I thought I was done with GAS until I joined a band

[Lev]

I had no idea the amount of $$$ that one needs to spend to reproduce your sound at a gig. We recently purchased a new PA, now I'm looking at buying active monitors, microphones, wireless systems the list is endless. I've got a feeling I'm going to spend a lot more on getting a good live sound than I ever did on guitars, amps and pedals.

[markb]

Welcome to my world, Lev. It's amazing how much gear you need these days just to run something like an open mic night. The PA I run for the local music club consists of a 12U rack on wheels with desk, fx units, graphics and compressors, 3 powered cabinets (I could do with another), 4 mics, 2 di boxes, a short snake and a pre-wired loom to supply signal and power to those cabs. It's doesn't fit in my car!

Guitars are cheap in musical instrument terms btw. Ever seen the price of a decent "working man's" violin?

[Spudman]

I do my open mic with 2 1x15w/horn cabs on stands and a Peavey XR600c, a few stands and mics. The mics and PA are for vocals and kick drum only. I like to keep it simple. In fact my gig PA is pretty simple except that I do have 2 SKB cases with amps, compressor, EQ, expander and delay/reverb along with 2 18" subs and a Mackie console. Not too complex.

Lev, don't rush out and buy a lot of stuff. Let the band's progress dictate your spending habit. If you are gigging and getting good money then get some good stuff. You might get by without the wireless and active monitors which are more expensive than passive and an amp.

Some of the best sounding bands I've heard had a small system going for all it was worth. It was good quality stuff but not pricey and the bands sounded awesome.

[Lev]

Yeah, not going to go nuts buying too much yet. We have the Pa, power amp, mixer and mics so far. We're playing in a small bar on Tuesday night where we'll probably just put the vocals through the pa, my hot rod deluxe should have enough clean headroom to go it alone.

But we've a couple more gigs booked and are planning to do one a week through the summer. The next thing we need are monitors, just weighing up the pros and cons of active & passive. The power amp we have will only power the FoH so if we go for passive we'll need another amp. These things aren't cheap, I'm just surprised how it all adds up. I've no idea how young bands starting out afford this stuff.

[Rocket]

Done with GAS?

Blasphçmâre!