proy900 Posted yesterday at 16:49 Posted yesterday at 16:49 Hello all, A promising opportunity has arisen for my band to make use of a space for rehearsal for an egregiously small monthly fee dwarfing quite considerably our outlay for our current room, which means we would give up our 12 years long slot in a wonderful, acoustically treated, 500sq/ft studio fitted out with a high-end PA and desk. We will have to setup our own PA in the new space of course as it is not a space intended or made for musical endeavours. Due to our local music venue closing it's doors recently we have been able to obtain a Peavey Power Amplifier and 15" speakers, desk, stands, cables etc... etc... These bits of kit were never used together and the venue owner wasn't able to give any insight on if these were a suitable match. Now none of us in the band understand the magic smoke that is power ratings for these kind of things, and I'm really friggin' dumb; so can anyone advise if the following equipment is fit for purpose. Please can any advice be explained as if you were providing a teachable moment to a 5 year old, which coincidentally is my approximate reading age. Peavey PV-1200 Power Amplifier (link to manual > PV-1200) Peavey PRO-15 (MK1?) 4ohm 600w speakers (Cannot for love nor money find the manual for this model, only the 300w 8ohm MK2 version) Behringer X2442USB Mixer I'd really like to know if putting two guitar modelling boards, 3 vocal mics, and an ambient backing track module through this setup to play modern metal stylings, at not entirely cranked volumes, is going to cause damage to, or small fires within the equipment. In case you wonder, my bass will be running through a wonderful Ashdown ABM 8x10 EVO separate to the desk because the flap is strong with an X7 and 900w DG Microtubes. Thanks in advance for any advice proffered. Quote
warwickhunt Posted yesterday at 16:59 Posted yesterday at 16:59 With regard to power ratings etc (speaking in simple terms), you'll be fine... so long as you don't whack the desk sliders to max! Start off at zero and bring it up gradually, if the speakers start to complain/fart, you've reached the speaker's max level but I'm confident they should give you enough volume before then. Set with your EQ flat and don't start cranking the bass, that can push speakers. 1 Quote
Dad3353 Posted yesterday at 17:18 Posted yesterday at 17:18 (edited) 1 hour ago, proy900 said: ... Thanks in advance for any advice proffered. The equipment itself is compatible, assuming it to be in good working order, but may not give the same result as the 'high-end' stuff you're used to. As it's for practice, I'm supposing that it'll be set up at one end (or side...) of the locale, facing you, not facing in the more usual 'FOH' direction. You may find that mic feedback (larsen...) sets the limit as to how high volume can go. The useful volume limit will be set by how hard-hitting your drummer is (if you have a drummer...). I would recommend finding a decent technicien for the initial setting up and cabling, just to be sure that the simple mistakes of plugging the right cable into the right equipment are avoided. This is important regarding the cables from the PA amp to the PA speakers, as they have to be of suitable section, and the 'phase' correctly respected. With these amps, it's usual to use bare wires to the terminal posts on the amp, which can go very wrong if not done properly. Good quality connections here will pay dividends; any skimping or ignorance here will ensure lots of 'magic smoke'; these amps are very solid until they go wrong, when they are a pig. Be very attentive, then, to the correct connections to the speakers. Hope this helps. Edited yesterday at 18:08 by Dad3353 1 1 Quote
Beedster Posted yesterday at 17:51 Posted yesterday at 17:51 1 hour ago, proy900 said: Hello all, A promising opportunity has arisen for my band to make use of a space for rehearsal for an egregiously small monthly fee dwarfing quite considerably our outlay for our current room, which means we would give up our 12 years long slot in a wonderful, acoustically treated, 500sq/ft studio fitted out with a high-end PA and desk. We will have to setup our own PA in the new space of course as it is not a space intended or made for musical endeavours. Due to our local music venue closing it's doors recently we have been able to obtain a Peavey Power Amplifier and 15" speakers, desk, stands, cables etc... etc... These bits of kit were never used together and the venue owner wasn't able to give any insight on if these were a suitable match. Now none of us in the band understand the magic smoke that is power ratings for these kind of things, and I'm really friggin' dumb; so can anyone advise if the following equipment is fit for purpose. Please can any advice be explained as if you were providing a teachable moment to a 5 year old, which coincidentally is my approximate reading age. Peavey PV-1200 Power Amplifier (link to manual > PV-1200) Peavey PRO-15 (MK1?) 4ohm 600w speakers (Cannot for love nor money find the manual for this model, only the 300w 8ohm MK2 version) Behringer X2442USB Mixer I'd really like to know if putting two guitar modelling boards, 3 vocal mics, and an ambient backing track module through this setup to play modern metal stylings, at not entirely cranked volumes, is going to cause damage to, or small fires within the equipment. In case you wonder, my bass will be running through a wonderful Ashdown ABM 8x10 EVO separate to the desk because the flap is strong with an X7 and 900w DG Microtubes. Thanks in advance for any advice proffered. I’m sure if you let us know where you are someone could help out in person? 3 Quote
