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RandomEffects Veteran user Boston, MA 323 Posts |
For anyone looking for a DEAL http://www.filamentaudio.com is now offering all equipment at cost plus 5%. I am looking toward upgrading to a megavox with built in wireless transmitter which is going for $511.00 including the shipping. It normally goes for around $750, the deal is only good for the first week of april and mention that you got the deal offer in your email for the discount..
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TheAmbitiousCard Eternal Order Northern California 13425 Posts |
I don't think I need more power than the 150.
I also found that with the wireless mic, I'm getting one that works best where I live and has many different channels to choose from.
www.theambitiouscard.com Hand Crafted Magic
Trophy Husband, Father of the Year Candidate, Chippendale's Dancer applicant, Unofficial World Record Holder. |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Most "no feedback" circuitry is useless and unnecessary. If you place your speakers correctly, you won't have any feedback. There are a few systems that work well, but the best is an in-line mic filter.
If you place your speakers at the outer corners of your stage or performing area, so that you are always behind the line that is drawn between the two speakers, you will not get feedback unless there is a highly reflective back wall bouncing the sound back at you. Aim the right speaker at the diagonally opposite corner of the room and the left speaker at the other rear corner. You will get very even audience coverage this way. If you put the speakers behind you, or if you have a monitor speaker that is aimed up at you from in front, you will get feedback. You probably don't need a front monitor. You can pick up the sound of your music, if any, from the small amount of sound that radiates from the sides of the speaker cabinets. If you do need a monitor, get an in-ear monitor. Mind you, I'm only speaking from 40 years of experience in installing sound systems.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Alan Munro Inner circle Kentwood, Michigan, USA 5952 Posts |
I use a Crate Limo amp for outdoor gigs. It has a built-in battery for hours of use, 50 watts of power (more than I ever needed) and is very reliable. I use a Sennheiser e845S handheld wired mike with a gimcrack holder - the feedback rejection is excellent
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Zack Special user 551 Posts |
Here's a few things that I've found, Bill will probably add some corrections, I'm just an end user.
1) You want a UNIDIRECTIONAL mike, otherwise you'll get feedback. 2) I haven't had much luck with lavaliers, headsets seem to be the way to go. 3) When you shop for mikes, inspect the connection between the mike and transmitter. You want one that locks in place. My (Audio Technica) just has a regular mini plug, which means it can pop out if you make too ig a motion. BIG problem. 4} Avoid the amp can like the plague. The sound is OK for the size, but the shape measns that it will not fit into ANYTHING, and you'll end up carrying the ***. 5)Watch out for mail order "bargains". Amps are heavy, and you'll take a bath on shipping. Bill, Wouldn't you be better off with a built in battery? Or do the virtues of the 150 overwhelm the hassle of using a inverter? Just been looking at the passport. they make a battery pack to go with it. http://www.sjgreatdeals.com/passportbp.html Its an extra hundred bucks. That looks like a good system at a pretty reasonable price...kind of a bitch to carry around though. I may have to get one. My friend Michael Majestic uses a passport and he gets really good sound (and good hats) |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
The 150 has an excellent sound and can give you great coverage. I haven't seen a small battery operated unit that really does the job as well. An inverter is not a very large item. You can get them at truck stops and auto parts houses for around $50. They come in quite handy for these applications.
Regarding unidirectional mikes -- most lavs are omnidirectional. However, if your speakers are set correctly, you will be out of the feedback area. If you can find a cardiod or unidirectional lav, so much the better, but they are very difficult to find and often quite expensive. The headset mikes are a much better choice. Some are omnidirectional, others unidirectional, but they are so close to your face that they don't have to be turned up very much to give you adequate coverage. There are a whole set of physics equations involved here, but basically it boils down to having the mike 1 inch from your mouth as opposed to 12 inches from your mouth and pointed upwards. Get a spare mike while you are at it. And don't assume that because the connectors look the same, they are the same. There are some, especially the Hirose connectors that will fool you. And if you don't notice it until a year after you bought the mike, you are SOL.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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sardini Regular user 111 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-04-04 15:28, RandomEffects wrote: Megavox is the best. We used them at Ringling Bros. |
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
If you are going to go with that line, you would be better off purchasing the PortaVox. It's basically the same system with a second speaker. This will give you much better coverage. Use the basic setup I mentioned earlier.
