Sweet Ol' Peavey PA System

[Asphalt Cowboy]

Hey everyone

I posted a thread like 5 days ago about how I was looking for a good PA system for under $1000, and I think I did it. I've got 2 Peavey SP-3 Speakers (1400 watts each), a Peavey MS-2112 mixing board, and a Peavey M2600 Mark V series Power Amp (800 watts). It's all fully functional, albeit a bit beat up. I paid $500 for all of it. And I'm using 2 Phonic S710 speakers that I already owned as monitors.

So, does anyone have any advice on how to utilize all of this to it's fullest?

Thanks

-Jim

[91xlntS-3]

Nice score. Not familiar with the mixer, if the power amp is as old as the rest of the gear, you sure it's 800 watts? I had a 2600 that was only 130 watts/side @ 4 ohms. May be a different amp with the same model number?

Anyway, sounds like a great deal for the $$$.

[marshman]

I had a set of SP3s when I started out all dose years ago and really liked 'em...some bahstid stole 'em (long story). Enjoy!

[Asphalt Cowboy]

Thanks! I love how clear it is. In two weeks my band is playing an annual end of the school year pool party (yeah, I'm a high-schooler) and this PA deal is a real score. I'm about ready to light up the neighborhood! We play country and classic rock, so the neighbors won't mind.

[jh45gun]

Yea about your amp I had one and as said by 91xlntS-3 it is 130 watts into a 4 ohm load so since you only paid 500 bucks for the system you may want to use that amp for monitors and buy a used CS800 which you should be able to find for a couple of hundred bucks at the most probably cheaper. I used mine for a monitor amp and it worked fine for that or it would work for mains for a small club but I would get a bigger power amp. Stay away from a CS 400 as that is not that much more powerfull go with a CS 800 they were a mainstay of the Peavey PA systems for years and used by a lot of gigging bands.

[studio1087]

Does the amp look like this?

If so you have about 70 watts per side at 8 ohms.

You did great if you bought SP3's, a 12 channel mixer and the power amp for $500...that's fantastic.

You may want to keep an eye out for a used CS800. CS800's are bulletproof. About a zillion years ago when I was 20, my college band had four CS800's and they were all used and nasty. They had a bit of running hiss but we couldn't kill them.

You might overheat the 2600 in a big room when you really turn it up. It will always be great for practice and great for monitors. You did great on everything.

You need four lights and a small fog machine now! Have fun.

John

[rangercaster]

post some pix and tell us how you scored it !!!

[jh45gun]

Originally Posted by studio1087

Does the amp look like this?

If so you have about 70 watts per side at 8 ohms.

You did great if you bought SP3's, a 12 channel mixer and the power amp for $500...that's fantastic.

You may want to keep an eye out for a used CS800. CS800's are bulletproof. About a zillion years ago when I was 20, my college band had four CS800's and they were all used and nasty. They had a bit of running hiss but we couldn't kill them.

You might overheat the 2600 in a big room when you really turn it up. It will always be great for practice and great for monitors. You did great on everything.

You need four lights and a small fog machine now! Hav

John

Thats a newer version there was also this older looking version

[91xlntS-3]

Yeah, jh45gun, that's the one I had, 130 watts/side. Used it with a Peavey Unity mixer. Good amp, just not a lot of watts. Also used an M3000 amp for my monitors, 300 watts into 2 ohms. Small but bullet proof, just like all Peavey's gear was back then.

Besides a used CS800, you might want to keep an eye out for a used QSC USA900 or 1300, or maybe one of the new QSC RMX 1450 power amps. QSC also makes a new line of power amps called the GX, which for $399 you can get one with 700 watts per side that should drive those SP-3s nicely.

Looks like you've got the basics for a very nice PA that should last you quite a while. Good luck on your gig, used to love those pool parties!!

[BAW4742]

Good start there Jim. Since PAs are component systems you can use what you have now and always be on the lookout for stuff to upgrade it with.

Cool rig to start with.

Good luck with the end of school party. It's been a while but I remember doing a few of those myself.

[Singin' Dave]

Originally Posted by BAW4742

Good start there Jim. Since PAs are component systems you can use what you have now and always be on the lookout for stuff to upgrade it with.

Cool rig to start with.

+1. Nicely done! I agree that components vs. box mixers are a great way to go for a first stab at building something more robust down the road.

Please do double check the wattage on that amp though - you might not have a lot of power to work with, could clip easily and damage your speakers. Any pix of it?

[jh45gun]

Yea I agree the QSC amps are great amps also. I would be carefull of some of the older crown stuff as they did not have protection for the speakers like the Peavey stuff did or QSC though I have heard their newer stuff does.

