Fishman SA220 (Fishman SoloAmp) report

[Charlieshafer]

I find sound carries very well outdoors so if your set up covers an inside venue, it should cover an outdoor one. Since even talking in the audience is not contained you don't have to deal with the noise and your sound will be far above a normal voice so you should be heard quite a ways away without trying to be loud.

My indoor setup is a fixed-venue system with cool stuff like Meyer speakers, Allen and Heath mixers, etc. Nothing portable about it! This is for small-group reinforcement where we'll take a few Berklee baby bands and let them have at it at a pretentious farm-to-table working farm/restaurant where they eat what's walking around the farm. This'll be some sort of cowboy cookout thing. We're still working on details, but it won't be a big honking festival.

[almeriastrings]

Here's a peanut-gallery question on these: I've never had to worry about outdoor sound until now, as we're going to try a few summer concerts (relatively small area, maybe 150 people spread out with the furthest perhaps 75 feet away.) I know the QSC 10's work well, but do the Fishmans work acceptably, or go with a more mainstream powered speaker, like the QSC's?

I have two separate rigs at the moment... one is a pair of SA220's, the other is based on 2 X QSC K10's and a couple of K8's, so I have been able to compare these directly.

For a soloist or duo, say a singer-songwriter or a guitarist plus fiddle, the SA220's do a very good job. You can think of them as a "Fishman Loudbox" in a different configuration... with a bit of Bose tower thrown in. They are great if you need a super fast, highly portable setup. As long as you only need a couple of inputs (or 4 if you are using a linked pair) and maximum portability in small to medium venues they are hard to beat. Dispersion, or coverage, is very good indeed - but they don't do high SPL's easily. For a 'coffee shop' type gig though, they are a really good self contained solution (and can be expanded). It pushes them a bit hard to run a full band through them (though I have had to do that on occasions).

The QSC's (even the K8's) are much more potent... they all have really good 'throw' and nice dispersion too. You can hit some serious SPL's without strain. They sound good on just about everything.

With people at 75 feet away, outdoors - you'd be heard with an SA220, but in that scenario, I'd rather go with QSC K10's. Much more "punch" and a much extended low end compared to the SA220's.

[Charlieshafer]

I have two separate rigs at the moment... one is a pair of SA220's, the other is based on 2 X QSC K10's and a couple of K8's, so I have been able to compare these directly.


The QSC's (even the K8's) are much more potent... they all have really good 'throw' and nice dispersion too. You can hit some serious SPL's without strain. They sound good on just about everything.

With people at 75 feet away, outdoors - you'd be heard with an SA220, but in that scenario, I'd rather go with QSC K10's. Much more "punch" and a much extended low end compared to the SA220's.

Many thanks! I was thinking that was what would be necessary, but I just don't have the experience to spend the bucks without assistance. Now I'll save time thinking and spare some angst worrying. Big help.