Karaoke Forums

My husband and I are retired and want to do some karaoke gigs. We have some experience because we owned a bar and had karaoke equipment there. All of that went with the bar so we are basically starting from scratch. We have two Peavey 12" speakers and a Peavey powered amp that has a 5 band equalizer. What player would you suggest and also what other equip do we need to add. We don't want to spend a fortune, but we do want something that will be easy to set up, fairly easy to use and have a decent sound. The venues we play in will be bars and small nightclubs mostly. Probably a seating capacity of 150 or less. Any and all help will be appreciated

read through the forums on speakers, on setups... lots of info already covered in here, from simple systems to complex.

I highly recommend the RSQ/JVC 333 series of players. For the price I have no complaints at all. I currently have one and will add a second for backup (or the single tray 222) just before the summer season starts here (and my gigs pick back up again).

Many here are big on the Mackie DFX-12 mixer or the CFX-12 mixer. They are both good mixers and have built in effects. I prefer using external effects and am leaning towards the Mackie Onyx 1620/1640 but for most people it's probably more then they need (and more expensive).

Mics/cables - many here recommend the Shure SM58 but recently a lot of comments on the Sennheiser e835 series have been favorable. They normally run about $100 each or 3 for $200 on the Sennheiser. I use the Fender P-51 mics that came with my Fender PD-250 and they have held up to being dropped, spiked, and general wear and tear without any problems at all. The only drawback over the others that I've seen is they require a little more gain than some of the other mics I've tried. They are available for about $40-$50 each. In the same price range you can also get the Shure PG-58 which requires a little less gain and seems to be built sturdy but there was a recent thread on one failing after being dropped but the one that I do have has held up pretty good.

Speakers - you can go with amps/speakers or powered speakers. I'll leave this to someone else to discuss based on what you already have.

I can tell you that no matter how much you spend on equipment, it will be half or less than half of your investment in less than 6 months if you put together a decent library of songs. Even with my bad judgement on purchases I'll have about $4000 in equipment total and I've already spent close to that much on discs and will spend close to that much again over the next year. Make sure you get good quality discs and have a variety of songs. This is especially true if you play multiple locations with a variety of musical tastes.

I will echo that bang for the buck, and durability the Shure SM58 are great mikes if you're going to start KJ'ing. I also echo that the JVC 333 or 222 are great units.

I also agree that your equipment investment is not the, "show me the money," part of the equation. You can cobble together a system from a hardware stand point for small bars and clubs for $2K to $2.5K to get started, and maybe even lower. Most of that investment is going to be in your speakers and amp. My Berhinger mixer I got on sale for $75 and found a vocal processor that was normally $349 for $125 at a music store. My Berhinger is small (don't know model number off the top of my head) but has all the fearures I need, although I do wish it had one more stereo input and had sliders versus knobs for volume control (no mute buttons either) - but I've been working mixers for, well, longer than I care to admit so the lack of some technology doesn't bother me. Another example my 13" portable monitor - a 13" color TV from a pawn shop for $24. I troll eBay a lot and spent some time looking over the equipment of others and what they use. I got my 15" monitors and supporting amp from eBay for $300 plus $65 for shipping. Yes, they are pretty crappy and if it was for a professional band on the road constantly, NO WAY. For Karaoke so singers can "hear" themselves better - they are perfect and just enough power.

I'll toss a hand grenade out there and state that tracking down a laser disc player and finding the old Pioneer laser disc Karaoke set isn't a requirement in my book. I'm exclusively CDG.

I think a common new KJ mistake is not being smart with your library. I know that I would look at the monster packs when I first started and go, "dayum, I don't want to spend $199, $299, $249, etc. etc.) so I'd look at the list, cobble together the songs I thought I wanted and spend $100. Ha, beat the system - not. You're so much better off buying the complete collections. Again, eBay can be your friend IF you're careful.

As an example I got the SGB Library, disc 1 to 66, not pirated, new, for $94 plus shipping. That's $399 list! However I had a disaster of an experience with another eBayer who was offering a different collection, a lot of songs I didn't have, and what showed up was a pirated badly burned copy of the SGB library. Thanks for nothing.

I've got close to $3.5K in my library because I was dumb at first, and got smarter as I went a long. I make a point to keep up with current music, that seems to be appreciated when I do shows to Generation X and Y. The older crowd where I have a regular KJ gig could care less. Still for bookings it gives you a little bit of an edge. Hey man, I've got Vertigo by U2 and the latest from Maroon 5. Also with your library, breakage is inevitable and you'll be replacing discs. It just happens.

Other advice I could give is get LONG cables and have spares! Unless you're planning to have a regular gig at the same location you'll never know what you'll need. I keep a bag with extention cords of 100, 50 and 25 feet, and coax for my monitors of 25 and 50 feet with couplers to go further. I bring this in case a bar wants me to tie into their existing video system - but the hook ups could be far, far away. Also for hook ups in bars I'd recommend buying a cheap RF modulator. Takes the RCA cable signal from your Karaoke player and coverts it into a 75 Ohm TV signal that can be tied into an older TV set.

I hope this helps a little bit. You're getting in at a good time. At least where I live I am seeing a huge surge in the interest of Karaoke, everywhere is having at least one show a week, and family Karaoke is starting to make a come back.

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Despite the internet rumor, Karaoke is not Japanese for "drunk buffoon with microphone."  However, "rotation," is Japanese for wait your damn turn!

I highly agree with being smart with your library.

Even though theyseem more expensive I'd get the Sound Choice Foundations first and foremost. I'd probably get the Bricks shortly thereafter, and start filling in more recent stuff afterwards. The SBG set is a great band for the buck but there are about 20 songs you can remove because the versions are so bad. I've heard mixed reviews on Chartbuster except for their country releases which I've heard good things about.

Again, spend a little more up front for quality and you won't be replacing those discs in 6 months with a Sound Choice or Priddis discs.

Chartbuster Country is IMHO about the best you can get weighing bang for the buck into the equation. The pop is so-so. Agreed that SGB is very hit and miss. Their Weird Al Yankovic disc --

WORTHLESS AND SUCKS!

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Despite the internet rumor, Karaoke is not Japanese for "drunk buffoon with microphone."  However, "rotation," is Japanese for wait your damn turn!

you might want to look in to top hits monthly you can buy them cheap for last years 12 months at a time and they have help on the like jan 04 to dec 04 i started with dk 1 to 99 great start but had to do a lot of filling from there chartbusters e1 thu e5 are good fillers to soundchoise are good dont get to manny off brand junk ie music mystro backstage ok for fillers but not to good i run my show from a sony 400 disk changer i have 2 of them works great for me till i go computer just something to think about but remember you sounds is what they will here start with good sound they will come back for more