Mandomania
Jun-27-2004, 8:14pm
It is certainly ironic that we spend so much time, effort, and money on stage sound amplification for what we like to think of as acoustical music. Some weeks ago I posted a number of messages asking about amps, speakers, mixers etc. and got more than a few helpful responses. So I thought I would describe my exerience so for, again hoping for more of those helpful hints.
OUr band --guitar, banjo, mando, bass -- plays the old-time, traditional, hardcore kind of #bluegrass (choose your adjective) made by the likes of Monroe, the Stanleys, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, etc. So we decided to try going retro with the one mic setup. Per the info/advice received at this forum, I purchased an AT 4033 C/L, which performed beautifully for recording in my garage/studio environment. The rest of the PA was made up of a small Behringer mixer and two 10-inch powered Eon speakers.
At the gig, we used two mics, a dynamic for the guitar and the AT for vocals (we do alot of trios). Although we were outside -- it was a BBQ in a restaurant parking lot -- we were put on a rather narrow porch up against the brick side of the building. Well, as might have been predicted, we had a major feedback problem. Even after adjusting the EQ, we couldn't get the Eons past 25% to 30& capacity. So although those "tens" seemed to have plenty of power for the parking lot, we could not use it. So much for the retro look.
For our next gig, I purchased a bigger Mackie mixer and six Shure betas -- three 57s for instruments,three 58s for vocals. We played in a pretty large cafeteria room of a VA hosptial and although we were again up against a wall and there were plenty of echoing walls and ceilings, #we had no feedback problem and plenty of power. I was a somewhat doubtful about the Eon "tens" in that big room, but they must have been putting out because we were asked to lower the volume a bit by one of the people in charge! Also, our friends planted in the crowd said the sound was great!
The only "little" problem was that we could not hear each other very well. This was especially true of the bass. OUr upright bass player couldn't make it so a friend of ours played an electric bass through the pa and also through his small practice amp. Initially, we could only hear big blobs of mushy bass which to say the least made it difficult to stay together. Eventually the bass player moved more to the middle and that helped somewhat.
So I guess what I need is a pair of monitors! My idea at this point is to purhcase a pair of Eon 15s and use them as mains with the 10s as monitors for bigger venues and use the 10s alone for smaller venues. That should do us for a while, don't you think. Oh yeah, I bought a snake for all those mic cables!
OUr band --guitar, banjo, mando, bass -- plays the old-time, traditional, hardcore kind of #bluegrass (choose your adjective) made by the likes of Monroe, the Stanleys, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, etc. So we decided to try going retro with the one mic setup. Per the info/advice received at this forum, I purchased an AT 4033 C/L, which performed beautifully for recording in my garage/studio environment. The rest of the PA was made up of a small Behringer mixer and two 10-inch powered Eon speakers.
At the gig, we used two mics, a dynamic for the guitar and the AT for vocals (we do alot of trios). Although we were outside -- it was a BBQ in a restaurant parking lot -- we were put on a rather narrow porch up against the brick side of the building. Well, as might have been predicted, we had a major feedback problem. Even after adjusting the EQ, we couldn't get the Eons past 25% to 30& capacity. So although those "tens" seemed to have plenty of power for the parking lot, we could not use it. So much for the retro look.
For our next gig, I purchased a bigger Mackie mixer and six Shure betas -- three 57s for instruments,three 58s for vocals. We played in a pretty large cafeteria room of a VA hosptial and although we were again up against a wall and there were plenty of echoing walls and ceilings, #we had no feedback problem and plenty of power. I was a somewhat doubtful about the Eon "tens" in that big room, but they must have been putting out because we were asked to lower the volume a bit by one of the people in charge! Also, our friends planted in the crowd said the sound was great!
The only "little" problem was that we could not hear each other very well. This was especially true of the bass. OUr upright bass player couldn't make it so a friend of ours played an electric bass through the pa and also through his small practice amp. Initially, we could only hear big blobs of mushy bass which to say the least made it difficult to stay together. Eventually the bass player moved more to the middle and that helped somewhat.
So I guess what I need is a pair of monitors! My idea at this point is to purhcase a pair of Eon 15s and use them as mains with the 10s as monitors for bigger venues and use the 10s alone for smaller venues. That should do us for a while, don't you think. Oh yeah, I bought a snake for all those mic cables!