A small PA for small gigs

Half of the enquiries a function band gets come with the question "do you bring your own sound?" and the ones that say no lose the gig to the band that says yes. Owning a small PA turns bar gigs, private parties and small weddings from "we need a venue with a system" into "we turn up and play". It also turns you into a sound company for a night, so it is worth buying the right things.

This article is about a system for rooms of 50 to 150 people. Above that, you hire or you invest in a different league of gear.

What the system has to do

• Carry vocals clearly over a live drum kit in a room with no treatment
• Add enough bass and kick for a dance floor without rattling the glassware
• Give the band a way to hear itself
• Fit in the same van as the band, and be set up by two people in 30 minutes

That translates into four components.

1. Main speakers

Two powered (active) tops with a 12-inch woofer and a horn are the standard answer. Powered means the amplifier is built in, so there is no separate amp rack and no speaker-cable impedance puzzles. Look for 1,000–2,000 W peak per box, a built-in DSP with presets, and a weight you can lift onto a stand alone (under 20 kg).

• Budget: 350–600 EUR per speaker gets a reliable box that will sound acceptable.
• Mid: 700–1,200 EUR per speaker is where the well-known brands sit, with noticeably better vocal clarity and headroom.

Two tops alone cover a bar or a 60-person party for a band without loud drums. For anything with a dance floor, add a sub.

2. A subwoofer

One powered 15- or 18-inch sub (600–1,500 EUR) is what makes the kick drum and the bass feel like a band rather than a radio. One is enough up to about 120 people; two for 150 and for outdoor use. Put the sub on the floor, tops on stands above or beside it, and use the sub's crossover so the tops stop trying to produce low frequencies. Subs are the heaviest item in the van (30–50 kg), so buy the one with wheels.

3. The mixer

A digital mixer with 12–16 inputs and a phone or tablet app has replaced the analogue desk for small bands, for one reason: the band can mix itself from the floor and each musician can control their own monitor mix. Look for at least 12 mic preamps, 4–6 aux outputs for monitors, built-in effects, and scene recall so Saturday's mix is one tap away on Sunday.

• Budget: 300–600 EUR for a compact rack-mount or desk-style unit.
• Mid: 700–1,300 EUR with more inputs, better preamps and a dedicated controller.

A tablet-only mixer with no physical faders is fine and cheaper, as long as you carry a spare tablet and a router. A mixer that depends on Wi-Fi in a venue full of phones is one that needs its own router, not the venue's.

4. Monitoring

Two or three powered wedges (200–450 EUR each) or in-ears. Wedges are simpler for deps and quicker to set up; in-ears are quieter and cleaner, and lower stage volume is the single biggest improvement in how a small room sounds. Many bands run both during a transition. See in-ear monitors for bands for a plan.

Everything else

Budget another 400–800 EUR for the parts nobody remembers when they price a PA: speaker stands, mic stands, a case for the mixer, 8–10 XLR cables, 3 speaker cables, 3 DI boxes, 3 vocal mics, a kick mic, a router, power strips and a 20 m extension. A mixer without DI boxes cannot take a keyboard properly.

The price bands, all in

System	Covers	Contents	Total (EUR)
Vocal only	60 people, acoustic duo or trio	2 tops, small mixer, 2 mics, stands, cables	1,000–1,800
Small band	100 people, bar or party	2 tops, 1 sub, digital mixer, 2 wedges, mics, DIs, cables	2,800–5,000
Small band plus	150 people, small wedding	2 tops, 2 subs, digital mixer, in-ears or 3 wedges, full mic set	5,000–9,000

Second-hand PA gear from reputable sellers is common and often 40–60% off; powered speakers are reliable and rarely worn out at five years old.

Power

A small band system draws far less than its printed watts suggest. Two tops, a sub, a mixer and the backline together rarely exceed 1.5–2.5 kW continuous, which fits a single 16 A circuit in Europe. Ask for one dedicated socket for audio that is not shared with the lighting, the bar fridges or the coffee machine, and read stage power and safety before your first outdoor gig.

When to hire instead

Hiring makes sense when:

• The room is over 150–200 people or outdoors. A pair of big tops and two subs with an engineer rents for 400–900 EUR a day, and the client is usually paying for it.
• You play with your own PA fewer than 10 times a year. At 3,500 EUR for a system, 10 gigs a year over 5 years is 70 EUR a gig; below that, hiring at 150–300 EUR a day is cheaper and comes with no storage or repair headaches.
• You need a sound engineer anyway. Weddings over 120 guests and any corporate event with speeches benefit from a person at the desk, and hire companies bring one.

And the reverse: owning makes sense when you play bars, parties and small weddings every month and want to sell "sound included" as a service line at 200–400 EUR on top of the fee. That line alone pays off a small system within a season; see your service catalog.

Do this today

• Count last year's gigs where you brought or wished you had a PA. Under 10: hire. Over 10: buy.
• Price the "small band" tier from two dealers, new and used.
• Add "Sound system for up to 150 guests" to your price list at a figure that repays the system in one season.
• Assign an owner for the PA: the person who stores it, tests it and says no when someone wants to borrow it for a house party.

Where expert.band helps

Your PA is 30 or 40 items that all have to arrive together, which is exactly what the kits in expert.band are for: one "Full band, own PA" kit applied to a gig fills the checklist with every speaker, cable and DI and its owner. The "Sound system" line lives in your quote catalog so it appears on quotes as a priced service rather than a favour.