[Deaf Eddie]

Great price on some good starter PA gear, and Peavey PA stuff can last forever. We have annual band reunions, and I'm still using a Peavey MD-12 mixer from the mid-eighties, works and sounds A-OK twenty-five years later. I'm also still using XR600 and XR500 mixer/amps, and we have a pair each of SP-3s and SP-1s here on campus - all from about that same "era," twenty years ago, and all still going strong.

FIRST TIP:
The FIRST thing I'd get would be some heavy duty speaker stands and "top hat" adapters for the bottoms of the SP-3s, so you can get them up in the air. Nothing makes your PA sound better and clearer - and seem louder - than getting the speakers up and over the top of the stuff (including people) close to the stage. If you can get 'em up so that the sound has a chance to throw to the back of the room, unobstructed, you'll find that even a small PA can cover a big venue. Should cost you around a hundred bucks or so, and WELL WORTH IT.

The SP-3 are a good speaker, but that 1400 watt rating isn't correct. A single SP-3 is good for 150-200 watts, tops, with a Scorpion woofer loaded, and slightly more with a Black Widow. But you'll blow the compression drivers out long before you bust them woofers.

NEXT TIP:
IF the high-end sounds a bit flat in your SP-3s, you might want to replace the diaphragms in the compression drivers (aka "horns") NOW, even if they're not blown. Peavey speakers and drivers are are built to be field-repairable. They designed the newest replacement diaphragms for their compression drivers to be backwards-compatible, so you can load those old 22A magnet assemblies with brand new 22xt diaphragms, and they will really sing. Do 'em both, while you're at it. It's an easy chore (and one you should learn how to do), it should cost you less than $200, and the cabs will virtually sound like new. Hang on to the old, unblown diaphragms for emergency replacements.

As for the M2600, I think there's actually an ancient version of the M2600 poweramp from 'way back that was built in a box, like a guitar amp head, rather than with ears for rack mounting as the two shown (above) are. They all are rated at 130 wrms with a 4-ohm load per side (So, 130 wrms x 2). They are all great little work horses, a utility design at the compromise point between price and power that just never went out of style.

BUT, the above poster is correct. If all you run with the M2600 is the two SP-3s (one per side, 8-ohm load) that amp is probably only producing 70watts per side. If you hang both SP-3s on one side (for the full 130watts) and use the other side to drive your monitors, that's almost the same thing (65 watts per cab) - so it all looks about the same to the FOH, whether you use it for mains and monitors, or just your mains.

Depending on your stage volume, that's probably fine for a small combo, playing an indoor venue of 300 people or smaller (basket-ball court sized club).

NEXT TIP:
SO, the NEXT thing you'll be tempted to get will probably be a separate amp for the monitor system, BUT, I recommend that you just get a bigger amp for the mains and "demote" the M2600 to handling the monitor chores.

The advantage of the M2600 in that case is that it will handle two 4 -ohm loads, easily running four 8-ohm floor cabs (in two "pairs"), and you will have separate volume adjustments available for each pair.

The above posters' recommendation of looking for a CS800 is dead on the mark. It's too much power for just a pair of SP-3s, but it will play CLEAN as loud as they will take it, and trust me, THAT'S LOUD. Add another pair of mains cabinets, and you've just jumped from casual-gig gear to a semi-pro system. Take everything for larger venues, leave behind what you won't need for smaller venues...

[Asphalt Cowboy]

Yeah that's the one. Huh, the guy said it was 800 watts, but I guess that's wrong. And all of the descriptions I've read online say that the SP-3 speakers are rated at 1400 watts peak, and 600 watts continuous, or something like that.

All of this info is good to know, and I'm glad you guys are helping me out. So that power amp isn't as powerful as I thought? Dang. Well that's okay. The system still gets really loud. So I know the speakers can take anything the mixer and power amp tries to do to them, but are there any dangers in cranking the power amp or mixer up too much? I just don't want to wreck stuff.

And I have the mixer plugged into the power amp, the speakers plugged into the power amp, so should I put the monitors into the power amp, too? or do I plug the monitors into the "monitors" inputs on the mixer? And this just might be a weird random defect my mixer has, but how come the master volume on the mixer doesn't do anything at all? Bear with me, guys. I've only had this thing for two days and this is the first real system I've had.

[jh45gun]

If it was me I would use that amp for monitors and then look for a used CS 800 you should be able to find one cheap and they are good amps with the power you need. In fact I am heeding my own advice and picking up one that needs repair I plan to repair it and keep it for my small PA system even though I have a 300 watt mono mixer. What ever you decide to do even if you use this for mains for a while plug both main speakers into one side so you get the most wattage getting the full 130 for a 4 ohm load instead of plugging a speaker on both sides which would only give you half the power for a 8 ohm load. Trust me it may sound loud now but in a gigging situation it may not depending on the crowd and room.

