Hi everyone,

I'm getting ready to start playing live with my (future)new psr-2100, but my knowledge of amps, speakers, etc. is pretty limited. Can anyone here give me any advice/recommendations? I'll be playing at events (mostly weddings) of 200-600 people...

Thanks in advance!

Philip

[This message has been edited by Philip1 (edited 07-20-2003).]

www.barbetta.com

Sona 32

That sure looks nice! Although I imagine that for a big event (600+ people) I'd probably need two of those, right? Also, I guess I would need a mixer. Any recommendations?

Philip,

Check out the PMX 2000 Power Mixer by Behringer. 250W/250W stereo, 10 channels, 3 Stereo Input channels, DSP and vocorder effects, internal fan and it's only $299!!!

Pick-up a couple of 12" speakers with horns, some stands and you've got your self one heck of a PA/Keyboard Amp. I've been gigging with this setup for about 3 months now and I couldn't be happier. I play all size venue's including outdoor gigs and this has more than enough power.

Al

Actually, with the Barbetta Sonas you won't need a mixer, but for a 600 person venue you will need to use two of them and place them on stands. The Sona 32 has a great, built-in mixer and provides all the power you'll need for the type of jobs you described. When I recently switched to a pair of Sona 32s, I eliminated my mixer and lots of other components.

Good Luck,

Gary

Al, it does look great! However, I saw some reviews how great it is for "smaller" gigs. Do you think it would be enough for those 600+ weddings? Have you used it for such numbers?

TIA

Gary, so you connect the keyboard straight to the speakers? one channel per? And for redundancies sake, you sure it would be enough for 600+ people. I know I'm repeating that question an awful lot, I just don't want to be caught without enough volume!

The most inexpensive, quality PA system I sell at my store is the Behringer PMX2000 with a pair of new Yamaha AS312 3 way speakers. they have a 12" woofer, a 5"midrange speaker and a high frequency horn. The speakers sell for $200.00 each and are light enough to move around with 2 large handles on each side with a speaker pole mount hole on the bottom. They are finished with a vinyl type paint coating so they are very durable. The benefit of these speakers are that keyboards love 3 way speakers as opposed to 2 way speakers. However, most of the 3 way speakers have been much more expensive over the years. This is Yamaha's first inexpensive 3 way. For $700.00 plus maybe another $100.00 for two speaker stands, you have a very powerful system.
The behringer features 9 mic channels, 250 watt per channel into 4 ohms stereo or you can use one amp as main and one as monitor, 99 24bit digital effects including all types of reverbs, echo, delay, rev/echo, flanger, chorus, wah, vocal harmonizer, limiter, etc.
Unless you want to spend much more to duplicate these features with other brands, this would be a hard to beat set up.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

My set up:

Allen&Heath MixWizard 16:2
2 Samson DB500a's [$410.00 ea.]

It's interesting about the mixer having a vocal harmonizer. How does it compare to the one on the psr 2100?

BTW, I just discovered this site and it's really great. Thanks so much to everyone for the help!

What mixer has a vocal harmonizer?
Boo

I guess the PMX 2000 I had was a bad unit. It hummed very loud and the fan rattled also. I'm tempted to try another.
Anyone else had this experience with the BehringerPMX 2000?
Boo

Hi Phillip

No matter which PA you get, I know for a fact you will want two speaker cabinets to get the best sound.

Scott Yee started a couple posts about this. It turns out that the Yamaha instruments such as the PSR2000, 2100 and the Tyros need to be heard in stereo to handle all the effects used on their keyboards to give the fullest sound quality.

There was a discussion if one wanted to perform with one speaker whether it sounded better using the R output, the L/R, or the headphone jack. There seemed to be varying opinions about that, but the consensus was that it sounds a lot better in stereo. I have proved it to myself with my two JBL Eon10G2's.

What I see most people using for your purposes are: Barbetta 32C, JBL Eon15G2, JBL 1500 with powered mixer, and ElectroVoice Sxa100.

