Hiring PA

PermanentWaves

Hi all,

After a few months practicing, we have decided it's time to start thinking about actually playing in public.

We are planning a practice day in a hall where we can test playing in the normal band formation rather than the circle we play in when in the rehearsal rooms.

My question is this. I am based near Leamington Spa and Stratford Upon Avon. Does anyone know of a decent PA hire company in this area.

Also, if you are in a band where you regularly hire PA, do you have any general words of wisdom or experience to share please.

Thanks
Mike

lloyd

Are you a covers or originals band? Everywhere that originals bands play have a PA set up anyway....otherwise a lot of places will have a PA you could use.

I wouldn't recommend hiring a hall to be honest, just rehearse set up as you would on stage in your normal room.

PermanentWaves

Hi Lloyd,

Good question, thanks.

We are a covers band. Our likely bookings will be birthday parties and probably in halls that don't have a PA as a norm.

Our rehearsal room isn't really big enough to rehearse in a standard band line up. It's great otherwise.

Thanks
Mike

lloyd

Covers is a different kettle of fish granted.

I don't know too much about PA hire but I would think that if you see yourselves doing more than 5 gigs in your lifetime you'd be better off buying one anyway.

I'm no PA expert by any stretch but you could pick up a decent used one for the price of a couple of hires. This would benefit you as you'd get used to it and you can add better monitors/speakers etc as you go.

My band bought a shit PA for a few hundred quid just to rehearse in our room with. It does the job but would struggle to do much more....

I know this doesn't answer your question btw!

lloyd

Re the rehearsal space, how big is it? You'll be surprised at the small spaces you may be allocated as a band! I've stood sideways across the drums before now....

Danny1969

My company hires PA's . The cheapest dry hire tends to be 2 HK active speakers - 2 poles and a small mixer. That cost  £65 to £75 per night. We also hire systems to bands that want 16 to 24 channel desks - bass bins - multicore snake and multiple monitors etc. Those systems tend to be about £120 dry or £180 ish with an engineer. 

The good thing about hire is you don't have to fork out a lot of money to get started in gigging. The bad news is you never own it. 

 

John_P

I'd agree that it's better to own one -  but make sure you talk about who owns what and what happens if someone leaves the band if it's a joint ownership as well the issues of who stores it and transports it.     

There have been a few threads recently about choosing a PA but a desk and an amp and a couple of cabs and a pair of active monitor won't break the bank and should be easy to upgrade if you start gigging a lot.

Just a thought but there might be a member who lives locally that could help you out with a loan or hire while you get started.   If you were near here, I've got some pa cabs and a spare desk you could have borrowed.

rsvmark

I am in the same area and looking to hire too! Let me know if you find a decent hire co

nickp

we bought a PA from ebay/gumtree about 2 years ago

nothing special - 

old peavey 400w mixer amp and speakers for about £250.

monitors ebay cost about £100 (powered plus slave)

stands about 30 from gak

is doing us fine for pub gigs.  no good for weddings and bigger parties (see my other recent threads)

nickp

oh and we did a couple of rehearsals in a local village hall.  good for getting used to the sound balance needed and for sorting the initial settings on the pa.  perfect preparation and all that stuff!

I'd be tempted to buy a PA as if you can do it for say £400 between 5 of you the cost can be covered by your first couple of gigs and you can then get used to setting it up n stuff

BilliBob

Some very cheap gear on ebay now as lots are upgrading to Digital.  As said £400 will get you going fine.  Also as mentioned and I second wholeheartedly.  Do the discussion with bandmates on who owns what and what happens if someone leaves etc  Much better to have this already sorted and out in the open beforehand.
Whereabouts in the country are you?

PermanentWaves

BilliBob said:

Some very cheap gear on ebay now as lots are upgrading to Digital.  As said £400 will get you going fine.  Also as mentioned and I second wholeheartedly.  Do the discussion with bandmates on who owns what and what happens if someone leaves etc  Much better to have this already sorted and out in the open beforehand.
Whereabouts in the country are you?

Just outside Warwick - and thanks for the excellent advice

robinbowes

Given that the drummer buys a drum kit, and the bass player buys a bass guitar and a suitable amplification, and the guitarist buys several guitars, innumerable FX pedals, and more amps than (s)he ever uses, it's only fair that the singer buys the PA system.

If I were buying now, for my function band, I'd get an appropriate amount of the HK Elements system:

Something like the SmartBase would be more than adequate for most pub/function venues.

For a desk, I'd use one of the Mackie DL series - the iPad control is fantastic. You can save your mix/balance and re-use it thus saving loads of time. It also does individual monitor mixes from each players ios device - magic!

Of course, it depends how many gigs you're planning to do. If it's only 5 a year then this might be overkill

R.

Rocker

Don't forget to include mikes guys in your budget calculations.

PermanentWaves

robinbowes said:

Given that the drummer buys a drum kit, and the bass player buys a bass guitar and a suitable amplification, and the guitarist buys several guitars, innumerable FX pedals, and more amps than (s)he ever uses, it's only fair that the singer buys the PA system.

If I were buying now, for my function band, I'd get an appropriate amount of the HK Elements system:

Something like the SmartBase would be more than adequate for most pub/function venues.

For a desk, I'd use one of the Mackie DL series - the iPad control is fantastic. You can save your mix/balance and re-use it thus saving loads of time. It also does individual monitor mixes from each players ios device - magic!

Of course, it depends how many gigs you're planning to do. If it's only 5 a year then this might be overkill

R.

Hi Robin,

Wise words except the singing is cover by me *guitarist", the other guitarist, the bass player and the drummer

I'm not sure how many gigs we will do. Probably no more than 5 or 6 a year.

Our audience is 50/60 years olds having a birthday party who want live Rock music from the 70's & 80's.

Maybe even the odd wedding where the couple match that age range as well.

So I'm sure our venues will be village halls, rugby clubs, etc

Cheers
Mike

PermanentWaves

Rocker said:

Don't forget to include mikes guys in your budget calculations.

We've actually bought our own individual mics so that's covered but thanks for reminding me!

rsvmark

if you want any advice, (plenty of experience) but not a techie expert, pm me. I am 5 miles from Warwick. Happy to help