Peavey Versarray?

Re: Peavey Versarray?

Justin Myers said:
I haven't heard the Mark 1 versions but I do have 8 of the Mark 2 boxes. There is only one preset. No safe or rock and roll modes and all that. Mid crossed at 2K. Apparently at the time no ribbon failures had been reported worldwide according to Peavey. May still be so.

Not saying there is anything wrong with the MK 1's but there is probably good reason they did a MK 2 version.
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How do you like them? The ones I am looking at are MK 1 but I believe you can upgrade to MK 2 by replacing the tweeters.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Brandon Blakeney said:
Evan, is there anything that Peavey could do to make their products acceptable to you? Put a $10,000 price tag on a box that has $1,000 worth of parts in it like a famous Three Letter Brand or will Peavey always rub you and the big shot FOH guys the wrong way?

The fact is that Peavey is not given the chance it deserves on the touring gear (QW being way underrated). I recently had a national artist's FOH engineer who works for Sound Image in Nashville tell me that he had never heard a Versarray rig before but that he really liked mine. Another national artist's FOH engineer who is also a studio engineer said "Man! this thing sounds great! and its Peavey??? Are you serious? WOW!"

You want to talk about Sh***Y? One of my competitors down in this region has a bunch of POS PM consoles and a pile of KF that probably half of the drivers need replacing but meets every rider that comes along...my rig sounds 100X better than that pile...
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Brandon,
I have no issues with Peavey as an MI product, because that's exactly what they are. They build solid, reliable boxes that serve their intended market very well. It's when people with their MI products try to play with the big boys I have issues. I come across these type of systems all the time, and it's a headache all day. And, at the end of the day, I'd rather just have a pair of KF850's or some other solid, trap box, instead of a bunch of MI "line array" boxes. Peavey isn't the only one with a MI line array. I've come across plenty, and have the same issues every time. Oh, and that "famous three letter brand" you speak of actually builds some of the best components you can buy. ...If only they could build a box to put them in...

But again, I'm glad the Peavey stuff works for you. It has it's intended market. However, that intended market is not big boy productions. You try and bid your rig on any big rock show, pop show or big name country artist and you'll be sending the whole thing into the shop for recones. There's a big difference from your neighborhood fairs and festivals to the world of what I do.


But, on a side note, I do run a small JV business as well. I'm proud to say I own a bunch of powered Mackie boxes, Mackie mixes, and some other odds and ends. I do SOS rentals to a lot of people, and make a lot of money putting the boxes out on gigs they're designed to do. I have some larger boxes I've designed as well, but hell, I'm not trying to meet riders or do anything more than a few hundred people.



Evan
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Evan Kirkendall said:
Brandon,
I have no issues with Peavey as an MI product, because that's exactly what they are. They build solid, reliable boxes that serve their intended market very well. It's when people with their MI products try to play with the big boys I have issues. I come across these type of systems all the time, and it's a headache all day. And, at the end of the day, I'd rather just have a pair of KF850's or some other solid, trap box, instead of a bunch of MI "line array" boxes. Peavey isn't the only one with a MI line array. I've come across plenty, and have the same issues every time. Oh, and that "famous three letter brand" you speak of actually builds some of the best components you can buy. ...If only they could build a box to put them in...

But again, I'm glad the Peavey stuff works for you. It has it's intended market. However, that intended market is not big boy productions. You try and bid your rig on any big rock show, pop show or big name country artist and you'll be sending the whole thing into the shop for recones. There's a big difference from your neighborhood fairs and festivals to the world of what I do.


But, on a side note, I do run a small JV business as well. I'm proud to say I own a bunch of powered Mackie boxes, Mackie mixes, and some other odds and ends. I do SOS rentals to a lot of people, and make a lot of money putting the boxes out on gigs they're designed to do. I have some larger boxes I've designed as well, but hell, I'm not trying to meet riders or do anything more than a few hundred people.



Evan
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I've had terrible luck with Mackie....especially the Vlz stuff 32.4 and 1604...just crapped out. The SR40.8 is a great console if you find one that was "ribboned" correctly and has been taken care of. I do some recording and have had a lot of trouble with their firewire products......

Any opinions on TVI's line arrays? they aren't stereotyped like Peavey and Behringer so maybe they have a fighting chance :)
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Brandon Blakeney said:
I've had terrible luck with Mackie....especially the Vlz stuff 32.4 and 1604...just crapped out. The SR40.8 is a great console if you find one that was "ribboned" correctly and has been taken care of. I do some recording and have had a lot of trouble with their firewire products......

