[Dixielandjazz] Light weight sound gear!

Thu Jul 6 01:24:35 PDT 2006

Bose makes great sounding equipment but they are expensive.  The improvement 
in quality is small and will be lost on a crowded room of people talking 
etc.

A few weeks ago I stopped by the Guitar Center here in  St. Louis looking at 
sound systems.   I came across one that might fit the bill.  I own a 300 
watt powered mixer that is really cool sound wise but it would make a great 
boat anchor too.   It's now my computer system amplifier with two other boat 
anchors, a pair of peavy columns.  Hell of a computer system but I just 
can't lug that mess around anymore.

The system I came across is equal in every way to my powered mixer except it 
weighs a fraction and actually has a shoulder strap.  The case is fiberglass 
and has a lid to cover all the knobs etc.  It had dual EQ's  one for each 
channel and all the other bells and whistles like 8 mike channels..  As I 
recall there are three models.  The cheapest does not have the dual EQ's but 
almost everything else.

The name of the system is the Gig Rack 300 watt powered mixer with two JBL 
JRX115 speakers, 2 mikes, cables and stands are $940.  They have the 600 
watt system for $1150 with 4 mikes and all the other stuff.. As I said the 
Gig Rack powered mixer comes in other models than this.  I think the dual EQ 
unit - (probably two separate amps for mains and monitors ) in the 300 watt 
by its self is around $900.  They are more expensive than the same thing in 
other brands but they are very light weight.  I liked the idea that the case 
protected the front panel.

The Musicians Friend has reviews of the systems on line so you should look 
up the user reviews.

They don't list them separately in my catalog but if you went with the Gig 
Rack Amp  the I would suggest a pair of 10 or 12" EON speakers which are 
fairly light and have a pretty good punch.  As long as you aren't trying to 
run a bass through them they should do well.  I'm seriously thinking about 
going to something like this.  One problem with the Eon's is they don't 
stack very well.  Unless you go to something like the EON speakers they tend 
to be very heavy and bulky.  We use a pair of them for monitors.  If you 
need to put your speakers on stands the smaller eon's are great.

You didn't tell us about how many people or size of room you were wanting to 
cover or whether you wanted some sound reinforcement or to blow the wall 
paper off.  There isn't any compact, light system that will do the latter.

Another choice is powered monitors.  I use a pair of 15" JBL Eon's.  They 
have quite a few bells and whistles like 4 band EQ's and if you use a mixer 
you can use multiple mikes.  They have dual amps inside for woofer and horn. 
Great sound but a bit heavy.  They aren't as bad as other cabinets that have 
equal capacity and quality of sound.  They don't stack very well on a cart 
because of the odd shape.  With these you don't need the powered mixer.  All 
together they are lighter than the separate pieces but individually kind of 
heavy.  About 45 lbs each.  They can sit on stands but I don't use them. 
Schlepping these around is getting tiresome.

You should be able to do better than $2K  there are some other compact 
systems that come with speakers/amp all latched together such as the Fender 
Passport series.  The amps look nice with lots of bells and whistles but the 
speakers ( 4 - 4" speakers in each cabinet ) are only OK for a  singer in  a 
small to medium room..  One of the local singers uses one.  I'm not 
impressed with them.

You might take a look at Peavey and Yamaha systems.  Both are pretty good 
but nothing is as light as the Gig Rack systems.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Randy Fendrick" <jfendrick at bak.rr.com>
To: <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 6:19 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Light weight sound gear!

> For years I have been using a Pevy sound system for my 7 piece band.  It 
> has worked well but, as I get older this system is getting heavier to set 
> up.  I am not really interested in hiring a roady to handle the sound gear 
> as this really takes from the musicians pockets, but am looking for a 
> lighter, more efficient system.  I have seen and heard the Bose system 
> with our band, and like the results.  It is much lighter and, after one 
> gets through the learning curve, I think I would like it, but the cost is 
> a little dear, $2000.00 per tower and for proper results would probably 
> need two towers. Does anyone have any ideas?  How have others solved this 
> problem?  I might add, that recently, one of the California jazz clubs 
> that we play for asked that we bring a sound system when we return to play 
> for their group.  I almost balked on returning, but see it as a problem 
> that others will need to face.
> later.
> rf
> Randy Fendrick,
> Southside Chicago Seven
> Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra
>
>
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