bonzodog Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 (edited) Has anyone had experience with the budget subs range like QTX Skytec etc. They appear to be very cheap at sub £100 on ebay brand new (excuse the pun). The frequency range seems ok but not sure if they are worth a punt. My 3 piece play mid size pubs and only use 12" powered tops for just vocals and sometimes in larger noisier pubs we are pushing them to get them heard. My plan is to buy one sub and just send the HF to the tops so we can push them a bit harder. It would also help if my bass amp packed up I could run it through the PA if need be which I dont fancy doing without a sub. Cash is tight hence we are looking at budget range plus we may not use it that often and as we are only putting vox through a cheap one may be sufficient Our tops are EV's Thanks Edited June 4, 2015 by bonzodog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-string-thing Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I have a pair of Skytec subs, they work ok, not especially efficient. I disconnected the filter so they work more full range. I've also used them as a pair of bass guitar cabs, they sounded fine. They're not huge, and don't weigh much, which is great for transport, but not so good if you use poles for the tops and they are quite heavy... They never seemed very stable to me when used like this. I'm thinking of moving mine on now, as I don't need them anymore and it's time to start clearing out my cupboards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadofsix Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Rats! Here and I thought that we'd be talking about something edible! Ooops, my bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 If you are using the PA for just vocals, a sub isn't really going to get you anywhere over and above as to where you are now. The sub would be just an expensive high pass filter for the vocals. What are your tops? Upgrading your existing tops may be the way to go. If you are looking at carrying around three boxes, the preferable choice would be to carry around two beefier, more capable tops - say a pair of 15s. A sub is not really going to help your bass out much either because most of what you are hearing is the overtones and not the fundamental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 +1 You can put a whole band through good quality tops and not need subs at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzodog Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Dont have the cash for new tops yet so have gone ahead with aome SH subs to see if they help. Cam always move them on when we have more cash. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 The subs might add a bit of depth to the vocals but that is no gain at all for the extra box, IMV. I haven't heard those subs but I think cheap subs can be a lottery...and cabs like the Mackie thump are more trouble than they are worth in that they are very mushy. I don't know how you rate your EV's but I'd go with an upgrade there...for all you'll achieve with the cheap sub option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzodog Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1433439025' post='2791124'] The subs might add a bit of depth to the vocals but that is no gain at all for the extra box, IMV. I haven't heard those subs but I think cheap subs can be a lottery...and cabs like the Mackie thump are more trouble than they are worth in that they are very mushy. I don't know how you rate your EV's but I'd go with an upgrade there...for all you'll achieve with the cheap sub option [/quote] Yes I have used passive EVs before and liked them but these powered ones arent as loud as we had hoped. Like I say when we have more cash we will upgrade the whole PA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LayDownThaFunk Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Meatball Marinara? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Other options is that you could try EQing to give more cut to the vocals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 There really is no point in using subs for vocals. They are only providing reinforcement two octaves below any sound going into the mic. The only possible source of low frequency sound is from vibration through the floor and mic stand, handling noise or picking up sound from the drums and bass, all of which might muddy your vocal sound. Most mixers have a subsonic filter to keep these sounds out of the audio chain often at about 80Hz. Make sure these are switched on to keep energy sucking and unwanted noise from the PA. Similarly going for 15's isn't a solution, with just vocals the volume is determined by the mids and highs so more bass isn't going to make much difference. If anything you'll probably lose a little mid output and some dispersion so they'll be less loud and less clear. I'm staggered that the EV's are struggling, these are not inconsequential speakers and should be capable of going pretty loud. How loud is the rest of your band?! you'll have to spend a lot to get better than the EV's and you say money is tight. How do you know they are struggling? Do you venture out into the audience space to listen to the sound they are hearing? How do you run your vocal monitors? There are a couple of other things you could look at. Are the EV's DSP controlled and if so how is this set up? There may be some limiting circuitry which is cutting in to soon. How is your sound eq'd, a small boost to the mids might help punch through, or cut the bass and turn up, I know some of the EV's have different DSP settings for different types of music and venues so look to see if some of the other settings, if you have them, are more suitable. You could also look at using some vocal compression, this 'squashes' the sound cutting the peaks so you can bring up the average sound level without driving the PA into distortion. Compression may increase feedback problems though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzodog Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1433487926' post='2791402'] There really is no point in using subs for vocals. They are only providing reinforcement two octaves below any sound going into the mic. The only possible source of low frequency sound is from vibration through the floor and mic stand, handling noise or picking up sound from the drums and bass, all of which might muddy your vocal sound. Most mixers have a subsonic filter to keep these sounds out of the audio chain often at about 80Hz. Make sure these are switched on to keep energy sucking and unwanted noise from the PA. Similarly going for 15's isn't a solution, with just vocals the volume is determined by the mids and highs so more bass isn't going to make much difference. If anything you'll probably lose a little mid output and some dispersion so they'll be less loud and less clear. I'm staggered that the EV's are struggling, these are not inconsequential speakers and should be capable of going pretty loud. How loud is the rest of your band?! you'll have to spend a lot to get better than the EV's and you say money is tight. How do you know they are struggling? Do you venture out into the audience space to listen to the sound they are hearing? How do you run your vocal monitors? There are a couple of other things you could look at. Are the EV's DSP controlled and if so how is this set up? There may be some limiting circuitry which is cutting in to soon. How is your sound eq'd, a small boost to the mids might help punch through, or cut the bass and turn up, I know some of the EV's have different DSP settings for different types of music and venues so look to see if some of the other settings, if you have them, are more suitable. You could also look at using some vocal compression, this 'squashes' the sound cutting the peaks so you can bring up the average sound level without driving the PA into distortion. Compression may increase feedback problems though. [/quote] Thanks for the comprehensive reply Phil. Much appreciated. You are right that there are a lot of settings within the EVs and we probably have not had the time or knowledge to experiment fully when setting up at a gig. We now use a 100W small PA fed off the mixer as monitors but this works fine. I think with the nature of so many gains/levels to adjust between the mixer and speakers as well as mic placement and monitors we are not fully getting the most from our set up. Our plan is to set the whole system up somewhere for the day to have a play around with the gains and EQ. The subs can easily be moved on if we feel they add nothing. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Sharman Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Budget Subs? I hear the Russian Navy is selling some off cheap... Oh, right, music stuff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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