pre amp please???

[groovearteest]

Can someone tell me the full use of a pre amp? Because my church wants to get one. But let me back up. We have really annoying feedback that comes through the speakers. I don't know what it is, I can only assume that the gain is set too high for the mics. Well my church wants to get a pre amp but I'm not fully convinced that we should get one yet. As I have said in previous sound related threads, our church has our old old old mixer(yea I said old three x's) plugged into our new one so I believe that may be a problem. So I went to GC and asked the sound guy if having our old mixer plugged in would be a problem, he said no, but other DC members told me otherwise. So taking the word of the majority, I plan to disconnect the old mixer. But before I do this I want to know if this could be causing the problem. I also want to add that another set of old speakers are running to the old mixer as well as mics. I know this is a lot of info, but I want to give out as much info as I can so you guys can understand my position. So should we get a pre amp, or unplug the old system( which by the way we don't need the two mixers connected, nor do we still need the old mixer at all). And what are even the full functions of a pre amp. Please feel free to ask more questions if neccesary, tbh there's so much info I typed that I can't remember if I'm giving all the info.

[truckerdrummer]

If you're still getting feedback after you make your modifications, the piece of gear I would suggest buying before a pre amp is a graphic eq (if you don't have one already). Also just do some looking around and make sure that none of the microphones are picking up the signal coming from your speakers. Keeping your mics behind the speakers if you can should take care of the feedback. I'd make sure of that before buying any gear to eliminate the feedback.

[kay-gee]

Pretty much what trucker said. Feed back has nothing to do with the age of mixers and/or speakers. It has entirely to do with speaker and mic proximity and also treble being reflected back from somewhere to the mics. You should be able to EQ it out.

all the best...

[groovearteest]

Sooooo. Either of you guys know of a decent yet not too expensive graphic eq. I've heard of them but have never gotten to use one so I don't know anything about them. I'm not for certain but I believe the church has a budget of about $200 give or take. Oh our mixer is a behringer euro power pmp 6000 if that helps.

[funkyruss]

Where are the speakers in regards to the mics? If you are on stage, are you looking at the back of the speakers? If you are, this is correct.....you don't want the speakers behind the mics...
I would look at placement of speakers before anything else...Are there monitors involved? if so, turn them off and see if it still feeds back....perhaps working on speaker placement can help more than equipment.

[groovearteest]

Where are the speakers in regards to the mics? If you are on stage, are you looking at the back of the speakers? If you are, this is correct.....you don't want the speakers behind the mics...
I would look at placement of speakers before anything else...Are there monitors involved? if so, turn them off and see if it still feeds back....perhaps working on speaker placement can help more than equipment.

No monitors are involved. I will though have to show you guys a recording, or picture of our church, because its kinda weirdly layed out. we don't have a stage per se. we have four speakers in the for corners of our church. the alter is sort of in between two of the speakers, not in front, not in back, but in-between, each speaker is about 10ft away on the left/right of the altar. in front of the alter is where the praise service leader stands, so that's one mic on the altar, 1-2 mics in front of the altar. then 3-4 mics in the choir stand. which is behind the altar. Making the choir stand mics behind the speakers.

The thing is in choir rehearsal there is still humming, coming through the speakers, and the only mics that are on, are the ones in the choir stand(that are behind the speakers).

[pastor_bob]

The humming may be a grounding problem, and the fact that there are speakers on either side of the area where you perform, rather than them being out in front of the mics is probably causing some problems. My guess is that if you moved a mic toward the one of the 2 speakers on the sides of the alter (straight to the side of where they are now, but more out in front of the speaker - if you can visualize what I am trying to say), the feedback would increase.

[Northern Redneck]

There are companies that specialize in setting up systems for churches ect. You'd save alot of money and hassle if you hired one.

[groovearteest]

There are companies that specialize in setting up systems for churches ect. You'd save alot of money and hassle if you hired one.

It sure would save money. Unfortunately thats not my call, and the pastor doesn't think we need to hire anyone. It also doesnt help that he isnt fond of spending money whether it be $5 or $500. You'd think being related to him would help, but it doesn't.

[Northern Redneck]

Since when is the pastor the be all and end all in decision making at a church when it comes to money? He is employed by the congregation (sp?) What do the church elders say on the matter?

No offense P.B.

[groovearteest]

Since when is the pastor the be all and end all in decision making at a church when it comes to money? He is employed by the congregation (sp?) What do the church elders say on the matter?

No offense P.B.

This is one reason why i said in the church drummers thread my church works differently than most others. He is in a way the end all be all because he doesn't take money from the church, he started the church, and a lot of things he gets for the church is out of pocket. Plus the members don't mind him being in charge and dictating what goes on. Plus the other elders just trust him to do things. It really doesn't help though when a large portion of your congregation is lazy, and the congregation isn't very big to begin with. Fact is this is how things are ran at our church, I could give you a whole in depth story on why but I won't. It actually works for the most part having things this way, cuz as I stated most of our members are lazy.

[pastor_bob]

Since when is the pastor the be all and end all in decision making at a church when it comes to money? He is employed by the congregation (sp?) What do the church elders say on the matter?

No offense P.B.

Absolutely none taken Noel.

This is one reason why i said in the church drummers thread my church works differently than most others. He is in a way the end all be all because he doesn't take money from the church, he started the church, and a lot of things he gets for the church is out of pocket. Plus the members don't mind him being in charge and dictating what goes on. Plus the other elders just trust him to do things. It really doesn't help though when a large portion of your congregation is lazy, and the congregation isn't very big to begin with. Fact is this is how things are ran at our church, I could give you a whole in depth story on why but I won't. It actually works for the most part having things this way, cuz as I stated most of our members are lazy.

NR is correct in how churches are suppose to function. Unfortunately, in too many cases, churches are quite content to let the pastor do everything.