Recommendations for Duo PA system?

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

...... with the bass going to a light, small bass amp, perhaps something from the inexpensive Fender solid state line.

Yep.

Fender now owns the small, light, bass amp business. I bought my daughter a Rumble 40 and it weighs about 1 pound.....

[martingitdave]

For vocals and guitar, you can also consider one of the all-in-one systems from JBL, Samson, and Yamaha that include a powered mixer and two small/medium passive speakers. These tend to sound “good” and would pair well with a bass amp for your partner.

[varmonter]

Ive played in a duo for 20 yrs it is now a trio (cajon) .
we used qsc k12 s for years and now use k10
and a small ev sub. we used mackie boards which sound great.
We can pole mount a qsc on top of the sub. This is
way out of your price range of 500. But if your bass
uses an amp already all other inst can use one qsc speaker.
down the road you can add speaker and sub. the ev sub
allows for a crossover so the bass punch doesn't come
out of the k10s. we have elec bass guitar Cajon I play bass,guitar
and mandolin the other member plays bass
and guitar. third member is percussion.

[JerryM]

Thanks everyone I appreciate all the input, my bass player already does have a small Fender Rumble Amp he can use, I am going to check out the Yamaha, thanks again. Jerry

[lkingston]

Using a separate bass amp takes a huge amount of load off whatever you are using for the rest of the PA. I have an absolutely tiny Phil Jones Bass Cub Combo which will fill thousand square foot room with pleasing (but not thumping) bass with plenty of low end. It couples with the floor nicely and makes a much smaller PA practical, at least in the context of a light acoustic band.

http://pjbworld.com/product_basscub_top.html

[takatsukimike]

OK now that we know your bass player has an amp, this changes what you need from your PA

You mentioned you were going to check out the Yamaha, did you mean the DBR10 or the StagePas? The StagePas is good quality BUT the mixer section is exceptionally limited and the reverb leaves a lot to be desired.

If reverb is not important to you, the other option worth considering is the Alto Trouper which comes in under $300. Not a great deal of bass, but you don't need that. Wide dispersion and good for small rooms.

[Medford Guitar]

I would look for a good used K10. This will be more than sufficient if bass player already has an amp. I'm the bass player in my band and we put all guitars, bass, voices and electronic drums through QSC 2- K12s and 2- KW18 subs.

I recently start doing a small act with our singer and my wife. I'm using one K12 only (I'm playing acoustic guitar for this act) for acoustic and 2 vocals. More than enough. I am picking up the ZED 10FX because the bands mixer MixWiz 16 is way too huge and too much to carry to small gigs.

[jseth]

In my 50+ years of performing with acoustic guitar and vocals, I have never used a better system than my Bose L1 Model II (w/ B1 module)... and I've used a LOT of different systems through the years, from crap (guitar and mic through a Super Reverb or a Shure Vocalmaster!) all the way up to a couple really nice, big outdoor stages.

The Bose is SO manageable and forgiving, as far as any feedback goes... the correct way to position the rig is off on a diagonal, 8-12' behind the players; in this fashion, I am hearing EXACTLY what my audience is hearing, and at nearly the same volume level. This due to the incredible dispersion of the Bose "line array"-esque design.

Pricey, I know... but a lot folks will sell them used for a good price. It's a totally different application of live sound than your conventional "Point and Shoot" method with one or two speakers shooting sound at the room... the Bose allows me to have everyone hear what I'm doing without having to blast the poor folks right in front.

[caballero59]

Zed 10 FX is the industry standard. I've used mine in gigs and rehearsals for years. Super easy to use. I also have an Allen Heath QU-16 digital but it's 10x harder to get everything up and running.

[Tico]

+1 on the Bose!

[jonfields45]

We put bass through a single CP8 high and behind for about 1/3 of our repertoire. It works fine for outdoor farmers markets and smaller restaurants.

[MikeBmusic]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

For what you describe, I'd go with a small mixer to a Bose L1C, with the bass going to a light, small bass amp, perhaps something from the inexpensive Fender solid state line.

He won't get that set up for $500!