The idea of using a regular cardioid mike on a lav holder is a good one. These mikes are much less expensive than wireless units, and generally will produce a better sound with less feedback than an omni lav wireless. The main thing is managing the cable. Chris Carey had a belt clip that did the work for him. It's a good investment.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Zack Special user 551 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-04-04 17:26, Bill Palmer wrote: You mean a handheld mike? With one of those "freedom" mike holder necklaces? Don't they come in wireless versions? Or will the sound not be as good with wireless. Can't tell you how excited I am to find someone who is a busker AND knows his sound equipment. Bill: What do you think about the mipro: http://www.avlex.com/mipro/ma_101.html |
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Al Kazam the Magic Man Inner circle Living in Perth Western Australia 1042 Posts |
Hi Zack,
In my opinion the MA-101 is Ok for voice, but not very good if you wanted to play music. If you were to get one I'd go with adding a headworn mic (MH-55HN) for the transmitter and not using the lavlier mic that's in the ad. Just my opinion from experience with Mipro stuff. All the best, JoJo
Magic guy in Perth Australia
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
I've seen these at magic conventions. I have been singularly unimpressed. They are not very powerful. If you are going to cover 150 people in an outdoor venue with no walls or ceiling, you will have to crank it wide open. Also, I don't see any indication of real tone controls. They reminded me, tonally speaking, of a pair of Dixie cups and a string. The 1/8 inch line in jack is not going to stand up to much abuse, either.
Also, a 5 inch speaker won't move much air, even with a long throw. The experiments conducted in the 1970's with multiple long throw speakers produced things that looked good on paper, but didn't really deliver. That 65 hz low frequency point appears really optimistic to me. Regarding using wired mics vs. wireless, this has been my experience -- Wireless mic -- pro's They don't get in your way most of the time. You have a lot of freedom. They disappear as far as the audience is concerned. cons: Good sounding ones are relatively expensive. Most lavs are omnidirectional, so feedback is common. They eat batteries, and you basically can't use most rechargable batteries with the transmitters. They are prone to interference from other mikes and/or other sources.* Hard-wired mikes-- pros: Reliable. Good sounding ones are relatively inexpensive. Unidirectional ones are relatively inexpensive -- less feedback very little interference. No batteries, unless you get an electret condenser mic. These are delicate, so I would avoid them for busking use. cons The wire can get in your way. You are limited to how far you can go with one. *One very common problem with wireless units is if you turn off the transmitter, but not the receiver, the receiver will search for a transmission. If it finds something close, it will try to pick it up. This becomes very annoying.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Alan Munro Inner circle Kentwood, Michigan, USA 5952 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-04-04 18:57, Zack wrote: Here's the mike holder that I use: It works well with either a wireless or wired mike. I usually use my wired mike, but have used wireless mikes that were available at the venue. I have had some radio interference with the signal when doing the linking rings, if the mike was cheap. |
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Al Kazam the Magic Man Inner circle Living in Perth Western Australia 1042 Posts |
Bill wrote:
Regarding using wired mics vs. wireless, this has been my experience -- Wireless mic -- pro's They don't get in your way most of the time. **I've found I don't even realise I"m wearing one after about 10 minutes.*** You have a lot of freedom. ***Absolutely*** They disappear as far as the audience is concerned. cons: Good sounding ones are relatively expensive. ***Maybe a while back, but in my experince, good sounding ones are very affordable nowadays*** Most lavs are omnidirectional, so feedback is common. They eat batteries, and you basically can't use most rechargable batteries with the transmitters. ***For the Mipro transmitters, standard 9V batteries last at least 9 hours, and alkaline batteries for over 16 hours. I recently bought 200 m/Hr rechargeable ones here. Should last a while*** They are prone to interference from other mikes and/or other sources.* *****Maybe the cheaper ones, but not the new one's I've been using here. The new UHF ones can be preprogrammed to select from several available frequency's so that they don't get interference**** Hard-wired mikes-- pros: Reliable. Good sounding ones are relatively inexpensive. Unidirectional ones are relatively inexpensive -- less feedback very little interference. No batteries, unless you get an electret condenser mic. These are delicate, so I would avoid them for busking use. cons The wire can get in your way. ****I'm lost as to how someone can use one of these effectively and stil be able to be free to move around. Unless one just stands in one spot and doesn't move at all. Not my style***** You are limited to how far you can go with one. *One very common problem with wireless units is if you turn off the transmitter, but not the receiver, the receiver will search for a transmission. If it finds something close, it will try to pick it up. This becomes very annoying. http://www.mipro.com.tw/products/e/act707s.asp Just wanted to share the link above on how one company has developed a system to stop interference with their wireless mic systems. I've used them, worked very well. All the best, JoJo
Magic guy in Perth Australia
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
Even the best of the UHF receivers have the search problem at one time or another, especially if you are in an area with a high amount of RF interference. I'm familiar with these various autosquelch circuits. The only one I have seen that really works more than 99% of the time is the Shure circuit. What can happen, and I have seen this more than once before, is you get out on a show, set the circuit using your auto digital search, which Shure was using 8 years ago, before MiPro had it, and then some fellow with a television station comes by, and you start picking him up when you think your mike is off. It happens.
