Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[david423]

Ok. I was just wanting to see what you guys would suggest for a college to buy for a sound system for a campus rock/oldies band. There will be 2-3 guitars, bass, drums, aux percussion,4 vocalists, and possibly a horn section in the future. The budget is about $4000. They already have some stuff. They need tops and subs,(Powered or unpowered), amps if unpowered, 24 channel board, eq's, snake, and possibly effects (not really the first priority right now).

They do not need the top of the line stuff, just something in that price range and that can be upgraded in the future(when more budget money comes around).

Concert venues will be about 1000 seat auditorium and possibly some outside stuff.

Thanks, your input would help tremendously.

[Andy Peters]

david423 wrote on Thu, 22 April 2004 15:09

Ok. I was just wanting to see what you guys would suggest for a college to buy for a sound system for a campus rock/oldies band. There will be 2-3 guitars, bass, drums, aux percussion,4 vocalists, and possibly a horn section in the future. The budget is about $4000. They already have some stuff. They need tops and subs,(Powered or unpowered), amps if unpowered, 24 channel board, eq's, snake, and possibly effects (not really the first priority right now). They do not need the top of the line stuff, just something in that price range and that can be upgraded in the future(when more budget money comes around). Concert venues will be about 1000 seat auditorium and possibly some outside stuff. Thanks, your input would help tremendously.

How many gigs per year does the band have?

Rather than buying an underpowered, overmatched PA -- 1000-seat auditorium on a $4000 budget is, um, unreasonable, to put it charitably -- they're much better off hiring a PA company for the shows.

The band members have to ask themselves: do they want to be a BAND, or do they want to be a PA company?

--a

[Beefcake]

I have three questions for you:

Do your guitarists have the guitar amps with XLR's on the back of the heads?

Does your guitarist haveamps?

How big is your room size?

[Timmahh]

i 1/2 agree with Andy, it really depends on how many shows you ll end up doing in a yr, if you only do say one per month, you ll be better off renting/hireing out.
it goes like this.... if your doing 1000 seat shows, and you want EVERYONE to be able to hear, n you want to own, then 4grand will get you a ok board, snake, mics and cords, n if you shop wisely, a case for your mixer and some totes to haul the cords in!!! period, for 1000 people, inside you ll need approx 10 grand n pa equip, n id say that is gettin almost all used gear. Seriously!!!!, if your outside you can nearly double that cost, i d say rent what you need.
a few more words for you. FUND RAISING.....CASH DONORS.....CASH COW....... it may help you aquire the money needed to purchase everything you need to pull off these shows...
Hope this help put things in perspective
Timmahh

[david423]

I totally understand everything that you all are saying. They will probably be playing at least once a month and probably the most frequently played venue will be a high school gym or a smaller auditorium at a high school(for recruitment purposes).

The auditorium at the school where the big concerts are going to be played, is probably about the same size as a gym, i don't really know the measurements for sure.

Yes they have guitar amps, couldn't tell you about the output b/c i haven't see them or heard of the type.

I am not directly involved with the band, i have just know the teacher that is starting it up for about 10 years. I know from talking to him that they do not want top of the line stuff, just the best mid-line, possibly low line stuff that they can afford.

Another reason for now wanting top of the line, there will be a college student running this system and basically a turnover every two years b/c it is just a community college.

Biggest factor, money. $4000 is stretching it. The big money in that school goes for the showchoir. You are not going to find any people to donate money for a rock band. This is just a new thing for them to try.

Lastly, I am just trying to find out the best stuff that he can get for that money. If all goes well, then their budget gets bigger and they can always add on. If this is just way too far out, then just tell me and i'll pass it on that he just needs to get more money. Thanks again.

[ThomasA(lbenberger)]

Hi David!

I'd agree that with 4000,- you are not able to put together a complete sound system for a band, no matter if it was for an audience of 200, 500 or 1000.

There was another post not long ago, maybe you want to use the "Charlotte" search engine

http://www.roaddog.com/search/swish.cgi?

I'll break down some major points of the equation for you, not considering the P.A. because this changes with the size of the room. The prices are in Euro including 20% VAT (1 USD is approx. 0.88 EUR, so the figures I give should not be too far off)

Monitoring: 4x JBL EON15G2 (active)

[Phil Ouellette]

david423 wrote on Fri, 23 April 2004 01:27

If this is just way too far out, then just tell me and i'll pass it on that he just needs to get more money. Thanks again.

It's way too far out.  $4000 would barely buy enough PA for a 100 person church.  1000 seat venues plus outdoor use is totally unreasonable for that little, even when buying used gear. Your budget needs to be tripled to accomplish your stated goals.

Here is just the beginnings of a budget system that will provide the performance you have asked for (all prices are estimated street prices):

Tops:
- Four Yorkville U15 tops at around $1K each.  They have plenty of output, sound good and array well.
- One QSC PLX3402 for U15 woofers at $960. Delivers 1700W into 2 ohm stereo.
- One QSC RMX850 for U15 horns at $270. Delivers 430W into 2 ohm stereo.

Subs:
- Build a pair of Lab Subs for $600 each (student labor is free).
- One QSC RMX2450 amp per sub at $480 each.

- LX7-24 console ($1500)
- DBX DriveRack 260 DSP at $700 to handle crossover, system tuning etc.  If you want to run subs off an aux send then look at the Ashly PROTEA 4.24C at $1900 which has 4 inputs and 8 outputs.

This is not top end at all and totals up to close to $10K.  You still have to add a snake, monitor system, mics stands, cables, etc. Figure at least another $2-3K to finish the job on top of that.

Phil

[Steve Stallings]

I would suggest you go to www.carvin.com and look at their prepackaged systems. They do have options which will help you out. You will need to make some compromises. $4000 is not very much money to build a system. I am building a modest system for a Christian band and have spent a little over $8k and am not yet done.

[Henry Denman]

David,

Check with your Colleges A/V Department.  Many college A/V departments these days have what you need or a portion of what you need in there inventory.  Often times they have good sound techs that can also help you use that $4000 to support what they provide.  Check and see what they have in there inventory you might just be surprised.

If the music department my college knew half of what I have in my shop I would never be able to go home.

Henry Denman

[Andy Peters]

SteveE9C6 wrote on Fri, 23 April 2004 10:00

I would suggest you go to www.carvin.com and look at their prepackaged systems.

I would suggest that he ignore that advice entirely.

--a