The New PA Thing

Full disclosure: since the Eyewitness Blues Band sort of happened by accident, we never really had a proper set of gear. We've begged, borrowed and stolen PA gear for our gigs from Day One.

Thank goodness my brother Craig has quite a stable of audio gear (and has been willing to let us use it). But patience has its limits.

Back in January, Doug and I popped for a pair of JBL monitor speakers and stands, just before we played back-to-back gigs. The speakers performed spectacularly. The same can not be said for the PA amps we hauled with us to the second gig.

It was a near-disaster, saved at the last second when we pressed a drastically-underpowered backup amp (also borrowed) into service and worked without the stage monitors that backup amp was supposed to power. Not a very pleasant way to perform, worried that the jury-rigged setup would crater at any moment.

So now, we've taken the next step. We just bought a Yamaha powered mixer which should take care of us in small-to-medium sized gigs (anything bigger is guaranteed to have a house sound system we can use). It's a slightly-modernized version of the unit Craig had been loaning us, so we already sort of know our way around it.

Got a great deal, too, through an eBay seller in San Jose. But you have to wonder about karma: the reason the guy was selling the amp was because he'd bought if for his band, which broke up before they ever used it.