Thanks for all the advice. I have exhausted my options with the keyboard amp; it's just not going to work. Looking at stuff on eBay. Traynor equipment is hard to come by at the moment. What kind of cables would I need to hook up the mixer to the speakers, no matter the brand/setup? Also, what is this about High Z and Low Z inputs?

A couple tips.

1. get the speakers off the ground unless they are floor monitors.

2. put speakers in front of the mics with the mics facing away from the speakers.

For instance, back in the "singing through an amp" days, we'd set up like we were playing live and put the amp on a chair leaning back like a monitor directly in front of the singer; it was pointing at his head. the drummer may have a hard time hearing it, but when you have an amp 18 inches from the mic (cardioid mic), and the mic facing away, you chould have no problems hearing it.

Another weird thing I've done is practiced with headphones. For a while I didn't have a PA, but I had a headphone amp at my home studio, so we'd just run mics into the mixer and into the cans. It worked well if you can get used to playing with headphones all the time.

Cheers!

Ben ADrian

Benadrian, when you say "away" from the speaker, at what angle are we talking here? Do you mean that I should I be standing perpendicular to the speaker? Currently I am facing it (the null is 180 degrees).

Most of what you mentioned is already in place: The speaker is in front of the mic, I am using a cardoid mic (SM58), and the keyboard amp is already off the ground on an amp stand, at a 45 degree angle, pointed at my head. There is little EQ to speak of, just bass and treble, so I can't really cut much of anything. I can't turn the thing up enough to get the sound to carry over the mix. The amp itself is capable of going louder, we just can't turn it up past a certain point without getting massive amounts of feedback. Only if we play really quiet can I hear myself. And that's just not viable because we have to play at a reasonable volume to rehearse for live gigs.

I have all but given up on the keyboard amp. Last night I was in the rehearsal space and there was a pop band practicing down the hall in a room smaller than ours. They were LOUD, and I could hear the female vocalist loud and clear over the mix. I waited around until they took a break and nicely asked if I could see their setup. All they had was a "shitty" Peavey head with 2 elevated speakers in 2 corners of the room. She said there is no feedback, and she can hear herself so long as she faces this one wall. Amazing. And the guitar player also said that keyboard amps are definitely not the answer. So I think a PA is what I need.

As for other points mentioned, low-Z is an XLR cable, yes? And high-Z is a guitar cable, right?

I need recommendations from you guys on PA setups other than the vintage setup that Helicopters elaborated upon. The equipment just isn't there on eBay now, and I need something immediately. Cost is an issue, of course. Any advice is welcomed and appreciated.

tipcat wrote:Benadrian, when you say "away" from the speaker, at what angle are we talking here? Do you mean that I should I be standing perpendicular to the speaker? Currently I am facing it (the null is 180 degrees).

Most of what you mentioned is already in place: The speaker is in front of the mic, I am using a cardoid mic (SM58), and the keyboard amp is already off the ground on an amp stand, at a 45 degree angle, pointed at my head. There is little EQ to speak of, just bass and treble, so I can't really cut much of anything. I can't turn the thing up enough to get the sound to carry over the mix. The amp itself is capable of going louder, we just can't turn it up past a certain point without getting massive amounts of feedback. Only if we play really quiet can I hear myself. And that's just not viable because we have to play at a reasonable volume to rehearse for live gigs.

Does the keyboard amp have a tweeter or high frequency reproducer of some sort? If not, that's probably a big problem right there. An amp without a horn or tweeter will have high frequency roll of at about 5 to 6kHz, same as a guitar or bass amp. Your vocals are just going to unpleasantly mix with the guitar and bass, and if you turn up the treble to get more presence or clarity, you're just going to boost the 2k to 6k which will make feedback more likely and generally sound more harsh. You still won't hear the higher frequencies because the amp can't reproduce it.

My advice. Look for some PA speakers used. Generally if you keep your eyes open you can find a good deal. There are always bands breaking up or people who just want to get something out of their house. PAs go first before guitars and amps. Then, look for a power amp and inexpensive mixer.

A couple beat up PA speakers might be $150-200. A power amp can be found for $150-$200, and an old Mackie 1202 will go for $150. It's expandable and the components are easily upgradeable.

Also, for a quick and dirty solution, you might try hooking up the keyboard amp to a PA speaker and then, if you have any kind of mixer, say even one built into a cassette 4 track, run the mic into the mixer and the mixer into the power amp in of the keyboard amp.

Honestly, in most all of my bands vocals were always the last thing considered, and consequently we always cobbled together shitty PAs. then one day one of my bands just got a couple PA speakers for $300. I already had a mixer and amp from my home recording setup. Never again did I have to worry about vocals. IF you spend a little money and get something that you know will work, then you never ever have to worry about it again. I used those PA speakers for over 5 years before I sold them. That's less than $5 a month.

Good luck!

Ben Adrian