Karaoke Forums

knightshow,  I don't recall you giving me any useful advice in the first place, so any further useless advice won't be missed.

TopherM,

Would you go for the Peavey PR15 or the Peavey PV115?  They are the same price most places, but I noticed the PR15's can handle more power.

Thanks,
John

Well this was your opening statement.  Said NOTHING about budget in this post.  Looks as though you are looking for an entire system here.



Here is another



In this post it makes it sound like your entire budget is $1200, it says nothing about this was alloted JUST for speakers.

Yes you did state you were going to do small bars.  You still haven't said ANYTHING about music.  Do you already HAVE discs that you are going to transfer to computer?  This is the main reason I stated $1200 wouldn't cut it unless you PLAN on running an illegal rig.  If you want to be legal then figure a minimum $5000 for system AND discs.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I will be buy all the music and I already have the computer I will be using.  I don't need advice on the music, that is why I didn't ask.

Fundun

Get the PR15 Peaveys to start they are a lightweight and sturdy speaker for as you say small to medium venues.  Budget $400 for the pair.  Again if you want to spend more you can get a pair of the Yamaha S115V for $650.   Just starting out get a boxed type powered mixer - Easy to use easy to setup and haul around.
You can go as small as the Behringer PMH2000 -$300 .  Suggest a 3 pack of above average Sennhesier wired Mics and some cables and your all set to go for about
$1,000.   This set up for karaoke would sound great for small to medium sized venues. I know I use it for these types of venues and never a problem.
Sure you can spend double and triple but this isn't a business on who has the biggest most expensive toys its about having fun and sounding good while doimg it.

If you like KJ'ing you'll get bigger and better components in time --Like we all did.  

KJ'ing is a business and when you take it too seriously you lose the concept of the entire industry --which is to provide a means of karaoke entertainment and BY ALL MEANS HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT and make $$$$ ---Thats what its about .  There are a lot a great KJs on this site and they all have a lot to offer and very strong opinions.   Thats life !  Lon. & Kight and Tim all are great guys offering you experiance you won't find anywhere else.   Calling people jackass --will only get you ZERO help in the furture ......

Sorry about the derogatory comments I made.  It just seemed like people started jumping all over me about ruining the karaoke business and basically calling me a criminal.  I don't know how much damage I can do in a small town (2000 people) VFW.

Sorry, duped that post....

To some Karaoke is a hobbie to others their only source of income.

Some people here are very passionate about the industry but deregatory comments are never any good. ON THE OTHER hand .. I never see the need to answer someones legitimate questions with critical remarks but thats just me.

If you have to start a response with I DON'T MEAN TO BE RUDE...Then you shouldn't probably post it --- It was all down hill from there ...  :whistle:  :(  :shock:

Nobody SAID you were a criminal.  Again, since you didn't say anything about the music & wanting to run computer, it sounded as if you planned on purchasing a preloaded hard drive off of e-bay - which WOULD make you a criminal since you have no originals to match the songs on computer.  If you plan on purchasing your discs through legal means & drop them to computer on a 1:1 basis (which is still TECHNICALLY illegal), then that at least shows that you are going to try & stay above the table.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

John,

My whole POST was advice... I mentioned I started small and worked my way up.

And I was offering advice on the following note:


Secondly, I'd put my years on the site and my sheer number of posts against your 12 ANY day. Quess what? MOST of them are in the TECH forum! That's what I do on here... is try to help others. What I won't do is suffer idiots and fools.

You freely admit in a post that you're looking for something to make do for now but IF it works out that you could build on it.

You give virtually NOTHING about your sound field experience, customer service skills (jackass is SUCH a lovely way of endearing you to your customers btw), musical knowledge, computer knowledge... just a bit here and there about what you admittedly know nothing about and then scrape with those of us that DO want to help.

Yes, you were met with rudeness, but your posts honestly looked like what they reacted to!  You didn't look to explain until OTHERS jumped your buttsky!

Jumping in a bit late here. I am one of those who just started "in the business" and appreciate many of the people here for their comments. Now, I feel I have the right systems to get it going. I kind of see both sides of the story here. I don't think you HAVE to spend $5000 to get it going but on the other hand, if you want a decent system, you have to spend the money.

This is strictly my opinion. Many of the people here have been in business for a while. I do not believe that you have to have their level of systems to get it started. Of course you would want to upgrade as you go along. If you look at ebay for the equipment, you can pick up some nice ones at a bargain.  Here is what I have and I believe I have a decent start up system.