I've had to fight off using 23 wireless units in an area that was basically 1/4 of a square mile. Trying to coordinate all of that simultaneously meant that I had to go out and tell the fellows NEVER to fool with the frequency settings. If you use a belt clip to attach the main mike wire to a secondary cable, the wire doesn't get in your way at all. As I mentioned before, Chris Carey detaied this in his first book. Making the clip is simple. Terry Seabrooke ALWAYS uses a wired Lav mike. Why? You can always find one. Regarding fidelity of the mike capsules -- physics dictates much of the limitations. A large diaphragm microphone has a much better chance of having a good sound. I still purchase sound gear. If you think the MiPro stuff sounds good, maybe you need to actually listen to some really professional equipment. The MiPro units are not truly professional units. The Shure units I use are made specifically for in-house theatrical use, rack mounted. They have adjustable frequencies to cover 100 UHF channels. Retail on the units are $4K a pair. They sound like you are speaking loudly. They do not sound "amplified." That's what a wireless unit is supposed to do. The Audio Teknika units that are my backups are of similar quality. I have used both wired and wireless mikes. 30 minutes with a mike on a cable gives you all the work you need to learn how to use it. BTW watch out for the rechargeable batteries. As long as you use the newer Nickel Anhydride batteries, you will do fine. These produce 8.4 volts each. If you go to the older Lithium batteries, they won't work, the produce only 7.2 volts each, even though they are nominally 9 volt batteries.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Mario Morris Inner circle Mario Morris 2044 Posts |
JoJo
That is what I use and as far as I am concerned you cant get better. http://www.paspecialists.co.uk Mario |
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Al Kazam the Magic Man Inner circle Living in Perth Western Australia 1042 Posts |
Hi Mario,
Thanks for the link. I went to the site out of interest, and saw that they also sell the Mipro battery operated portable PA's. Out of interest I can get the MA-705 unit with two Headworn subminiature mics, cable for an MP3 player, very sturdy dust cover, for 300quid cheaper than they are selling them for. That includes DHL delivered to your house in the UK as well. If you wanted a CD player installed, add only 50 pounds, not 311 like they have listed. The one I sent last month to Cumbria for a fellow Café member also slipped in under the customs radar and he didn't pay a penny to get it into the country. Frankly I'm shocked that companies bulls**t the public in other countries and sell items such as an extra mic, and Cd for hundreds more when they come standard with the unit here in Taiwan. JoJo ps. To Bill Palmer:The Shure units I use are made specifically for in-house theatrical use, rack mounted. They have adjustable frequencies to cover 100 UHF channels. Retail on the units are $4K a pair. They sound like you are speaking loudly. They do not sound "amplified." That's what a wireless unit is supposed to do Bill that says it all. For $4k a pair I'd expect nothing less. Wish I had the spare cash to buy a few sets myself. Definitely not ones to take out on the street busking. Unless you can pay some big bucks for a body guard to protect your stuff. All the best, JoJo
Magic guy in Perth Australia
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
On the streets I use the Audio Teknikas. They have approximately the same characteristics. BTW, I got lucky and was able to purchase the Shure unit for cost. So I came out way ahead on them.
I've seen and heard the MiPro units in action. I'm sorry, but they sound like c**p. Even the old Radio Shack units for $139.00 sounded better.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Alan Munro Inner circle Kentwood, Michigan, USA 5952 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-04-05 14:16, Bill Palmer wrote: Television stations are notorious for the illegal use of frequencies. |
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