Advice on Joblot

[Eski75]

You will be getting sick of me by now....however many of you did say....if something comes your way....post it and we'll give you an honest opinion.

I came across the below on evilbay.....the seller is in my home town: -

2 x ProSound 300W 10" Loudspeakers


- 2 x ProSound Speaker Covers

- 1 x ProSound Power Amp 800 loudspeaker amplifier


- 2 x ProSound Smart Scan DMX sound-to-light motorised disco lights (Instructions Included)


- 1 x Brand New in Box SoundLab full metal dynamic microphone


-1 x KAM KPM 1750 USB Professional Audio Mixer (Instructions Included)


- 2 x ProSound Heavy Duty Adjustable Height Speaker Stands (Including Carry Bag)


- 1 x Adjustable Height T-Bar Light Stand


- 1 x Carpeted Deck Case with removable lid and carry handle


- 1 x ProSound Cable Carry Box

Reserve is set at £300 which I reckon is about it's limit or am I being tight? Am I right in detecting that this is made up mostly of your favourite electrical retailers own brand kit? (Maplins....which I never knew was so popular until I joined the forum lol!)

Now here's the thing.... I know it won't last me for years......I have looked at a host of other stuff on the more pro end although am pretty much constrained to the 2nd hand market for this gear with my budget.

I have made no secret of the fact that I don't want to be a wedding DJ...I want to establish myself as a specialist indie DJ so expect pubs will be my meat & drink (pardon the pun).....many of which will have installed PA. That said.....I want to project professionalism and should I either have to take a rig to a pub....or get a query about a private function for some indie kids 18th I don't want to a) not have the kit to do it or b) look like a complete cowboy!

Having said that.....this little flight of fancy of mine could all fall apart so would I be better going for something like this and see where I go.....leaving the option to upgrade if things are taking off.........rather than being the bloke with "all the gear and no idea" from the off?

[Corabar Steve]

I wouldn't.

For one thing, 300w 10" speakers????:fp: :fp:

[Booche]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/300w-10-inch-loudspeaker-220544

I'd be tempted to look into things that will last you longer mate

[Corabar Steve]

Specifications
Impedance: 8Ω
Frequency Response: 65Hz - 18kHz
Sensitivity: 94dB (1W @ 1m)
Connector Type: 2 x Speakon
Programme Power: 300Wmax
Power Handling: 150Wrms
No good for anything but the smallest venue / pub, & even then I bet they'd struggle

[Eski75]

I've seen a pair of mackie srm450's on the same global internet auction site.....start of £450.......like I said......on a budget but don't want rubbish I'll have to replace really quickly?

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Avoid prosound/soundlab and pretty much anything Kam :D

[Shaun]

and pretty much anything Kam :D

Unless it's a powerbar. :p

[Excalibur]

Unless it's a powerbar. :p

Or save your money and buy the ruthlessly efficient, less pretty, simpler German offering. :p :D :D :D

[WWDJ]

What gear do you have so far?
What's your budget for this?
How soon do you need the gear?

I'm confused by all the 'job lot' posts when there is decent gear for sale on this forum week in week out?

[DJ Jules]

I agree with what's been said above so far, Soundlab, Prosound and Kam are the cheap and nasty budget brands of the industry. It's not just about how long they'll last, they don't sound or look as good as quality kit either. I started with a Prosound amp and Speakers (15", not 10") and so did a few other forum members and they did ok, but they have poor mid range response and sound very "sharp".

The Mackie's would be a good bet for a start and they'll last you well (on their own they'll cope with up small/medium size venues easily - add a pair of subs later and you'd have something that'll sound nice in pretty large venues). There's two versions of Mackies kicking around, the original (heavier) grey V1's which had a Class A amp and the Chinese manufactured lighter lighter V2's which are dark grey and have a class D digital amp. The V1's were prone to overheating if you pushed them too hard, but they sound a lot nicer than the V2's.

If you're going to be doing bass heavy indie/rock nights (even in pubs) then you should be looking for 250w RMS or better (or more importantly around about 125db+ SPL) and you really need to forget the Prosound stuff.