Downunderwonder Posted yesterday at 19:23 Posted yesterday at 19:23 You should me more concerned with blowing up your hearing. Never plug more than one amplifier into a speaker. If it isn't obvious what cables are what you should check with someone before hooking it up. Mind out with the output sliders. If something isn't making any sound, turning up the output won't fix it. Quote
Steve Browning Posted yesterday at 19:26 Posted yesterday at 19:26 One very important thing to remember is always turn the mixer on first and off last. Every time you use the system. 3 Quote
Suburban Man Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago 1 hour ago, Downunderwonder said: You should me more concerned with blowing up your hearing. Never plug more than one amplifier into a speaker. If it isn't obvious what cables are what you should check with someone before hooking it up. Mind out with the output sliders. If something isn't making any sound, turning up the output won't fix it. This amp doesn’t have Speakon outputs so be careful with the amp-to-speaker cables. Like Dad3353 says, if you’re going to do any damage it’s likely to be this end of the system. Quote
TimR Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago You won't set anything on fire or blow anything up. The speakers will easily handle the power from that amp if you use it sensibly. The PV range of amps have output protection so cut-out before over current. On this one there's a reset, on others you have to wait for it to cool down and reset. Just watch you're not driving the amp into clipping as this will damage things. Adjust the input sensitivity with the main volume on low, while listening for distortion. Quote
JoeEvans Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago I think that will all work fine, along with the excellent advice above. You might also benefit from a couple of little monitors in your set-up, to allow band members to get a slightly different mix in different parts of the room, and to help manage mic feedback. The Thomann 'The Box' ones are great value. Quote
Burns-bass Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago 19 hours ago, Dad3353 said: The equipment itself is compatible, assuming it to be in good working order, but may not give the same result as the 'high-end' stuff you're used to. As it's for practice, I'm supposing that it'll be set up at one end (or side...) of the locale, facing you, not facing in the more usual 'FOH' direction. You may find that mic feedback (larsen...) sets the limit as to how high volume can go. The useful volume limit will be set by how hard-hitting your drummer is (if you have a drummer...). I would recommend finding a decent technicien for the initial setting up and cabling, just to be sure that the simple mistakes of plugging the right cable into the right equipment are avoided. This is important regarding the cables from the PA amp to the PA speakers, as they have to be of suitable section, and the 'phase' correctly respected. With these amps, it's usual to use bare wires to the terminal posts on the amp, which can go very wrong if not done properly. Good quality connections here will pay dividends; any skimping or ignorance here will ensure lots of 'magic smoke'; these amps are very solid until they go wrong, when they are a pig. Be very attentive, then, to the correct connections to the speakers. Hope this helps. This is great advice. The amount of hassle removed by consulting an expert is great. We recently played a new venue that the owner had spent thousands of pounds doing up. Alas he hadn’t spoken to a sound expert and the room was boomy and horrid. A few hundred would have made a world of difference. 1 Quote
Buddster Posted 6 hours ago Posted 6 hours ago 18 hours ago, Steve Browning said: One very important thing to remember is always turn the mixer on first and off last. Every time you use the system. Good that you put this, often over looked. My poor memory needs jogging, so I have it 'reverse alphabetically' Mixer > amp Amp > mixer 1 Quote