Any opinions on TVI's line arrays? they aren't stereotyped like Peavey and Behringer so maybe they have a fighting chance :)
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Okay wheres the camera Monty.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Eric Cagle said:
How do you like them? The ones I am looking at are MK 1 but I believe you can upgrade to MK 2 by replacing the tweeters.
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I have found them very good. Exceeded my expectations by far. Powered by Itech HD with a preset analysed from a VSX 48.
I thought they were a bit weak at first until I went to speak to someone standing next to me. They dont sound as loud as they are. I found their coverage fairly even but I use them straight or with 2.5 degrees.

I cover some national touring bands, heavy rock, acoustic, jazz and electronica. Never had a prob with not enough volume or headroom. Peavey doesn't have a no rider stigma as bad in Oz either.

I dont think you can upgrade mk1 to mk 2.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

OK guys I finally got to try out the VRay this weekend. We ran 6 boxes flown outdoors processed with a DBX 480 and powered by Crest 7001 amps. I am going to assume the processing was wrong and this was not a good demo. I am planning to bring the system to Atlanta in a week or two and go through each box and then hire Phil to set it up so I can at least give it a fair shot before I dismiss it. I really want to like it.

It took quite a bit of EQ cutting in the 500hz through 3K range to tune it and most likely as a result the system headroom was just not there. I would consider Evan's running out of gas for an accoustic show comments to be understated based on this demo. Now for the interesting part. 1k-4k was all over the map in horizontal coverage but never really varying more than 3 or 4 db max in any specific frequency range. Pink noise was swishy swashy walking side to side anywhere in the 50 to 150 feet back area I tested. That being said, listening to several CD's of music the sound was crystal clear and very pleasant anywhere I stood. Slightly different tonally every few feet but always a nice smooth overall sound. It was a case of measuring bad but sounding good. I would have written a check if the headroom was there. I could not get the system above 98db A weighted at 75 feet without it breaking up. Like I said I am pretty shure the processing was incorrect and there might have been a bad driver or two so I will post again in a few weeks when I get a chance to sort everything out and try again.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Eric Cagle said:
OK guys I finally got to try out the VRay this weekend. We ran 6 boxes flown outdoors processed with a DBX 480 and powered by Crest 7001 amps. I am going to assume the processing was wrong and this was not a good demo. I am planning to bring the system to Atlanta in a week or two and go through each box and then hire Phil to set it up so I can at least give it a fair shot before I dismiss it. I really want to like it.

