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[Gavin Ingels]

Gavin,

What part of the world are you located?

Located in the UK in Windsor

[Gavin Ingels]

You have options but what I would highly recommend is that you purchase PA gear (other than mics/cables) from the "used" market.
This way, when (if?) you want to upgrade you'll be able to sell the (used) gear for what you paid.....
now the options:
buy the EV sx200 speakers (if in good condition) and get a powered mixer (Yorkville M810 or a Yamaha emx312sc or similar).
You can then pick up a used QSC K10 as a monitor (or two of them; one for the singers and one for the drummer).
or
You can purchase a mixer (pick your poison - everyone who you talk to will have their favorite) plus a pair of QSC K10's (or similar) for mains and another pair for monitors.
With the above you can add subs later of you start gigging bigger venues.

If you go the K10 or similar route, as the band plays out more you can eventually relegate the K10's (or similar) to monitors and expand your mains to something a bit more aggressive.

When my son had his band (while he was in high school) I built a rig for him with a powered mixer / passive cabs for rehearsals and small gigs (similar to what I proposed).
His band did play bigger venues (local outdoor festivals, etc.) but those shows always had production at the show.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "6th Form A Level Music Student"?  I've never heard of the term but would like to know.

Thank you for your advice.  This is really helpful.  I am in the UK and my sone who is 16 had a choice to either go to College or to stay on for a further two years at school to study for his A Level.  He is a Grade 8 Guitarist and is studying Music at school.  Once he is 18 he hopes to go to University to study something in Music (Sound Engineering or Audio recording and production).

[Steve Crump]

Located in the UK in Windsor

I was just wondering if someone like Chris Grimshaw at Grimshaw audio might have info on used equipment for you. Chris is located in Sheffield and is a member of this forum. 

[Mal Brown]

@Steve Crump for the win!

[Martin Morris]

Hello everyone.  My son is a 6th Form A Level Music student and is guitarist with a 4 piece rock band.  They are about to step into the world of performing live in local Pubs and Clubs.  I would like some advice on equipment needed.
The band consists of 1xGuitarist, 1xBass, Drums and 1xLead Vocalist.  In future they will be adding Backing vocals.  I am helping them to buy equipment for them to use in Pubs and Clubs.  I have an opportunity to buy a Soundcraft MXi 12 Channel Desk, EV SX200 8ohms 300WATT Speakers.  Unfortunately the seller has now sold his CROWN XLS 1500 Powered Slave Amp and I am looking for an alternative.  Would a Gemini XGA-5000 or XGS-2000 be sufficient.  These are considerably cheaper than the CROWN XLS1500.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

These are a nice compliment to the Sx200's.

  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275117180475?hash=item400e43063b:g:h2oAAOSwReVh5BpO

The bass boost control also cuts some mid- range. (The more bass you dial in - widens the bandwidth of the mid cut) It also has a mono summed 24 dB/Oct crossover output.

The Eq is specifically designed for this speaker.

Cheers
Martin

[Richard Penrose]

Hello everyone.  My son is a 6th Form A Level Music student and is guitarist with a 4 piece rock band.  They are about to step into the world of performing live in local Pubs and Clubs.  I would like some advice on equipment needed.
The band consists of 1xGuitarist, 1xBass, Drums and 1xLead Vocalist.  In future they will be adding Backing vocals.  I am helping them to buy equipment for them to use in Pubs and Clubs.  I have an opportunity to buy a Soundcraft MXi 12 Channel Desk, EV SX200 8ohms 300WATT Speakers.  Unfortunately the seller has now sold his CROWN XLS 1500 Powered Slave Amp and I am looking for an alternative.  Would a Gemini XGA-5000 or XGS-2000 be sufficient.  These are considerably cheaper than the CROWN XLS1500.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Hi Gavin,

I’m also based in the UK. What sort of price is the system you’re considering going for? I’m a big fan of powered speakers these days and particularly like the Yamaha DXR series in regards to a good sounding and reliable MI system. I have used the EV SX200, SX300 and SX500 speakers and they are definitely useable but I like the flexibility of powered speakers.

[Chris Grimshaw]

I was just wondering if someone like Chris Grimshaw at Grimshaw audio might have info on used equipment for you. Chris is located in Sheffield and is a member of this forum.

You called?


Think I've got some Behringer iNukes sitting around here. They'd probably do the job.

That said, for starting out, I'd recommend active speakers. The only reason I use passive speakers is that I design my own cabinets.

Chris

PS - Gavin, if your son's seriously interested in sound engineering, make sure he's up on his maths and physics to a reasonable extent. I can probably organise some equipment demos and tutorials if that would be of interest.

[Brian Jojade]

Powered speakers vs separate amp and speakers is a circular discussion. There are advantages both ways.  For smaller rigs, powered speakers are nice as you don't have the 'extra' box of the amp(s) on stage where space is probably at a premium.

The analog mixer - unless it's next to free would not be my first choice.  Digital mixers give you SO much more flexibility in tweaking the sound.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Powered speakers vs separate amp and speakers is a circular discussion. There are advantages both ways.

For smallish gigs and not-particularly-tech-savvy operators*, I think active speakers are the obvious choice. Once you move out of that corner, you head towards the grey area.

* By which I mean, could come up with their own active filtering and limiters which would sound good and work well. Remember, the guys at EV/JBL/Yamaha/QSC have had a lot of time and a lot of spare drive units to come up with their optimal DSP settings.

Chris

[Brian Jojade]

For smallish gigs and not-particularly-tech-savvy operators*, I think active speakers are the obvious choice. Once you move out of that corner, you head towards the grey area.

* By which I mean, could come up with their own active filtering and limiters which would sound good and work well. Remember, the guys at EV/JBL/Yamaha/QSC have had a lot of time and a lot of spare drive units to come up with their optimal DSP settings.

Chris

In many cases, yeah.  But, for extreme non tech savy operators, plug the ONE wire from the amp box into the speaker is less confusing than plug the signal cable into the correct jack, plug power in, make sure the volume control is set to the right level, AND make sure that the power switch is turned on on the speaker....

My rental rigs that are designed with passive speakers get far less tech support calls than the active ones.

Of course, once you graduate passed that basic level of competency, it's not much of a deal.

[ProSoundWeb Community]