Jakester

In a different band I was in we had some Alto 15's - a couple of generations older than those I'd have thought. They were adequate at best - *just* managed to exceed stage levels in smaller venues but struggled with any more. The Thumps I mentioned comfortably outpaced them in every respect.

For that money I'd be looking second hand. There's bound to be some decent setups on your local buy and sell sites - Gumtree, FB Marketplace etc, and if you're lucky you can get cables and stands included too.

As I say, Yamaha are good - we have the DXR10 Mk1 and it's great. Our setup is two 12" Mackie Thump powered speakers from a XR18 digital mixer, with the Yamaha as a vocal monitor. That's with two vocalists and does pubs gigs with no problems at all. I have a Mackie sub when needed but haven't used it in anger.

I'd say look to get some decent powered speakers - the 'standard' (but by no means the best) are the Mackie SRMs and there's usually lots available second-hand. RCF are well-thought of on here, and QSC are the upper end of the market. We also have a Yamaha DXR10 which is used as a vocal monitor, but another one of those would be great. Go for the best you can afford - skimping now will mean problems with expanding etc down the line. As with bass cabs, suggested wattage ratings are very misleading, but look for stuff 500w+ if possible. The more headroom, the better. <edit> I'd also say go for 12" speakers as a minimum - if you're going to be playing any recorded audio etc (wedding/background music) then without a sub 10"s can sound a little weedy. If you can lug them around, 15"s are a good compromise without a sub. As for mixer, I'd say get something with at least 12 channels, with ideally 6 - 8 of those mic inputs in case you wanted to add backing vocals, keys, and/or drums. There's loads of good analogue mixers, and the digital stuff is becoming really useful at accessible price points (XR18 etc). Have you thought about monitoring?

If it’s too much you can disconnect it easily - I’ve done it and it took five minutes.

Folllowing on the Basschat merry-go-round of @paulmcnamara selling his keyboard to @binky_bass and me buying @binky_bass's keyboard, now I find myself with one too many keyboards, so I'm offering up for sale my M-Audio Keystation 49es. It's nowt fancy but it does the job. In full working order - can be a bit temperamental if using a USB hub etc but all keys, buttons and wheels work as they should. Note this is a controller keyboard and doesn't have onboard sounds. You need to connect this to a sound source such as an iPad, laptop/DAW or sound module. Comes with USB cable. I'm after £35 plus P&P which is an absolute steal.

A bit extreme, no? I don't see anyone saying things along the lines you suggest....

Yes, I did - that's why I was so annoyed!

I'm on Reaper after being hacked off with Apple after paying for Logic 9, to have to pay again for 10 as their OS updates rendered the former unusable. I initially found Reaper close to unusable as it was so counterintuitive in many of the ways it did things, but I've slowly got to grips with it and it seems no better or worse than alternatives I've used in the past. One of the good things about it is you can change its behaviours in so many ways that you can effectively tailor it to suit you.

Yep, it's an odd one. When they used to Digital Village you could get stock from their shops or order from the warehouse in Romford, so I presume at some point when they went under they were incorporated into a larger European concern. I wish they'd be a bit more upfront about it though.

And I bought Russ's old Oxygen 49 keyboard! Great transaction, keyboard arrived fine despite Postman Pat's best efforts - thanks!

When I've been in the opposite position i.e. needing to hire, I've always found that it hasn't really made economic sense, as the cost of hire has tended to be considerably more than we were getting for the gig. My concern would therefore be making it cost-effective for bands/ensembles but also making it financially worth your while for doing it. Bear in mind if you're looking at doing the sound yourself (rather than just handing the PA over) you'll need to be first one there and last one out, which can be a long day/evening and can make it not really financially-viable.

Yes, I had this recently too. The DV247 website isn't clear where products are shipped from - with a '.co.uk' address and a bricks and mortar store shown on their website, it's slightly disconcerting to find when you place your order it's shipping from the EU. My thing was low value so wasn't an issue, but I could imagine being quite surprised if it had been a high value item.

Ah, but not in his bedroom! 😉

Not really...