Hello

Tried out the Peavey PR12's today and was very pleased with everything about them.

Nice size, (18 x 24 x 14), light weight, (29 lbs.), easy to carry with handles on the top and sides, it handles 400 watts program and 800 watts peak, the sound and tone was quite nice through-out the entire range, known Peavey reliability, nice appearance, and the price at $149.

All that and made in the USA.

I also tried the PR10's. They were nice but not as full a sound as the 12's.

I am not interested in the 15's mostly because of the added weight and especially the size of the cabinet.

I also did an A/B with my two JBL Eon 10G2's. The JBL's are 175 watts and are excellent for the smallest room to a medium sized room.

I liked the PR12's so much for what I want to be able to do in bigger rooms that I am quite certain I will get them.

I tried them with a Peavey 684F. (200 x 2 watts). However, I am planning on getting either a Behringer PMX2000, (250 x 2 watts), 30 lbs for about $287, or their new top of the line PMH880S, (400 x 2 watts), 20 lbs for about $342.

My wife, Jen, who also plays, agreed that these sounded good. She also had to stand back because she thought I was playing too loudly. The people working there thought the same thing. haha. So it really filled up their 10,000 square foot showroom, and I had it turned on quite low. (I thought).

That sure seems like a lot of bang for the buck, especially considering a decent stereo PA head alone used to start at around $700 alone, where this entire set up can be had for between $600 - $700.

I'll let you all know what I think of the Behringer powered mixers when I try them out.

Best
Scott Langholff

Scott, I also just tried out the peavy PR12's
And thought they sounded pretty good. But I did not give them a real fair test in the small store I was in.
I did think they were lacking on the bottom end however, and I would like to add a sub to them for use on bigger jobs.
But until I could afford to add a sub they would probably be ok on their own.

At the moment I only have a couple of side fill monitors. I picked up a few years ago an old fender dual 15 showman cabinet with two full range jbl 15's. I cut the cabinet in half and added a 2x6" in. tweeter in each cabinet. They work great but look too shabby for use as mains and so I need some new cabinets also.

The peavys I think are great for the price.


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The old Newb

Scott,
By the way, musicians friend has the pr12's listed at $159. Could you please tell me where you found them for $149? as musicians friend will match price. And I have credit with Musicians friend.
Thanks

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The old Newb

Hi OldNewb

The bass sounded fine to me as it was. I had my Tyros mixer set in the typical v positions, the lo, mid and hi adjusted on the PA head along with about a 9 band eq adjusted. It made for some very nice fine tuning. I by no means had the bass turned up full either.

I think it would take a lot to convince me to use a sub, as I really don't need or like boom-boom, thump-thump. Plus the extra gear.

I see you're from Milwaukee. I came from Jefferson, Wis. I used to have a full line music store in Watertown.

The store I went was here in Pensacola. Here's their site, but I don't see Peavey listed there.
http://www.tringas.com/

Best
Scott

Thanks for the link Scott,

Small world eh?
I think the only music store in Watertown now is a White House of Music.
Have some relatives living there.

Actually the pr12's I listened may have been part of their rental gear rather than new gear and perhaps had already been abused.
They sounded fine but like I say the bottem end seemed awful close to distortion with not that much bass/volume imo.

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The old Newb

See, that's why I play the Bose! It's not a different volume relative to where you stand. You wife wouldn't have tp move if she stood in front of my rig in the same room!

Dave, you realize Scott is most likely thinking about getting "two" Peavey speakers so he can utilize a Stereo image in his sound.

For a savings of over $2,700 over "two" comparable Bose PAS's (which you need "two" Bose PAS's to utilize Stereo also), I wouldn't mind if my wife (speaking of Scott's wife) had to step back a few feet because she thought it was too loud, either. With all the money saved, Scott could tell Jennifer to go out shopping for a few hours and splurge on some clothes or new shoes, etc. while Scott plays his Tyros through the 'excellent' sounding Peaveys that may be sound a little loud to Jennifers ears even though Scott has them "barely" turned up. So you see it's a win win situation. Scott saved a bundle of money and Jennifer gets to go shopping (which women love to do anyway) and splurge on some niceties with all the money they saved. And besides all that, both of them are laughing all the way to the Bank...

And the quality of sound Scott gets with his 'inexpensive' Peaveys will probably sound 'pert near as good' to 90% of the people who hear Scott play through the Peaveys as it would to them through the Bose.

Most people don't have the discriminating taste in sound that the 1% of us audiophiles do. Most people think FM radio quality music is just peachy. So saving $2,700 on speakers makes perfect sense to me and the audiences won't know the difference most likely anyway. Except that they may have to stand back a little when Scott plays through his Peaveys. >> Such is the life of a Musician I suppose.

Best regards,
Mike

Scott,

I own the pr15's and use them with my Tyros, Triton Extreme and the PMX2000. This is an awesome combination!

The 15's are great for doing DJ work during breaks as the Bass is almost as good as a sub-woofer. I find the high's and the mids on the PR-15's to be very satisfactory for the music I play.

They take a beating and are very light in weight. Again, I got a great deal of $129 each on these purchased as returns and restocks which is pretty much the only way I buy stuff. I think I bought from Musicians Friend on these.

Al

I never said that any of these conventioanl sound systems don't sound good, but what I DO keep saying is that the coverage and the tonal quality is so improved that even with just one Bose tower, it'll produce a more even sound at a lower volume level than two of any of the others. I only made comparisons between 2 of your sot ONE of mine. Forget about using 2 Bose - it's not needed. It just isn't.

