Small PA setups

[Mark Seale]

I've been using a Bose line array for years, but am now looking for a replacement system. What's new on the market or what have you found works well for small venue setups?

[Mandobart]

A few years ago I got a Carvin AG300. It's no longer available but it's really a great amp. It has a full 3-way cabinet, 3 input channels with separate effects settings on each. Two of the inputs have both an XLR and 1/4" jack and a high impedance (HI Z) setting which allows me to plug my instruments with passive piezo pickups straight in with no preamp or DI. And it can be mounted on a speaker pole.

If I were looking for an amp today I would want all those features, and I'd probably find a powered speaker would come closest to providing them.

[foldedpath]

It's been a few years since the last gigs I played, I'm pretty much out of that scene now. But when I was in a performing duo (mandolin and guitar) playing small venues like restaurants and wedding gigs, the one thing I discovered that was more important than anything else, was getting the sound up ABOVE the heads of the closest members of the audience.

At most of those gigs we were at the same floor level as the audience, not up on a raised stage. When you're at the same floor level, both "acoustic amps" or vertical arrays like the Bose system that sit on the floor are firing directly at the closest members of the audience, so they're hearing the music much louder than those sitting further back.

Getting the speakers up high on a speaker stand and firing more towards the middle of the room spreads the sound more evenly, and spares the ears of the people sitting or standing closest to you.

At our gigs we used a pair of 10" QSC powered speakers on stands, a compact 6 channel mixer and "Siamese Twin" cables to the speakers that combined AC power and the XLR audio signal in one loomed cable. That made setup and teardown easier. For very small venues we'd use just one speaker on a stand. We also used one 8" powered floor monitor on most gigs, but sometimes we could get by with the 10" speaker on a stand placed behind us for monitoring, if the volume wasn't high enough to feed back.

There is more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to compact PA setups, but this worked well for us. There was also some built-in safety in being a modular system. If one powered speaker failed, the other would still work. Or we could even substitute the small floor monitor in a pinch. If the compact mixer failed, I had another one in the truck as backup. This approach is more work than just setting up something like a single Bose system or acoustic amp and calling it done, but the sound quality and even coverage of the room was worth it.

[Mark Seale]

I've used the QSCs before and was really happy with their sound. That's a good call.

[dhergert]

We just gifted our full-on 21-channel mixer-based multi-speaker PA to a local venue that lost everything in a fire... We had purchased it originally for a wedding that our 4-piece acoustic/vocal band was doing, and used it maybe twice after that, but had not used it at all for around 6 years...

Since then we've been using 3 Roland Cube Street (roughly the equivalent of the current Roland Cube Street II) which provide 6 channels of battery powered PA, along with a dedicated Roland Micro Cube Bass RX providing battery powered amplification for the double bass.

These provide enough power for most "sensitive volume" acoustic/vocal inside "cafe" venues and modest outside venues, up to around 50 people, which is usually all we need. Because they are battery powered we have much less cable around the floor, plus schlepping less/smaller units around is much easier on our older backs than the full-on PA ever was...

The trick with small speaker/amp units is to elevate them high enough that they are not feeding sound into people's feet. We bring an adjustable height table for the Cube Street units and a modified speaker stand for the Cube Bass amp. Elevating to waist-to-shoulder height is ideal.

[James Vwaal]

I LOVE those line array systems. But, like dhergert, I ended up buying myself a Roland Cube Street EX which I was using in a trio (sometimes quartet) since everyone else had their own amplification. I was the vocalist and the Cube handled both my mandolin input and vocal mic input.

[James Vwaal]

A few years ago I got a Carvin AG300. It's no longer available but it's really a great amp. It has a full 3-way cabinet, 3 input channels with separate effects settings on each. Two of the inputs have both an XLR and 1/4" jack and a high impedance (HI Z) setting which allows me to plug my instruments with passive piezo pickups straight in with no preamp or DI. And it can be mounted on a speaker pole.

If I were looking for an amp today I would want all those features, and I'd probably find a powered speaker would come closest to providing them.