I have a pair of JBL EON P-1 powered speakers I got them for about $1000. I have seen them as low as about $750 per pair in ebay. My mixer is Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro I picked up used for about $120 on ebay. My effects unit, Alesis Midiverb 4, was about $100. One dbx 166 XL limiter, used, was about $100 but you probably won't need it. My player is AceSonic DGC-100 for about $130, which plays both CD-G and DVD. I would like to upgrade this and it's my top priority when I do upgrade. Microphones and other stuff for about $300. I have a rack mount carrying case I got from ebay for about $120.

As for music, I bought SoundChoice Foundation #1 for my base. I paid about $500 but I have seen them lower at ebay once in a while. I bought several other CD-G sets but mostly I had owned a lot of LD Karoke songs I converted them to DVD myself. That added a lot of songs to my collection. Right now my total song is about 2,500, not like 10,000 like other but I think it's enough to get me started. I will be constantly adding more songs in the future.

So, if you add up my total, it's about $2500 including songs for what I feel is a "professional" system. If I were to buy everything brand new from a retailer, I can see myself paying about $5000. However, if you shop carefully, you can get the same system for a lot less. I wish you good luck with your business.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Knightshow - If you don't have any advice, then keep out of my thread.  There are people here trying to help.  Wow, you must be special having so many posts in a forum.  See I came here doing research so I could grow to be a big man like you. Thank you everyone here for all the posts that did help.  I'll look elsewhere now because there are too many trolls in this forum.  And knight, have fun sitting in front of your computer typing thousands of messages to people you don't even care to help.  I find it much more enjoyable spending time with my family and having a life.

you obviously have NO idea who you're talking to. I help LOTS of people.  Once again I point out I was HELPING you initially. No thanks, only complaints. But since you don't see the advice so clearly stated, I'll be even more clear this time.

My advice to you, junior, is to avoid this business on a pro level. You don't have the temperment for the trade, or know when people are trying to help you when it's presented in front of your face. If you want to be a hobbyest and do it for beer money, knock yourself out! I wish you and those that won't pay all the happiness in the world.  

Stay out of YOUR thread? You make me laugh. It's KARAOKE SCENE's thread!

have fun with your family! that's what life is all about!

But as I said I won't suffer fools or idiots, I'm done with you.

"heheheh! What a maroon!"
Bugs Bunny

OK. Let's CLARIFY something here. You seem to not understand Knightshow's role here on KS. He IS THE TECHNICAL EXPERT on this site. There are maybe two or three others who can match him in TECHINCAL EXPERTISE, Knowledge, and as an information source on Karaoke Technical, operational, show, skill and general issues(Lonman and a couple others I cn think of). If you are attempting to state that he is ANYTHING LESS than that then you are SADLY, SADLY MISTAKEN or SIMPLY IGNORANT of THE REALITY of WHO and WHAT KNIGHT SHOW IS. And you CAN take it from me THAT I KNOW WHAT I'm TALKING ABOUT. If I didn't, I wouldn't have WRITTEN and KARAOKE SCENE wouldn't have PUBLISHED for National Distribution(50,000 copies nationwide) a FULL PAGE feature article in KARAOKE SCENE ON KNIGHTSHOW AND HIS ROLE ON KS FORUMS.  I write for 4 entertainment magazines on the west coast and several entertainment websites,  3 of which cover Karaoke. SO YES I DO KNOW WHAT I'm TALKING about when I state all this. Sooooooooooooooooooo, Show Respect where Respect is DUE----Namely the LONG-TERM KARAOKE heavyweights that contribute to this forum---Namely those such as KNIGHTSHOW, LONMAN and any of the other EXPERTS we have here!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

well, as much as I'd like to say that what Kurt said is true, it's not. Lonman, Timberlee, kmeister, Top, Tig (who basically weaned me) and many others are far more knowledgable than myself in technical matters. I STILL ask tons of questions!

I have no role here other than one I've created for myself. A loudmouth that likes to help others! ! If I have some knowledge, I try to help! If not, I am the FIRST to admit I'm helpless in that regard!

that's all.

