:43 PM »

For weight vs output the qsc K stuff sounds great and is light. Very light! I would look into it.
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Philip Norman

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2012, 03:49:16 PM »

I also support the suggestion of looking at some powered cabinets as the newer ones are very very light (as light as many unpowered cabinets of similar spec), which then means no separate power amps, which means less overall weight :)

Side-note: I do quite a few weddings but I've never seen more than 300 people at any of mine and I've only heard of a very few with more than 400-500 people around here. Is it common where you are to find 500-600 people at a wedding? (Asking out of interest :) )
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Chris Hindle

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2012, 04:23:35 PM »


Side-note: I do quite a few weddings but I've never seen more than 300 people at any of mine and I've only heard of a very few with more than 400-500 people around here. Is it common where you are to find 500-600 people at a wedding? (Asking out of interest :) )

For a several years I worked for a Portuguese band. About half our shows were weddings. The other half were "festivals" of one sort or another. 65+ shows a year, Weddengs were usually around 750. Biggest was 2K. Smallest about 500.
Montreal area mostly, with regular excursions to Gatineau, Ottawa, and Kingston.
Before them, I was with a Vietnamese wedding band. All downtown Montreal, usually 500-700 guests.

Can't recall "only" seeing 300 at a wedding...........
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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2012, 04:31:00 PM »

We played VFW's holding  a couple hundred people for over 30 years with vocals and the occasional sax through a pair of EV S-200's powered by a Peavey 8 channel powered mixer. Everyone else had an amp except the drummer.  Doesn't get much lighter than that.

Old-style is:  use "enhanced acoustic" approach to play the room.  YMMV. 
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Tim Weaver

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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2012, 05:44:59 PM »

We played VFW's holding  a couple hundred people for over 30 years with vocals and the occasional sax through a pair of EV S-200's powered by a Peavey 8 channel powered mixer. Everyone else had an amp except the drummer.  Doesn't get much lighter than that.

Old-style is:  use "enhanced acoustic" approach to play the room.  YMMV.

I still play weddings of any size with a pair of single 18's and a 10"/1" box on a pole. The thing is, you really only have to cover the dance floor. Those people in the back don't care, and it's likely they wish you weren't there so that they could talk to cousin Edna in peace.
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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2012, 08:53:17 PM »

I still play weddings of any size with a pair of single 18's and a 10"/1" box on a pole. The thing is, you really only have to cover the dance floor. Those people in the back don't care, and it's likely they wish you weren't there so that they could talk to cousin Edna in peace.

You know Edna?  Say hi to her next time you see her.
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Re: Lightest by weight good club/wedding PA
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2012, 08:53:17 PM »


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