Based upon your posts about the Carvin AG300, I bought their AG200 several years ago and it was the perfect PA for me. However, something internally went bad with the power unit and it couldn't be fixed. And since Carvin had stopped selling and servicing those PAs, I had to go out and find something else.

But I agree, those were awesome PAs.

[j. condino]

I use a two channel Acoustic Image head. It works fantastic for a small PA system and covers up to four instruments very well- two main channels and then two run through the effects loop. It is 900 watts and fits in the palm of my hand. I use a variety of different size cabinets depending upon the venue. Having a single piece of equipment that covers multiple gig needs is much better for me than half a storage unit full of nice, but specialty devices.

As a standalone unit for one or two of my personal instruments, it is incredibly versatile covering everything from mandolin, guitar, and double bass.

There is a thriving secondhand market on them and they have the best warranty in the business- lifetime for whomever is the current owner. Blow it up on Sunday, drop it in the mail on Monday, and they will have it back to your in time for your Friday gig. Try that with anyone else. On top of that, it is made right down the road in Raleigh, North Carolina. I've used it for probably 400+ gigs and it is still going strong.

[Mark Seale]

I use a two channel Acoustic Image head. It works fantastic for a small PA system and covers up to four instruments very well- two main channels and then two run through the effects loop. It is 900 watts and fits in the palm of my hand. I use a variety of different size cabinets depending upon the venue. Having a single piece of equipment that covers multiple gig needs is much better for me than half a storage unit full of nice, but specialty devices.

As a standalone unit for one or two of my personal instruments, it is incredibly versatile covering everything from mandolin, guitar, and double bass.

There is a thriving secondhand market on them and they have the best warranty in the business- lifetime for whomever is the current owner. Blow it up on Sunday, drop it in the mail on Monday, and they will have it back to your in time for your Friday gig. Try that with anyone else. On top of that, it is made right down the road in Raleigh, North Carolina. I've used it for probably 400+ gigs and it is still going strong.

I couldn't agree with you more on the AI. I have an older AI built into a Corus. I hadn't thought about pulling the head and using a different cabinet for venue performance. I might have to play with that.

[Kevin Winn]

I also use an AI 2-channel head. My trio often does an acoustic set first, then two electric sets, and I run my mandolin and acoustic guitar into a small mixer board that goes into channel 1 of the AI, then my electric bass goes into channel 2 for the remainder. That feeds a couple of Acme B-1 cabs and covers anything up to a medium sized venue. Anything bigger and I'll run a line from the DI to the house PA.

I have done acoustic cafe gigs where I'll run a vocal mic into channel 2 instead of the bass, and that works splendidly.

Can't beat the AI/Acme combination for clarity and simplicity. It ain't cheap, but for a cafe gig, it's only one trip from the car with everything

[allenhopkins]

Different animal, but I've been using a Fishman SA 330 SoloAmp for well over a decade. For ensembles, I plug a small mixer into the AUX, currently a 5-channel.

It's handled everything I've needed it for, indoors and outdoors. Your band my not like the "column" format, but I have gotten much use from it.

[j. condino]

I also use an AI 2-channel head....

Can't beat the AI/Acme combination for clarity and simplicity. It ain't cheap, but for a cafe gig, it's only one trip from the car with everything

HA! I also use ACME cabs with my AI head- a pair of B1s for the light duty and I also have a B2 that I combine for larger gigs. When it is outside on a big stage, or a heavy drummer, then the big gun comes out -a B4.....and on the rare way too loud gigs when I'm playing bass I'll use ALL of them with the 900 watt AI bridged with a Thunderfunk head! Most shows I use the medium setup for my personal stage monitor and like you mentioned- run a DI into the board and front of the house.

[Eric Platt]

Have been using a Mackie Freeplay (early version) for a few years. Two channels. Either to mike the instruments in our duo, or for vocals in the bigger band. Small, loud enough and can run on battery if needed. Very basic, but does the job we need it to do.

[mandroid]

I have an Etek Note mix to shed, 6 channels , its compact but relatively heavy due to power supply transformer...