Since I hve only been active on KS for a couple years I havent had the experience of dealing with many of the old timers so my reference is only with the few that Ive spoken with or met here--Namely Knightshow and Lonman. So thier perspective is a different reference point from me. Not to leave off any like Timber or Kmeister, Top or any other of the most knowledgable and experienced sources here. I simply havent had too much contact or communications with them.  However I DO NOT back away from my previous post. And to my mind and frame of reference and expereince here on KS, Knightshow and Lonman are the two most knowlegable persons I've met and I defer to with TECHNICAL and OPERATIONAL questions. I wrote it. I stand by it and to MY MIND that's that. SO AGAIN RENDER RESPECT WHERE RESPECT IS DUE.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

I have never come across such a rude comment as calling members a jackass. You should be band form this site!!

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

A couple of things:

1. I've been doing karoake for about a year and a half part time.  I've recently decided to push towards doing this more full time so I've started spending some major bucks on equipment.

2. I'm technically knowledgeable because I don't usually learn anything half way when I decide to work with it a little.  In a matter of months I read everything I can get my hands on, listen to others on the site, and expand my knowledge.  As a result I tend to appear far more knowledge and that I have far more experience than I really do.  I've been bartending for 6 months and most people don't believe me and think I've been doing it all my life.

3. I started REAL small.  My first show was pirated MP3+CDG's off my laptop and most everything else was provided by the venue.  I went and got a Fender PD-250, a $40 karaoke player, and started buying discs.  I also deleted ALL the illegal MP3's I had before I did my second show (the first show I didn't know any better, but I schooled myself in short order).  The gig started as a show where I was asked by the bartender (who was a friend) to play the 4 discs they already had and I opted to start my own business from this request to do a simple show.  I went all in buying SGB 1-66 (under $100), the SC Foundations 1&2 (both for $500), and have kept buying lots of others.  I now have about 5000 tracks with over 200 CDG's.

4. I invested everything I ever made on karaoke plus a lot more back into discs, equipment and more.  I invested over $1500 in just the last 2 weeks in just equipment.  I'll drop more in the near future and it won't stop.  I still don't have my own amp/speakers (other than the Fender PD-250) and will drop another $1500-2000 when I add them in the near future.

You can start small but you have to keep upgrading to keep from appearing unprofessional.  I used a $40 karaoke boom box for a short time (2weeks) becuase my RSQ 333 was stuck in the mail longer than expected and I had shows to do.   Yes, you can start small, but if you want to do more than the local VFW I'd buy professional equipment and insure you can upgrade that equipment instead of getting stuck  having to buy more.  What does that mean?  If you get a GigRack insure you have pre-amp outs so you can drive the existing speakers as monitors and pre-amp out to another amp or powered speakers for you mains later.  Smart buying decisions are crutial at this stage of the game.  I recommended the PD-250 because it's an all in one unit and comes with 2 good quality mics.  Add a player and you can whip out a basic show.  It's expandable in that you can use it for monitors or small shows when you don't want to haul a complete rack.

As for the name calling - it was uncalled for.  Matt, Lonman and everyone else here are knowlegeable and have helped hundreds if not thousands of people from making poor buying decisions - including myself.

Matt, you'd be surprised what you teach others... Even if you don't think you're helping there are lots of us that just don't know the questions to ask!

I don't care what anyone calls me as long as the cheque clears.  I would advise anybody going into any business to learn about the business before jumping in.  He expressed right at the start he knew nothing but wants to do shows.  I apprenticed as most of the others out there before going on their own.  It only makes sense.  One does not drive a car without being trained, or jump out of an airplane or a whole host of other things.  Doing any of these things without training is stupidity.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

As to myself I'm at the gaining experience stage. I've been building my CDG collection over the past couple years by buying this set or that set. Ive accumulated mics and a JVC machine. Im up to about 400 discs(all store bought). I have my own songbooks. I KJ/DJ as an hourly guy at a place that has all its own stuff, but I bring my own collection as its a better collection. My direction is to gain EXPEREINCE and KNOWLEDGE at this level before dropping big $$ into actual REAL PRO equipment and deciding to do it for real. I may or may not ever actually do that. But at this point I do this to GAIN REAL WORKING experience before trying to jump in and dumping a bunch of money and not providing A TOP QUALITY product.

My advice to someone thinking of doing Karaoke DJ/KJ'ing is to first go to work for an established DJ business or a venue that hires KJ's to do Karaoke on thier gear to gain expereince before going out and doing it THE WRONG WAY!

And I RELY on the voices of the REAL PROS here on KS to answer questions or gain guidance along with other local long-time karoake people to reach answers.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT