PA Systems - Do you have one and is it integral to your practice and playing?

[Naquat]

I'm not good enough to play jazz on a gig but for my rock or acoustic gigs yes. It's a lot of effort and time but I have the works. Mixer 12 ch's + 2 Stereo 1/4" jacks for keys or ?, monitors - 10" Carvins (they do the job), Carvin 18" subwoofer, and sub woofer amps (Behringer - D class nice and light), crossover, 2 Powered RCF 310 spks with 10" woofer and build in EQ/Phase and a bass boost for low volume (GREAT spks), Spk stands, tons of mic + speaker cords (for the monitors- as the powered mains use mic cords to/from the mixer. Two short snakes for the stage to make it a cleaner setup, and a 100' snake if (rarely) I need it.

Yes it can be a pita but we don't play loud because we are a heavy vocal based group and want to hear what we're singing without going deaf. This way I mic the guitar amps, run the bass straight into the snake to the mixer (the bassist uses a small bass amp), we also run an acoustic through the snake, and sometimes, if needed, put a mic on the kick drum.

Once you learn how to use the system and balance things it sounds good both on stage and in the audience.
We gigged at one venue where we played outside, they opened glass doors while people ate inside and the Mgr. kept telling us to "Turn Up". LOL This way....we can still play at a comfortable level, much lower than a lot of you Jazzers do and just pump up the volume on the FOH spks. I can use my Princeton, Dumble Clone, or Beefed up Princeton Clone and not have to worry about playing loud.

The biggest problem?...Finding drummers who don't "Need" to bang the crap out of their drums. LOL

[docbop]

I discovered how unforgiving computer interfaces are - the hard way. I was trying to record something and kept hearing extra pick noises. I thought it was a fault in the equipment. It was me and I had to adjust my technique and even go to a quieter pick.

I was talking about going direct for practice or record backing track for practice. Anything else I use an amp or DAW plug-in.