Sound systems???

[le pire]

This is bullshit. My Liberty is a battery run system that comes with an optional microphone built in. The system w/o the built in receiver runs off the exact same model of battery.

étienne

[the amazing beaumanz]

has anyone tried the PEAVEY ESCORT??

[Doctor Eric]

The peavey escort and the fender passport are useless for buskers. It's nowhere near what you want. They're useful for poetry readings in your local coffeeshop or acoustic jam sessions.

[Rick Martin]

Are they useless because they need AC power? I use the Taxi with the Airline mike receiver wired into the Taxi battery. It's a neat little package for sure and goes many shows between charges. I have the mike reciever and an MP3 player velcroed onto the Taxi and I have the headset in a little tupperware container. Very compact and rugged, but sometimes the Taxi's 30 watts aren't enough power. I thought about getting a Limo for $370, but that's a lot of money for a 50 watt amp. I'm now thinking about getting one of those rechargeable AC power supplies. They are a 17.5 amp hour deep cycle battery, charger and 300 watt inverter all in a plastic carry case. They have jumper cables for a car battery that can be removed. Most of the units like this are DC power only, but this one by Xantrex also has the AC inverter. It costs about $150 at marine supply stores. I'm thinking about using one of those to power a regular 100watt component PA system from a music store. This would be a four channel mixer/amp and two 10" speaker/cabinets. These systems are under $250. The PA, power supply and wireless mike would all fit into some kind of tote box. It would be bulky, heavy and it would take a few minutes to set up, but it would be a heck of lot louder than the Taxi. I imagine it would be more dependable too.

[Stephon]

Just an addendum to Doc Eric's post on the Escort and Passport: if you have electrical at your pitch, then they might be useable (this is only speculation, cuz I don't have the busking experience to have an actual opinion).

If you're doing a stage show, then the Escort would work fine. I use one for my outdoor stage show, and have no complaints. I would not recommend the Passport.

I tried a Passport and ended up returning it. It didn't have any way to alter the mid-range (only a glorified Tone control), the cabinets sounded hollow and tiny, and the thing weighed a ton.

The Escort is heavy, too, but it is entirely self-contained and has built-in wheels. It has a 5-band EQ, good speakers, and easily fills a 700 (+ or -) amphitheater in a very noisy venue.

For the price, you can't do better than the Escort, IF, it meets the requirements of your space.

[Doctor Eric]

An addendum to Stephon's addendum to my post, I realized right after I posted that my predjudice against those "mini-pa's" like the passport and escort stem from the fact that when I work a stage I always work with a live band, and come from a rock n roll background, in those contexts, my opinion is quite valid, they are a waste of time and money. But, most variety entertainer's, I suddenly remember, work solo with canned music, and are probably not nearly as picky about sound as I am. So I agree with Stephon, the escort is just fine and maybe even ideal for smaller stages.
Although I still prefer my 650 watt yamaha, but then again, I have Elvis envy...
And to Rick, part of the uselessness is that those amps weren't made to be used outside, the wiring is thin, and the plastic ain't the greatest.
I have yet to see a pitch that a Crate Limo can't handle.

[jonnyflash]

Yesterday I added my name to those who run their reciever off their Crate's internal battery. I 2nd the opinion of le pire cuz I know that as long as you keep your positive and negative separate, and dont send power anywhere its not supposed to go, you will be fine.
I did it with aligator clips.drilled and installed a small female plug next to the carbattery 12V female charging plug. the male plug is alligator clipped to the cut wires coming off the reciever's power chord. so its clean and easy, looks nice.
My SURE is rated at 15V but runs fine off the 12V Crate battery..
Now Im thinking about how to stick my reciever in the casing of the crate...

[Mark Wessels]

Alright, I did it. I finally made the plunge, forked over the money and got my very own sound system. Well. Sort of. I ebayed a taxi amp and a samson airline headset mic. I was hoping to pry some knowledge loose from the capable brains of those who have powered the Airline off the batery encased deep in the heart of the crate. Anyway, I am less than advanced technologically so I have enlisted the help of a more intelegent friend. (He's also no expert.) We shall soon endeavor to make the units one in power supply. In other words, can someone help me?

Mark

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

A little over a month ago I purchased one of the portable pa systems that RICK MARTIN speaks of in his post. I also have one of the chargers he speaks about. Although the system is a bit bulky, I am VERY, VERY happy with the results. We work nightly with live bands less than 50 yards from our pitches. POWER, is no longer an issue!!! And at half the cost of other systems and the charger has come in very handy while travelling!!

[worldwidese]

I came across this information and am posting it in case it's useful to users of the Taxi who need to do some modification. Has good close up photos.

http://www.richardandre.net/wxproject/crate.htm

Taxi Crate Modification

By the way, what is a VL-70 and a WX5?

[ 04-24-2003: Message edited by: worldwidese ]</p>

[Rick Martin]

Wow! That guy really spells it out, but I always figure the wire with the white stripe is 'Positive' and plain wire is 'Negative'. That matters, because the wires end in a 'Tip' that has a POS and Neg pole. Also, he says solder the wires to the battery in 'Parallel'. I can never remember which is Parallell and which is Series, but in this case you don't need to know. Connect the Pos of your new cable to POS for the battery and NEG to NEG and Bobs Your Uncle.

[Mark Wessels]

Great! Thanks a lot. I'm trying it tomorrow.

Mark

[Mark Wessels]

It works! Yay.

Mark

[worldwidese]

If it's good enough for the White House......

http://www.anchoraudio.com/products.lasso

[ 04-29-2003: Message edited by: worldwidese ]</p>

[Spike McGuire]

After reading through the thread I started getting curiouser and curiouser about the Crate Taxi or Limo. Sounds about like what I need. I do a street show with some music and some talking to fairly large crowds. I like the system I have now (Two 10 inch fender speakers and a 4 channel fender mixer/amp), but something a little more on the portable side would be nice. So I was wondering if I could get some feed-back and reviews from people who use that system.

-----Spike McGuire
V.P. Bobby Vinton Fan club