[Monolith]

I have set myself up over the past several years with all the bits and pieces that I have.

As far as computers go. I found it better to build my own. You can have just about anything in it as long as it has a certified CD/DVD burner (usually Plextor) ample harddrive space and at least 1 GB of memory (I started with less and some of the memory intensive features of Hoster caused my DJ program to have short skips).

While you are at Guitar Center look at some of their rack equipment to keep all of this stuff.

I prefer a separate power amp, mixer, and speakers. Just for the simple sake of upgrades. Which I do all the time.


For amps I swear by Crown. My CE 2000 gets the heck beat out of it every time I use it and it just keeps coming back for more. Tons of power and sounds really clean.

Mixers are pretty much standard in the higher end names like Mackie, Behringer, Yamaha, etc. Usually you will get better features on a 12 channel or better. Just make sure you have a listen to it before you buy it.

Speakers. I swear by Peavey. The SP-5G is what I want but the price tag is a bit high for me at the moment. Their PR-15 and PR-12 speakers sound really good and are very light. The Peavey brand is well built and durable and their sound is as good or better than many of the other brands out there.
I use the Peavey PR-10 speakers for monitors and on occasion when I need to tighten up the bass I will daisy chain them off of my PR-15's so I have the best of both worlds in the bass category.

One thing you want to consider also are microphones. One name should come to mind at this point (in my opinion) Shure SM-58. Others will say that there are better sounding mics out there. but how much better do they really sound and can they stand up to this kind of abuse. My oldest SM-58 (8 years old) sounds just as good as the new one I purchased a few months ago. You can get them with or without wires. There is a clone of this mic which is the SHS OM-500. I've taken both apart they are identical but the SHS is a lot less expensive. A good choice for someone starting out or who doesn't have much money to work with.

Please understand folks that these are my opinions and not stated facts by any means. This is just what works for me.

Jon
Monolith Entertainment