Cheap PA system comparison

[roseylarose]

So I know these are far from amazing PAs but I'm in a bind and need to get something very cheap.

Any thoughts on which is better?

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i- ... edium=feed&

http://www.amazon.com/Nady-MPM-4130-PA2 ... B0009Q1TBO

appreciate it.

[Chris_Avakian]

the nady maybe, idk. looks like it has more features, but nady doesnt exactly build stuff very well. im not familiar with squire electronics, so i cant say, but i bet the spring reverb sounds pretty nifty..

[Chris_Avakian]

they do however look like they suck equally as bad. lol. good luck.

[Snarl 12/8]

Arg. In that price range I'd try to go used. Maybe look at just getting one powered speaker and one of those $69 little mixers, yamaha maybe. Then you can look for a match for that one powered speaker down the road and have your full setup without having to start from scratch when you're ready to upgrade.

Don't buy Nady or Behringer.

Used you just get sooo much more for your money if you know what you're looking for.

[Gregg Juke]

Yeah, tough to say in that price range; I think Snarl has a great idea with "pre-owned" gear.

BUT, to make things even more confusing-- I have an older (but not "classic" or "vintage") Fender PA in my gear stable, and it's not too bad at all, although at the time of purchase, it was in a higher class than the Squier gear shown (more expensive, with more channels and bells and whistles).

Nady tends to be kind of doody in most cases, but I do have a handful of their $10 dynamic mics, and they sound pretty dang good and are fairly durable. The whole purpose was to have some knock-around gear for some of the live PA gigs I do, where folks don't have their own mics and don't necessarily respect something of a little higher caliber, but the Nady's actually perform pretty well and have taken some licks and keep on ticking.

So, maybe you won't do too bad with either company at that price. What's it for, and when do you need it? (Yesterday, or do you have time to shop around for used gear?)...

GJ

[vvv]

FWIW, the Squier is some Fender thing.

That said, I agree used is the way to go; I gotta 100w. powered board (Ramsa mebbe?) and a decent Yorkville(?) 2-way monitor for around US$100 - perfect for basement practicing, anywhat.

[roseylarose]

What's it for, and when do you need it? (Yesterday, or do you have time to shop around for used gear?)...

GJ

Yeah I have been used shopping but have burning a lot of time without a lot of luck. When I do find something decent its usually getting closer to 400 or 500 which in the end I just don't have. Its basically just for practice - we have a drummer but we play somewhat mellow. I just want something that can get my vocals to cut through more (singing through an amp now and just sick of sounding quiet and fuzzy) without shorting out or falling to pieces.

[kayagum]

A cheap keyboard amp can work. I actually have used a Kustom 60 watt keyboard amp for 5 years, several dozen performances and it has worked great! (SM57 on voice)

[Snarl 12/8]

When I do find something decent its usually getting closer to 400 or 500.

But the two things you showed us in the first post weren't "decent", aim lower in the used arena.

I think new, retail, is almost always sucker's game in audio. Unless you stumble on some crazy ass closeout deal at GC or something. Ultimately, (sometimes years later) I've regretted the vast majority of my new purchases. I can count on one hand the one's I'm still OK with (barring mics, I've only bought one used mic). Almost all my used purchases have had zero buyer's remorse. YMMV.

What's Craigslist like in your area? I didn't catch your locale. That might make a big difference in your used choices.

[vvv]

I find, inna basement or garage, that 100w. and a single cab is easily adequate; I'd reckon 50w. would be fine, and we are playing fairly loud.

Re the cab, mine is actually a PA monitor, 10"(?) and a tweeter.

[dsw]

how many singers?

If its just you, you could get just one self powered monitor like a Mackie SRM 350 used for the same price as either the Nady or the Squier, and not even need a mixer, just plug the mic straight in.

One good speaker is always better than two crappy ones.
You can always add more stuff later when budget allows.

JBL EONs are all over the place and they are louder and better sounding than the ones you first posted. There is nicer than EON;s of course but use that as a starting point.

[Gentleman Jim]

If these were the only two PA's available in the world, I suppose I'd hold my nose and buy the Nady. According to the (probably dubious) specs provided, the Squier system has a power amp that's 80w at 4Ω. However, the speakers provided are 4Ω each, and rated at 120w. That's a recipe for crappy sound: the power amp running at 2Ω, which it probably can't handle; and the speakers being perpetually underpowered.

Of course, there's no meaningful speaker specs provided for the Nady system at all. But I have a hard time believing that Nady would put a higher wattage speaker in at that price range, and the power amp is (allegedly) rated at 130w at 4Ω.

Since these are not the only two PA's available in the world, I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't at least try to warn the OP against them. Yeah, I get that you're tired of singing through a guitar amp; we've all gone through that. But in truth, the sound of these PA's won't be all that much better. Because of the low wattage and cheap components/build, there's a really good chance that either of these will break before you're financially able to upgrade, which just means that you'll have wasted ~$225.

Please, save your money. Do what you can to put aside an additional $10 or $20 a week towards a PA fund and hold out as long as possible. Keep an eye out on eBay or Craigslist for something more in the 400-600 watt range, which will allow you to actually hear the PA over drums and guitar. If you do, eventually you'll be glad you did.