Audiohead Amps. any views, opinions?

[inanimateman]

Hello, I'm a newbie to this forum and would appreciate any advice. I do the sound for a 10 piece amateur band, I know its not exactly theatre but there are one or two performers among them.

 

We've an old PA, one amp has just died. All we have now is an HH 2x 250W @ 4ohm and a pair of (we think) 200W full range cabs, no idea what make (they're black!)

 

We've a soundcraft 16 channel desk, fx unit, and a Behringer FBQ 2x 31 channel graphic.

 

I'm looking into buying new amps and speakers. I've £1500 to spend and want to get a minimum of 1000W (rms) total, enough for a gathering of 250 people say. So Amp's and cabs to cope. (Oh forgot to mention...there's a 4 piece brass section in there to contend with and an exuberant drummer.)

 

I've been looking around and seen some Audiohead kit, its not been out long & wondered if anyone had any experience with them?

 

Other kit I've looked into is Behringer EuroPower stuff, for two amps (EP1500 & a 2500) 2x Subs 2x tops and an active crossover is around £1200.

 

Also powered Mackie stuff 2x ERM450 active jobs and 1x active 400W sub comes in at around £1500 - £1600.

 

Any thoughts and preferences out there. Any advice welcome.

[Andrew C]

I've no experience of the kit you list. Have you thought of going 2nd hand?

 

Some interesting stuff here!

[Mr.Si]

Although I don't get on well with it, the Mackie active system does seem to be incredibly popular and loads of people rave about it.

 

I never thought I'd be advising anyone to be going for mackie speakers, but I am unwell at the moment, so I'll use that as my excuse/disclaimer.

 

I've Never heard of Audiohead.

 

Si

[Pete McCrea]

Our church has 4 of the Mackie SRM450's. Really quite nice powered boxes for the price.

[adeyoz1]

Hi,

I have three Audiohead AH1800 amps -use two powering my passive monitors on smaller/lower priced gigs- have to say for the money ,they are spot on -had them since last June time and have had no problems with them. My only crit is that they are heavy, but thats what you get at the lower end when you can't afford switchmodes.

 

hope this helps

Adey

[inanimateman]

I've heard a lot of nightmare 'e-bay' type tales, that a lot of equipment tends to move on when its been either hammered or starts having problems, I know this won't be the case everytime but its a risk.

 

The gear we've had for a while was all second hand, we've been lucky with it up till now, but have had some embarassing moments with it failing, half way though a posh wedding doo gig had to be the worst.

 

I was hoping to go for new stuff with a bit of a guarantee.

[inanimateman]

Well the proof of the pudding.... I've hired Mackie gear for a gig in Matlock Bath this weekend so we'll see how it performs. We use Mackie in our rehearsal rooms (but w/o the subs), mainly as monitors.

 

Have to see how they perform when there are 200 or so people soaking up the sound, sure they'll been fine.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the Audio head stuff, I know its the budget end, but the guarantee's better than that of the behringer stuff (thats if they're around in 5 years I suppose).

 

I'll keep checking the site, apologies that I missed some of the other postings re. amps and I maybe covering old ground.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions

[Dave]

As far as budget amps go, you can't go wrong with the QSC RMX range (Behringer Europower is a knock-off). Excellent reliability and support from the biggest amp manufacturer in the world. If you want to spend more to save weight, look at their PLX series.

 

I'm not at all familiar with cheap speakers, so I can't suggest anything there. Expect considerable variation between different makes and price levels, and remember that they'll have more effect on your sound than anything else in your system.

[tomchennells]

deltec make nice cabinets in your price range, awsome sound and there nice and compact, try looking at a pair of deltec gx12's and a pair of deltec bx16's with a qsc amp to drive them (anything under 2k will be fine) if u want a chaper amp the numark dimension four is a safe bet and powers the bins and tops effortlesly,

 

weve just bought a pair of the mackie srm350s (there the 12") and they are very good for functionality etc, we also have the 450s at work, tehres no doubting there good, but I rekon you can achive better sound quality louder through some cabs and a decent amp, even if it envolves a bit more lugging around gear

 

prefer to use the mackies as monitors myself

 

- tom

[inanimateman]

Powered gear update: The gig seemed to go well with the Mackie stuff, It was a lot larger and heavier than I'd expected, these cabs were larger than the ERM450's I think they must've been 600W tops and the same in the sub's. There was certainly enough headroom here, but this was a bigger rig than I was contemplating.

