I need help with picking the right amp.

Need help for buying a vocal amp for playing concerts?

• I'm in a band, and I play lead guitar and sing the occasional back-up/lead vocals for some songs. My band and I have been playing shows for about a year, and we're starting to expand and get pretty popular. We've decided that we're going to start hosting our own gigs at private places instead of just playing at the local club or concert house. To do this, I need to buy a new and more powerful vocal amp then the one I am currently using. (I use a simple Fender guitar amp.) This simple amp I've been using has worked because, usually, at a gig they plug it into their system, or into their bigger, better and more clear sounding monster amps. I've been doing some research on vocal amps, and it would seem that buying a strong PA system would be the way to go. I need help in picking out the right one. Unfortunately, I am on a budget of $500 - 1,000 dollars. So I need to know what the best PA System, or vocal amp to purchase would be for playing a private concert. The amp has to be powerful enough to play a concert of around 500 people, and needs to be heard over the drums, bass, and my 75w tube guitar amp, and I really need a crisp clean sound that's easy to understand. Thank you for your help. :)

• Answer:

  Playing a venue of 500 people with a PA under $1000 while competing with drums, bass, and electric guitar is not going to happen, sorry. Not with a new system, anyway. Your best bet is to watch your local craigslist or equivalent and see if you can find someone who's selling theirs used. Even then it would be tough. The drummer of my band just picked up a PA system for us for the same purpose and it was $1500 used. You could try something like this from Carvin - http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/XP800L-PM10 . That will give you 250 watts per channel RMS into 10-inch speakers for $600, and note that it doesn't include monitors. I think you can get some small Kustom monitors for about $70 each. It doesn't include speaker poles, either, so you're either putting your cabs on the ground or on chairs or dishing out an extra $100 for a pair of poles. I would NOT count on that getting your voice out clear over a rock band in anything larger than a coffeehouse, though. For $1000, Carvin will give you this - http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/XP800L-PM10 - still no monitors or poles, and you have to add shipping, but 400 watts RMS per channel, which gives you better odds of being heard. For new systems, you should budget to the tune of $1800-2000. You can get something like this... http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/alesis-s-16--ev-elx115p-mains-and-monitors-package/h78565000000000 . That kind of budget at Carvin will get you http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/RX1200L-2153, plus your monitors and poles and all. If you're going to think in terms of PA, anyway, you should think about feeding the whole band into the PA system. That way you can set and adjust levels much more evenly than everyone's amp being separate, and also you can differentiate stage volume and house volume so that the audience gets a roaring loud rock and roll show without the band having to go deaf. That may mean band members investing in amps with direct line-outs or in DI boxes (like this http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/FDR60 ). The $1800-2000 systems have enough channels to handle a four- or five- piece band plus vocals. Another option would be to look into renting a system. A music store might give you a giggable PA for $100 a night, and you might even get a better deal than that from another band on one of their off nights. Assuming you're getting paid gigs, you deduct that from your pay and maybe a little more to save towards buying one of your own eventually before paying band members. EDIT: justbored's system MIGHT work, but it's not complete. You still need a mixer and monitors. The cheapest mixer I would use is http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/yamaha-mg102c-10-input-stereo-mixer-with-compression/630138000000000, for $100, and then $140 for the Kustom monitors I mentioned before. That gets you a system at $840 altogether (still no poles).