i need answers!!!!!!!!!!

[onegypsygun]

how do you know when to use a sheilded or unsheilded cable on pa equipment? Can I use a crate GT15 practice amp for a powered monitor, and what type of cable should I use for this? can you run two small pa systems together without screwing anything up, and how would i do this? I know very little about Pa stuff please help!!!!!

[songsmith]

Okay, the only time you should use an unshielded cable is from the amp to a speaker, because speaker level signal is strong enough to outpower any interference you'd get from outside sources like lighting ballasts, radio stations,etc. You'd use shielded cables for everything else, from guitars to CD players to keyboards, to effects,etc.
You can use a guitar amp as a powered monitor, it won't hurt it, but bear in mind that guitar amps are designed to be a bit dirty-sounding, even on the clean channel. The sound of your voice will be grainy and muffled and distorted. Most people don't do this because it sounds so bad. Also, guitars only fill frequencies from around 125Hz to about 7000Hz, give or take, and guitar amps are designed to accentuate that range. The human voice has a far wider range, and we as humans need to hear that wider range to understand consonant sounds and other things that make speech... speech. Trust me, it'll just sound like butt, and feedback will be a major problem.
You can run two small pa systems in tandem using the master/slave technique. Plug as many mics as necessary into one pa (the slave), then using a line out from that pa (you can use the MAIN OUT, TAPE OUT, or even EQ OUT, if it has it) run a shielded cable to either a channel input or AMP IN on the other pa (the master). If you need two pa's for more channels, go from MAIN OUT to an input channel on the master, and hook up speakers to the SPEAKER OUT's on the master. If you need more power (more speakers), go from the MAIN OUT on the slave to the AMP IN or any input channel on the master, and hook up speakers to the SPEAKER OUT's on both mixer amps.

Your best bet is to set up both pa's before you actually use them to play a show, figure out what works, then put a little piece of tape next to each connection, then write on the tape what gets plugged into that connector. Sort of a roadmap for the next time. After awhile, you won't even need to look at the tape when setting up, you'll just know.

Hope that helps you out.---------->JMS

[onegypsygun]

thank you very much... You covered all the basses.

[onegypsygun]

I do have another question...when using the slave/master techinque does the wattage of the amp heads matter? I have a Behringer PMH-518 it is 180w the other head is a four channel 75w Squier. I want to run the mic into the Behringer so i can use the effects on my voice....can the Squier be used as the master? I do a one man show with backing tracks i run thru the pa... I have three cabs I need to run thru. ( two 10" Squiers and a 15" bass cab w/ horn) What would be the best way to do this?

[songsmith]

Well, the output wattage is irrelevant because you're piggybacking the inputs, not the speaker output... HOWEVER, check your minimum speaker output impedance. I'm guessing in the case of both mixers, it's 4 ohms minimum, which means that you can't hook up (3) 8ohm speakers without hurting your mixer-amp. Two at the most.
Seriously, the Squier mixer amp isn't really necessary, leave it at home. It won't really make it any louder, and in fact, will just make things muddier and add hassles. 180 watts is enough for a solo act in most cases. And leave the bass cabinet, it isn't necessary. Recorded backing tracks are okay thru the 10" cabinets. You'd be making life harder than it needs to be. If you do have to play a gym or something, charge more and rent a bigger PA.------->JMS

[stratobastard27]

Gotta agree there, and VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!! ----> Speaker outputs can ONLY go to speaker cabinets!!!! Do not plug a speaker output into the input of another amp or you'll fry them both! Also, you have a bass cabinet with a horn? If you plan on using this as a subwoofer, you need to disable the horn, or you'll be feeding freq's to the horn lower than it was designed to handle. I'd just go with SS's suggestion and hook the behringer head into the two 10 cabs. If you need the additional mic inputs, take the MAIN OUT of the Squier box into a channel input of the Behringer. But, I would assume, as a one man show, the 6 or 8 inputs on the behringer should be more than enough.

[onegypsygun]

first of all, thank you guys very much for the help with this...I finally feel as if i'm getting all this. Now this is how i was running it, could you let me know if I did any damage... i use a walkman CD player w/ adapter and i split the stereo signal coming out of the headphone jack. I run the one side into the squier mixer (thru channel) and that powers only the 15" cab. I run the other side into the Behringer mixer (thru channel) and that powers the two 10' cabs. I use the crate G15 as a powered monitor out of the main on the Behringer. I run one mic into the behinger mixer for vocals. I run my guitar rig on it's own apart from the mixers. I do get a very full sound this way at any volume but i don't know if this way has messed anything up. This is the set-up used for my club dates where it has to be loud and thick. I use a small set-up w/ just the 10" cabs for the smaller places

[songsmith]

No, the way you're set up won't do any damage at all. and it would be a sort of stereo... it seems like a long way to go, but it won't hurt anything. I think you'd be better off to get a stereo or even 3-amplifier mixer amp. I have a Yamaha mixer amp with left, right, and monitor amps in it... that way, you get to keep the stereo imaging on your music, and still have an amp channel for monitors... though, when I did solo acoustic stuff, I kept the monitor level down, and sometimes off, so I could hear the room. That also makes for less ear fatigue. I once played 5 shows in 2 days, and ear fatigue was a serious issue. At any rate, the 3-amplifier mixer head was a very smart purchase, I got it on Ebay for $250-ish, and it's paid for itself many times over.--------->JMS

[onegypsygun]

Okay i should be good to go....thanks again

[stratobastard27]

Also, there are a few all-in-one deals I'd recommend. The B-52 company makes a two 8's and a horn with a 15 sub for about $1200. Save a few show's pay, that'll come quicker than you think. Peavey has a similar deal, with that cool-assed Kosmos enhancer built in, I'm not sure of the price. Now both these pieces are stereo+sub speakers and power amps. So you'll still need a board (you could use the PA heads you own) and monitors and amps for them. I dunno if that's the route you want to go or not..... it depends on how much your backing tracks rely on bass guitar and kick drum. If you just want a easy to set up thing that would be PERFECT for what you're describing....check into the Yamaha StagePAS 300. My last drummer got this unit for his Roland e-kit, and once we added a sub, it was phenominal! This Yamaha deal is two 8+horns, and a micro mixer head that has four mic ins, one stereo 1/4 in, and one RCA in. Has stereo (two) 150 watt power amps for each speaker. I wanna say that unit was about $500 brand new. Check it out!