Help choosing a pa system.

[Calum_H]

Hi,

I am looking to buy a reasonably priced (£200 max) pa system (mixer, amp, speakers) for use in our rehearsal room.

We are a two piece and we both play guitar and sing so looking for the pa system to be able to handle two vocals. We also use an MPC 1000 for drum and other samples so the pa system must be able to handle that.

This is just for rehearsal purposes and will not be used for gigging. We wouldn't be micing our guitar amps as our rehearsal room is probably only 4m x 3m.

I am happy to buy second hand. Is £200 max even doable?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Calum

[Calum_H]

Anyone have any thoughts?

Cheers!

[nedorama]

It's not realistic; it's only about $316, which will get you little.

I'd look in the used market for an RCF powered speaker and a minimal mixer -- something like the Mackie 402 or a used 1202 that can take 2 mic inputs and your MPC100. Avoid Behringer. Yes it's affordable, but when (not if) it breaks, you'll be out that much more.

For practice, mono is fine; stereo is over-rated and with so little money better to buy 1 good speaker vs. 2 crappy ones. I run 1 QSC HPR122i mono from a Mackie 1202 for our rehearsal space for vocals and keyboard only and it works.

Good luck; I'd recommend saving up to get at least one good speaker, which at your current price level will be impossible.

[Calum_H]

Thanks nedorama.

The Mackie 402 looks a like its a little more in my price range but would it be able to take two mics and an mpc 1000?

I would love to hear other thoughts on a suitable decent but reasonably priced speaker to go with the mixer.

Thanks again!

[Calum_H]

Just been had another look at the suggestions above and noticed that there were no effects on the mixers mentioned. We really need reverb and delay so been having a look and thought the Mackie ProFX8 might be suitable.

Anyone have any experiences with it or alternative mixers that might do a better job for the same price?

Cheers!

[nedorama]

402 stands for 4 inputs, stereo output.
2 Mic pre inputs - could be 2 microphones, 2 guitars or 1 of each.
1 stereo line input - this is where your MPC goes.

If you need to plug in guitars as well, then you'd need a bigger mixer, which is why i'm suggesting a used 1202. That has 4 mic pres and 4 stereo line input channels, so you'd have a mixer you could grow into.

Alternately, just use guitar amps for your guitars and set them up so you can hear each other.

Can I ask why you need reverb and delay in your mixer? Most people singing don't want to hear either in their monitors as you want to hear yourself clearly. Reverb and Delay are usually added to the FOH mix - the speakers the audience hears, not to the floor monitors for the band. For rehearsals, I have FX that I could patch in, but don't as we want to to make the sound as clean/clear as possible for us to hear. For live shows, I have (now) a larger mixer with effects, etc.

If your heart is set on having FX, then the Yamaha MG series has it built in. I wouldn't go with the proFX8.

Or, buy a used 1202 mixer (they're built like a tank) and get an external effects unit used.

Mackie's website for the 402 and 1202 have hookup diagrams so you can see how you could use them with your gear. Just ignore the stereo speakers and use 1.