My son's band seems to be coming along quite nicely and I've rashly promised to look at buying him a PA. Can anyone recommend something that's not going to break the bank? He's been looking at this set-up but I'm not sure of the quality.
This one

Currently they need input for two vocals, one base, one guitar, one drummer.

Thanks

Evening,

The one you have linked to is a pretty decent basic set up. The one thing I would say is the built in amp/mixer isn't always the best option.

If he gets to the stage where he needs to mic up the drummer properly, drum microphones are a great investment, but do need around 4-6 channels. You can pick up a set of drum mic's for around £100 and they do make a difference.

Obviously it does cost a bit more to get a separate amp and mixer. But at least it means it would (in theory) cost less in the future to upgrade.
Something like this – LINK TO EBAY isn't bad for the speaker set up. And then a simple mixer like this LINK TO EBAY

All depends on how much you are looking to spend.
One think definitely worth saying, is the system can be a good as possible. But you need to spend some decent money on microphones, otherwise its not worth it.

Hope that helps, let me know if you need any more info, i am more than happy to help.
Cheers
Josh,,,

Josh, thanks that's great info!

whoa whoa whoa! hold on a minute

what exactly do they want a PA for? rehearsals? The one you linked to ought to do it, but TBH any decent rehearsal room will have a PA included in the price per session; if they're rehearsing in somebody's garage then a 100W job should be plenty. But please for the sake of the neighbours get some sound proofing even if it's just heavy curtains & a big sound screen in front of the drums

you do NOT need to mic up the guitars, bass or drums in a rehearsal room; when they come to doing gigs, if the venue is any good, they'll either have an inhouse PA or they'll hire one in.

Josh's advice about a set of drum mics is good though – the last couple of gigs I've played I've provided the drum mics – we're talking a 2-300 capacity room big enough to take a touring band like Spear Of Destiny. The inhouse PA had enough mics to cover the headline band's kit but my mics covered the support band kit (i.e. mine)

If they're playing your average pub gigs (assuming they're old enough) then only the bass drum & snare drum will need mic'ing up, if at all; the guitar & bass most certainly will not. For gigs like that, only the vocals need to go through the PA

If you MUST spend big on a 2-3KW sound rig, then you might want to start hiring it out.

BTW for vocal microphones Shure SM58 are pretty standard but not the cheapest – about £100 a pop. Other dynamic microphones are available, a.g. AKG D5 at about £50 each

You'll also want some speaker stands, mic stands & mic leads…

Good point made by John…

I presumed you want the system for actually taking to events that didn't have there own equipment. (For example village halls ect).
If its just for rehearsing then as John says there's no need for anything to powerful.

If you are using to power events. To get a basic idea of size you need to look the the W's the system puts out. As a basic idea (Please correct if not exact) –

200W = 0 – 200 people
400W = 200 – 400 people
600w = 400 – 600 people
And so on.

That is how I view it anyway, and tend to base the gigs I do on that system. It always seems to go down ok..

Josh..

I'd add a nought 😉

from experience, gigs that have a legal capacity of say 100 people = small pub; 200W, vocals only

300 people – decent sized hall – 1-2KW, everything mic'd up but not necessarily turned up

600 people is a university/college sized hall. you'd need a full scale PA for that – probably about 5KW or more. And don't skimp on the lighting rig either 😉

also from experience, I've been playing since 1980 (ok there was a break from 1990-2008) & never yet played a gig that didn't either have their own PA or hired one in; I wouldn't even consider playing at a venue that didn't provide the PA (and the sound engineer), whether inhouse or hired in. For many gigs I've played we've even brought our own sound engineer who knows what we should sound like

Sorting the PA is the promoter's job (in addition to getting all the bands together & organised so they all turn up in time, advertising, getting tickets printed, sorting somebody on the door to collect money/tickets, and so on)

So. To sum up – don't buy them a PA unless it's for rehearsing. It won't get used otherwise