Julian

[mattydinx]

Even if you bought the job lot at £300, you'd be hard pushed to get anything back from it come resale time - even if you bought it with the intent to split and sell on, I doubt you'd make your money back!

It's not a wise investment IMO.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I guess it must be hard and also frustrating because it's obvious that you want to get up and running as soon as possible. The thing is, it's easier to see a job lot like this if you don't know the score with the brands, power etc and think "That's a good deal" when in reality, it's not.

As I said, it must be frustrating but I would wait if I were you. You will see lots of deals about allover the place and on this forum. You can always ask questions as there are plenty of people here to help you out and advise etc. If you go for stuff that someone is selling off the forum, you know it will have been well looked after and will be quality. You never know, you may even get someone nice that will let you spread the payments out over a short period, rather than stump up the money straight away. I guess though that being new to the forum and all that, that option may be rare (I don't mean that to sound dodgy).

If you can do it, get yourself a loan and go straight for some decent stuff. You'll soon see the benefits of having decent quality stuff. The job lot may be cheap but it won't last when it's pushed because it can't do the job and will no doubt sound nasty.

[Ecstatic Events]

Avoid prosound/soundlab and pretty much anything Kam :D

Sound advice from Deckstar???

What about their range of lasers and the mighty POWERBAR? There are professionals going out using just a powerbar??? and I think some of their lasers are pretty good.

Back to the OP. I would definitely look at eBay item individually and not "bundled" there ARE good bits to be had.

Take your time and trawl, you will be rewarded :D

[funkymook]

I think you're better off doing your research, asking questions etc. and getting a short-list of suitable speakers (and whatever other gear you need) and waiting for them to come up somewhere at the right price, rather than looking at absolutely everything, that just gets confusing!

I'd aim at having a minimum of 3 or 4 particular models in my sights.

So to start you off here are some things to take into consideration (I'll stick to speakers until you tell us what else you're after in bit more detail).

Budget - I'd look at spending as much as possible of your budget on quality sound (speakers and play-out), you won't get repeat bookings with awful sound, and you need it to be reliable.

Powered or Passive speakers?

Bass bins and tops or a full range one box solution.

Weight - is this going to be an issue? You'll be needing to get them on speakers stands, carry them into and out of venues.

Transport - no point getting massive boxes if you can't get them in your car

Storage - consider where you have to store them as well, getting heavy bass bins up and down the stairs to the spare bedroom isn't fun.

That should be enough criteria to start eliminating some options.

Have a search through the forum as a lot of discussions have already been had on these subjects (and you'll start to see the same brands/models coming up - they'd be a good place to start your short list).

And keep asking questions - that's what we're all here for :)

[Creature]

wouldnt touch that lot for £100.00 let alone 300.00 - as has been said its just not up to the job. I get the feeling that maybe at this stage your not quite sure what you are after. This need sto be addressed before you part with any of your hard earned beer tokens. Blieve me I know cause my 1st rig came of Ebay and at teh 1st booking I realised what a waiste of money it was!

It would be better to nip down to your local disco shop (not maplins) as they will often have 2nd hand stuff in tehy have part ex'd when there customers have upgraded or they will know who has what for sale.

[qoute]and pretty much anything Kam[/quote] - am using one of there 1" digi amps at the moment and am well happy with it.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Don't forget, there are a lot of 'gear snobs' in this industry. Some people have the dosh to go straight for the high end equipment and some haven't.
There used to be a thing on here where some people had things against Peavey but lots of people use Peavey products and are happy with them.

Same with Kam - I know people that use Kam stuff and it's ok. I wouldn't personally have it myself as I am more than happy with what I have. Ok, Prosounds are probably a no no as they are mainly associated with Maplins. You only have to walk into one of their stores and hear them to make your mind up.

[supersound]

ok,Prosound speakers,they take a bashing and sound fairly decent(i have a pair of 15s for hire)10" you are going to struggle as steve said(its down to the amount of air you push and clarity).
Kam mixers are low end but do the job.
What functions are you performing at and how big rooms?