Buy cheap ....sound cheap I always say

I'd like to throw one piece of advice out on a take it or leave it basis:

I used to work at a music store and I sold Peavey and JBL speakers among others. One of our senior sound engineers setup a demonstration one day: he setup Peavey's best speaker cabinet at the time (a 15/horn, I don't remember the model) and JBL's cheapest in the same cabinet size with a 31-band EQ and frequency analyzer. He challenged us to EQ the cabinets for a nearly-flat response. It took a radical EQ setting to get this from the Peavey, and nearly no EQ to get it from the JBL. The point was that it was much easier to get a balanced response from JBL's than Peaveys - that's why JBL's are more expensive. I later did this same test with my Bose 801's and JBL EON's, which prompted me to switch to the EON's. This isn't something you can tell just by listening, and it's especially important for keyboardists because without a balanced frequency response you will have some notes "stick out" while others won't be heard. It also makes in difference when trying to solve mic feedback problems.

All I'm suggesting is to see if you can duplicate this test yourself with any speakers you are considering.

Hey Donny, I agree. That's why I play a Tyros with two JBL Eon 10G2's for my small to medium gigs. Zing-Pow. lol

ThePro: Thanx for the ideas. I'm always like to look from all angles. You were my main influence in getting the JBL Eon 10G2's, and I have always been super happy with them.

I did notice in the seemingly short time that I tried the PR12's that some voices sounded outstanding while some seemed to be very low on volume. One's that I didn't expect like trumpet, sax, trombone. I presummed it require a more thorough eq'ing.

So do you think it will be possible to even it all out?

Part of my needs are rather light weight equipment. 29 pounds would be great. The sx100+ is 32 lbs,but only 200 watts, so I see no real advantage over my 175 watts eons.

The JBL Eon 1500's interest me, but the weight of 38 pounds combined with the bulkiness doesn't thrill me at all.

The Barbetta 32c's kind of interest me. Rather expensive. I'd definately need to try these out first as I've heard both good reviews on these and also heard they sound kind of boxy and distortion is sometimes a problem. Plus, it is a small company. Who knows their future?

Interesting to note for Yamaha players. There's a place here in Pensacola that has a pretty good selection of speakers, but the first and last time I shopped there, they had only one of each speaker out, and would not bring out the other. ha! So I would try a JBL with a Community etc. Nuts.

Scott

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Langholff:
Hey Donny, I agree. That's why I play a Tyros with two JBL Eon 10G2's for my small to medium gigs. [/QUOT

Tyros, played it many times ...big deal...not much diffeence then the 3k ..and costs so much more...10" or 12" speakers without a sub will never cut it in my shows...

Scott honstly, Its all in THE TALENT my friend, gear means squat, ya gotta have it inside you to sound good.....thats the bottom line..."then" add some good equipmet and your on your way theres no gurrantees.
DON'T LISTEN TO ANYONE BUT YOUR "OWN" EARS....GOOD LUCK!

Possibly... maybe or maybe not... but the point is why go to the effort? If it's going to take a radical EQ setting to compensate for the speaker's shortcomings then you're better off buying something that gives you a fairly balanced sound in the first place. I doubt if any speaker is perfect, but some are less perfect than others.

Glad you are enjoying your JBL EON10's - I enjoy mine and still believe they are a good investment.

My experience with the Peavey PR15s was that the mids did NOT need to cut in the main e.q. mix. Most people seem to automatically set their e.q. sliders in the "classic" V position, in effect boosting the highs and low and cutting the mids. The mids are where instrument sounds such as piano and much brass reside.
DNJ, you are playing many jobs with a $100 set of speakers and a $100. mixer and a $1500. keyboard. 20 years ago, you were spending 5 or 6 times that much for your gear. Inexpensive doesn't always mean poor quality. The manufacturers such as Shure, JBL, Fender, etc., have been charging extremely high prices for gear for many years. Now companies such as Behringer, Samson, and yes Peavey, are offering comparable or better gear at lower prices. The little $99. Alesis mixer is a wonderful example. You say buy cheap sound cheap, but you are buying cheap and sounding wonderful!
DonM

To me, it seems to mean that buying cheap doesn't necessarily mean sounding cheap. (no offense intended)

Shiral

[This message has been edited by shiral (edited 10-05-2004).]

Excactly the point I was trying to make....yes I use the small speakers for 20% of my shows & the Barbetta sona 32c's for the other 80%, and sometmes for the hugh 500+ PP gigs I will add some subs......BUT....Don as you know because you also use the z2200 logitechs in small situations, its our talent as keyboard musicians & singers that make what goes thru and people hear in those cheap speakers in return they sound better then they are.....
I will pay for the right gear whatever it takes to be comfortable, lightweight navagatable, transportable......& of course great sound. I A/B'd everything in the store against the Barbettas sona 32c's before I bought them because my ears told me it was the right choice "FOR ME"......
I'm always open in the future for other options in speakers,gear etc... I have even played thru Uncle Daves Bose PAS system at a wedding, although they sound & look great and are very unique its just not the "right fit"
"FOR ME".......let your ears be your guide.....buyer beware

Hi DonM

You've got some good points there.

I think I will try them and any others starting with a flat setting.

I just remembered that my wife and the sales guy thought I had the hi's set way, way too high, like it was driving them nuts, and it seems to me Jen thought the bass was a bit strong. This seems to make sense to me. She also thinks I should have my hearing tested. lol

This may be why I noticed a lot of hiss also.

As far as equipment being cheaper and yet better, I agree there also. I was very pleased with the PSR2000 I had at the time.

When I A/B'd the Tyros and the PSR3000, I didn't test them flat. They may sound more alike that way. But, I was unable to set the 3000 mixer to sound like my favorite Tyros settings. This may or maynot be the reason there was such a noticable difference between the two to us. This may be a reason to A/B them again.

Scott

[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 10-05-2004).]