In regards to using one speaker, there was a post a while ago about somehow crossing the wires from out of the keyboard to one amp and acheiving about the same sound as two speakers. Apparently it was a system used some years ago for car stereos. I never heard if anyone tried that, but I know I for one would be interested to find out. I am not sure if it's safe to try it, or I would have already tried it myself.

George: That sounds like a pretty nice set-up. Could you tell us how much those speakers weigh?

Best

Scott Langholff

Hi,
I have a pair of EV SxA100s for sale at http://www.synthzone.com/cgi-bin/forumdi...e=30&LastLogin= .
Thanks,
Deaton

[This message has been edited by deatonent (edited 07-20-2003).]

What about a subwoofer? No one uses them in their setup??

Thanks

I apologize for the ignorance, but can anyone explain to me the difference between 2 way and 3 way speakers, and how that affects keyboard playing?

A two way speaker has typcially a woofer, for low frequences and a tweeter or horn for high frequences. In most cases, this is typically used in vocal reproduction and since most keyboard amps have used two way systems to get a nice clean and clear sound, this has been the standard practice. Most home hi fi quality speakers have used 3 way systems to get the best, mosts natural sound for prerecorded music where you are not trying to drive a lot of volume out to an audience and rather have a smaller area here a more natural sound. The use of tweeters in home equipment rather than a horn, which carries the sound out farther but with a harsher tone was what has been mostly used in 3 way loudspeakers sold by most companies. What Yamaha has done with the AS312 was to still use a large diaphram horn, but reduce it's size, thus not giving such a harsh sound as most large diaphram horns put out. The use of the midrange speaker definately improves the middle frequences and makes keyboards, CD's, MP3's sound more natural without a harsher tone usually attributed to 2 way speaker systems which never have a mid range woofer.
I'm not at my store right now to give the weight but my guess is about 30 lbs. each.
The vocal harmonizer effect in the Behringer is a fixed interval which moves with you as you sing. Again, not being at my store, I don't remember if it is 2 part or 3 part but it is a nice effect for something just part of this inexpensive mixer/amp. There are no editing functions in the mixer but Behringer does sell a single rack pro effects processor which is completely user programable and sells for $149.00.

George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

I can't speak to 600+ people, because it depends on the room, the acoustics, and other factors, but I've played in front of outdoor festivals with 1500+ people with this setup with no problems. I have 15" speakers and they sound very tasty and punchy.

I do like George's suggestion for the Yammy 12" 3-ways. I was thinking of purchasing two of those.

Al

My korg has a left and a right out-put but one of them is also desiganated as a mono out-put.

I thought all the arrangers were set up this way. No?

Even my Korg ih harmonizer has left and right out-put but one of them also is designated as a mono out-put.
Boo

I just performed in front of 600 to 800 crazies inside a huge tent, which has the absolute worst acustics you could ever imagine. The Sona 32's performed flawlessly, got lots of complements on the music and performance, gave out lots of cards and booked the same job for the same time next year. The guy who owns the place said the entire system sounded so much better than it did a year earlier, and he thought the old system sounded great. Barbetta also makes Sona 42, which kicks butt. The Sona 32's are bi-amped which punches the 15-inch woofers with 300 watts and the 10-inch horns with another 150 watts. A pair provides 900 watts of highly directional power that can easily fill most large halls with incredible sound, and there doesn't seem to be any fall-off from one end of the room to the other in a 200 foot by 150 foot room filled to near capacity.

As for inputting the sounds, I personally run independent cables directly from my Yamaha PSR-2000 to each speaker, therefore providing the rich quality of stereo. Additionally, I run a pair of audio cables directly from my Digitech Vocalist VR directly to two additional channels, which provides not only superior quality harmony, but additionally excellent reverb. For smaller jobs, you can just connect directly into a single speaker and the results are excellent.

Good Luck,

Gary