Dave P

Dave's mobile disco is coming to town... well not quite, I'm looking to buy an amp and some speakers for some bbq's we are having during the summer. Neighbours are invited so no probs there. Also propose to use them at PTA events.

I know sweet FA about any of this stuff, a mate is giving me his old mixing deck, and I propose to plug my PC into it, loads of tracks on there.

I've been looking on e-bay and I can pick up 200 watt speakers for about £70 and a 150 watt amp for £99. So any DJ's out there can give me advice. Oh and what the hell is clipping?

Cheers

Dave

DanTheMan

Ive just been sorting my gear out as I do that sort of stuff on the cheap, a good budget amp can be had for just over a ton (400w) and I'd reccomend a rackmount one with built in fan, I got this from Maplin £130 quid and a tenner off if you subscribe to their emailing list....


I got a pair of 250W 12" cabinet speakers for about a ton, 17's are better but cost more, these are from CPC


Then I built a T bar light rig with a terminator and 2 vasto lights , got a cheap smoke machine, the obligatory glitter ball and thats just about it....

As for tunes I built a DJ stand with a cheap mixer + 3 cd players and you can use the 4th input for MP3's etc from the PC. You can even use ATOMIX on the PC to mix the MP3's for you if youre feeling lazy...

DanTheMan

Clipping Refers to a type of distortion that occurs when an amplifier is driven into an overload condition. Usually the "clipped" waveform contains an excess of high-frequency energy. The sound becomes hard and edgy. Hard clipping is the most frequent cause of "burned out" tweeters. Even a low-powered amplifier or receiver driven into clipping can damage tweeters which would otherwise last virtually forever.

Dave P

Cheers Dan, looks like those'll be cheaper than second hand on e-bay. What are trapezoidal speakers?? and if I buy my own mixer what sort should I get...

it's going to be one hell of a bbq!!!

Cheers

druddle

Trapezoidal speakers dont have the standard square/rectangular cabinet shap, its trapeziodal. Looking at the top of the cabinet, imagine a triangle with the top cut off, thats the shape.

A couple of types i can think of of the top of me head are EV SX300 and Deltamax for examples. Also Turbosound Floodlight.

Dave

DanTheMan

There are two trains of thought re: mixers, one is that if your mate is giving you one (ooeerr) then use that, especially as youre not DJing top clubs. Basic mixers can be had for £30 and have mic input and about 5 channels with crossfader etc.
BUT the better ones have built in hi/mid/low cuts to enable you to mix properly and loads of other gizmos like BPM counters etc, but unless you are going to take it up professionally I'd save my money as the basic ones are OK.

druddle

I would say if you are bothered about sound quality get the best simplest mixer you can afford. Dont bother with all the effects and EQ settings on them

Dave

Dave P

Apparantly the mixer he's donating is a phonic MRT60 which was a pretty good one in it's day.

So I reckon for £230 I should be up and running... may even invest in some lights. Disco Dave hits the streets of Sussex!!!

Cheers for all the help guys.

Dave

Dave P

Dan,

Ok, going for both of those, (amp and speakers) what sort of cables do I need. Thought I'd order all at the same time.

Cheers

Dave

druddle

The MRT60 was THE mixer in its day, it used to be used in the DMC Mixing Finals !!

As for cable, i used to use hefty two core mains cable for my speakers !! Cheaper than the Klotz stuff and i couldnt hear the difference on the gear i had.

Dave

TopBanana

My mate's a sound engineer and recommends mains cable

daiscooby

White suit, black shirt and a medallion ?.

TelBoy

Some disco gear yesterday....