itu Posted 6 hours ago Posted 6 hours ago (edited) 1) Connect mixer to the same outlet as everything else is to avoin ground loops. 2) Connect all cables. 3) Check that the main output ("MAIN MIX") is set to lowest. 4) Turn the units ON starting from the mixer, like the signal is flowing (while turning OFF, do it the opposite way, from speakers towards the microphones). This way you avoid pops that may come from the equipment. If you look at the desk, think the signal goes from top to bottom, and then from left to right. At this point every pot should be set to noon, and sliders to their lowest position. Connect a mic to the Channel 1. Set the slider to 0 dB. Start to talk something to the mic (1,2,3...) and slide the MAIN MIX until you hear something from the PA. If you hear nothing, check cables, slide MAIN MIX down and check that the power amp is ON, and the levels are set to noon. Try the MAIN MIX again. Do it slowly. If you get sound through the system, you should know something about the channel strip. GAIN sets the level of the channel and is dependent on the program (mic, line). You turn that clockwise until you get distortion to the sound, and then slightly back. Set and forget. Keep in mind that now is a good place to name the channels. If 1 is for your vocal mic, name it so. LOW CUT is very feasible for vocals, because feedback starts from the low end. Low frequencies are not needed so much with vocals. You can think that the full bandwidth is divided from the lowest frequencies like this: BD (bass drum), bass, guit/keys, vocals, high stuff like some percussions. If you push lots of stuff to vocal frequencies, the voice will need more power, or then it will be buried under that everything. This is approximate, and you have to make trials to understand this. With equalizer you can free more headroom to vocals. COMP is also useful with vocals, because it amplifies lowest levels and the highest are sort of limited. You get fuller vocals, but this effect needs some testing to get the best out of it. EQ, as I said earlier, feedback starts from low, and vocals don't go very low. Therefore you can cut LOW say 3-9 dB and emphasize HIGH like 3 dB. MIDS you need to test: this board has semi-parametric mids. While singing, test it by turning MID to -15 dB and turn the FREQ back and forth. Then turn MID to +9 dB and do the same. Some complicated spaces may benefit a lot from this MID/FREQ, if the sound is lacking something, or the feedback tries to push through. Use the MID/FREQ like a notch filter (-15 dB), and turn the FREQ to tame the feedback frequency. And if you turn all up, something is wrong. Separate EQ from GAIN. Use EQ to cut any problematic frequency. AUX is most likely not needed here, yet, but it is very usable feat with monitoring etc. You can think it like control of a monitor mixing level. FX is simply commanding the amount of effect you use. I suppose your favourite will be REVERB 01 HALL, because it makes the vocals fuller. See the upper right side of the mixer. Lots of effects may be fun for some time, but usually any effect should be spice, not an ingredient. PAN is a bit like balance in HiFi. With PAN you can adjust the stereo picture. From the hall side the leftmost singer will be panned a little towards to the left side (PAN is viewed from the hall, not stage). If you listen to 1950's up to early 1970's recordings, mixing could have been panned from side to side: "Let's put vocals to right corner along with bass and kazoo, drums should go to left, and so will rhythm guitar". This kind of mixing sounds very strange nowadays. If you need to mix anything past 9 dB, check why? Now you know the very basics, and the rest is using the system a lot. Try to understand the placings of the sources in the mix (PAN), and in the frequency bands (EQ). Then it is easier to make reasonable choices when something doesn't seem to work. Every room is different, and when you go out gigging, you may need to adjust EQ quite some. Remember to use your phone camera to reset the mixer to your basic settings (rehearsal place or similar). Every mixer works more or less like this, although they may look different prima vista. Just think a second, and you are ready to go. While doing everything in a similar way in the beginning, it will give you more self confidence to manage the system well. And it is very good way to learn while asking a seasoned person to help you. Hope this helps. Edited 5 hours ago by itu mixing wrong stuff 1 Quote
itu Posted 5 hours ago Posted 5 hours ago If you start a loudness war, no wattage will be enough. Learn to play hard by thinking your stuff is hard. It is not done with volume, and it sounds very different, much better. (Hard to explain, but when you hear the difference, you understand this.) If something is not heard, lower all other channels, do NOT push more volume! 1 Quote
Dan Dare Posted 3 hours ago Posted 3 hours ago On 12/07/2025 at 18:18, Dad3353 said: I would recommend finding a decent technician for the initial setting up and cabling Definitely this. Paying someone for an hour of their time (If you have a pal who knows their stuff, buy them a nice bottle) will be enormously helpful and you'll learn the basics in that hour. It's so much easier when someone shows you, rather than tells you, how it works. It's not hard, but the initial learning curve, especially the effect of eq and how to use it effectively, can be a little steep. Good luck. 1 Quote
Steve Browning Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago Absolutely. I would certainly assist if the OP is in my part of the world. I think @Beedster asked where they were for this reason. Quote
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