My personal opinion on the job lot is the price is bordering expensive but its a good start up set up for small pub style venues.Handy and compact for small cars to transport too.

Paul

[Eski75]

Thanks gents......really good advice as always........shakermaker is bang on.....as a newbie it is really tempting to buy a whole rig becuase it appears (on the surface at least) that you have all the toys in one go, from listening to everybody here..........minds made up it's not the way to go.

Funny comment about gear snobs too! Isn't this true of everything?? When I was in bands I used to get grief for playing a Japenese built drumkit as opposed to British or American......when the fact of the matter is....Maple is generally Maple regardless of the logo on the kickdrum!

I don't anticipate doing huge rooms.........more standard pub fair but as I said....in an idenal world, should a private gig come along as a result of a pub gig.....I want to be able to do it without having to hire in or outsource the gig alltogether!!

I have a reasonably wellpaid fulltime job so this is never going to be a fulltime thing for me.

I have a Cortex DMIX 300 which I have got my head around so was looking minimal with some oomph for if it's needed. My thoughts from the advice here were a decent pair of active speakers.....a deckstand with an overhead and some minimal lighting......and see how I go from there.

The Mackies seem very popular.....however there is a massive jump in price from the 350's to 450's.....would the 450's be worth the extra wedge for what I want to do? (I can only afford 2nd hand with these).

[Charlie Brown]

I've just noticed you live in Mansfield.

You're more than welcome to pop along to one of my weddings to hear the mackies, see the lights in action etc.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Thanks gents......really good advice as always........shakermaker is bang on.....as a newbie it is really tempting to buy a whole rig becuase it appears (on the surface at least) that you have all the toys in one go, from listening to everybody here..........minds made up it's not the way to go.

Funny comment about gear snobs too! Isn't this true of everything?? When I was in bands I used to get grief for playing a Japenese built drumkit as opposed to British or American......when the fact of the matter is....Maple is generally Maple regardless of the logo on the kickdrum!

I don't anticipate doing huge rooms.........more standard pub fair but as I said....in an idenal world, should a private gig come along as a result of a pub gig.....I want to be able to do it without having to hire in or outsource the gig alltogether!!

I have a reasonably wellpaid fulltime job so this is never going to be a fulltime thing for me.

I have a Cortex DMIX 300 which I have got my head around so was looking minimal with some oomph for if it's needed. My thoughts from the advice here were a decent pair of active speakers.....a deckstand with an overhead and some minimal lighting......and see how I go from there.

The Mackies seem very popular.....however there is a massive jump in price from the 350's to 450's.....would the 450's be worth the extra wedge for what I want to do? (I can only afford 2nd hand with these).


The thing is it is cheaper in the long run to buy the good quality equipment that will look after you.

I have to say if I started up again I would buy a pair of mackies, booth, MC6000 and a powerbar (forgetting my earlier KAM bashing it seems to be far more reliable than their lasers and sound equipment) which would cost just shy of 2k (with cables). I have spent nearly 10k getting to this point and most of the kit I have brought has been so rubbish the resale value is usually 10-20% of what I brought it for!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

(forgetting my earlier KAM bashing it seems to be far more reliable than their lasers and sound equipment)

I'm not having the same experience.

My Powerbar had a dodgy par on it, which I took back to have it replaced. The replacement arrived and was DOA.

I am now waiting for another replacement...

[DeckstarDeluxe]

See Darren that is my experience of KAM equipment that while its working does a very good job but they don't seem to last very long.

[DazzyD]

Avoid prosound/soundlab and pretty much anything Kam :D

Bit harsh. I got a SL G742 1200w Power Mixer brand new at a really good price (about a quarter of the price of a Dynacord of similar spec) and, with an engineer onside, turned it in to a reliable, decent bit of kit (for the money - I know it'll never win any quality awards) which is more than adequate for the types of functions I work. It powers the E-115 speakers we use well and it's still going strong.

But, having been in Maplins the other day for a cable, I'd give the ProSound stuff a miss!! :zip: