Little League?

R

Ron Kimball

Senior
Mar 5, 2011
581
0
16
NE CT
Hey all, nice to see that most of the worthwhile PSW posters found there way over here :) .

I had to stop participating there mostly because the economy picked up and dragged me back into a full time job (for now). I still do hang out at HC.

Anyways maybe my new "C" system needs a new "Little League" forum :razz:. As much as I think the audio world needs decent sound guys more than mediocre bass players the last two slow winters dragged me back into that world and I put together a little system for my casual jazz quintet, mains run behind the band. Hope you all get a chuckle out of it although it does sound pretty good:

2x $160 Behringer B208D tops in $3 "Ocean State Joblot" green medium duffels.
$150 Yamaha MG82CX mixer in $30 Gator bag
$40 Yamaha mixer mic stand adapter + stand
2x $20 MF speaker stands
4x $10 MF mic stands
2x $15 MF stand bags
4x Nady SP-1 mics I got free a few years back ;)
2x XLR "Y" cords so I can run 2 mics per channel
6x $5 20' XLR cables
2x 25' TRS cables for mixer -> speakers
2x $8 14 gauge 25' power cords for speakers
2x $20 radshack unbalanced -> balanced transformer adapters
2x $3 "Ocean State Joblot" small yellow duffels

About $770 total, maybe 75 lbs?
 
Re: Little League?

Success comes from ears that function, good customer service, and reasonable expectations. If you can get the job done with 75lbs and $700 of gear, you are a lot farther ahead than the guy who took a $50k loan to buy fancy toys that his market can't bear.
 
Re: Little League?

Hi Ron-

There is a market for this type of system, as you've found out. You'll pay for it in 5 or 6 gigs and it will then make a profit every time it rents presuming nothing gets lost, broken or stolen while it's out.

We've spent mid-six figures on PA and lighting in the last 3 years, but the most profitable items in our shop continue to be speakers on sticks.

Have fun, good luck.

Tim Mc
 
Re: Little League?

Thanks for the new sig :) . You'll note that I included bags for everything in this little system. One of my pet peeves is people that buy cheap stuff, abuse it, and complain about it being crap :roll: . Heck, even a little two input 'ringer mixer I have has a hard case for it :cool: .
 
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Re: Little League?

Brian jojade said:
The only part I see that is a problem is using the XLR Y connectors in the wrong way. Y connectors are to split signals, not combine them. You run the risk of problems using them as combiners. Definitely not recommended.
Click to expand...

Not my favorite thing, either, but I do it on symphony gigs to combine the last couple of stands in violin I, violin II and viola sections. Often we only get 40 channels for the orchestra, 8 channels for utility (MCs, talkback to/from FOH, VDO playback, etc.) and feed stems to the guest artist's mixer. Something's getting compromised, and that usually means Y-ing some things.

Have fun, make the show go on.

Tim Mc
 
Re: Little League?

Tim, everyone here would shit a brick if I tried to use 40 inputs on an orchestra (whether pit or or standard). But we don't do any pops series stuff here either so there's not really a need. We did have a jazz trumpet player and singer here for a show last year and they needed mics as well as their rhythm section. I put out some front fills and just ran vocals to the front fills; solo trumpet, vocals and a little piano to the main system, mixed by ear to the rest of the unmiced orchestra. We got several nasty comments from the old blue hairs after the show about how they didn't appreciate the amplified sound. I just told them that I was sorry, but that it had been requested by the musicians.

I talked to the Executive Director of the Symphony a few months later and he said he got over 600 complaints about the fact that they miced up a few players for that show. I don't guess they will be doing that again anytime soon.
 
Re: Little League?

This is on indoor shows in a multi-purpose facility that has no orchestra shell or outdoors. The pops series also requires reinforcement: how the hell would the blue-hair ladies Manhattan Transfer without it?

Sure, the purists don't like it (and it takes a deft hand, good ears and asbestos undergarments) but the orchestra is trying to attract new audience members. Maybe that's why our symphony is still "in the black" and Tulsa damn near lost their orchestra. Just sayin... ;)
 
Re: Little League?

Brian jojade said:
The only part I see that is a problem is using the XLR Y connectors in the wrong way. Y connectors are to split signals, not combine them. You run the risk of problems using them as combiners. Definitely not recommended.
Click to expand...
Folks have been doing that for years on tom mics - as long as the mics are identical it works just fine :cool:. Obviously a bad idea to combine active outputs but passive is no problem. I wasn't planning on doing this when I bought the mixer but I'm happy with the results :) .
 
Re: Little League?

If you're handy with a soldering iron, with about $5 worth of resistors (4 - 475ohm and 1 - 20k ohm) you can improve your result of those Y cables DRAMATICALLY. I carry 2 in my Go Bag just in case I have a need, which is usually toms or audience response mics for in-ears, and they work awesome.
 
Re: Little League?

Tim McCulloch said:
but the orchestra is trying to attract new audience members. Maybe that's why our symphony is still "in the black" and Tulsa damn near lost their orchestra. Just sayin... ;)
Click to expand...

Actually, our symphony did fold. The Tulsa Philharmonic went bankrupt in about 2001/2002. There was no full time professional symphony in Tulsa for about 4 or 5 years after that. I think we are now in our fourth year of the reformed symphony, the Tulsa symphony Orchestra. They can't use the Philharmonic name because they still owe a bunch of money to all kinds of organizations and have several open lawsuits against them. Some of the stories that I've heard about their collapse are not pretty.
 
Re: Little League?

Thanks for the clarification... I knew TPO was in dire condition, but somehow I missed the closing and presumed TulSO was the last ditch effort, not the resurrection. My best to them. Tulsa deserves a good orchestra.

Feel free to PM me with the TPO details.
 
Graham C Mellor said:
If you're handy with a soldering iron, with about $5 worth of resistors (4 - 475ohm and 1 - 20k ohm) you can improve your result of those Y cables DRAMATICALLY. I carry 2 in my Go Bag just in case I have a need, which is usually toms or audience response mics for in-ears, and they work awesome.
Click to expand...

Any chance of the schematics for this to be posted in the DIY section? I for one would greatly appreciate it.
 
Re: Little League?

Hi Graham

Thanks heaps.....yeah making them in boxs makes sense and thanks for the link. cant wait to see the pics.

Cheers dave
 
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