E-Drum Live Amplification/PA

[Magma]

Hello all,
My 1st post. Lots of great stuff on the site. Vids are great!

My issue:
Have v-drum kit w/TD10 for 6-7 years. I love playing it. I play on reg. acoustics live. I want to bring out my V kit to play live but I don't want to use our PA as it is to amp it. Anybody out there have a PA dedicated for their kit?
I rented 3 Pwr'd speakers once, 2-dble 15's w/horn bins and a pwr'd 18" sub. I didn't have much time to mess with it but I found just the 2 bins w/the 15's seemed to be the best. I didn't hear much from the 18's. That's the route I think I'm going - 2 of the 15" bins mentioned above and an amp that puts out at least 2000 watts. I would want this setup to be flexible to use it in any venue. I want the real drum sound and not have it choked off by lack of power, mostly concerned about the bass drum/rack tom boom and quality of the reproduced amazing kits on the brain.
If anyone has been in the same situation please chime in with some insight. I'm willing to spend the cash to finally get to the point of playing these outside of my practice room and want to make the best sounds I can from the kit.

[Northern Redneck]

Id get a really nice bass amp.

[xsabers]

Would a bass amp provide clarity for the higher voices?

I would suggest a high quality keyboard amp over a bass cab. But then you pretty much have the Roland amp that is suggested for the v-drums.

[ABCgang]

A bass amp won't cut it for the highs. The OP mentioned he liked the double 15" bins w/horn, so I'd stay with that. If you find later you need more bass, add an 18" subwoofer to the rig. Personally, I'd use something smaller for an overall quieter stage and run everyone through the main PA. Good luck with your set-up. ABC

[xsabers]

A bass amp won't cut it for the highs. The OP mentioned he liked the double 15" bins w/horn, so I'd stay with that. If you find later you need more bass, add an 18" subwoofer to the rig. Personally, I'd use something smaller for an overall quieter stage and run everyone through the main PA. Good luck with your set-up. ABC

Depending on the venue I suppose. But there is something to be said for the majority of the on stage drum sound originating from the instrument's location rather than through the PA. The point of reference is important.

[ratmycue]

I went with 500 watt powered 12" and a horn and a 200 watt sub for my stage sound for bigger gigs, I have a 75 watt powered keyboard amp for smaller gigs. The band is running a 2000 watt Briston and 3 way jbl with 15" top end for the front of house , plus 2x 800 watt powered subs for bottom end.

The band still prefer when I take the acoustics though!!! they miss the rush of air and ambience that only acoustics can give you. go figure.

[CharlyG]

A modern bass amp has a freq response of 20-20khz. Most "normal" speakers only go down to 50-55 hz. In the bass world, we have cabs that get to 28 and a tad below. A subwoofer typically has a response of 20-200 HZ. Taking any modern bass amp/cab, adding a tweeter or tweeters and midrange or horn cab ( a lot of them come with now) will get you the response you need for e-drums.

A kbd amp/spkr is like a typical PA spkr, about 55khz and up. Not quite enough for a good thump.

[xsabers]

A modern bass amp has a freq response of 20-20khz. Most "normal" speakers only go down to 50-55 hz. In the bass world, we have cabs that get to 28 and a tad below. A subwoofer typically has a response of 20-200 HZ. Taking any modern bass amp/cab, adding a tweeter or tweeters and midrange or horn cab ( a lot of them come with now) will get you the response you need for e-drums.

A kbd amp/spkr is like a typical PA spkr, about 55khz and up. Not quite enough for a good thump.

Thanks for the technical breakdown. I use a small PA to liven my acoustic kit for small to mid-size venues that wouldn't have me in the house. I was thinking about adding a powered sub to the combination. My amp head wouldn't drive a sub properly. I also have use of a wedge style Crate keyboard amp that should have more on the low end then my other speakers. Looking for some volume, but mostly warmth & presense. Any suggestions?

[CharlyG]

powered sub is prolly the most bang for the buck in your situation......IMHO

[xsabers]

powered sub is prolly the most bang for the buck in your situation......IMHO

Time to search CL, I suppose (no need to buy something new for this application).

Thanks!

[grog]

Hi, new here but not new to writing and evaluating stuff relating to blasting your edrums to an audience.

I believe there's a prohibition here on linking directly to other sites so the following is with that in mind.

1) There's a new edrumming magazine out, Digital Drummer. It's a free, online-only publication chock full of pretty informative stuff aimed strictly at the edrummer. It also has an article by me which talks about PA systems and amping your edrums. Head to Teh Google and type in

digital drummer mag

It should be the second hit.

2) Another forum relating to edrums has a much longer and more detailed piece, again by me (the magazine article was derived from it). The thread has more than what you'd generally want to know about this subject but the first two entries provide an overview, tons of links to other pertinent discussions, and an overview on lots of edrum monitors and PA speakers. Again, head to Teh Google and type in:

grog "once and for all pa"

It'll be the first hit.

If you have any questions, I'll be more than glad to answer em here.

www.myspace.com/rubberuniverse

[ener]

I am using a 300 watt amplifier and two 15"/horns. This works perfect for me. For a small gig I only use my own stuff, in other cases my edrum signal goes to the PA and I use my own set for monitoring.