Is this PA good enough for school gig?

epictring

Hey there.

My band is preparing for a medium sized gig at a school hall in late January.
We may not be able to use the mixer at the school, but 2 large speakers (mounted on walls) are provided.
We own a smallish 80-watt PA system with 2 speakers and 5 Channels (Mike-inputs/line-in's).
I don't know if it's worth mentioning but the system also has delay effects.

So my question is..Will we be able to make the gig work if we aren't able to use the school's mixer?
We are probably going to play trough a 100-watt vox amp, a 30-watt line 6 that is going to be miked up to system and a 100-watt bass amp.
I thought of using our speakers as monitors and the school speakers as mains. But I'm afraid of extreme feedback from the monitors as we can barely practice in a small room with them (unless we turn them soft).

Will the 80-watt system be loud enough? We have 2 guitars, a bassist, 2 female vocalists and a drummer and make Punk rock and hard rock music.

Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks!

AlanRatcliffe

I wouldn't put anything else but vocals through an 80 watter. It's still underpowered, but do-able. Don't expect to rattle the windows is all.

You're going to have to balance everything against the weakest link, which is the 30W guitar amp. I doubt you'll have any headroom left in the PA to reinforce the Line6 and vocals are more important. The Vox amp in particular you're going to have to keep in check.

TomCat

+1 to what Alan has said.

One needs at least 300W to get above the drums alone so limit the PA to vocals only and keep all bass (i,e bass guitar and low end of Piano/keys) out of the main PA to maximize headroom. Def no drums through the PA at all.

If you can, try and get hold of an at least 300W/channel at 8 ohm power amplifier to drive the mains. This will give you far more headroom and likely to sound a lot better as you will be able to use far more bandwidth through the main PA.

Otherwise that Vox amp and drums are going to determine all else level wise.

epictring

Hi

Thanks for the advice.
Sorry for sounding like a n00b, but how can I balance everything from the 30 watt if the drums can't really adjust volume a lot...?

I might be able to get a 50watt instead..

Keira-WitherKay

epictring wrote: Hi

Thanks for the advice.
Sorry for sounding like a n00b, but how can I balance everything from the 30 watt if the drums can't really adjust volume a lot...?

? +1 to what the guys said......................and just get drummer to play softer......they really can even if they don't wanna ?
......or just dampen the kit to reduce noise.............

AlanRatcliffe

Yup. PA can't go louder, so drums must come down. Another great solution is for the drummer to use Bundlesticks/Hotrods. That also has the added advantage of bringing the rest of the kit down while leaving the kick drum at it's usual level.

epictring

Thanks guys..

Well I'll try my best to rather get a louder system to avoid unnecessary stress ?.
But wow..PA's are more scarce than drummers!

Otherwise we'll go to the hall a week or 2 before to check if it sounds ok with the 80watt

TomCat

Just be aware that empty school halls sound a lot louder than full school halls due to the higher reverberation of the empty hall.

Once it starts filling up with an audience a small PA is going to vanish into the background as the audience levels go up and reverberation drops.

You also mention this is a medium size gig and that is going to put more strain on a small PA.

I recently ran a gig for about 200 people using 4 x JBL Eons and Subs and the PA handled it all comfortably.
Band was 3 vocals, mic'ed drums, bass, two electric, acoustic, violin and piano/keys for Christmas Carrol's...

epictring

Alright thanks..

Do most bands own they're own PA gear?
Should we start looking at buying a much larger system? (300watt+)

Keira-WitherKay

epictring wrote: Alright thanks..

Do most bands own they're own PA gear?
Should we start looking at buying a much larger system? (300watt+)

well most bands who play the pro or semi pro scene have a descent PA that they will use in small clubs . the main clubs and any stadium show will hire in sound..... but yes definitely get a PA.........

however i may be wrong but you said you guys do indie or was it punk?....... cos truly an 80 W system will fail dismally with any "power band"....... if you acoustic yeah 80W can go far but even with extra guitar amps and live drums...... an 80W system even the 300W system you mentioned will fail.. if it was me i'd use at least a 2 kW full range system for smallish to medium venues with 3 way crossovers driving sub bass /mids and tops....... one needs the headroom and the fat sound to rock and that comes with power

cos rock /punk/even indie needs the power to kick butt and get your audience rocking.......

maybe try find a band with a full PA rig and ask them to share the gig with you if you can use their rig....don't forget you only get one chance to make 1st impressions so if you wanna kick butt do it right or you will only hurt your own rep as a band......even postpone this for a while till you can loan/hire/buy a PA ....... as i mentioned "hiring ' is an option