I may be in the market for a PA, can I get some advice plz?

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:21 pm

It looks like I'm going to invest in a small PA soon and I really don't know much about them. I know what sort of things I need, so I'll try to explain them in as much detail as possible.

More times than not, this will be used for 3 to 5 piece gigs for SMALL CLUBS with the emphasis for micing being on vocals, then probably guitar (electric and acoustic). It may from time to time need to handle two or three mics on a drum kit. Keys and bass would go direct. So, with that, I think this should be the gist of the criteria....

*Preferably as portable as can be...I would think a powered mixer would be the way to go.

*8 to 12 channels.

*The ability to handle up to 4 monitor mixes.

*Decent on board verb/delay.

*Probably only pushing 2 mains.

*At/around 500 - 700.

I know there are a lot of choices out there...many I've already looked at. I"m just seeking some advice from folks that may have experience with setups of this nature.

Thank you.

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 8:19 pm

Hmm....I think your biggest problem is going to be finding 4 Aux channels on a board as small as you need, unless there's a matrix-mixer at that size. Of course, I'll have missed something by never having done any professional monitor mixing.

Most amps I've seen can do 4-16 ohms, which means you can use 2 8ohm speakers per channel and so you have plenty of room for expansion if you need to push more speakers.

PS: was on the Mackie site. The CFX12 or CFX16 could do you, has built in effects, 4 auxes - but 2 of these are for effect sends. There's a VLZsomething that has 4 auxes but no effects.

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