It took quite a bit of EQ cutting in the 500hz through 3K range to tune it and most likely as a result the system headroom was just not there. I would consider Evan's running out of gas for an accoustic show comments to be understated based on this demo. Now for the interesting part. 1k-4k was all over the map in horizontal coverage but never really varying more than 3 or 4 db max in any specific frequency range. Pink noise was swishy swashy walking side to side anywhere in the 50 to 150 feet back area I tested. That being said, listening to several CD's of music the sound was crystal clear and very pleasant anywhere I stood. Slightly different tonally every few feet but always a nice smooth overall sound. It was a case of measuring bad but sounding good. I would have written a check if the headroom was there. I could not get the system above 98db A weighted at 75 feet without it breaking up. Like I said I am pretty shure the processing was incorrect and there might have been a bad driver or two so I will post again in a few weeks when I get a chance to sort everything out and try again.
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That doesn't sound very promising. I'm sure with 4 boxes a side I would get more volume than that. I have a gig coming up soon where I'll take some measurements.
Make sure your processing is spot on. I compared the transfer function trace of the VSX 48 to my Itech HD's with the same Versarray preset and I was surprised in some of the differences.
I also had to keep an eye on the gain structure in the DSP so I wasn't clipping the inputs before my outputs reached full potential. I go for double my RMS for my amp power. So on a one Versarray mid I would put a 1000 Watt amp @ 8 Ohms with correct voltage limiting. For my Rig I'm using 2 x IT5000HD, 1 x IT9000HD and 2 x IT8000.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Justin Myers said:
That doesn't sound very promising. I'm sure with 4 boxes a side I would get more volume than that. I have a gig coming up soon where I'll take some measurements.
Make sure your processing is spot on. I compared the transfer function trace of the VSX 48 to my Itech HD's with the same Versarray preset and I was surprised in some of the differences.
I also had to keep an eye on the gain structure in the DSP so I wasn't clipping the inputs before my outputs reached full potential. I go for double my RMS for my amp power. So on a one Versarray mid I would put a 1000 Watt amp @ 8 Ohms with correct voltage limiting. For my Rig I'm using 2 x IT5000HD, 1 x IT9000HD and 2 x IT8000.
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That is why I am going to try it again with Phil and Smaart. I just can't believe 6 boxes a side won't get any louder than 98db A at 75 feet, even the older Mark 1 series. I am also going to check each box individually for driver issues prior to set up. It might also be underpowered with 3 Crest 7001's for 6 boxes. I am not shure how it was set up and I did not spend any time looking at the processing other than checking gain structure. The system broke up well under clip. It sounded to me more like a couple of bad drivers rattling. Other than that I really did like the overall sound of the array though, even with the craziness between 1k and 4k. The uneveness was really interesting. I could hear it and I could see it on my RTA but it never made me feel like I had to rush and grab a fader on the EQ when listening to music as the source. More of a smooth lobe or two rather than a comb or a spike and it changed every few feet. Less than ideal but I have had to deal with much more expensive trap rigs that sounded worse. The bottom was tight and the top gradually rolled off toward the edges. If I was a little closer to you or Brandon I would try to hear what the rig is supposed to sound like for a reference.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Klaus Zimmermann said:
i just had last night my c-rig (1ea turbo tsc-612 with 1ea 2x15 subs per side, lab amps power with lake processing) going 105dB A @25m/75 ft -and still had plenty headroom... and it was just fasching/carneval :lol::lol::lol:
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Exactly. My ancient Mackie Fussion rig will cruise at 117db A at 75 feet with 1 cabinet a side and not break up at all. My ears hurt before the speakers take a dive.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Eric Cagle said:
Exactly. My ancient Mackie Fussion rig will cruise at 117db A at 75 feet with 1 cabinet a side and not break up at all. My ears hurt before the speakers take a dive.
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The Mackie Fusion series happened when Mackie wasn't paying attention. I wish I had a pair of the tops, but even the subs were solid. It was excellent and designed by a wonderful Italian engineer named Marcelo Vercelli. He's with Kv2 in England now I believe. I did a fair amount of work with them about 7 years ago for a band I was friendly with at the time. I have all the schematics and notes from the designer if you're interested:

http://homepage.mac.com/soundscapes/PSW/MackieFussion.zip
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Langston Holland said:
The Mackie Fusion series happened when Mackie wasn't paying attention. I wish I had a pair of the tops, but even the subs were solid. It was excellent and designed by a wonderful Italian engineer named Marcelo Vercelli. He's with Kv2 in England now I believe. I did a fair amount of work with them about 7 years ago for a band I was friendly with at the time. I have all the schematics and notes from the designer if you're interested:

http://homepage.mac.com/soundscapes/PSW/MackieFussion.zip
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Thanks Langston! Great docs to have since parts and support are non existant. I wish Mackie wouldn't pay attention more often if that is an example. I checked into the KV2 stuff a while back and figured out that I did not have enough money and the VHD series wasn't in the US at that time anyway. The Fussions were the first PA speakers I heard that actually sounded as good as many of the studio monitors I had been using so I had to have them. I have not regretted buying them, only having to lift them.
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Langston Holland said:
The Mackie Fusion series happened when Mackie wasn't paying attention. I wish I had a pair of the tops, but even the subs were solid. It was excellent and designed by a wonderful Italian engineer named Marcelo Vercelli. He's with Kv2 in England now I believe. I did a fair amount of work with them about 7 years ago for a band I was friendly with at the time. I have all the schematics and notes from the designer if you're interested:

http://homepage.mac.com/soundscapes/PSW/MackieFussion.zip
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I remember seeing them under the RCF label. RCF still have a similar product
www.rcf.it/en_US/products/pro-speaker-systems/4pro-series/4pro-6001-a
FWIW a bit of the history KV2 Audio
 
Re: Peavey Versarray?

Langston Holland said:
The Mackie Fusion series happened when Mackie wasn't paying attention. I wish I had a pair of the tops, but even the subs were solid. It was excellent and designed by a wonderful Italian engineer named Marcelo Vercelli.
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Indeed, they would never release something like that in recent times. An MI company building 200+ lb narrow dispersion high output cabs is not going to win over many folks in the marketing dept.

I came across them a few times maybe 10 or so years ago, and they were a pretty serious rig, especially looking back at other products of that timeframe.
 
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