 

Some band members (mentioning no names) thought the sound a bit 'muddy'. The stage was not big enough to fit the entire band on, bass and r' guitar being located directly in front of the PA speakers out front, not ideal!

 

There were a number of cut / EQ switches on the back of the subs, which I didn't have much time to play with. Would've been good to have more time to ring out anf sound check as always. But few feed back problems considering where the guitar and bass were.

 

All in all the client and party goers were all up and enjoying themselves. And some enquiries for future bookings so JWD I think.

 

Just have to buy our own gear now.

 

Going to check out the QSC range as suggested. Also been to check out Peavey gear and its starting to grow on me, wouldn't mind finding some where to try it out.

[inanimateman]

deltec make nice cabinets in your price range, awsome sound and there nice and compact, try looking at a pair of deltec gx12's and a pair of deltec bx16's with a qsc amp to drive them (anything under 2k will be fine) if u want a chaper amp the numark dimension four is a safe bet and powers the bins and tops effortlesly,

 

weve just bought a pair of the mackie srm350s (there the 12") and they are very good for functionality etc, we also have the 450s at work, tehres no doubting there good, but I rekon you can achive better sound quality louder through some cabs and a decent amp, even if it envolves a bit more lugging around gear

 

prefer to use the mackies as monitors myself

 

- tom

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

First time I saw the Newmark stuff was in Maplin. Is it pretty solid then? First impressions and all. I'll have trawl re. the Deltec's

 

Cheers

[Paul J Need]

Have you considered throwing away your amps altogether and going down the active speaker route. Some smashing boxes out there for less than a decent passive box, amp and controller (if needed)

 

Take a look at

-1- FBT Maxx4

-2- Mackie SRM450

-3- EV SX250+

for starters................ List is in order of what I beleive is the better sounding box compared to pounds per watt ratios

[tomchennells]

weve been using the dimension fours and threes for four years (since they came out) at least twice a week and driving them right to peak! never had a problem with any of them apart from when one was dropped! And all that needed was repair on cosmetics, they really do generate a huge amount of sound with a really decent weight behind it for the money, and the sound is very clean and acurate, the displays are top notch and let you know exactly whats going on and they have enough ins and outs to cater for expansion at a later date (weve often run 8 of these together) and as for deltec, in that price range ive seen nothing which comes close, there loaded with eminence pro kappa drivers and the respose is tight and punchy, unless your doing outdoor keep away from the deltec gx15s though, we have four pairs and find them too boomy in all but the largest of venues, on the big outdoor shows they really kick though

 

last night I used 2 gx12s and 2 bx15s with a dimension 4 amp, in the hall next door they had a 3k rig and mine seemed to blow it away when you stood beetween!

 

- tom

[djw1981]

Powered gear update: The gig seemed to go well with the Mackie stuff, It was a lot larger and heavier than I'd expected, these cabs were larger than the ERM450's I think they must've been 600W tops and the same in the sub's. There was certainly enough headroom here, but this was a bigger rig than I was contemplating.

 

Some band members (mentioning no names) thought the sound a bit 'muddy'. The stage was not big enough to fit the entire band on, bass and r' guitar being located directly in front of the PA speakers out front, not ideal!

 

There were a number of cut / EQ switches on the back of the subs, which I didn't have much time to play with. Would've been good to have more time to ring out anf sound check as always. But few feed back problems considering where the guitar and bass were.

 

All in all the client and party goers were all up and enjoying themselves. And some enquiries for future bookings so JWD I think.

 

Just have to buy our own gear now.

 

Going to check out the QSC range as suggested. Also been to check out Peavey gear and its starting to grow on me, wouldn't mind finding some where to try it out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Peavy - just don;t do it to yourself!!!!! QSC are lovely amps and nice to work with especially when racked up and easier to move, but the peavey is not IMHO a nice sound, even on a budget.

[IanG]

Peavy - just don;t do it to yourself!!!!! QSC are lovely amps and nice to work with especially when racked up and easier to move, but the peavey is not IMHO a nice sound, even on a budget.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I haven't tried Peavey stuff for a while so can't comment on the sound, but it may be worth bearing in mind that they now own Crest