Equipment for Acoustic Coffeeshops?

I have never used this amp, but it looks like it would do the job. I have used quite a bit of behringer equipment and have been very happy with it for the price. A great mic for $20 is http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-XM8500-Microphone?sku=270490 I am thinking a good strong 15 watts would be enough for a small coffee shop. The hard part is, it is hard to tell how strong the 15 watts are of this amp with out having tried it. Maybe someone here has tried one and can give some input on that. It does receive good writeups and some of them sound like a similiar situation to yours. Free shipping with Paypal, and 45 day satisfaction policy, it sounds like it is worth a try. Good luck, and sounds like fun playing in some coffee shops.

I also forgot to mention that I don't think a monitor would be necessary as you should be able to place the amp where you can hear it and you will be the only one playing (I assume).

For just $60 you can hardly go wrong. I read the reviews and most were very pleased with this amp, several used it for small gigs.

You might want to invest in an amp stand like this as well:

Guitar Amp Stand

This will get the amp up off the floor where you and your audience will hear it much better. Often you tend to crank an amp too loud sitting on the floor. You will be able to hear how the amp actually sounds and the real volume. It will also angle the amp up getting the highs over people's heads. Highs are blocked by bodies, whereas bass is not. You get a crowd and the folks in the back only hear the lows. This can sound a little muddy. Especially with acoustic guitar you want the highs to be heard. Your vocals will travel further also.

The Amp Stand is definitely a good idea, Wes!

GuitBusy, I've got a SM57, so I think that the XM8500 might be more of the same (again, it's really cheap though, so I've got no complaints).

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm just trying to assemble the cheapest set of things so that I can get myself out there. For now I can just test things out at an open mic.

Don't know how I missed the sm57, but yep that will work for -$20. See how easy it was for me to spend your $20 though?

Call me a cynic, but I'm not sure that 20W will be enough to give you clean vocals. It should be fine for the guitar... I'd try it before buying.

Hey Laz, why do you say that? How does wattage relate to vocal clarity? I'll certainly try before I buy...

Thanks!

Obviously you can put a reverb in line with your guitar, but is their such a thing as a reverb pedal for a mic?

Yes, an amp's wattage has everything to do with how loud you can play without distortion. A small amp (5 watts for example) will begin to distort at much lower volume than a powerful amp. It also has a lot to do with the amp's speaker sensitivity.

When you read speaker specs, you will see specs like 100Db @ 1w/1m. This means this speaker will produce 100 decibels of volume with only one watt of power applied at 1 meters distance. This is the standard way of rating a speaker (1w @ 1m).

Every time you double the watts to a speaker you get a 3 decibel increase in volume. This is just slightly louder, but detectable to the human ear. 12 decibels is considered a doubling of volume (twice as loud).

So take this 20 watt amp, and let's just assume the speaker is rated 100Db @ 1w/1m.

At 1 watt this speaker will put out 100 decibels volume.

At 2 watts (we have doubled the power), this speaker will put out 103 decibels volume.

At 4 watts (doubled the power again), this speaker will put out 106 decibels.

At 8 watts, it will produce 109 decibels volume.

At 16 watts, it will produce 112 decibels.

Now this is about as loud as this amp will get with this speaker. 112 decibels is pretty loud. You could play a very small venue with that. But for larger clubs you usually want at least 120 decibels volume. For very large venues or outdoors, you want maybe 126 decibels plus. This is getting extremely loud now. A jet engine produces about 130 decibels volume. :shock:

Normal conversation is about 70 decibels.

So, to get volume up for a crowded club, you are going to have to crank this amp up. When you crank an amp near max it will begin to distort or clip. This is great for electric guitar, but you don't want distortion for acoustic guitar or vocals.

So all Laz is saying is that you may need more power. You usually want a tube amp that puts out at least 30 watts to gig with, and probably 50 watts for a solid state amp. This amp you are looking at is a solid state.

I think this amp would work at an open mic or small coffee shop, but if you get a large crowd that is noisey, you would probably have to crank it to near max and your guitar and vocals could start to distort.

If you had a 50 watt amp, you are going to get about 6 more decibels volume without pushing the amp at all.

It is not really any different than a car. If you tried to drive a VW bug at 100 MPH, the engine is going to be screaming, you are pushing it to max. But a Porsche would be in 2nd gear and cruising along. :D

You take an amp like the Fender Twin. This amp is 100 watts all tube. You can barely make this amp distort no matter how loud you crank it. You will blast the audience away before it distorts. This is why this amp is popular with those who like clean tones like Country players.

So power has everything to do with getting a clean tone without distortion.

A&L

Yes, there are pedals for vocal effects like this:

Digitech Vx400

Wes,

I think you might be a bit too generous with that 100dB 1watt/1meter. I'm guessing the little 8" in that Behringer will probably not even break 90. I really don't think 20 Watts is necessarily a problem for a small coffee house. But, with just an 8", and one that probably isn't very efficient, it definitely could be too small. A stand is definitely a big help. Lets the folks in the back hear, without being too loud for those in the front. Also, 10 dB (1 Bel) is double the volume. That's actually the definition of a Bel.

TM

toobmasta

I just picked 100db out of the air for an example. Many good guitar speakers are rated this high. And the higher a speaker rating is not necessarily a good thing either. Speakers with very high ratings (103db @ 1w/1m for example only) tend to emphasize high frequencies and can be harsh, where speakers with lower ratings (say 95db) often have much better bass response and sound better. This is because the lower frequencies require more power. But the first speaker would be louder at less power. But sheer volume isn't everything.

That was just to give an idea of how amp power and speaker sensitivity relate to volume.

You are probably right about 10 decibels being twice as loud, but I have seen 12 decibels used many times.

The important point to see is that a 100 watt amp is not twice as loud as a 50 watt amp through the same speaker, only about 3 decibels louder. You usually have to have 10 times the power to double volume.

So, a 50 watt amp is only slightly louder than a 20 watt. It would actually take about a 200 watt amp to be twice as loud as a 20 watt amp.

And it is usually far cheaper to invest in a good speaker with high sensitivity than to invest in a far more powerful amp.

Getting off the subject. That 20 watt amp should be fine for a coffeehouse or open mic.

Hi Wes,

Getting off the subject can be a good thing, as long as we don't go too far.

I've seen twice 12dB used as "twice as loud" and even on a few occasions 6dB. I don't know how these things get started, but once they do, they seem to take on a life of their own.

I definitely agree that better speakers are a more cost efficient way to get more volume, than a bigger amp. This one will probably do just fine in a "true" coffee house setting. The object there is to play at a level where a normal conversation across the table is still possible. In general, patrons of these venues tend to like things easy on the ears, and will talk softly to one another, so as not to spoil things for the rest of the audience.

If you really want people to pay attention, don't shout ........ whisper.

Thanks for the detailed reply, Wes!