[Cleeve]

The CS800 might just be the tele of PA products!
If you manage to break one, the worst you'll ever have to do is mail it to MS and the factory will fix it for quite a reasonable price..
The postage on that mug might be a bit of change though.

[jh45gun]

Yea they are great amps

[Deaf Eddie]

Here's some straight-shootin' info, not that "I read it on the Internet" stuff:

IF you look at the input jack plate on the speakers, it states:
Max power:200 watts program; 100 watts continuous.

If you can't read that on your plates because they're scratched from typical road wear and tear, here's a link to the info on the Peavey site for the SP-3. Great speakers, but 600 watts? NO WAY!

Here's the link to the manual for the M-2600. As we've all said, it indicates the M-2600 puts out 130 wrms into a 4-ohm load, 75 wrms into an 8-ohm load, per channel (two channels). Plugging both speakers into the same side of the amp will show them about 65 wrms (130/2=65) each, plugging one into each side of the amp will show them 75 wrms each - not really enough of a difference to be heard. So, for gigs where this amp is enough power, you can drive both mains off of one side, and hook up a monitor system of 4-ohms total or more (two 8-ohm cabs, four 16-ohm cabs) to the other side.

Typically, with these speakers, you will hear them protesting quite a bit before they blow from too much power - which at this point, you DON'T have.

AS a past poster indicated, right now you are more likely to damage them from not having enough power - cranking up the mixer and poweramp to get more volume than can safely be produced by the poweramp, which may cause clipping/distortion, which is bad for speakers in general and often fatal to compression drivers. The GREAT thing about the M-2600 - and MOST Peavey poweramps - is that they have a built-in DDT compression circuit, to protect against occasional spikes and peaks which could be damaging to your speakers. Be sure that you always play with the DDT option engaged, NEVER DEFEATED. If you see those lights blinking a lot, then you're riding at just about the max of what that amp can do - but, you're probably OK until they start being ON more than they are OFF. If that happens, turn down!

Here's the link for the manual for Peavey MS Series stereo mixers. If this is what you have, it has NO POWER to drive monitors or any other speakers. The output jacks on the back are to be connected to amplifiers, which in turn would drive the speakers.

If you are getting unexpected results when plugging the mixer into the poweramp, make sure that you read the manual for the mixer so that you can confidently follow the path of the signal from the mixer's input to the output jacks. Ocassionally, the path can be less than intuitive.

[jh45gun]

Plugging both speakers into the same side of the amp will show them about 65 wrms (130/2=65) each, plugging one into each side of the amp will show them 75 wrms each - not really enough of a difference to be heard.

Are you sure you got that right? Plugging both speakers into one side would give you a 4 ohm load for the amp to see its full potential where plugging into each side would be 8 ohms at 75 with one speaker. To me it should not matter if the speaker load is one box or two if the impedence is matched.What difference would it be if you had two speakers in one box rated at 4 ohms or two boxes with one 8 ohm speaker in parrallel which would still give you the 4 ohm load. I would think the amp would give more with both speakers plugged into one side for a 4 ohm load.That is how I used to do it with a CS 800 I would have both speakers (mains) plugged into one side and use the other side for a Sub.

[Deaf Eddie]

Pretty sure. Yes, the load is right for the full 130 watts, BUT, you can't utilize the same 130 watts, like, twice, for BOTH cabs - the power is distributed between them equally, so each cab sees half of the power = 65 watts. That's why you can play a 100 watt head on a 412 cab with four 30 watt speakers and not make smoke...

EDITED: BUT, after thinking about it...

Well, there's this: 130 watts mono IS louder than 75 watts x 2 (stereo), because a 75 watts per channel stereo amp does NOT sound as loud as a 150 watt mono amp. That's been kicked around here a bit, and although I can't quite get a handle on the physics of it myself, I think we all take it as a "gimmee." I forgot that point.

However, since the rule of thumb is that you have to go 3 db to make an audible difference; and, you have to double the power to get another 3 db; the difference between both speakers on one side (130 wrms) or one-on-each-side (75 wrms x 2) is not quite going to make a 3 db difference - so, it's probably not audible. Anyway, that's what the rule of thumb sez to me - YMMV, of course.

BOTTOM LINE: Hey, you have a good basis for an easily-expandable and flexible PA system, congratulations. Use the two channels of the amp in the way that suits the venue the best!