Portable battery powered PA

[dwc]

My band plays some outdoor gigs, farmers markets, food truck rallies, camps etc. In some of these gigs we don't have access to electricity. We need a battery powered mixer, speakers, and mics. We need at lest 3 mic channels and a channel for an electric bass guitar. Anyone have a good solution?
Thanks.

[jim simpson]

Our trio just ordered this system from Carvin but we've not received it yet.

https://carvinaudio.com/collections/s600/products/s600b

[Dave Bradford]

Would a quiet, gas powered generator be a possible solution?

[pops1]

Our trio just ordered this system from Carvin but we've not received it yet.

https://carvinaudio.com/collections/s600/products/s600b

I have an older version of this and it is really a nice unit. I have the battery out to make it lighter for an old man PA, but have made a cord to plug into a battery pack I have when I need to be without electricity. This weekend as a matter of fact is one of those times. A friend has one and plays electric bass guitar with it and it has wonderful full bass for a ten inch speaker. The new ones I believe are 8" speakers and for acoustic music there is no better speaker. We have used these for dances and have had plenty of power.

[Rob Meyer]

We have been using two Roland Steet Cube EXs ( https://www.roland.com/us/products/cube_street_ex/ ) and a Behringer 1002B ( http://m.music-group.com/Categories/.../1002B/p/P0A04 ) for several years now for the same sort of performances you describe and have been very happy with the setup. Good quality sound and plenty of power. We use Rode M3 ( http://www.rode.com/microphones/m3 ) condenser mics that are powered with 9v batteries so we don't have to depend on the phantom power from the mixer.

[dhergert]

My band plays some outdoor gigs, farmers markets, food truck rallies, camps etc. In some of these gigs we don't have access to electricity. We need a battery powered mixer, speakers, and mics. We need at lest 3 mic channels and a channel for an electric bass guitar. Anyone have a good solution?
Thanks.

We use two Roland Street Cubes (the standard version, 2 x 6" speakers each and 2 mic channels each).

We use two Senheiser e935 dynamic mics, one each for our vocal/guitarist and our fiddler/vocalist, and two Audix OM2 dynamic mics, one each for our banjoist/mandlinist and acoustic standup bass player/singer.

These mics are plenty hot with the speakers and the whole setup can produce good sound for a tight crowd and a small area (50 to 200 people) outside. We have used this setup for street fair situations and for playing in the woods for various crowds.

If we had an electric bass we'd probably add Roland's Bass Cube (also battery powered) to our speaker cluster, my son plays with a few bands and has a Bass Cube, and he says they are surprisingly good for how small they are.

For a larger crowd or a larger area, we use 2 Behringer Eurolive B212D speakers with a Behringer XENYX 1002B (optionally battery powered) mixer. These speakers do require AC so a generator would be a requirement.

The standard external/portable genny among campers is the Honda EU2000 and they can be pretty quiet if they're a distance away, or if they are behind some sound protection somewhere. Just keep in mind that the longer the extension chord, the more drop-off of the AC power. Many people daisy-chain 2 of the EU2000s for 4000W to enable running a trailer's AC and other appliances, but a single 2000W is sufficient for a sound system and of course it is half as loud. They cost about $2K new and weight about 50lbs including fluids and fuel.

We do have a more powerful internal genny with our RV and have used it for sound, in my experience it's pretty loud and I wouldn't recommend it for running nearby sound equipment. It's pretty tough for a band to try to compete with the sound of a 4000W+ genny.

If we're doing our own sound, my preference is to use as small a system as will provide sufficient sound for a listening crowd. Weight and LBP counts. I do prefer the Roland battery operated cubes for portability, sound quality and power when at all possible. You can put as many of them together as you need for the channels that you need.

Honestly, in the right situation, if your band is good at moderating volume so your singers don't have to scream, and if you place yourselves properly among the audience, you can perform without mics -- that's what acoustic instruments are about. Our band is a Gospel band and we've done this -- at one festival the sound people had a scheduling problem so we stepped off stage and joined the audience with no mics at all (for about 200+ people). It was one of the most memorable festival performances we've ever done.

[Billy Packard]

The JBL EON One Pro looks promising, due out in August, like a Bose knock-off,

[Mandobart]

A Carvin AG300 will work great for bass. However it only has 3 channels max.

I was faced with a need for a battery powered amp last year and found it more effective to use a deep cycle battery and pure sine wave inverter. I posted a couple threads about it here
and here. If you already have an AC powered PA you like you can use an inverter/battery combo to run it for several hours at a gig. This will cost much less than buying a whole new battery powered PA.

There was also a good discussion on battery powered amps.

[dwc]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. We are looking into a gas powered generator, but I am concerned about the noise. Food trucks typically have generators of their own, so that can get quite loud. We have also thought about a marine battery and inverter; I grew up fixing boats so I am pretty sure I could rig this up easily. We are in our infancy, so we are still building our sound system. There is a lot to consider.

[pops1]

If you get an inverter don't get a cheap one, like mandobart get a true sine wave inverter. I set up a system on a boat and spent $500 on the inverter. It's been going 3 years now and hasn't dyed or damaged the sound equipment. This goes 7 days a week 5-6 months a year. An inexpensive inverter can damage your equipment and they don't last very long.

[banjoboy]

We played a gig using a Yamaha inverter. It worked great.

[Dave Bradford]

Thanks to everyone who has responded. We are looking into a gas powered generator, but I am concerned about the noise. Food trucks typically have generators of their own, so that can get quite loud. We have also thought about a marine battery and inverter; I grew up fixing boats so I am pretty sure I could rig this up easily. We are in our infancy, so we are still building our sound system. There is a lot to consider.

What we have used very successfully to play for a large annual half marathon race over the past five years is the http://powerequipment.honda.com/gene...models/eu2000i

As a bonus, it also provides emergency power for the guitar player's home if needed. I'd be interested in hearing about any other generators out there that are quiet, dependable and reasonably priced.

[lflngpicker]

I have tried a couple of options. Most gigs have AC available, so I find small works for me as a solo artist when I need battery operated. I have a Peavey Solo which has a very heavy duty 8" speaker and 15 watts. It takes 8 D batteries. There are three inputs-- two for instruments and an XLR for a mic. Very nice sound reproduction. It takes pedals for electric effects and has good tone and EQ function for acoustic instruments. Mine happens to be an earlier version made in the USA. The imports of these SOLO PA amps are just as effective today.

[Bill Cameron]

Traynor made a decent wedge-shaped unit, I heard it in action and it was pretty good. Discontinued, at least the ones I tried, but still available here and there...http://www.prosoundweb.com/channels/...stage-monitor/.

I think you have the right idea with a car or marine battery....no way do you want to try to set up a gas generator in an informal outdoor performance! The only gas generator you need to consider is your car or truck.

[dwc]

We actually did set up the gas generator, but we found electricity at the venue, so this one particular instance worked out fine. But I see this as an ongoing issue, so I continue to search for solutions, as we seem to mostly get booked for outdoor "rustic" gigs.

[Billy Packard]

I have used a Crate Limo TX50D (out of production) for my iPad and it works fine...not the highest fidelity but adequate until I can upgrade to something else. I checked out the Carvin product mentioned above and it looks good on paper.

Billy

[Richard J]

Anchor audio make some great & cheaper battery charged PA's